Originally Posted By ncnike7 Alright I'm in the mood for some good Disneyland stories, and who better to tell them than the people responsible for the magic. So current Cast Members and Cast Members of the past, let's hear them! Funny, touching, annoying, I don't care, I need some good ole Disneyland nostalgia!!!
Originally Posted By 1disneymom3boys My best memory of working at Disneyland was the summer of 1990. I was 19 and this was my first job. I worked in Fantasyland attractions. Back then, only girls worked storybookland, and only guys worked skyway, subs, and junglecruise. Early in the mornings we had canoe races before work. Those were the greatest.I remember the girls trying to race all the guys, then of course they would come to our attraction later and remind us who won. That summer was the hottest summer I can remember. On Storybookland we wore skorts and kneesocks. So I had this incredible knee tan Lol. (Real great for the beach). The nights were so magical. I got to watch the electrical parade and fireworks everytime I had a night shift. That was the 35th anniversary so we had the mardi gras parade during the day. Also, there were always climbers on the matterhorn that would wave to us, and we wore lederhosen when we had a shift on matterhorn. Of course there were times I had rude guests, long shifts, etc, but somehow Disney plays its magic and at the end of it all, I'm left remembering only the magic. Good times!
Originally Posted By ncnike7 That sounds like so much fun!! When I was a kid I wanted to work at Disneyland when I grew up, now my dad says that when he retires he and my mom will go and work at Disneyland for a few years. Come on CM's and veteran CM's, I know you're out there, let's hear more stories!
Originally Posted By juicer When I was just ending my trained on the Haunted Mansion (early 90's) the trainer had us climb up a ladder to the top of the front mansion building where the lookout tower is and had us all sign the walls (there were sharpies already there) - Some wrote little poems about their training experience and some wrote just their name - Because I was'nt prepared...all I could think of to write was my name then "was here" and the date - That was a fun day
Originally Posted By ncnike7 So 1disneymom and juicer, I've always wondered, do you get to keep your costumes or do you have to give them back?
Originally Posted By 1disneymom3boys As for the costumes, you "borrow" them on a daily basis. I worked on different attractions (storybookland, small world, matterhorn, tea cups, Alice) and many have different costumes. Each day you come to work you check out a (freshly cleaned)costume and when you are finished with your shift you return it. There are lockers to change and keep your belongings in. You are not permitted to take the costumes out of the park. At least that was how it was when I worked there. It's been 17 years, so maybe things have changed. (By the way, no I was not irritated by hearing It's a small world music all day. After a while, it just becomes background noise and you tune it out).
Originally Posted By dzy76 Terrific stories, love to hear from people who've worked in the parks, Thanks.
Originally Posted By Mickeyfan1 Wow, so many memories. Let me mention a few. I was a merchendise lead in the Emporium and working at Disneyland was a second job for me. During the summer and holiday periods I was a Lead on Guest Control for the MAIN STREET Electrical Parade. (It really belongs in Disneyland...just my humble opinion.) Anyway one night, it was still twilight out, a young man and his father came up to me and the young man wanted to know where Prince Phillip was because he wanted to meet him. That night the mind was working very quickly and I told the young man that the Prince was already in the castle because he and Princess Aurora were having a very special celebration that evening. He asked me how I knew that and I had him look at the castle, and said that the lighted window right above the entrance was the grand ballroom in the castle and whenever it is lit that means there is a Royal Ball or other event going on in the castle. He seemed satisfied. However just then the crows started flying over Main Street over the the trees behind City Hall. (If any of you have been there when this happens, you know what I mean. Literally hundreds of crows return each evening to nest in those trees). Well the young man looked up and asked what was going on, and the father immediately replied "Oh those are Maleficent's crows and they are returning to her castle for the evening. The young man just said WOW! Nice save Dad I thought! I loved interacting with guests while on Guest Control. Soemtimes I would have kids that wanted to help. So while at the crossover on Main Street I would let one of the kids use my flashlight and wave it back and forth before the parade to help keep pepole moving. They loved it, and you would think it was an "E Ticket" thing. Some evenings I would ask one of our younger guests if they wanted to help me get the Electrical Parade started on Main Street. I would tell them that we need to send a signal to Tinker Bell so she could turn of the lights so the parade could come down Main Street. As the Lead my flashlight had a red cone where the other cones on the crew were yellow. I would tell them that Tink looks for this red cone for the signal. So right when the music started I would get them out in the middle of Main Street, have them hold the flashlight up high, and just a the right moment have them bring the flashlight down (with my help of course) and "magically" all the lights on Main Street would go out! You should have seen the expressions! Priceless. Then I would tell them to stick around after the parade and watch the Fireworks, because Tink would fly right over the castle and that was to thank them for their help. It was so much fun to get caught up in the magic that is Disneyland. And my most favorite memory. Coming in at 5 or 6 in the morning to get the Emporium, but going out into the Park from the gate between the Plaza Inn and Tomorrowland. The lights were on, music playing and the streets were still wet from being washed down. Sometimes no one else was around and I would take a casual stroll around the Plaza, in front of the Castle, and then head down Main Street to the Emporium and would never see another person. It just felt like the Park was all mine, and I truly enjoyed that! I also had a Cast Member who would close every night, because that is what she prefered to do. One night when I closed also I was going to walk out with her and she started to go up Main Street towards the castle. I asked her where she was going, and she said "come along and see!" We walked down Main Street just enjoying the solitude of the Park once it was empty. She headed up to the Plaza to the "Partners" statue, paused for just a moment and simply said; "Thanks Walt! Another great day in the Park." Then she headed out to the lockers to change and then go home. She told me she did this almost every night, because this was such a special place to work, and this was the Park that Walt built. I thought what a great way to end the day. Now I didn't start doing this, but I'll have to admit many times after that whenever I pass the statue I think of that night I also will say to myself "Thanks Walt!" I could go on and on, but let's see what others have to say. Thanks for letting me remember some great years in my life. It always will be a magical place.
