Tuesday, March 27, 2001
by Kevin Yee
There is a particular season in Disneyland when permanent employees can expect to be called upon to work longer hours, even during the middle of the week. That season, of course, is the Grad Nite season. Started in the 60s as a way for local schools to celebrate graduation, the program has lived on and expanded to many communities in the region, so much so that the "grad night" at Disneyland is sometimes not the graduation night at all; there are so many that they now have to be spread out over the course of several weeks.
A button from Grad Nite 1988. For most of its existence, Grad Nite has been associated with Winnie the Pooh, and most merchandise (this button notwithstanding) reflects the Pooh angle.
So everyone from full-time to part time (A's, B's and C's — see column to the right for definitions) can all expect to work Grad Nites, especially the CRs, since A's and B's typically work during that daytime. It's tough on the CRs, who as a group are usually full-time college students (the nearby Cal State Fullerton university is often known as Cal State Disney, since so many of the students work at the park. And vice versa).
Grad Nites are, you may remember from your own time as a student, starts late and lasts all night. This means that nobody gets sleep — neither the guests nor the Cast Members. Guests do try to sleep wherever they can, but mostly there is no place they can get any rest without disturbances.
But that's the end of the night. At the beginning, everyone is excited. In recent years, grads are released from their busses and herded backstage via cones, where they burst upon Disneyland as soon as it's fully cleared out from the day's business. The grads are excited, dressed up, and full of their respective hormones. There's quite a bit of whooping.
If they had their way about it, there would also be quite a bit of drinking! As reported in David Koenig's Mouse Tales, the quest to drink forms the primary effort of many a grad. I've never seen anyone hide the alcohol ahead of time in the park, but I've seen smuggled alcohol all right. The males are frisked on their way in, or at least they are if they appear to have bulges in the wrong place. Women, by virtue of their protected status in society, are not searched hardly at all, and this seems to be the source of most smuggled alcohol: girls' purses.
The actual nature of Grad Nite is just a night at Disneyland. There is nothing special about the rides, but at least they are 100% open! The restaurants do have a special menu, but this is a limitation rather than an expansion of the normal menu. Also, not every restaurant is open. Long experience has taught Disneyland that high school seniors have little use for menus beyond the fast food, so the few buffeterias which are open serve items not normally on the menu, such as cheese-covered potato skins or chicken strips.
More recent merchandise has downplayed the Pooh image.
The big difference is the entertainment. Each year brings a new headliner band or performer to perform at Videopolis (er, I mean the Fantasyland Theatre). 1988, the year I graduated was Samantha Fox. I neither worked nor attended my grad night, but she performed over the course of several nights, so I knew she would have been there for mine.
I even wandered over to see her briefly. I was in the completely wrong costume to be out in Fantasyland, but the whole night kind of a suspension of rules anyway, so I figured why not. It was surreal for some sexpot singer to be moaning "touch me!" at Disneyland, but maybe that was just me. 1988 was only 12 years ago, after all.
When I say the rules were suspended, I mean they were relaxed... but only for the CMs. The guests, which would quickly degenerate into fighting, drinking, and oversexed demons if given half a chance, had to be held on a short lease with all the rules fully intact. Which is not to say that entire boatloads of guests on Pirates of the Caribbean didn't stand up, because they did sometimes. But such behavior couldn't be tolerated without comment, lest it feed upon itself, so "too much fun" was instantly shut down wherever it was found.
Which is a pity, if you think about it. Grad Nite is fun, in a way. If, that is, staying awake the whole night is your thing. Still, there is something to be said for having experienced a dawn at the park, when the sun slowly pokes its head above Tomorrowland. If you've done so, you're part of a unique cadre — you've had an all-nighter at Disneyland!
Some groups manage to keep their energy level up all night (stupid eighteen-year-olds... I hate you all and want that age back). For most, though, the enthusiasm dies down slowly as the night grinds on. Sure it's fun to up past midnight (ooo! no parents!) and the fun never seems to stop. But unlimited quantities of fun, like shrimp scampi, sounds better than it actually is, as two o'clock gives way to three, and that long interminable stretch of time between four and five drags on and on. This is the time folks try to sleep in various places. By normal rules, they aren't allowed to do so, especially if it's someplace where they are a danger to themselves or others (such as walkways). There's a lot of gentle prodding.
You'd like to go back to the bus and sleep, would you? Sorry, can't let you out. You have to stay inside the gates until dawn or whatever time of day is agreed upon. Even if we did let you out, you can't get in the bus, because the bus driver is either somewhere in Disneyland fighting off sleep himself, or else he arranged to go home and come back later to pick you up. You wouldn't be able to get into your bus! Welcome to the Disneyland Penitentiary!
I should say a word or two about those busses. As mentioned before, Grad Nite is no longer just one night but a whole series of them, because so many schools take part. The schools that attend come from — get this — out of state sometimes, though most are from the Greater LA basin and San Diego. Back when Disneyland had a surface lot, most of the Bambi section was taken over by school busses. That was kind of fun to see, if a bit foreboding (since if you saw it, that probably meant you were on your way into work and you were forcibly reminded that you had to stay awake all night for these folks).
How do Cast Members fight off the sleep? Well, yeah, the standard tricks: caffeine and high spirits. It's probably easier on the CMs than on the guests, though, for a few reasons. First, you're working and you just have to stay focused, since that's your job. Second, it's work, which is usually physical, and that occupies your mind. Lastly, if you're working one Grad Nite, then it's probably not your first and probably not your last, so you're a bit used to this. I know of no particular hijinks that go on during Grad Nites, but in my experience most rules are bit more lax. Longer breaks? Well, why not... we're all forced to stay awake for crying out loud. We deserve it.
Grad Nites are tiresome, bloated affairs that ultimately are pregnant with more promise than they deliver. For all that, however, I think it's a tradition worth keeping. Many guests find it an experience that stays etched in their memory for a lifetime. After all, it's an overnighter at Disneyland. A chance to "misbehave" and break the bedtime curfew, be with friends for one final blast before leaving high school, and, oh yes: it is Disneyland — a kingdom known to engender a dream or two.
Wouldn't you like to spend a night at Disneyland? I'll bet some of you have! Care to share?
Next up: "Turbo" Closes
|
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? 
|
