Confessions of a Disney Cast Member

[k5jm]

This popped up as a Bing Headline when I was imaging a test laptop at work today. Thought I would share...

http://www.bing.com/travel/content/...t+Member&cid=msn1143357&form=TRVCON&gt1=41000

Confessions of a Disney Cast Member

Robert Niles spent five summers working on rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Tom Sawyer Island at Walt Disney World. He currently edits the site Theme Park Insider.
By Robert Niles
Excuse me, young man, are you pregnant?

What's more terrifying than the 38-foot drop on Disney's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad? Having to ask women in line if they're pregnant. It's for their own safety, but forget a woman scorned — hell hath no fury like a woman who's been mistaken for being pregnant. Once, when I was in training, I watched a coworker approach a larger female park visitor and ask, "Excuse me, ma'am, but are you pregnant?" "Pregnant!?!" the woman screamed, her voice turning heads at the happiest place on earth. "No! What are you saying? Do I look fat to you?!" She turned to her friend and screamed some more: "They think I look fat. Let's get out of here!"

I was so traumatized by that incident I crafted a plan to avoid offending anyone. Whenever I spotted a "suspect," I asked everybody in the vicinity — including teenage boys and women in their 70s — if they were with child. If the woman I suspected was actually pregnant, she left the ride quickly. If she wasn't, she just thought I was working a gag.

I sure am Randy today

Disney made the "first name" name tag famous, but the tag doesn't always match the person wearing it. One day, as I was steering the raft to Tom Sawyer Island, my name tag dropped into the river, forcing me to get a new one. There wasn't a single "Robert" left, so until a replacement could be made, I pretended to be "Randy," a name that amused visitors from the U.K. to no end. Elderly English ladies lined up to have their picture taken with me. One screamed when she saw me, grabbed her friend, and yelled, "Is that really your name?" Being a good Disney cast member, I lied and said yes. The friend said, "You know, we love a good randy man back home." But lady, even I'm not that good a cast member.

To get onstage, dress the part

A few attractions choose audience volunteers to be part of the show, but the selection process is far from random. Typically, you need to be a certain gender, size, and age for each of the different roles. You might even need to be wearing a specific item of clothing. On my off days from work, I used to go over to Universal Studios, and I would get picked all the time to play "Mother" in the old Alfred Hitchcock show. They needed a guy my height and weight who happened to be wearing the same type of plain white tennis shoes I always wore. Also helpful for getting picked: cuteness and enthusiasm. Curious kids who ask nicely and look excited often get extra attention, along with thrilling perks like riding up front and introducing shows.

Stroller relocation program

Disney's a family place, but the people who work there come to loathe strollers. It's part of a cast member's job to keep strollers in nice, orderly lines and to make sure they're only left in designated areas. But park visitors keep their strollers in an appalling condition, loaded up with dirty diapers, rotting bottles of milk, and half-eaten PB&J sandwiches. Others see no problem with parking their strollers right in front of an attraction's exit or entrance. Sometimes thoughtless individuals like this incur the wrath of the stroller police, and their precious Bugaboos and Maclarens are intentionally relocated to a place "far, far away" — at the very back of the area cordoned off for strollers.

Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of (confiscated) rum

On special Grad Nites, when Disney hosts loads of freshly graduated high school kids, the park puts extra staffers inside Pirates of the Caribbean and other rides as lookouts to monitor less-than-legal activities. Our focus was mostly on what the kids were consuming. Booze, cigarettes — you name it, and a Disney cast member has confiscated it from a 17-year-old at one time or another. One clever kid, forced to hand over his bottle, noted the irony of getting busted in the middle of a ride that celebrates a drunken pirate orgy. "Hey, don't the pirates have enough?" he asked. "They need mine, too?"

Please keep your happiness to yourself

This attraction has been camera monitored for your safety. That's the spiel Disney broadcasts over its loudspeakers for many rides. But the cameras are also meant to protect you from yourself. One night, while most parkgoers were watching the fireworks display, a couple strolled over to Pirates of the Caribbean, where I was working. They not only had a boat to themselves, but empty boats all around them. The real fireworks display, it turned out, was visible on the security cameras to all of us working that night. Let's just say the show the couple put on wasn't exactly G-rated.

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

I read this today, too. What puzzles me is the line .... " 38 foot drop on Disney's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad".

Am I missing something here ???

Does Big Thunder have a 38 foot drop ?????

 

[dalt01]

i have never heard anyone say that i was being camera monitored................................and why is it that every ex castmember has seen somebody gettin it on in a ride boat? is there a club or something? how do i join? i only ever see the back of some guys sweaty head from my boat seat.......................most of these jamokes that write this stuff are full of it.

 

[Launchpad11B]

i have never heard anyone say that i was being camera monitored................................and why is it that every ex castmember has seen somebody gettin it on in a ride boat? is there a club or something? how do i join? i only ever see the back of some guys sweaty head from my boat seat.......................most of these jamokes that write this stuff are full of it.

You're right. Too funny.

 

[SrisonS]

I'm sure that there are quite a few people who would fool around in a ride boat..... and of course they wouldn't do it with someone right behind them. Do you think that the people who totally make out in line wouldn't jump at the chance at getting a little naughty in the park, if they didn't think anyone was looking?????

And I'm sure that there is some video footage that is too juicy to not be "accidently" shared.

 

[dalt01]

I'm sure that there are quite a few people who would fool around in a ride boat..... and of course they wouldn't do it with someone right behind them. Do you think that the people who totally make out in line wouldn't jump at the chance at getting a little naughty in the park, if they didn't think anyone was looking?????

