Thursday, July 19, 2001
by Kevin Yee
Welcome to the Magic Kingdom of Disneyland.
We're sorry that the weather is not more pleasant, but you can still
find much to see and do here. All attractions that can be operated safely
will remain open for your enjoyment, along with our shops and restaurants.
The weatherman has a favorite saying: "Into every life a little
rain must fall," and it looks as though today is our day. Still,
we say, welcome to this happy place called Disneyland!
Have you ever been greeted by the "inclement weather" announcement at the main entrance to Disneyland? It's designed to put the visitor at ease — despite the poor weather, it's business as usual here at Disneyland. Rain, schmain, come on in and enjoy the park!
It feels like, um... rain!
Sounds simple enough. Only it's nowhere near "business as usual" for the cast and crew at the Magic Kingdom. The entire day is topsy-turvy for the folks who get their paychecks from the mouse. It starts, naturally enough, at home. Workers are required by contract to call their managers or schedulers when it's raining, or even threatening to rain, and see if their shifts have been cancelled. When it rains, you see, virtually every location is affected. Most cut staffing because there will be limited capacity, plus smaller crowds on rainy days. Some locations close altogether, and workers are called off. Those who fail to call in and verify their shifts run into the risk that they will arrive to find no one there — and they is no pay for that.
Once CMs arrive at the Resort, most will try to get rain gear issued to them from Costuming (this was in the days before Costuming was routinely closed on Wednesdays. I have no idea how they plan to deal with rain emergencies now). Rain gear consists of those translucent slickers with hoods, and is usually issued only to those folks who work outdoors constantly (such as Security, custodial, or ODV). Otherwise, Costuming runs out of the rain gear — there isn't enough to go around. Actually, they run out each time it rains anyway.
CMs now enter through Harbor Point and don't go through the old entrance, Harbor House. Coming in from Harbor House, CMs would pass by a giant "softcover" pipeline. This is an emergency water pump runoff, from Main Street all the way backstage to Harbor House, where it enters the sewer system directly. The pump system became necessary after an early 90s flood on Main Street, when torrential rains far exceeded the drainage capacity of the Main Street sewers, and water flowed over the curbs and into the shops.
French Market in the rain
That's right, the Disneyland sewer system is old and getting older and creakier all the time. Heavy rains, in particular, cause quite a lot of backup, resulting in some truly enormous puddles around some drainage spots. One such instance of poor drainage was directly behind my restaurant: the back entrance to Cafˇ Orleans is directly opposite the front entrance to the Blue Bayou. This is a heavily trafficked zone, even on rainy days; even moderate rains always, without fail, overload the storm drain here. The result is a giant puddle three or four inches deep, and wide enough to clog the street because no one can get through.
The solution? Send out a Cafe CM with a broom, who then pushes the water over to the next-closest storm drain, one that has no problems keeping up with even heavy rains. Pretty standard procedure, and something Custodial CMs have to do every time it rains.
But it wasn't standard for us restaurant types, and I don't know what it was about this particular job, but this was one of the most fun activities I ever did at work. Stupid, huh? It's pouring rain, I have no rain gear because the outdoor-types have taken all of them from Costuming, and I happily drop my Lead duties inside the restaurant in favor of pushing water around with a broom.
OK, so that's not a story particularly specific to Disneyland. Most of what we do in the event of rain isn't that special or different from the outside world. At the Cafˇ, we'd shake off the umbrellas that cover the tables (to get rid of the excess water), and if it stopped raining, we'd get out squeegees and towels and wipe down tables but especially seats. Days of alternating rain and sunshine are particularly frustrating for bussers. You'd get the patio ready for guests outside, and then it would rain and in two minutes wreck your work from the last half-hour.
A schematic of the Cafˇ Orleans Patio in 1990. Indoor dining areas are shown in yellow, including the serving line
There was a rain plan at the Cafˇ, just as there was for most food locations. The normal indoor capacity was 12 tables and 34 chairs, but when it started raining, tables were moved inside or bunched even closer under the awnings. The net result was a doubling of seats and tables inside, but at remarkably close quarters to one another. The French Market had an equally crazy rain plan: shut down one side of food service and drag tables into this serving area. That gets extremely hectic. The Blue Bayou, naturally, is unaffected by rain, as the entire operation is indoor.
Patio umbrellas and leaky cloth awnings did little against determined rains at Cafˇ Orleans
The biggest impact of rain at the Cafˇ, though, was certainly on the slippery tile which still exists as the indoor dining area's floor. While it might be pretty to look at, the tile is downright dangerous when wet. We'd lay out rain mats at the entrance, of course, but these were ineffective against a real storm (and were dangerous on their own, since they are stored rolled up and tried to roll up slightly once deployed, resulting in serious trip hazards).
Even small liquid spills on that treacherous tile caused accidents, and I mean during sunny daytimes too! I've seen Cast Members slip on single random pieces of ice, and go down. One incident in particular was funny to watch, in a callous slapstick sort of way. More serious was Angie's brush with a coffee spill. She had just returned to the "refill" stand with a full container of hot coffee, but slipped on some spilled coffee on the ground before she could put the container away. Not only did she slip, but she also spilled the scalding liquid on herself on the way down. That's not the worst part; she also fell face-first into the metal coffee container, so she cracked a tooth and had a terrible amount of pain from the whole incident. This marks one of the few times I've seen First Aid come out for one of our Cast Members on duty — they wheeled her away in a wheelchair over to First Aid. She really resisted that, as she was embarrassed to be in costume but taken onstage via wheelchair.
Is he the Morton's Fisherman, or Paddington Bear? You decide.
All this is but a taste of what goes on during inclement weather. We do our best to make it appear to be "business as usual," but as you can see, it's usually anything but normal. Guests might find themselves inconvenienced, yet I think that in this particular instance the CMs are even more inconvenienced than the guests are.
MousePlanet readers celebrate a rainy Mardi Gras
And for goodness' sake, watch your step the next time you're at the Disneyland Resort during rains. Accidents can and do happen at the Magic Kingdom, particularly during the wet season. If it gets a little too wet for you, just holler. I'll come over with my pushbroom and see if I can't help you out.
Next up: More from the Cast Member point of view
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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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