Wednesday, July 31, 2002
by Kevin Yee
Back in the day, Disneyland (how nice to say that — no "Disneyland Park" or "Disneyland Resort" — just "Disneyland") used to sponsor trips up to Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) and Walt Disney Studios for current Disneyland cast members. Nothing much was required; you just registered for it — I think via phone — and then showed up on the appropriate day. The tour itself was free. They had a few of these a year and would advertise the upcoming dates for it in the Disneyland Line, the employee newsletter.
We're talking about guided tours here, since in theory in those days any DL CM could show up at the Studios or WDI and gain admission with his/her Disneyland ID, and move around unescorted. Not that it was encouraged, mind you, but it was theoretically possible.
The Walt Disney Studios are in Burbank, directly along freeway 134. On the Studio tour, we walked around quite a bit and saw many of the buildings from the outside, but most of what I remember was standing outside most of them and learning how they work. The Ink & Paint building, if I recall correctly, is linked to the animation building via underground tunnel. Or was it the In-Betweeners building? Had something to do with not exposing the freshly painted cels to sunlight and thus heat, I think.
At any rate, we heard a lot about the history of the Studio (for example, it was built using the money from Snow White's success, and the government took over most of it in WWII when they feared Japanese invasion of the California coast) and toured only very briefly into actual working areas. These must not have been very memorable, since I don't remember them 14 years later. I do recall seeing the giant wardrobe and enormous property rooms for the studio, and I think we popped into a soundstage at some point as well. Nothing too remarkable.
I did learn more about animation than I knew prior to the trip. I recall being amazed that the animators only really drew some of the key moments in the motion, and that in-betweeners would go in and create drawings "in between" the animators' drawings that connected them up and made the motion seamless. That kind of amazed me. Doesn't it imply that the unsung, usually nameless in-betweeners were every bit as talented as the highly paid animators themselves? Of course, it was the animators who created the character and decided on what the action would be; the in-betweeners just filled in the blanks, so to speak.
It was further eye-opening to learn that Ink & Paint existed as its own department because the animators' drawings were uncolored. I began to wonder at this point exactly what it was that animators did. Someone else fleshed out their motion, and here was a third party also painting everything for them. Naturally, I don't think that any more; I was but 18 at the time and didn't fully appreciate the creative work involved in an animator's job. But I retain the respect for the Ink & Paint work that I learned about on this tour, as well as the in-betweeners. Not to mention that I was tickled to learn that Disneyland's CM eatery, the Inn-Between, is actually an animation term and not just a play on words of the Plaza Inn (the building it sits behind).
We dropped by the Commissary for lunch. This was long before Disney bought Capitol Cities/ABC, so I was suitably starstruck when our guide mentioned some of the luminaries who frequently dined there. After all, I thought, wasn't Disney all about animated movies, which usually lack star wattage? [This was early 1988, and thus before Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid, and even Oliver & Company.] Nowadays even the animated features include well-known actors and actresses, but this was less so the case in earlier films. But what I had forgotten was that Disney also did live-action films. Touchstone was still fairly new at this time, and the "Silver Screen Partners" production deals were generating quite a lot of work for live-action features. Bette Midler was said to be around a lot, and in fact we got to see director John Landis eating at the commissary.
We popped in briefly to see the Walt Disney Archives and the well-known archivist David Smith who runs it. In fact, Dave Smith gave the Archives life. Back in 1972 he approached Disney about organizing their materials. Incredibly, before this there was no organization to their libraries and collections, though obviously some stuff had been saved.
Dave showed us a valuable 1955 Opening Day ticket to Disneyland, and mentioned that he showed it to all Disneyland groups. I don't recall most of the other items he showed us, but I do remember the collection being incredibly diverse: a Mickey Mouse tin from the 1930s, a Disneyland wall pennant from the '70s, a book on Disney movies. Dave stressed that they don't try to save everything at the archives, because they would quickly get overwhelmed. Instead, they try to create a representative collection of materials from given years, events, movies, and parks. Aspiring job hunters take note: Dave only hires someone with a master of library and information science (MLIS) degree, and as a rule they don't hire anyone who is a Disney fan — too much temptation to steal something valuable.
Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) is in a different city than the Studios, which has less to do with running out of space than it did with Disneyland's construction. When Walt pulled more and more of his creative Studio workers to the theme park project, the unions complained and Walt decided it would be simpler to move the project off-site and permanently reassign some of his most talented folks. So WDI exists now in Glendale, near Interstate 5 and Griffith Park (the same Griffith Park that housed the carousel that inspired Disneyland in the first place. And yes, the carousel is still there).
The Imagineering complex was so much fun to visit. The first thing I saw in the lobby was a model of Space Mountain Anaheim in a glass table, and it impressed me to no end. When it showed up at the Disneyland Gallery several years later (shown below), I took pride in regarding it as old news. But back then, I was awed and couldn't get enough of staring at it.
Our guide here told us his name, but it wasn't until much later I learned that it was Jeff Kurtti, whose name might be familiar to many of you as the author of several Disney books (lately he's been doing "The Art of" books for recent Disney films).
We were guided through buildings dedicated to show production, and I was flabbergasted that the entire place was peppered with props, models, signs, and maquettes (sculpted miniatures). Whereas the Studios was dedicated to Disney movies, WDI is dedicated to Disney theme parks — and I knew which one attracted my attention more!
Most of the actual offices and working spaces were unremarkable aside from the amazing props and models lying about. A cubicle is a cubicle, after all. But WDI also boasts roomfuls and sometimes entire buildings full of models. Scale models. Sometimes of entire parks! Back then EPCOT was only 6 years old, and the Disney/MGM Studios was a year away from completion, so guess what we had a look at? Such huge projects require an enormous amount of working space. Tokyo DisneySea, for example, recently occupied an entire building, with conceptual artwork taking up half the floor and all the walls. And in the center: an enormous scale model of the entire park perhaps 20 feet in length. Naturally, in 1988 this wasn't there for us to see. But I know what I'd buy with a million dollars, assuming I was lucky enough that they decided to sell it (fat chance) or that I'd have the luck to discover it on Ebay before it was too late.
One other area we looked at was MAPO, which in those days was housed on-site with WDI (I think it's moved since then). MAPO stood ostensibly for something to do with "manufacture" and "production," but the symbols really came about because of MAry POppins. This was where the one-of-a-kind designs for rides, vehicles, props, and Audio Animatronics came to manufactured life. Most of WDI is given over to concepts and design, but in this corner things were actually being built. On the day we visited, the area was a hotbed of activity, though none of it stands out in memory now.
So much has changed. Disneyland no longer offers tours of WDI or the Studios. Excuse me, that should read "Disneyland Resort." And DL CMs are no longer welcome to simply arrive at the gates of either facility with ID in hand and expect to be welcome: one needs a purpose to be there (this was true even before September 11 and the heightened security that followed). In a way, such changes are reflective of the company over the past 14 years, when Disney started to become hyperprofitable and created movies and theme parks at a frenetic pace. It's not a small family anymore, and some of the little touches that were the hallmarks of Walt's extended family have been stripped away.
It's too bad. I'll bet there's an Autopia CM right now who would love to learn what the Ink & Paint department does (or at least what they used to do. Nowadays computers do the painting and even the in-betweening). Or how about that Village Haus cashier who would thrill at the chance to see the MAPO production unit? CMs of all jobs would benefit from the chance to pursue their interest in Disney — when their enthusiasm is encouraged, it shines through to the guests they interact with. The magic, in other words, feeds upon itself.
And isn't that what the company is all about?
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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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