After 30 years in aerospace, these brothers retired from corporate life and work at Disney: ‘I’m finished being married to my laptop and phone’

Americans are retiring later and picking up part-time work to cushion their savings, pursue a long-lost passion, or simply fill the extra downtime. After sunsetting their decades-long careers in the aerospace industry, brothers Jerry and Peter Wong decided to add a bit of magic to their lives by working at Disney.

Jerry Wong, 66, is a photographer snapping pictures of park-goers at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. He joined as a photographer four years ago, the same year he wrapped his career as an engineer at aerospace and defense giant Northrop Grumman. He began as a summer intern in 1979, and went on to lead a four-decade career at the $75 billion company. Jerry worked on ground communications for government contracts—picking up people skills he now uses at Disney—and later retired from the profession in 2022. 

But a blank calendar left him restless, and after just four months, he began hunting for another gig. He and his brother, Peter, had been going to the amusement parks since 1967, and wanting to stay busy and reconnect with that childhood nostalgia, he looked into what Disney jobs were available.

The baby boomer found a part-time role in photography—a hobby he had picked up from his dad as a freshman studying at UCLA. By October that year he was suited up in photography blues and armed with a professional camera, capturing the magical moments at both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park. Jerry currently works around 14 hours across two or three days a week during the off-season, and 32 hours on a five-day schedule when the holidays roll around.........

© Fortune