Are the people in World Showcase really from the countries they represent?

[agame2323]

My friend seems to think they are paid actors. Claiming he "had a conversation" with a Dutch (or actress pretending to be Dutch) woman working the beer stand in Germany. And she "told" him she was really from Houston and was looking to jump start her acting career.

Mind you....this was the same person who told me no one could produce a picture of the Lion in the Animal Kingdom Safari moving or walking around because it was a "fake"

 

[plutolovr]

Well, right away his story is flawed because why would someone who is Dutch be working in the Germany pavilion???

And to answer your question, yes, most if not all the Castmembers working in World Showcase are from the country they represent. They are part of the International Program and come here to work for a year.

 

[Twitter]

I can only speak for the CM we met in Germany and she was really from Germany. I knew her hometown and we had a very nice conversation.

 

[Berlioz70]

Just as Pluto said... the vast majority are from said country... but performers are not.

For example, most of the belly dancers are not really from Morocco (though one is), the performers at UK are not really from the UK, etc.

Additionaly, many of the restaurants are not operated by Disney, they are third party restaurants that hire their own Employees, but still most of from the country. Those restaurants include: Chefs de France, Bistro, La Hacienda, San Angel, Nine Dragons, Teppan Edo, Tokyo Dining, Restaurant Marrakesh, Tutto Itiliana, and Via Napoli.

 

[chalee94]

Well, right away his story is flawed because why would someone who is Dutch be working in the Germany pavilion???

Chandler: Hey Joey, where do Dutch people come from?
Joey: Uh... well the Pennsylvania Dutch come from Pennsylvania.
Chandler: and the other Dutch come from...somewhere near the Netherlands, right?
Joey: Nice try, see the "Netherlands' is this make-believe place where Peter Pan and Tinkerbell come from.

 

[TDC Nala]

Some of them are - Disney does hire young people from the host countries on one-year work visas - but not all of them. They don't hire enough of them to do every job, and they only stay a year on their contracts. You can find regular Disney employees in WS, college program employees, Equity actors (who would be in the shows and not serving beer at the kiosks), performers under contract (like bands) and the character performers who are in a different union.

Kilmanjaro Safaris does have a fake baby elephant at the end of the ride, but the lions are not fake, they just sleep a lot.

 

[PoohsFan1]

As the PP said, the CMs that work in WS are really from the country they are working in. They are actually known as ambassadors of the countries. As for the OPs friend referring to Kilamonjaro Safari as having fake animals, I am wondering if the friend was confusing it with the Jungle Cruise in MK .

 

[recmouse]

Chandler: Hey Joey, where do Dutch people come from?
Joey: Uh... well the Pennsylvania Dutch come from Pennsylvania.
Chandler: and the other Dutch come from...somewhere near the Netherlands, right?
Joey: Nice try, see the "Netherlands' is this make-believe place where Peter Pan and Tinkerbell come from.

Love it!

 

[WDSearcher]

While it is true that Disney populates World Showcase with as many people from the represented countries as they can, it is also quite possible that your friend DID meet a Dutch girl from Houston who came to Disney to jump-start her acting career.

Disney auditions thousands of people every year for the singer, dancer, actor and Character jobs on property, and it's not uncommon for someone to move to Central Florida specifically to get that Disney performing credit on their resume. If they don't get chosen for a performing gig, many of them will take any job offered so that they can stay local and keep auditioning.

So ... it's entirely possible that your friend met a woman of Dutch heritage who used to live in Houston and came to Disney to be a performer and then, when she wasn't hired as an actress, she took a food service job in order to stay with Disney until she could audition again.

Or ... she could have been totally playing him.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

All of the CMs I came into contact with in the France area were actually from France. Some of them had such thick French accents you couldn't hardly understand what they were saying.

I walked into the wine shop to ask them where the closest bathroom was and she was trying to tell me to go back out and go to the right and right before you get to Morocco there is a bathroom.

I didn't really understand her and I guess the other guy saw my dumbfounded look on my face and repeated what she said in a much less heavy French accent and I was embarrassed that I didn't understand her to begin with.

I thanked them them went to the bathroom of course.

