'Real' conversations with CM's

[disneyshakeygirl]

Last year, my mum and I were having lunch at The Coral Reef during a quiet period. Our waitress came to serve us, really, really nice. Her name happened to be Mulan. My mum and I didn't want to be rude, but we really, really wanted to know if that was her name. When she brought us our desserts, my mum said "I hope you don't mind me asking, but we're really curious, is your name really Mulan?" Mulan burst out laughing and said that it was her name. She said that once people notice it, especially the younger girls, they get a kick out of it. Apparently some of the younger ones are convinced that they have been served by Princess Mulan herself. We enjoyed a good chat with Mulan and it was definitely a highlight of the trip.

 

[seobaina]

I have lots of real conversations with CMs but then I'm a CM too I did have one memorable one with Capt Jack Sparrow in Disneyland, who broke character to talk to me about something. To be fair though, he turned his back to the rest of the guests, used the opportunity to sign my autograph book and kept conversation to a whisper when he did talk so no one knew. It was his assistant who messed up and called him by his 'other name' - the one his crew use I mean

 

[BellesRose]

When my family went to Disney in 1994, we were only in MK for one day the entire trip (only three days in Orlando, one in MK, one in Epcot, and one at Universal), we didn't get to ride 20K due to long rides and not enough time. It was my mom's favorite ride and didn't get to ride. When we went back in 1999, I promised my mom that that would be the first place we went to, not knowing the ride had closed permanently. We asked a CM while waiting to load IASM and the CM told us that instead of repairing the ride like expected (I thought it was just down for refurb), they decided to use that money to build a ride that was called Everest. Just wow.

 

[Anelise]

Wow, I'm loving this thread!! Great stories!!!

I have one too. I was at WDW Jan 21st-Feb 4th with my boyfriend and 7 other friends. We were 9 people, 3 girls and 6 boys, everyone around 19 years old. We were at Animal Kingdom one day, and most of them think AK is boring. I had this impression at first but now I just love it.

Anyway, we were leaving Rafiki's Planet Watch and as we arrived at the Wildlife Express we saw the train leaving. Everybody was like "ohh noooo!!!" and then one CM approached us. One of the boys was wearing a Led Zeppelin shirt (that was actually signed by Jimmy Page) and the CM asked if he was a true fan of Led Zeppelin. My friend said that of course he was and then the CM said that he was going to do 3 questions to see if he was really a good fan, and if he got all of them right he would win something!! And he started asking some really difficult questions and my friend got everything right but the last one!! The CM said he was a great fan and that he should never take his autographed shirt out of his house again!!

Then my boyfriend took his hoodie of and he was wearing an AC/DC shirt (his favorite band). They talked about the AC/DC concerts that they have attended and then the CM started an AC/DC quiz for him too!!! He asked what was the name of a former drummer, my boyfriend said he didn't know but he called him Imhotep (from the Mummy movie) because he was bold!! The CM couldn't stop laughing and gave him points for the creativity!! Then the CM saw that another boy from our group was wearing a shirt that said "555 - A lesser evil" and asked him if he liked Iron Maiden. And it is his favorite band!! The CM said he should be wearing a "666 - The number of the beast" shirt and started an Iron Maiden quiz with some very difficult questions!! My friend got all of them but the last one right!!

After this, he started telling us that he went to London with his son to watch the Led Zeppelin reunion concert and that it was awesome. He also told us that he was in a rock band (one of us actually knew his band!!) when he was younger and now he enjoys working at Disney.

It was really good talking to him and seeing that he was enjoying that conversation as much as we were. The boys couldn't believe that they had found such an awesome guy working at Disney. I took a picture of him with the boys in a rock n'roll pose and our train arrived. We said goobye and left, but the boys kept talking about that all day. We never discovered what our prize would be if one of them got all their questions right, but they got their best Animal Kingdom memory.

 

[fairestoneofall]

i'll share two that come to my mind.

the first was when DH and i were on our anniversary trip in 2007. DH had gone to grab FPs and i was taking pictures outside of POTC. a CM named Danny approached me. we chatted for 15 minutes or so about cameras and photography. he thanked me for being willing to chat with him--he said other guests had just completely ignored him. he was SO funny and was making fun of the skipper we'd had on JC. anyway, he was handed his break paper and he asked us if we'd like to ride POTC again. he walked us through the backstage area to the handicapped entrance. then, he took us to the front of the line and asked the loading CM to put us in the front row.

the second was on our most recent trip. we were in the stretching room at HM. one of the CMs was a petite older lady. i leaned down and whispered in her ear, "i want your job." she proceeded to chat with me (after the other guests had left the stretching room) about how much she loved her job. she said she had played Peter Pan years ago (i don't know if that's true, just what she said). she was SO cute! and i thought it was great that she took the time to chat with me.

