The Guest Experience
More tales about park guests from cast members
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
by Shoshana
Lewin, editor
From Buena Vista in Florida, to Anaheim, California, the tales just
keep coming. Since last time we shared guest stories about their favorite
cast members, today we bring you cast member stories about their most
memorable guests. Some stories are funny, some are sweet and some are
just plain weird—but they're all true. Enjoy!
Laura's Story
OK. Here's a cute one. I was a cast member at Disneyland, working guest
control at the Parade of the Stars. I extended my shift into fireworks.
I was stationed in front of the castle (one of my favorite places) and
was instantly seen by a small girl who started asking questions about
the castle.
Her first question was, “Who lives there?”
It was the perfect opportunity to create “Disney magic!” She
couldn't have been more than 5 or 6. She even asked me to sign her autograph
book. She talked and asked questions until the lights went out on Main
Street. She even ran up and gave me a hug before she went with her family.
It was too cute.
Then there is my all-time favorite guest. Her name was Mattie. She had
just retired and was celebrating her 66th birthday by staying at the Grand
Californian and getting a five-day hopper pass. Well, it was July and
the day was hot. Mattie was all alone and almost passed out in
front of the Fantasyland Theater.
Well, after getting her a bottle of water, we came up with the idea to
get her a birthday present she would never forget. Our lead went over
to the Mad Hatter and got her a pair of ears, Minnie-style, with her name
on them and then we somehow wrangled some candles and two brownies and
sang “Happy Birthday” to her in front of the entire theater.
She cried, hugged all of us, took our pictures with her and then demanded
that we all sign her scrapbook. Too cute!
Yeah, I do have guest horror stories. Trust me. I just choose not to
relive some of those horrors.
Mike's Story
Hello, I am a former Disney-MGM Studios cast member. I just finished
reading your latest column on guest experiences and I felt compelled to
share one of my all-time favorites. (It takes a while to tell the whole
story, so prepare yourself).
I was working “Fantasmic!” which although is by far the best
show Disney has ever done, it is horrible to work. Take 8,000 tired people
who have been walking around a theme park all day, pack them into a theater,
make them wait for two hours and then, just for some added fun, throw
in a few-hundred chanting Brazilians, and you have a hoard of not-so-happy
guests.
I was in the process of trying to convince some of these guests to slide
all the way down their row, when I saw this little girl who was looking
very intently at her park map. So I walked up to her and asked, “Are
you ready to see Mickey tonight?”
To which she replied, “Is Mickey going to catch on fire?”
She was looking at a picture on the side of the map showing the part
in the show where Mickey, with flames all around him, is fighting the
Maleficent as a dragon in the finale of the show.
I told her, “No. Mickey could never catch on fire. He's going to
stop the dragon and put out all the fire.”
“Where's the fire going to be?” she asked.
“See that water out there?” I told her. “It's all going
to catch on fire.”
She then looked at me with a very serious look and said, “Water
cannot catch on fire.”
“I bet it can,” I said.
To which the girl's brother, who was sitting right next to her said,
“Nooooo, water doesn't catch on fire. It can't happen.”
So I looked at them both, extended my hand, and said “I bet on Mickey's
ears that the water out there will catch on fire tonight.”
They looked at me like I was crazy.
Their dad then smiled at me, turned to his kids and said, “The guy's
offering you a bet, are you going to accept it?”
I shook both their hands and said, “It's a deal.”
By now the show was about to start, so I looked down at their row letter,
and went up to my post for the show at the top of the aisle. About halfway
through the show (when the flowers come on stage) everyone gets their
15-minute break. Instead of going to the trailer to have a soda, I went
to one of my managers and said, “I have a bet with two kids. I need
some Mickey ears.”
She looked at me funny, then went to one of the merchandise cart and
brought back a pair of glow-in-the-dark Mickey ears. I went back to the
top of the aisle where the two kids were and waited for the dragon to
come and light the river. As it did, I walked down behind them, waited
for Mickey to defeat the dragon, then kneeled beside them and said, “I
told you water could catch on fire,” and gave them the Mickey ears.
I have never seen eyes so wide with excitement in my life. The boy put
his ears on as fast as he could and the little girl just hugged hers with
the most awestruck look I have ever seen.
At the end of the show, as everyone was walking out of the theater, I
was stopped by not only that family, who was extremely grateful, but by
five or six families that were sitting near them that had been watching
the whole time.
One of the families that had been watching stopped and told me, “That
is why we enjoy coming to Disney so much. Thanks for the show.”
And that's my most favorite guest experience ever. (Sorry it took so
long to tell.) There are many more, but that is the best.
Emily's Story
Hello! This is a great Web site. I was on the Walt Disney World College
Program in 2000. I worked as a vacation planner at Epcot. That means that
I sold admission tickets at the front gate. I have many great guest experiences.
I loved to volunteer to take photos for guests so that they could include
the whole family in the picture. One day I was waiting for a friend by
the Walt and Mickey statue in front of Cinderella's Castle. In that half
hour I took about 20 photographs. It was great! I loved making a guest's
day.
Sometimes just waiting in line for an attraction can be an adventure.
Photo by Brian Bennett.