But in The France bakery Boulangerie Potasserie or however you spell it, the CM's helping you in there, or the 2 I came in contact with are most definitely French. They had heavy accents and were speaking to each other in French.

I didn't really go exploring too many other countries. We rode the boat ride in Mexico and saw the little movie shows in the few countries that have them but we didn't really interact with anybody else but in France.

 

[Polydweller]

Most are but some are not. In the Canada Pavillion most are students in college hospitality services programs in Canada and spend a year learning the business first hand. That by the way is as long as they are allowed on student work visas. But I've also met those who have Canadian family members but themselves are Florida natives. It probably depends in any given year if Disney can recruit enough people from that country.

 

[PSUGuy]

Most of the CMs in WS are from the country they represent, except, of course, those in the American Adventure who are from Mexico.

Bill From PA

 

[Disney Princess]

During my college program, I worked at Epcot. We filled in when cast members called in sick/unable to work. Most CMs in the countries are from those countries. As others have mentioned, they are in the international program. However, sometimes you need people to fill in. I worked the merchandise shops, a few food carts, and greeting at the Kidcot stations during my program in 2004. However, at that time, you were not allowed to wear the costume from the country unless you actually were from that nation. So, for example in France, I had to wear my red flag shirt with white shorts/pants. This was to let everyone know that I did NOT come from that nation.

The rules may have changed, but when you see someone in "generic" Epcot attire in a country, they are probably not from that nation. I, of course, was allowed to wear the costumes for American Adventure and Liberty Inn since I've from the United States.

 

[wvulion]

I can tell you that almost all of the people working in the World Showcase are from the countries that they represent, and they can work as part of the exchange program for a year (or even longer if they opt to). They even live in an area that Disney designates for international interns (same at the College Program). That said, there are people from other countries working in all the parks, and maybe someone was sick and they needed a sub that day, who knows? At any given time, there are more from some countries rather than others, for example, when they were training the people who would be working in Hong Kong, Disneyland, they were all over the park, learning every position. As for that lion....that I can't help you with....

 

[chmurf]

My friend seems to think they are paid actors. Claiming he "had a conversation" with a Dutch (or actress pretending to be Dutch) woman working the beer stand in Germany.

Well, right away his story is flawed because why would someone who is Dutch be working in the Germany pavilion???

Probably confused Dutch with Deutsch

"Deutsch" is german for ... german
Germany is "Deutschland" in german. With the accent it's easy to confuse with Dutch (from the Netherlands)

As for French CMs in France, they are definitely french. Last february I spoke with some of them, in french, and it turned out we were almost neighbours back home

 

[rwdavis2]

Whne we checked into the Contemporary in 1998 the woman's name plate said she was from Brazil. The next day when I went to the desk to ask a question she was someone else from Brooklyn. ;-)
BD

 

[TDC Nala]

When castmembers forget their name tags they will sometimes wear someone else's (I remember a male bartender at PI whose name I knew, but one night he was "Barbara.") so she could have been from Brooklyn, from Brazil or from neither.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Whne we checked into the Contemporary in 1998 the woman's name plate said she was from Brazil. The next day when I went to the desk to ask a question she was someone else from Brooklyn. ;-)
BD

Most locations have a small stock of nametags that CMs can borrow (actually have to sign for them) if they forget their nametag or something happens to it. That way everyone is wearing a nametag.

And they try to keep the tags gender-neutral. Last time I had a problem (my nametag got caught in my shoulder belt and remained in the car) and I ended up as "Pat" for the day.

 

[crazy_cremello]

I'm only speaking on behalf of the UK pavilion here but all the CM's we've ever spoken too are genuinely British. I love how many accents we have in our country

 

[TxMickeyLover]

Most of the people I have come in contact with in WS actually seem to be from those countries. One year we had a cast member introduce the movie in France, and I still have no idea what he said because his accent was so thick. Obviously as pp's have said, there are probably times when they need people to fill in, just like any job.

I can speak to the lion on KS not being real, though. In 2010, we took the Sunrise Safari, and the lion was sitting up, and actually roared and moved around. So unless they replaced the fake sleeping lion with a very realistic audio-animatronic, the lions are most definitely real.