Friday, June 9, 2000
by Kevin Yee
One of the best things about being
a Cast Member, apart from the bragging rights this grants you for the
rest of your life, is the ability and indeed sometimes requirement for
Cast Members to help test out new attractions and preview new restaurants.
There are CMs even now, as we speak, testing out rides at Disney's California
Adventure. They're doing Mulholland Madness and the Limo ride first, at
least as far as I know.
Cast Members, of course, are almost always by definition Disney fans,
and specifically fans of the Disney theme parks. So they are naturally
very excited by new rides being built, and we have the extra added benefit
that we see the construction proceed step-by-step. How could we not? We're
at Disneyland every week! So the anticipation builds, and the CM level
of expectation rises correspondingly. This makes us a tough audience to
impress.
CMs are a tough audience for another very simple reason: since we get
free admission to Disneyland whenever we want, we get real used to the
rides. In a way, we know exactly what feels like a Disney ride, because
we're so familiar with the rides already present. The magic wears off,
and it's that much harder for a new attraction to catch our fancy.
Splash Mountain under construction.
I've seen several rides built and tested. The one that sticks out most
in my mind is Splash Mountain, constructed throughout 1988 and early 1989.
The ride, as you may know, fell hugely behind schedule and we used to
joke that they should tear down the parts they've built, throw up some
pine trees, and voila! you've got Bear Country again.
More Splash Mountain under Construction.
Eventually they got it working, after a fashion. So we got a call that
it was okay to go ride the mountain in our costumes, during work hours.
Technically this was supposed to be done while we had a break, but I know
of at least two leads who spent the better part of their shift just riding
the ride.
Oh, what joy the ride was back then. Of course we were dazzled by it,
but the real attraction was the big drop. Because, you see, the drop was
different back then; the angle of entry and the volume of water at the
bottom both conspired to get the riders 100% soaked. I mean all the way
to the bone! Did you ever see the commercials for Splash Mountain on TV?
The footage they used of the splashdown was taken of that original drop,
where water just leaps out in all directions, hits the tunnel ceiling
and walls, and ricochets back to the log. Several times we'd have to do
a costume change after riding, before returning to work.
Dave in particular enjoyed Splash Mountain. He was a lead in the Royal
Street Veranda, which in those days was much slower and his position was
sort of unnecessary. He went AWOL for several hours one day, just riding
Splash over and over again. I was jealous.
The show elements were not 100% in
place yet; for example, the Brer Rabbit laughing as Brer Bear
sticks his nose into bees (and his butt into our faces) was not yet covered
by foliage and his animatronic bottom half was exposed. He's just a half-figure
anyway, but this was really obvious. Seeing that during testing drew my
attention to it, so I see all its flaws now when I ride, even though it's
more hidden. Same thing for the speakers behind the cranes in the laughing
place — those are better-hidden now, but I still notice them because they
were even more exposed during testing.
Another thing that's gone now — it changed just before the ride opened — is the song by the mother rabbit to her children (it's also sung by
the mother possum). The song nowadays is ominous (which is the whole point),
but the original song was sad. Called "Burrow's Lament," you can still
hear an orchestrated version of it in the Critter Country area music (the
lyrics included: "sooner or later that rabbit is gonna come home... he's
learned his lesson well").
Also neat was the way we got to ride during the testing; we'd enter
through the back show building, go behind the sets and witness the ugly,
unpainted stucco interior, navigate metallic stairways, and end up at
the queue near the singing rabbit. Since there was no line, we could cross
over the bridge to re-ride if we wanted to. I do remember the unpainted
interior though. White stucco, and very odd to see, since everything at
DL is otherwise presented so completely. It really reminds you that these
things are sets when viewed from "onstage."
Harbour Galley Restaurant.
Part of the new Critter Country was
the restaurant in Fowler's Harbour. They offered a competition
among Cast Members to name the restaurant, which was a nice touch. Knowing
that Splash Mountain would be themed to Song of the South, I studied the
movie and decided to submit "Brer Frog's Fishin' Hole" but to my great
astonishment, I didn't win. My friends Dawson and Dave suggested "Dawson
and Dave's" but that, too, failed to amaze the judges. Harbour Galley
still seems too pedestrian to me. CMs always get to test the new food
first, usually while the park is open and at reduced prices. I got to
do this for Harbour Galley but just missed doing it for Redd Rockett's
Pizza Port.
Easily the best guinea-pig experience
was the 1992 premiere of Fantasmic! The entire Cast was invited
to a single show on a weeknight, and we had little idea of what the show
actually was. We'd know that it was originally called "Imagination" — the trailers behind the Haunted Mansion, where they developed the show — had that name plastered across them — but we didn't know what was in
the show. I think I sort of knew there were water screens, a new technology
at the time.
Naturally the giant viewing area (this was in the days before they razed
the New Orleans Esplanade and reconstructed it into terraces) was largely
empty... and I, just like every person who witnesses Fantasmic for the
first time, was simply awestruck. I couldn't believe how good this show
was. The feeling of unreality washed over me several times, and I actually
came close to tears with the rousing finale. The show was pretty much
intact and not much is different from the real show the public soon saw;
but the one thing I know is different is that the cannon on the Columbia
was toned down (less gunpowder?) It was about twice as loud when I heard
it, and of course I jumped out of my skin. I heard that cannon a lot (roughly
900 of the first 1,000 shows) and I'm positive that it was louder on premiere
night. Maybe they got complaints.
We got to test CarToon Spin over in Toontown when that opened in 1993;
though that was more like a preview. The ride now is the same, as far
as I can determine. There were no bugs to work out of that one. Interestingly
enough, they tested that ride by temporarily installing a Teacup in the
Haunted Mansion, to see if the technologies were compatible (they were),
but that didn't involve us hourly CMs at all.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye was a different matter
altogether. As rough and violent as it is now, it was much, MUCH worse
when we did the CM-testing back in 1995. I loved it! I was blown away
by how rough the ride was. It didn't bother me; it made the ride that
much more realistic. They toned it down quite a bit before the public
ever saw it.
At the other end of an attraction's
lifespan, CMs get to bid attractions adieu just before they close.
Attractions CMs get the final ride on the closing day and in the final
hour. Recent examples have included the Submarine Voyage and the pre-rehab
Autopia, but this is a long-standing tradition.
CMs everywhere probably count the guinea pig rides as some of their
fondest and most enduring Disney memories. It gives us something to brag
about!
Next up: Perks, Privileges, and Benefits
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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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