LR's Story
December 24, 1998, I was in [Disneyland] with my mother and niece. We
were standing in the queue for the Jungle Cruise. It was about 10:30 a.m.
I had to work an evening shift at the Indiana Jones Adventure.
We were thoroughly enjoying our day in the park. There was a young couple
in front of us in the queue. In front of them was a family with a small
child. The mother of the small child picked him and put him over her shoulder.
The young child was apparently fussy because of an upset stomach and he
proceeded to throw up over the young couple.
My mother happened to have some napkins with her, so as the couple cleaned
themselves up a little, I asked them to meet me after they got off the
ride.
I ran down to the dock and got on the phone to the area manager. I explained
to her the situation and I asked if we could comp the couple a few T-shirts
to replace the ones that had been ruined. I was authorized to go to the
Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost and grab a few T-shirts and a stuffed
animal for the baby.
As everyone got off the attraction, I presented them with the gifts.
The couple later saw me working Indy and they gushed with praise and
thanks.
It is those types of experiences that made being a cast member fun.
Todd's Story
I am a former cast member at Disneyland. My main attraction was "it's
a small world," and I really miss working there, but that's a long, sad
story. As a kid my family would take long weekend dashes down to Disneyland
from San Jose two or three times a year. I remember seeing kids spitting
into the water at Small World or using it as a bathroom. One day I was
working at "the key" position, directing boats to either the north or south-loading
docks (by switching, you guessed it, a key). A boat comes around the bend
with a 30-something lady throwing up into the water.
It was kind of a hot day and about 30 minutes later another boat goes
by and a man reached into the water and rubbed it on his baby's face!
I almost threw up, myself.
I asked the man to not do that as the water was not treated for human
contact.
He said, "Why shouldn't I?"
I told him what happened earlier and he got very upset. That's only
one of the reasons we tell guests to keep their hands inside the boat.
Have a nice day, and go wash that baby's face!
Chris's Story
I worked for two years at Disneyland, from summer 1998 to summer 2000,
on the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
and also some guest control for "Fantasmic!" and parades.
For New Year's Eve 1998 (going into 1999) I was assigned to work at the
hub for guest control all night. Pretty cool place to work on New Year's
Eve as you are in the middle of all the fun all night long. Well, about
9:30 p.m., I watch as this couple comes up to the hub and as they are
walking by the man stops and gets down and one knee. He pulls out a poem
and read it aloud to her.
She bursts into tears as he asks her to marry him, right there at the
hub on New Year's Eve, and I got a chance to witness it all.
Disneyland gets very crowded over New Year's, including the Central Plaza
hub, located in the middle of the park and the center of all activity.
Mouseplanet file photo.
We congratulated them and then I asked my manager if I would be all right
if we went and got this framed for them.
We went over to the Photo Depot on Main Street and had the poem framed
for them (for free!) as a memory of their magical night and a start to
a wonderful life together. It was just another great experience working
at the Magic Kingdom.
Our Ears Are Open
These stories are just a small sample of the thousands that come out of
the parks everyday. If you are a CM who wants to share a story about a guest—or
a guest who'd like to share a story about a CM, drop
us a line!
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Are you a CM or a former CM? I would love to hear and share your stories! E-mail me! Stories and comments you submit become property of and may be published on this site; we normally don't publish last names of current CMs, but if you wish to remain anonymous altogether or do not want me to share your stories, please let me know when you e-mail me. — Shoshana NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in reader-contributed stories do not reflect those of Cast Place or MousePlanet. CM – Cast member; company lingo for “employee.” Empowerment Evolution – The 1995 attempt by newer park management to introduce modern accountability and market forces into the stodgy Disneyland methodology and power hierarchies. The name was meant to “empower” rank and file employees by removing layers of their management, though now there are more managers than ever. TPO – Theme Park Operations; the division of the Disneyland hierarchy that actually works in the theme park itself. TDA – Team Disney Anaheim; the name of the on-site administration building. Area manager – used to be responsible for an entire land, with all business divisions in the area reporting to him. Area supervisor – the immediate boss for location supervisors who divide up a department of intelligently grouped locations. The area supervisors in turn reported to the area manager. Nowadays all supervisors and area supervisors have been replaced by managers and assistant managers — the same idea, but smaller “business units" than a department; usually just one location in fact. RFT – “A” status; a full-time hourly employee. RPT – “B” status; an hourly employee five days a week but just not quite 40 hours usually. CR – “C” status; an hourly employee who works weekends year-round and five days a week during all school holiday periods (including summer and Christmas break). CT – a part-time hourly employee who works five days a week during all school holiday periods (including summer and Christmas break). No seniority, so shifts worked are usually quite short. Locate the employment center to fill out an application, and they will call you for an interview (dress nicely, just shy of an actual suit). Once there, follow these rules, in this order of importance: 1. Smile and be very friendly. They want outgoing people.
2. Do not let the group interview throw you off balance. They want outgoing people who can “perform” a little bit.
3. Do not worry about job (in)experience. They don't care. They want friendly people, not experienced and/or hardened people.
4. Do your best to convince them you already have a Disney attitude: you want to work with people, you're a team player, and you would consider this a dream job (however, don't overdo it on the crazy-Disney-fan side either). Strike a nice balance.
5. Did I mention the importance of a smile? 
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