'Real' conversations with CM's

[PrincessBetsy]

Probably when I was waiting to get on Space Mountain, standing on a number. One of the cm's came over, quietly asked how old I was (19 at the time) and whispered, "I get off at 9 - come back and see me..."

Is that out of character enough?

And yes, I went back...I was 19 afterall and he was a hottie!

Haha!

I love this thread.

This past June we were at the MK when there was a huge thunderstorm. Since it was a downpour we decided to wait it out at POTC (I mean there is a ride, store, bathroom, and benches all in one place, what more could you ask for?). We were sitting in the lobby when one of the CM's came over and started talking to us. I had my digital camera out and was looking at some of our pictures and he asked me what I was taking pictures of. Then he decided to pose for me so I got a good pic of him lol. Then he started fooling around and took my brother's cap. He was really funny and we still talk about him. He really made our afternoon fun as we were waiting for the storm to pass. We looked for him when we went back in August, but we didn't see him. Hopefully he will be there when we go back in December!

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I'm a big Twilight Zone fan and a few times I've been able to engage some of the ToT CM in conversation about the various props from the series used in the libraries and other areas of ToT. It can be hard to spot them because ToT is so darkly lit. Once, I managed to get back in line for the last ride of the night and after the library show, I stayed in the room to ask the CM if I could look around, explaining that I was a big TZ fan and loved looking at the props from iconic episodes. I didn't actually expect to be able to do this and I was kind of joking when I asked, but to my surprise, the CM agreed and actually turned the lights up to I could look around the library. He was a big TZ fan, too, and was excited to point stuff out to me. I got to look in both library rooms. He met me at the end of the ride and pointed out props in the photo viewing area and in the gift shop. It was a really cool experience!

I've also had some great conversations with CMs in the AK and Epcot about their jobs, where they're from, and the exhibits they're staffing. Once, in Epcot, this absolutely gorgeous CM from Norway started up a conversation with my brother who became really flustered and started blushing because this stunning girl was gently teasing him. My family still ribs him about that!

One of my favorite CM experiences happened a few trips ago. My friends and I were on a nearly empty boat on the Jungle Cruise right before the MK closed. The skipper was very good looking and very funny. He was being really sarcastic so I was super sarcastic right back at him and got him to laugh really hard and kind of broke character.

He knelt down, grabbed my hand, and announced that he had found his first mate and asked me to marry him! He said we could go on an exotic jungle cruise for our honeymoon and continued to deviate from the script for the whole trip, making related jokes about the different scenes (saying we could live in the empty village, party with the natives at the dance scene, register with the witch doctor's shop, etc.)

The only other people on the boat were a family with two older teenagers and they had a great sense of humor about it-- nobody's vacation was ruined as a result of the skipper going off script. (If anything, it made it better b/c that script is lame and they don't allow improv at all, anymore.)The skipper sat down next to me and called one of the teenagers up to "pilot" the boat while we went through the "Tunnel of Love" (the temple.)

It was a fun trip, my friends and I and the other family had lots of fun joking with him (and flirting with him, in my case.) When we reached the dock, there was nobody in the queue and he offered to take us around again. The other family got out and thanked him for the most entertaining cruise they had had in while and my friends and I stayed on the boat for one more trip. We just sat and talked all the way around instead of listening to the spiel. It was fun and the JC is really gorgeous at night. He was hot, so I didn't mind at all!

 

[disney_bob]

My DF and I didn't have a real conversation with a CM, but we heard a bunch of them having one. We were standing in line getting the schpiel from the video screen right before you get on Mission:Space and a bunch of them were maybe 20 feet away propping a 'CM only' door open and talking about how they were "going to kelly's tonight and maybe get coffee" and what a great time they had last time.

I was really annoyed. Have your private conversations in private and not right where the park patrons are trying to listen to instructions when getting on a ride (it was my first time on mission space). You are, after all, at work.

It happened again on my second time on it the next day. This was a week and a half ago.

 

[freepixie]

Subscribing - these are great!