And I'm sure that there is some video footage that is too juicy to not be "accidently" shared.

you've got a dirty mind...........i'm tellin mom................

 

[SrisonS]

you've got a dirty mind...........i'm tellin mom................

Shhh...

 

[Gav N Becx]

True or not, I found some of these really funny!

I wonder what happens to the confiscated alcohol? Is there an after hours staff party in POTC every night? (avoiding the security cameras of course, cause they know where they are pointed!)

 

[vegetablegirl]

See, those are stories I actually believe. Sometimes "stories from ex-CMs" seem a little less than believable. At least in my opinion.

 

[vegetablegirl]

Also, I have a story similar to the first "are you pregnant?" story. I work at a science museum, and one of our more popular attractions is a bicycle mechanism connected to a cable stretched out across a gap in the 2nd floor. It uses a counter-balance at x pounds to keep guests upright and balanced on the ride.

Unfortunately, this leads to people over x pounds being asked not to ride, which leaves us working the attraction to find ways of politely determining the weight of guests who look like they might be around the weight limit. Usually, I end up doing something similar to the approach Mr. Niles uses, and if they have a kid with them, I'll say "you're perfectly safe. Those weights down there will keep you balanced up to x pounds. You don't weigh x pounds, do you?" Of course, the kids don't weigh that much, but hopefully the parents will hear, and take heed if they are over the limit (there is a sign stating this rule, but of course, most people don't read the signs.).

 

[PeterPan09]

I work there now, and yes-many rides have video rooms and there are CM's that staff those rooms with the real purpose of making sure nothing unsafe happens where a guest or CM could be hurt. And yes...people do "get it on" all over Disney. I don't know if it's the thrill of doing something "bad" in such a "good" place or what-but it definitely happens. There are CM's assigned on Grad nights that are tasked with taking that little garbage grabber and forgive the obvious pun-"poking the bushes". There's usually plenty for those CM's to do on Grad Night and oddly enough on Night of Joy too.

This CM may be wrong about the BTRR drop, but there are rides where that very sensitive question must be asked if the guest might be putting themselves in an unsafe situation. Not a place any of us want to go, we always hope the pregnant lady chooses the safe option for herself without us having to ask.

The stroller relocation is also something that is very true and happens every day. Sadly, we don't get to keep the confiscated stuff or any lost articles.

I can tell my own story-I'm working at the water park at the bottom of one of those BIG drop slides that give you a major water wedgie. Well, after some guests rode and left, you'll never guess what was in that water slide. Wrapped condoms. We got those out of there pretty quickly before someone's 6 year old grabbed them and started asking questions or making interesting water balloons. Interestingly enough, the lost items were never claimed.....

 

[concept5123]

where can i find more stories like this?

 

[PeterPan09]

where can i find more stories like this?

Honestly, I didn't start hearing them until I started working here and talking to other CM's who had been here longer.

 

[disneywondergirl22]

we always hope the pregnant lady chooses the safe option for herself without us having to ask.

i'm a CM too (not in attractions) and got here to this specific forum from the bing article.

don't know if you are at WDW or DLR, but a few weeks ago at DLR, a woman had a small dufflebag on her lap for one of the big rides (i can't remember now which one, but obviously something like Space Mtn or Indiana). she was asked, obviously, to move it to the floor between her legs or to the bag holder on the back of the seat in front of her.

apparently, she refused several times, saying it was "fine" when suddenly, a BABY started crying from the bag! i would guess, of course, that now the CMs realize what's going on and ask her to leave the ride, and she says it's fine and that "they" have "let" her do this on other rides as well. uh, don't think so.

can't rely on guests to choose the safer option apparently.

 

[rubee3]

Really had to chuckle about this article. I've been RANDY for 57 years now, and somehow have managed to breeze through life.
Also really got a kick out of the fat lady who was SO terribly insulted. Like the guy was trying to do her any harm.
Maybe she should lose 50 pounds irregardless, anyway. Her sensible rights were offended. My, my.

 

[Spaceace5150]

I think this story should be banned!!

 

[LissaLissa]

Oh... the last part happens. As an ex-cast member, I had to write reasons why a person is banned from the park in their AP file and that was one of them.

 

[bdoyledimou]

I can tell my own story-I'm working at the water park at the bottom of one of those BIG drop slides that give you a major water wedgie. Well, after some guests rode and left, you'll never guess what was in that water slide. Wrapped condoms. We got those out of there pretty quickly before someone's 6 year old grabbed them and started asking questions or making interesting water balloons. Interestingly enough, the lost items were never claimed.....

Don't be shocked or surprised by finding condoms at a waterpark..
2 years ago DD (who was 8 at the time) broke her wrist on the last day of school, and was in a cast from her palm up to just below her elbow for the better part of the summer.

She is an avid swimmer, an was really sad that she wouldn't be able to.
My SO got on the phone and started medical supply companies to see if there was a cast cover to put over her cast to allow her to play. Unfortuanatly what they did have was way too big (adult sized) so we kept looking, and thats when it hit us..

Condoms! so we put herhand in a plastic bag, then wrappe a conom over it.. and it worked great!!!

(the only embarrasing part was once at the water park, jsut after eating, she get up and went to go to the pool and remembered she had to cover up, and came running up to me yelling "Daddy, I almost forgot my condom!!!" I think every single hea snapped to attention......

This could have been a similar situation..