Originally Posted By ncnike7 Wow, I love your stories, thank you for sharing them. Great Cast Members like you guys are what makes Disneyland such a magical place for the rest of us, thank you!
Originally Posted By tapdancemom thanks for sharing your stories, I have always said I still would like to work at Disneyland some day. ncnike7, thanks for asking this question.
Originally Posted By danyoung >You are not permitted to take the costumes out of the park. At least that was how it was when I worked there.< They changed this practice a few years ago - you are now allowed to take costumes home. Some people have criticized this practice, as it allows CM's to be seen in a grocery store or wherever, still in uniform. Loving the stories - keep 'em coming!
Originally Posted By lesmisfan Wow these are some great stories!!! I have only worked at Disneyland for the past eight months but i still have lots of fun. At the moment i work attractions over at California Adventure, one of my most favorite memories was on King Tritons carousel of the sea and there was a little girl celebrating her birthday so of course i crowned her princess of the carousel of the sea, and i started a birthday song with everyone aboard and then afterwards i told her she had a very specail phone call and used the in park phone at the attraction were goofy called her to wish her a happy birthday. Just to see her face light up like that was so awesome. Made the rest of the day worth while. Before i worked at Disneyland, i was in the college program at Disney World where i worked in a full service restuarant at the Magic Kingdom called the Liberty Tree Tavern, i swear it has the best food in the park! But i loved everytime we had someone celebrating there birthday because we would give them a birthday button and then decorate there table with pixie dust and confetti before they would get to their table, and then at the end we would normally get a character, if it was dinnertime, to ring our big bell across the resturant were we gave the birthdayg guest a cupcake and sang a very specail birthday song. At the same place at Disney world, i was checking guests in and it wasn't to busy so i started a conversation with a family of i think they had five in their party and they just fell in love with disney on their visit so i would talk to them about disney, disney trivia, and where they were from. They were really excited about meeting all the different characters since it was the character dinner. But i found out that they had no autograph books, so i managed to get one of these magical moment certificates and put the families name on it and i went to one of the characters hosts and explained the situation to them and i asked if they wouldn't mind trying to get all the characters to sign it. Well we got all of the characters to sign it and i put in a bag with five boxes of pixy dust for each person in the family and i presented them with their gift and told them it was because they had a great disney spirit that i have not seen in a long time. They were so suprised and happy to get their surprise. They couldn't stop thanking me and one of the older woman gave me a hug and told me that this made their trip.
Originally Posted By Mickeyfan1 Thought of a couple of other stories I just had to share. One night when I was closing on Main Street we stayed open an additional 30 minutes for shopping (now I think it's an hour). Anyway the Emporium was always the last store to clear on Main Street, and one night when I was standing at the main door Security slowly kept moving down the street "pusing" as we called it to clear the Park. Well, the last guest left the Emporium, I closed the doors and then headed out to the Newsstand for a minute to help them as they were short staffed that night. Walking right behind the Security officers were three of Disneyland's ducks. Once they got to the main exit, they turned around and headed back into the Park. It was so funny. Then, every morning, whoever opened the newsstand had to be sure to bring a muffin or bread, because every morning two ducks (we call them Donald and Daisy of course) would be there as soon as the lights went on, quacking for breakfast. Finally we just kept a few loaves of bread in the Newsstand so we would be sure to always have something for them. We just crumbled up a few slices of bread, they ate, and then moved on. Sort of like they were saying "Good Morning". Everyonce in a while the would show up late, and it worried me at times, but they always seemed to show. Even the ducks can create a little magic and fun at Disneyland!
Originally Posted By juicer I remember working at the Emporium one summer in the late 80's - I was on the closing staff and when all of the guests were out of the store - security would lock all the doors and we would then count our registers and because there was not a whole lot of counter space many of us would count the money on the floor! This was in the day of our pre computer registers (I think they were called Sweda's?) and before guests would mainly pay by cash not so much by credit cards - So here we were - mainly young kids 18-20yrs counting and stacking thousands of dollars on the floor!
