Tinkerbell (or Bill) has never fallen as far as I know. But there was at least one instance when the brakes failed and she flew into the net. She blew right past the two guys that were there to catch here. Her face was quite bruised from hitting the net so hard. I imagine she had other bruises too. So it's not that safe.
I used to work in entertainment and even shared a breakroom with some friends of flying Tink for a time- all female. Honestly, the body size requirements for her would be extremely difficult for a guy to match- there is a very specific height and weight requirement for one to fly. And all the claims that she has hairy legs in pictures is bunk because she wears sequenced tights.
I was told from some Disney employees that "Tinkerbell" gets paid for an 8 hour shift even though she flies down once. She also gets paid for being scheduled, so if the weather is bad and she can't fly, she still gets paid. I don't know how much money she makes and I'm not sure how much prep time is involved. Sounds like a fun job to me!
Back when my oldest was very little Tinker Bell got stuck. Just hung in mid air. We were fairly close and it was a she playing the part.
It took them about 10 minutes to get her back off safely. It was a cold night in December.
We wi never forget it. Was about 7-8 years ago.
Tinkerbell (or Bill) has never fallen as far as I know. But there was at least one instance when the brakes failed and she flew into the net. She blew right past the two guys that were there to catch here. Her face was quite bruised from hitting the net so hard. I imagine she had other bruises too. So it's not that safe.
I was told from some Disney employees that "Tinkerbell" gets paid for an 8 hour shift even though she flies down once. She also gets paid for being scheduled, so if the weather is bad and she can't fly, she still gets paid. I don't know how much money she makes and I'm not sure how much prep time is involved. Sounds like a fun job to me!
There's a minimum of 2 hour show up pay, but she's probably been on the clock a lot longer than that just getting ready. It's very possible she does other things prior to her flight. But I'm sure she is the richest person in entertainment, including equity.
They do a weigh in nightly before her flight. Too light and she doesn't slide down, too heavy and it makes the line sag. There's a 101 reasons that could make it unsafe to fly.
I used to work in entertainment and even shared a breakroom with some friends of flying Tink for a time- all female. Honestly, the body size requirements for her would be extremely difficult for a guy to match- there is a very specific height and weight requirement for one to fly. And all the claims that she has hairy legs in pictures is bunk because she wears sequenced tights.
Certainly not as as close as you, AB, but any CM I have ever heard discuss the subject has always indicated female. As you said, the size requirements would make it highly unlikely for a normally proportioned male to do it. But there are always those who think otherwise, LOL.
We were told on a KTTK tour years ago that the tricky part of Tink's job is the climb to the wire. They have to climb up the turret the last few feet to reach the wire.
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