The Cast Member Christmas Party

Friday, July 28, 2000
by Kevin Yee

Each year at Disneyland, a longstanding tradition helps thank the Cast Members. The only parkwide party held annually, the Christmas party is memorable for many reasons. It's one of the "lesser" perks, arguably, because Cast Members can get into Disneyland free all the time anyway, but this really is special for a number of reasons. Let's start at the beginning.

Disney Family Christmas Party ticket
Artwork and logo © Disney

If you have dependents (children), however many you have determines how many tickets you get to attend the Xmas party. If you're single with no dependents, as most CMs are, you can invite one guest.

About a month or so before the event, notices for it start to show up in the company newsletter, the Disneyland Line (and presumably in the Studio and Imagineering newsletters as well). Typically there are two nights to choose from, as the event happens not once, but twice. This way, everyone has a chance to visit on one of the nights while others work, then it switches and you'll have to work while others visit!

It's not that neat in real life, of course. I've known people who worked both (but usually because they chose to), and plenty of folks who worked neither. There are extra staff available, you see, for on this night, things are different.

How? Try this on for size: the Imagineers and Studio Cast Members also have the "privilege" of working at Disneyland for a day. Yep, engineers and draftsmen, sketch artists and programmers, financial analysts and executives all suit up and take their turn pouring cokes, dispatching Snow White cars, or herding the unruly crowd away from the parade route.

The jury is out on whether this qualifies as a "fun" activity for them. For some, it does. Isn't it heaven to work in Disneyland for just one day? For others, it's torture and gratefully appears only once every twelve months.

The result of these non-theme-park employees is that grooming standards are relaxed for the night. You might get served your food by someone with a full beard, which in the days before the new mustache-allowed policy was shocking indeed.

Usually I worked the first night of the event and then attended as a Guest on the second night. The events happen in the early parts of December, when the Park is normally scheduled to close at 6:00 p.m., so there is plenty of time to have a private party.

The staffing, as I say, is just plain odd on Christmas Parties. You'd have half of the normal Cast Members for that location there, which is in itself enough to run the place and then some. Plus you'd have oodles of Imagineers and Studio people, scheduled just to help out.

Note: I'm pretty sure they don't get to work complex attractions such as Indy or Space Mountain... the amount of training needed to guarantee safety (not to mention efficiency) is just too great. So most of them end up in Foods or Guest Control or maybe Merchandise.

Incidentally, some of them really do get to work the attractions if they know how. Master Disneyland engineer Bob Gurr got to operate the Casey Jr. train, with which of course he had experience. WDI president Marty Sklar used to claim the Main Street Vehicles for himself, as these require basically no additional training, and are quite a bit of fun. Besides, that way Marty can be visible to the masses.

The result is a staggering amount of people scheduled to work for the evening. Maybe they've fixed that by now, but in those days we partnered up the regular CMs with the Studio/WDI helpers, so they learned what to do, and then just let the rest of them go home early, which many were happy to do. This is a school night, after all. And there were tons of folks to help.

It's odd in other ways, too. Since all the Guests in the park are in fact part of the Disney Family (hence the name Disney Family Christmas Party), some of the rules of acceptable onstage behavior are bent for one night. Get a visit from a friend at your location? That's OK, go ahead and take a few minutes to chat with them while others work. Want to sit down outside with them briefly? That's OK too.

Time for your break? Go ahead and buy your food and sit down outside with your friends in the outdoor patio. No need to remove your nametag, we're all family here. Back when you could smoke anywhere, you were allowed to light up in costume and onstage also.

The resulting picture is just... bizarre. I've seen CMs in costume eat / drink / smoke, of course, but not with the background of an onstage Disneyland. Weird. It's not quite so bad that Snow White is smoking while talking to kids, but having CMs ride attractions or eat onstage is odd indeed.

Let's take a tour of typical night spent at the Christmas Party from the point of view of a Guest, shall we?

You get your ticket from a TEAM center, such as the nearest employee store on site. Your ticket includes admission for you and a Guest, or however many dependents you have.

The flyer which comes with your ticket tells you where and when to park, and asks that you please bring a new, unwrapped toy as a donation to a local charity — usually Toys for Tots or something for children. This is a nice touch.

The natural inclination is to park in the employee lot, since that's how you get to Disneyland all the time. Reminders abound not to do that on the night you'll be visiting DL, so that there is enough parking for those who will be working that night. So in the normal Guest entrance you go. Flash your CM ID, no need to pay.

Make your way over to the Main Gate and once inside you'll find the enormous wagons they have set up by the floral Mickey for the toys. I usually stopped by Toys-R-Us on the way over and had my gift ready. Usually something of around $5 value is enough.

After the initial shock of seeing mustaches and beards on the CMs, you quickly settle into a routine of just enjoying Disneyland like normal. Since everything is so informal anyway, many of the CMs are in a merry mood and in general it's just a fun time for everyone. It's Christmas, after all!

Christmas Party picture in its own little folder
Artwork and logo © Disney

There are photo locations scattered throughout the park. With each ticket you get a complimentary photo with a character, just a basic Polaroid. Since there is only one ticket for me and my Guest, inevitably one of us didn't get the picture. I wish they would change that. Where's that holiday cheer? Isn't it the season for GIVING?

At least the food is discounted. Hot dogs and so forth for much cheaper. Not every food location is open, but really, they don't need to be. Popcorn is also dirt cheap (in the late 80s it was just 25 cents a box).

Recently the Event also serves as a chance for DL to do a little Merchandise house-cleaning. The Lincoln Theater on Main Street has a CM-only sale, with items 50% off the listed price. Sounds cheesy, but I actually enjoy doing a little shopping here, and to judge by the mobs of people, I'm not the only one.

Before 1995, this was strictly a Disney-brand affair. Disneyland Park, Studios, and Imagineers constituted the core of the visitors. Since CapCities / ABC joined, however, the amount of local employees around to enjoy the Christmas party ballooned tremendously. Instead of being a night with very few lines in the park, which it had been, it became a night with normal-sized business. Perhaps even a bit more, and some of the magic of a slow, lazy family Christmas party went by the wayside, sadly. Corporate Disney rears its head even here.

Disneyland's Gift to us: a free tree ornament
Artwork and logo © Disney

On your way out you get a nice gift: a Disney-themed Christmas Tree Ornament with lettering and dates specific to this event. Though it's a nice touch, it's little more than a keepsake, since these are not expensive ornaments. Cheaply built, it's actually little more than a lightweight standard white ornament with a clear plastic band around it. On the band is the printed Disney character and the date. At least it's in color, I suppose. Another bonus: here each person gets an ornament, not just one per ticket holder.

All in all, it's worth the five dollars I spent on the toy. I get the satisfaction of helping a charity, a fun night at Disneyland, a free picture, and a free ornament.

I know several Cast Members who no longer visit Disneyland as a Guest except on these Cast-only nights. They are a bit special in that regard, too.

A 1995 Christmas ribbon, and the Company Christmas card from 1988
Artwork © Disney.

Disneyland really celebrates the holiday season. Cast Members get two free complimentary passes to use whenever they want, though these passes do carry an expiration date on them (years ago, they never expired). And Michael Eisner sends out a holiday greeting card.

Seasonal button given out on Christmas itself
Artwork © Disney

Merry Christmas to you! Here's hoping the next few months zoom by and we can all celebrate the arrival of the holiday season for real soon enough!

TALK STORY!

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?

Special Thanks to Jason, as always, for the use of his images.