Wednesday, November 1, 2000
by Kevin Yee
Cast Members who make it to their one-year anniversary (dated from when they turned permanent — CR or higher) receive a special bronze Steamboat Mickey pin that they can put in their nametags. It shows distinction!
At the five year point, CMs receive another such pin, this time with Donald on it. Even better, they get a free meal out of it! There is an awards banquet once a year (or is it twice?) for the recent 5-year honorees. My year was to have had its banquet in Aladdin's Oasis, but unfortunately I had to work and they couldn't change me out of it. Raw deal! Supposedly it's your basic ceremony with inspiring speeches and a free meal.
The real deal comes for those who make it to ten years. At the 10-year point, and at the 15, 20, 25 (and so on), there is a much more elaborate celebration. They have to put it on annually of course, since people reach their milestones on a "rolling" basis.
The year which would have been mine had I stayed — 1998 — I got to attend anyway, as the guest of a friend. Here indeed was a consequence greatly to be desired!
You dress up, and arrive at the Disneyland Hotel ballrooms — well known to me by now from the various Lead Events and other functions they put on over there.
As you enter the area, you are greeted by none other than the Disneyland President — this is how I got that picture you see on my index page, with Paul Pressler, then President of the Park. Mickey was there too, but I wanted a picture with Paul instead. Nice man. This was a nice touch.
You can mill about the outer hall and marvel at the actual awards. One year and five year recipients get pins, but ten years and beyond get something more substantial. Ten years is a plaque nicely set on heavy stained wood, and fifteen years and beyond is a five-inch bronze sculpture. Each five-year increment is a different sculpture, but they usually revolve around Walt or Mickey or Tinkerbelle or some such Disney character. All these awards to be handed out tonight are sitting on a table in the hallway.
There's appetizers to be eaten, and yes, the cash bar is already open. You can bet I'm digging into that!
After a too-long wait they let us inside the ballroom. Let me paint the scene. On either end are cash bars — always necessary for a good party. Along the north wall is a castle backdrop, fairly large, which later will be used to take pictures of the entire group of 5-year veterans, then 10-year, and so on.
Note the live orchestra band, the Mickey light projections, and the castle backdrop.
Off to the left side are food tables (I guess some of those were off to the right also) and the Cinderella coach they use for formal weddings. This was fun to sit in — when would I ever have the chance again?
I seem to recall the standard games here — a velcro wall, human gyroscope, and so on. But it could be I'm mixing up parties, since the ballroom doesn't have room for all that. Does it?
One side of the room had the wedding coach there for us to sit on and ogle over. Neat isn't it? I figured, what the heck, might as well see if it's comfortable... not going to get another chance!
Wedding Coach.
There's alot of face and name recognition going on — by this point, the old faces in the park certainly look familiar. Among your friends there's a good amount of backslapping, but also some wry acknowledgement that we've all become "lifers" by this point. On that there is naturally some resistance by some people <grin>.
The actual awarding takes place via the park's highest officials, and they hand you your plaque / sculpture on stage. Then, as noted, entire "classes" go take a group picture at the castle backdrop. As you can imagine, the groups get smaller for each succeeding five year jump. The applause gets longer too.
Afterward, a very nice touch: the odd looking cutouts on stage turned out to be hiding an actual orchestra, hiding behind a curtain. Start the fog machines, strike up the band, and WAIT WHAT'S THIS? Jodi Benson — the Little Mermaid herself — is here to sing for us? Heavenly.
Jodi Benson, the Little Mermaid herself.
Big band dancing, much drinking, and merriment for all thusly ensued. What a great event. Classy all around — Disneyland is right on the money to honor their committed CMs in such a manner. BRAVO!
Princes and Princesses joined in the dancing.
Next up: The "Backstage Magic" Private Party
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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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