 

[HarborBlvd]

I don't know if this would classify so much as "out of character", but we thought it was funny. When we were there in January, we were waiting on Main St for one of the parades and a CM walked by with the big Mickey balloons. I really wanted one, but figured not until we left at the end of the day. What would I do with it throughout the day? So we asked the CM what people do if they buy balloons and don't have a stroller to tie them to when they go on the rides. She laughed and said "Honey, I don't worry about the logistics, I just sell the pretty balloons."

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

Last year was my first time on the Jungle Cruise in YEARS! Our tour guide was very funny and at the end of the ride she announced that today was her last day at Disney, that she had a great time with Disney but she was going away to college. She also said to everyone on the boat to wave "hi" to her "first mate", it was her mom, who was driving around with her all day on her last day @ WDW

 

[inkkognito]

DH and I once had a face character break character at a meal. I won't say which one, but it was at a place at DHS that no longer has the same type of character lunch/dinner. He was aboslutely fascinating to talk to. That was the first and only time it's ever happened; we were sitting in an out of the way location with no one else around, so it was "safe."

 

[FINFAN]

twice, the first was a really blunt and demoralized CM at the Animation building at DHS. He was the guy who let you into the presentation where you can draw the characters. DD (who attends college for computer animation) was looking at the display on the wall and the CM said "does she really take this stuff seriously?" Worst paying job ever, housing stinks yadda yadda..I asked if he was talking about animation the career or working for WDW...he said working for WDW in the college program, slave labor etc. Said other CM's are a joke, that what the public sees is all a front. Duh. MOST places of business I enter into are putting up a front. Anyway, since we had about a 20 minute wait for the next drawing session, I quickly steered the kids over to the activity section on the lower level and I endured this guys rant. He was older than your average college student and he admitted the college program was not for him. This was several years ago so I sure hope he has found his niche by now. The second was at DTD, again, animators drawing in one of the shops, pretty much moaning about having to live on PBJ, lousy pay,don't let the glamour of the mouse fool you, etc. I get that the animators were hit hard, but like anyone on the job, try to keep it in and vent anywhere but the job.

 

[Manda513]

Our experience was with Drizella at 1900 park fare. She really didn't come 'out of character' but instead told us that she had 'heard' about our 'kingdom' that we were the Wildcats (we live in Kentucky). Then proceeded to screech out "C.A.T.S" while making the letters with her arms. It was one of the funniest things we've ever seen and truly the highlight of our week. We ended up asking her to do it again for us so that we could get it on camera.
We figure she had to be from here or close by...

Here's the video if you want to check it out..it's pretty funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9-YwlqJ3Rg

 

[melvin]

I had just met up with my husband in Magic Kingdom. When on vacation at Disney I try to make the 3 o-clock parade most days... I know, it's a sickness. We were talking and I said "I've seen the parade three times this week, that might be enough." A CM walked by and said "I've seen it like 3,000 times and it IS enough."

Not breaking character... on a Disney Cruise on Castaway Cay, Chip and Dale were out greeting everyone as we got off the ship. Sweltering day. I said "You guys must be hot in there" They looked at each other, shook their heads, then one of them did the "no-no back and forth finger wave" to me.

And my younger son loves to wish the CM's at the haunted mansion a "happy Disney Day" He almost always gets a funny response, or at least a scowl.

 

[PoohsFan1]

While talking to a CM in CR while waiting for a monorail, my DH and I were talking about the new colored monorail (teal). We weren't sure if we saw it or not, so we asked the CM about it. He told all about it and what line it runs on. Then he preceded to tell us that there was actually suppose to be a family in the front seat of the monorail with the guy that died. What happened was that the family asked to sit in the front seat, but the problem was there was 5 of them and they only allow a max of 4 riders up there. So the family decided, right before they left, that they would not split up and so they all sat in one of the regular cars. Scary to think how much more worse this horrible accident could of been if a family was in the front too.