 

[Evi]

a few years back while on the ferry from MK to parking my nephew was asking me about the lakes in disney and an older gentleman who just happened to be a disney engineer overhearing me say I didn't know much about it but that I know they were man made. He proceeded to tell my nephew all about how they were made and told him all about how when he started at disney and what it looked like back in while it was being constructed and what his current job was and how he got there. Honestly it was better then any lunch with a disney engineer could ever have been and it was a candid honest conversation. At the end he said it was one of the nicest rides back he had taken since he takes ferry back on the way home every day but never really talks to anyone and thanked my nephew for helping him remember how much he loved working for Disney. =)

 

[wagster92]

The only experience I remember is a very annoying one. This CM wasn't working, so it doesn't technically count as breaking character, but it did ruin the experience. This CM worked at HM, we could tell because we overheard him telling a complete stranger as soon as we got in the queue. From that moment on he did not stop talking through the ENTIRE RIDE. In the stretching room, he was talking away to a stranger! At one point when the ride quiets down for madame Leota, we could clearly understand him from 4 ride vehicles away. After the ride he was still talking, and approached us, that was when we learned that he was floating from party to party uninvited... creep! He almost followed us through the rest of the park! Somehow we managed to ditch him and moved on, but Disney should have a way of keeping CM's from doing this when they aren't working. Enjoying the park is fine, but talking to random strangers and ruining ride experiences is just annoying and creepy

 

[daisax]

One of the CMs at the shop in Germany told me that the whole "pickle on the Christmas tree" thing was nonsense and the first he heard of it was at WDW!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

In December 2007 at Epcot my family and I were the only ones walking onto Journey Into Imagination and as we got up to the begining of the attraction, I over heard the two Cast Members working there talking about the NFL, their fantasy leagues and etc. My guess is no guests had been there for a while so they must have been board.

 

[mariepapa]

When we were there in late August there was a girl who works at Animal Kingdom who is from the same suburb as my family. We started talking and she told us how homesick she is and how much she hates Orlando! I felt so sorry for her.

Also, the same day...I saw Baloo coming out of the bathroom

 

[lizandjason]

Probably when I was waiting to get on Space Mountain, standing on a number. One of the cm's came over, quietly asked how old I was (19 at the time) and whispered, "I get off at 9 - come back and see me..."

Is that out of character enough?

And yes, I went back...I was 19 afterall and he was a hottie!

That is AWESOME! Definitely 'out of character' of him, but I'll bet you had fun!

 

[benolathe]

Also, the same day...I saw Baloo coming out of the bathroom

But I thought bears "went" in the woods. You know that old saying ...

 

[MrsTomMorrow]

One of the CMs at the shop in Germany told me that the whole "pickle on the Christmas tree" thing was nonsense and the first he heard of it was at WDW!

Very true. DH's grandmother was German and she said they never did the pickle thing over there. However, it is a German-American thing.

 

[cchev]

On great movie ride one time there was a very abusive guest and the driver and myself were talking about it and possibly doing something if it got any worse (probably talked to me because that was back when I was all jock-ish...not anymore

 

[mickeyluv'r]

A few short ones:

On the resort monorail we talked to a GF mousekeeper who said she loved her job, but the pay wasn't so great. She was retired from another job, and took the Disney one because she loved Disney so much. I don't recall all the details, but she was pretty opennad seemd happy that someone was interested in her job. She gave us some little insider tip, but I don't recall what it was now.


Another time we were at the story hour at AKL, and the apprentice CM spent over an hour talking to us about his home life in South Africa (after the story was over). Both CM's were talking to the remaining guests. At first we just talked about his apprenticeship, but we ended up having a very interesting conversation comparing life in South Africa to life in the USA. The other storyteller was from another country -I think Botswana, and eventually also shared some interesting tidbits about his home life. It was so far beyond any normal theme park encounter! Our conversation was very frank and open. Everyone learned much about each other!


Another time, I don't know if this was breaking character so much, but I responded to a market researcher. She asked me my zip code, and when I gave it she was super excited as she had grown up in the same zip code! She said she'd been waiting/hoping for someone to give her that number since she'd started.

 

[Mish19]

I was waiting to get a picture with Beast a couple of years ago and when it was my turn Beast was being flirtatious. I was laughing, etc....Belle turns to me and says, "My, Beast is certainly flirtatious today!" I just smiled and agreed.

Does it count if a waiter at Cinderella's Royal Table said that I wasn't all there?

