Wednesday, May 15, 2002
by Kevin Yee
I know what you're thinking. You're wondering what in the world I've been up to, and why there has been no Cast Place update since August 2001 (well, either that or you're new to MousePlanet, and you are wondering who I am and why I'm pretending to read minds. You new folks can always read the articles in the Cast Place archives to view those older articles on cast member life and memories).
Truth is, I've just been giving Cast Place a break, tidying up my notes, working on developing some other sections to MousePlanet, and recharging in general. Lest you fear that I am running out of ideas, you should know that I have a list in front of me covering several dozen topics and stories, so you may be seeing Cast Place columns for years!
An awful lot has happened in the nine months since I last updated Cast Place. Clearly, the most influential has been the September 11 attacks and the changes brought about by them. The heightened security around the resort has had a number of effects for rank-and-file cast members (CMs), as you can imagine.
It used to be that CMs could drive their cars directly into the Katella Cast Member Lot (KCML) on the strength of their parking sticker alone; now they must also show their ID to enter the lot. Once on board a shuttle, they are driven to a new area to unload. What's this all about? It has to do with the entry points into the resort. The shuttles used to enter the same driveway near Harbor House that for years was the employee entrance. However, because this is one of those relatively unguarded pathways into the back areas of Disneyland, management reasoned that a suicide bomber would have no problem driving through here and ramming Space Mountain or even driving down Main Street.
As a result, this time-honored driveway had to be closed off and barricaded (first by rental Ryder trucks, and now, amusingly, by the orange omnibuses built and used only briefly to transport park guests from the hotels to the Mickey and Friends parking structure).
Cast members, denied entry to the original load/dropoff point, were routed outside the fence — they now exit the shuttle--or line up to get on--in the hotel shuttle area, in plain view of guests, before they go through the fence and on toward Harbor Pointe. Although this is an imperfect solution, a messy security situation left few workable options.
New security is hardly the only change in the last nine months at the resort. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll never get through all these. There are five billion things to mention. I'll just have to list the biggest changes, and try to keep my comments brief:
— Shortly after I stopped updating in 2001, the older WDW-based Employee Time Recording System (ETRS) underwent an update. For those who know, or care, AJ became A5 and SA scheduling turned into S7.
— All scheduling units started used the GEMS system, which David Koenig has detailed in several of his excellent columns.
— The holdout departments have all joined the centralized Cast Scheduling system, so that virtually all scheduling of hourly CMs is now done under one rather cramped, overworked, and hectic roof.
— Similarly, more and more "business units" (couldn't they just call them departments?) have adopted the FastTrack "take your costume home with you" system, which naturally means fewer folks use full-time lockers, using day lockers in the fairly new H5 costuming building instead. These folks get their clean costumes via the ...
Disneyland costuming building
— ... Costume Shopping system (also documented by David Koenig), under which CMs have to hunt for and select their own costume pieces rather than be "served" by a Costuming CM as had been the case previously. Cynics might point to a desire to save labor, and that might even be true, but by many accounts the system has its advantages. I can testify that in my day, there were often times when I needed one size and had to settle for something else; Costume Shopping would have streamlined the back-and-forth process quite a bit.
-Cast members were granted a surprise last year: their Main Gate pass, a card that can be stamped 12 times in a year to admit three guests per occasion, had its privileges suddenly expanded to 16 uses a year. The 2002 pass even contained 16 slots — the change is apparently permanent.
— Despite a near-brush with a strike from the Foods Union (H.E.R.E. Local 681, my old union), Disneyland signed a contract everyone could apparently live with. If I remember correctly, Master Services (the attractions people) also had a successful contract renewal recently.
— The Cast Blast party returned (last seen at the Tomorrowland 1998 preview, I believe). This is something of a park-wide party for the CMs, as simple as that. The 2001 event was held at Disney's California Adventure (DCA), where apparently the Outdoor Vending (ODV) carts were dispensing free drinks and snacks. A second day of the Cast Blast featured a convention-type display of departmental/divisional booths. CMs also got to view the upcoming new Space Mountain sleds, and the Tower of Terror and Bug Land proposals before anyone else.
— Another CM event took place in December: the annual Disney Family Christmas Party. Nothing all that unusual by most accounts. Free photos with your favorite character, as usual, and the customary complimentary ornament on your way out.
— The CM store, Company D, moved to an off-site location slightly away from the resort, and began having super-sales on an alarmingly regular basis. Why alarming? Well, they had a lot of merchandise to get rid of, most of it, sadly, DCA-related.
— More recently, the annual lost-and-found sale took place, where CMs got first crack at an auction for unclaimed items from the Lost and Found facility.
— And very recently, there was another Flashback, an annual CM variety and talent show, as well as another Minnie's Moonlit Madness--a trivia and clue hunt, this year in DCA. Minnie's Moonlit Madness is, by the way, the inspiration for our own MouseAdventure event, which is happening next week. Unlike Minnie's Moonlit Madness however, ours is open to the public.
We will resume our steady diet of cast member stories in the coming weeks. But first, I expect a flood of letters from you folks, with corrections, additions, abuse, and love. Don't disappoint me!
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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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