 

[stan_the_man]

I can think of a few from my last 2 trips that are kinda funny

There was one day I was wearing a T-shirt with a M.A.S.K. logo on it (cartoon show from the 80s - not sure how popular it was in US but here in the UK it was quite big), and I had 2 CMs comment on it. One was at ASMu canteen, this server stopped serving at his station and ran over to the station where I was getting served and said "I gotta ask you dude, where did you get that t-shirt from??" and the other was exiting POTC, as the CM was saying the usual "mind your step" etc, he just looked at me, pointed, and said "cool shirt, now mind your step"

We also had a funny server in Coral Reef called David. He sounded quite monotone at first so we thought he would be a bit boring however after he heard our accents we got talking about the UK and the UK music scene from the 80s and how he loves all that sort of music (we do too) and that he'd love to live there and see loads of bands.

The last one I can think of is where we were getting a ride from MK to WL on the boat, and we were sitting out front so I was taking some pics of the CR. The captain came out and point blank said "can I have your camera" and for some reason I thought I was doing something naughty so I went a bit red and said "can't I take pictures?" and he just said "course man, we're not Universal, we're Disney, you can take pics of anything you want here!" and he proceeded to hand me and my fiancee the lifesaver from the boat and took a nice picture of us on it!

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

I sat and had a long conversation with "a friend of Goofy" (aka Goofy out of costume) during a parade at MK. I loved discussing changes in choreography, what it's like to be "a friend of Goofy's", and the cool parts of the park/rides I hadn't clued into. He was a true Disney fan and I enjoyed chatting with him. He pointed out things in the parade and gave the "story" behind them. The impromptu moments like this one are the gems that you remember most from the trips imo.

 

[Cee]

Several years ago we went in January and one morning it was freezing. low 30s freezing. record cold temps freezing. Anyway, first thing in the AM in AK, we got pictures with Tigger and I said to the CM that he/she was probably nice and warm in the costume. The CM didn't say anything, but vehemently shook his/her head and rubbed his/her arms to indicate that he/she was cold too. not quite breaking character, but it amused me greatly

Love Tigger! Back in '93 our family was at the character breakfast at the Contemporary and Tigger was in rare form. He kept trying to bounce on his tail only to fall on the floor every time. As he was signing our DD's book we asked him if he had an opinion regarding "It's a Small World" and he wrote(in my DD's book), "You mean the House of Chucky dolls?" LOL! We still have the book and my DD's 24 now! LOVE Tigger!

 

[Cee]

This was an occasion where the character did not break character. My niece and sister were at the Cinderella's Royal Table breakfast this past Sept. and my niece was wearing the bride "ears" with a "Bride-to-be" button and Snow White rushed up to her and gave her a big hug saying(in perfect high-pitched voice), "Ooooh, you've found your prince, and will live happily ever after!" My sister said they both almost burst into tears.

 

[Lorelai]

When one of my sons was little he got to see the Power Rangers at DHS. They came out in their PR Car and started to form little lines for photos with the kids. When my son got his turn to see his favorite, the Red Ranger, he stood in front of him and did his best pose as I waited with my camera. Well...his best pose looked really cool (total Power Ranger, really flamboyant), except for the fact that he was holding up only one finger. The only finger that shouldn't be flying solo.

The Ranger just stopped mid pose, put his arms up as if to say "Stop the cameras" and leaned over and raised my son's pointer finger as well to form the peace sign. Then he looked at the crowd and gave a big thumbs up that he was now ready to have his picture taken with my clueless son. It was hilarious, we thought the ranger was going to crack up because the crowd was in stitches when they saw what my little guy was doing as his pose.

I'll have to go and look for that photo now...maybe post it.

 

[Tara922c]

I saw this on youtube the other day. This mermaid was way out of character!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t54IA9YzWo

 

[a1tinkfans]

Not that he was a character, but it was a slow night when we dined at Boatwright's in POR once; and our server felt the need to let us know just how much he hated his job, the high cost of living in Orlando, his long drive to work, the heavy traffic, etc., etc. Whew!

UGH!

I have had conversations with our Mousekeeper, who we just Loved one year, she was from a neighboring state and since she was so far from home, we kinda hit it off so to speak. Each day, we'd chat if we saw her. She was so sweet. I actually dropped Disney a note to say how personable she was and she made our trip That much more special....(by the way, she gave us the best towel animals way too cute!!, but that was not why we liked her actually, she was just sweet)

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

I saw this on youtube the other day. This mermaid was way out of character!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t54IA9YzWo

Sad...very sad