I went to MK on my birthday and went on HM, I had a birthday button on and the CM deadpan wished me a happy birthday!

 

[pinkcess]

My family just got back from a week at Disney yesterday..(yes, i missed out because of class and work BOO!)
anyways my mom told me about Tigger at AK becoming overheated and the CM told everyone he would be back.
As he was proceeding to walk backstage my mom said she saw him push someone to the side who was obviously
trying to see him. Well after a few minutes he comes bouncing back out and my mom say's " Well, Tigger really
did come back, but it was obvious it wasn't the same CM"

 

[anewvance]

We were in JellyRolls one night and saw the CM from our Akershus dinner that sat us earlier in the evening. We bought him along with his buddies a round of drinks. They pulled a table up next to ours and treated us like one of their friends from home. The night was great and they had some amazing stories (about Disney and home). We checked in this past trip but unfortunately our buddy went back to Norway. It was a night unlike any other though

We had the same sort of thing happen. DH and I had taken the Keys to the Kingdom tour earlier in the day, it was right after Sept 11th so dh and I were the only ones on the tour. Our tour guide was a guy but the "assistant" for lunch who had our food waiting for us and sat and ate with us was a younger girl. We had a nice lunch, chatted a ton. So that night dh and I went to Pleasure Island and went into one of the clubs and a girl comes up to us and asks if we had fun on the tour. It was funny because without her Keys tour costume on, we did not recognize her. She was there with a few of her friends dancing the night away.


And one about a cm staying IN character. We saw the fairies on our girls princess trip this past weekend and when we got to Rosetta, we were asked if we would wait a minute because a couple had come in and wanted to see just Rosetta. So in watching them talk to each other and pose for their picture and the fact that the woman looked just like Rosetta I realized that this couple was Rosetta's parents! She was so perfect, never out of character at all but obviously very very pleased that her parents came in to see her while at work. I just thought it was really sweet.

 

[MNDisney2268]

Back in 2003 we were selected to open the park. We went back in Toontown where we met with the characters as they loaded on the train. Cruella came up to my then 3 year old and he was loving it. She looked at him and said "Darling, do you have any puppies?" Joey so kindly responded "No, we just gots cats !!"" You could see her quick smile while trying not to laugh. You could see her giggle as she walked away.

The second was during that same experience. We also were asked to open Toon Town that same morning with Mad Hatter and Alice. As we were walking to get our picture with Mickey my other son Tommy's shoe was untied, the Mad Hatter quickly knelt down and tied it for him.

It was those memories that make Disney Priceless!!!! 17 days!

 

[Tinatoo]

So we had our breakfast at Crystal Palace this AM, and had an awesome time. Our server we will call him V, was awesome. He talked to us about how much he loves his job and that he wished he had been able to meet Walt Disney, because he was so nice. Even though we were all done, he did not rush us out while we were waiting for Pooh to come to our table. Great experience.

 

[landshark]

These are the few I remember from our trip this past week:

1) When going through the turnstiles at Epcot, somebody (maybe it was my BF, don't remember) asked the CM overseeing one how she was doing and I heard her reply, "Living the dream--somebody else's..."

2) We did the Jungle Cruise, which is pretty dull in my opinion. Luckily, our guide was loaded with awesomely bad puns the entire trip which just delighted me. As we got held up waiting for boats in front of us to unload, she started chatting with us and telling the kids to make sure they get an education and then they, too, can work at WDW and drive a boat around in circles all day. And that her parents were proud of her...sister.

I couldn't tell if this was in character or not, but it struck me as more of the latter since it was such sarcastic humor. I got such a kick out of her conversation; she really made the ride for me.

3) During EMH one night at Epcot, we had run out of things to do. We'd already been to Epcot like 3 times by this point and were giving in and doing attractions we otherwise avoided; we went to see the Circle of Life video in the Land pavilion. When we walked in, there was one other family who walked out shortly after we sat down. My BF asked if she was in the college program (he had been in it in 2001) and she chatted briefly about where she was from and how it was kind of boring in her position as they only rotated between that attraction and the front since Living with the Land was down. Before letting us in, she mentioned that this was usually when she gave the whole spiel about the rules and whatnot and would in the theater, but probably wouldn't since it was just us.