{"id":5507,"date":"2026-07-26T11:06:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5507"},"modified":"2026-07-26T11:06:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:06:19","slug":"the-hilarious-reason-will-ferrell-quit-working-at-disneyland-after-only-one-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5507","title":{"rendered":"The hilarious reason Will Ferrell quit working at Disneyland after only one day"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Comedian Will Ferrell had a hilarious reason for quitting his job at Disneyland after only one day that was as funny as any joke the wannabe Jungle Cruise skipper would have told on the Adventureland boat ride.<\/p>\n

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Ferrell shared the story about his brief time working at Disneyland on the \u201cGood Hang\u201d podcast hosted by fellow comedian and \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d alumni Amy Poehler.<\/p>\n

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During orientation, Ferrell found out he\u2019d been assigned to work in the ticket booths at the front of the Anaheim theme park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that I was going to be assigned to one of the really fun jobs like the Jungle Cruise operator,\u201d Ferrell told Poehler.<\/p>\n

\n
@pagesix <\/p>\n

Will Ferrell had a friend give a fake excuse for leaving his job at Disneyland \ud83d\ude02<\/p>\n

\u266c original sound \u2013 Page Six <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Ferrell decided to quit when he found out it would take years to become a joke-telling Jungle Cruise skipper.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was too embarrassed to call up Disneyland,\u201d Ferrell told Poehler. \u201cSo my friend John called on my behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Disneyland human resources department only had one question: What\u2019s your reason for leaving?<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI have a tryout with the Dallas Cowboys,\u201d said John, still pretending to be Ferrell.<\/p>\n

Disneyland\u2019s response: \u201cThank you very much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Ferrell wasn\u2019t unemployed for very long thanks to a \u201crival offer\u201d to work at a Newport Beach surf shop where his friend was the manager.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSame pay, $5.50 an hour,\u201d Ferrell told Poehler.<\/p>\n

The hilarious story still gets laughs more than three decades later.<\/p>\n

Although he didn\u2019t say, Ferrell likely worked at Disneyland while he was a student at Irvine\u2019s University High School or the University of Southern California in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up in suburbia, in safe, master-planned Irvine, there was no drama so we had to create it in our heads,\u201d Ferrell said in a 2008 interview with the Orange County Register. \u201cMy main form of entertainment was cracking my friends up and exploring new ways of being funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Ferrell never played for the Cowboys, the high school football kicker famously tried out for the Trojans as a walk-on kicker, but didn\u2019t make the USC team.<\/p>\n

The comedian did not say which surf shop he worked at in Newport Beach \u2014 or if he lasted there for more than a day.<\/p>\n

Three of the oldest surf shops in Newport Beach include the Frog House (1962), 15th Street Surf Shop (1961) and Jack\u2019s Surfboards (1957).<\/p>\n

Ferrell was part of the Groundlings comedy troupe in the early 1990s before joining SNL in 1995.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s best known for his roles in \u201cElf,\u201d \u201cAnchorman,\u201d \u201cMegamind,\u201d \u201cTalladega Nights\u201d and \u201cThe Lego Movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferrell is currently starring in \u201cThe Hawk\u201d on Netflix about a washed-up golf pro who refuses to retire.<\/p>\n

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The wannabe Jungle Cruise skipper dreamed of telling jokes on the Adventureland boat ride.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-things-to-do"],"yoast_head":"\nThe hilarious reason Will Ferrell quit working at Disneyland after only one day - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5507\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The hilarious reason Will Ferrell quit working at Disneyland after only one day - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The wannabe Jungle Cruise skipper dreamed of telling jokes on the Adventureland boat ride.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5507\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-26T11:06:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5507#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5507\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"The hilarious reason Will Ferrell quit working at Disneyland after only one day\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-26T11:06:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5507\"},\"wordCount\":535,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5507#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/87d07f6f5ec63c41e2c2fd3ebe35d609.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Things To Do\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5507#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5507\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5507\",\"name\":\"The hilarious reason Will Ferrell quit working at Disneyland after only one day - 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