Page 1 of personal stories from WDWCP Alumni and other Cast Members of the Walt Disney World Resort.

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Edited by Mona

"While working at Spaceship Earth one morning, I was at the Hood One position (the position that assists our Guests using Wheelchairs). I was doing my normal thing meeting, greeting and chatting with the Guests while they waited. I began to talk to a lady and her mother who was older and spoke broken English because she was from Germany. While the conversation continuedI discovered that this had been their first trip to the U.S. because they both had actually lived in East Germany, and were unable to travel. They told me of the challenges that they had during the 30+ years. The woman had explained that she had a son who had escaped to the West in a very daring midnight plan. She had told me that she had not seen her son in 30+ years, and that Epcot would really be something that he would enjoy. It soon came their turn to board the attraction, and departed. About five minutes passed when a man came up to me and asked if two German woman had been here. I gave a description and he acknowledged that it was them. Upon speaking to him for a few minutes, he told me that he had contacted his sister and planned the vacation now that "The Wall" had come down. He told me how he had not seen his mother in the 30 years as well. It was soon time for his party to exit, so i asked if i could participate, he agreed very enthusiastically! I told him to stand behind me and to turn around and face the other direction. When the two exited the attraction, the woman came up to me and said that she could not imagine how technology and the world had almost passed her by. She repeated with nothing on earth was that amazing and magical, just then I broke in and said "If you think that was magical, Check this out!" I stepped aside, turned the man around, the woman screamed! "Oh my goodness!" He said "HI Mom." The woman, the daughter, the son, myself (and ther rest of the queue) they all knew what was about to happen all burst into tears! There was hugging and crying from all. The woman turned to me and said "You know this is the MOST MAGICAL PLACE ON EARTH, WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE!" She gave me a hug but then hit me for not telling her earlier!"

One day I was working at Endor Vendors (since changed to Tatooine Traders) at the Studios and was on my way to Take 5 Cafe for lunch. I was heading towards the Starring Rolls bakery cast entrance and of course was modeling that oh-so-lovely Jedi flight-suit of 'convict-orange' hue out in the middle of not-so-starwarsy land. (that's one of the cool things about the studios. You can show up in any of the different 'lands' no matter what costume you are wearing. Kind of like actors and extras walking from soundstage to soundstage, just like a 'real' movie studio!) As I was coming to the corner of Sunset Blvd. and the bakery, two other flight suit clad cms (attractions) were on their way back from that area. There was a family of 4 with a little boy in one of those sporty purple strollers about 10 feet away from us. The little boy pointed and said "Look, mommy! Star Wars people!" The two other 'pilots' and I both saw them at the same time and those two kooky castmembers saluted me with a "May the Force Be With You" and I saluted back! The family was amused and I had helped create a little bit of magic for them. Sigh....... I miss the magic!

One day while working Golden Age Souvenirs, a school group of about 30 french-speaking little boys (between 7 and 9 years old) were 'bombarding' my store because of all the ESPN merchandise they saw there. They were so fun to watch! Their eyes got so huge as they saw the next ABC Sports printed basketball, or ESPN soccer thing, just about all the little sports balls that were between 4 and 12 bucks. I was at the same register for about 10 minutes it seemed, ringing up all their purchases. I couldn't understand much of french, and they didn't speak any english and so hand gestures and facial expressions became our way of communication. The school group's chaperones were trying to move the group along, and one adorable little boy had not finished making his purchases and I understood he was in a hurry. He was buying a squishy Donald football, and didn't seem to have enough change (like 25 cents short). I tried to explain to him the coin he needed, and he didn't seem to understand me. So I just held up my hand and shook my head saying "nevermind" and I reached into my pocket and pulled out a quarter and showed him I was going to use it. I know this probably wouldn't have been best company policy, but it was only a quarter, and there was a communication barrier. The little boy looked so relieved and pointed to my name tag, asking me what my name was. I pronounced it for him, and he repeated it in such a cute French accent "Soo-sahn". He put his hand to his mouth and blew me a kiss and said "Je t'aime, Soo-sahn!" At this point as the rest of the group was leaving, I received about 30 blown kisses with a chorus of little boy french voices saying "Au revoir, Soo-sahn!" A nice sunny feeling began to bubble up inside of me and I smiled probably the biggest goofiest smile I had that day for the rest of my shift and when I came home. I can now say that I am loved by 30 french males (hee! :)

Once upon a time........... In the magical Land of Stupid Guests at the Disney/MGM Studios, a hard working maiden was tidying up the shopping area around her store, "Golden Age souvenirs". She noticed a distraught guest with what appeared to be a soiled pair of child's pants in her hand. The guest asked the resourceful maiden "Could you show me where the restroom is?" The Maiden cheerfully directed the woman in the direction of the nearest washroom.

Meanwhile, the warmup for the Mulan Parade was beginning and droves of guests were starting to line the streets in anticipation for the celebration of the triumphant hero, Mulan. (this means that ropes and tapes were up by this time, making guest traffic nearly impossible across the backlands). 10 minutes later, the guardian Mushu was beginning his warmup along the enchanted streets of the 'backlands' (star tours and IJ). The woman with the child's dirty bloomers approached the maiden at the store again. She implored the maiden "Do you have any diapers here?" The maiden laughed inwardly (because she felt like saying "Oh yeah, they're right next to the footballs and beer pilsners"), but answered sweetly, "No, I'm sorry ma'am we do not". The perceptive maiden noticed that just behind this ill-prepared tourist her party was holding what appeared to be a naked 1 1/2 year old boy. The merchandise maiden thought to herself "What? Did she think that one diaper for the whole day would be enough?".

She knew that as a castmember, she couldn't just allow this baby to continue to be naked, so she thought she would grant this party of Europeans a gracious gift. She knew the foreign guests would not be able to reach the enchanted land of Diaper Faries before the parade, but as a cast member the maiden knew she could make the journey faster than anyone. After she OK'd everything with her older and wiser co-worker, the maiden began on her journey to visit the Diaper Fairies (aka guest relations). The journey would be difficult to make, however. She had to act quickly, because Mushu was almost upon them, and directly behind him was the really huge and potentially-dangerous-if-hit-by float of the Matchmaker. The maiden would have to cross the parade path just after Mushu had passed, run through the Indiana Jones Outpost cast entrance to the baby station backstage, and run back before the Matchmaker was in front of the store. The girl ran as fast as her legs could take her in the humid 90 degree heat of that day.

Once she reached the place of the Diaper Fairies, she had to quickly explain to them her plight because the Matchmaker was approaching ever faster. The Diaper Fairy that assisted her was reluctant to give her anything at first, because they knew that guests usually purchase the diapers from the DFs, rather than just graciously accepting these non-biodegradable children's pants as gifts. Finally after some discussion, the Diaper Fairy gave the winded and sweaty maiden two diapers and some wipes. The Maiden thanked the Fairy of Diapers (with a smirk behind her smile because the DF wasn't very kind to her), and sprinted back towards Golden Age. She was a sight to see, a frantic young woman running through the crowds like there was a fire with diapers in her hand. The maiden was just in time, because the looming, spinning float of the Matchmaker was just about to pass in front of her store (she had to run less than 5 ft. in front of the float, probably freaking out the driver inside!).

The woman was grateful, but probably did not understand the extent of the maiden's efforts.(The maiden was sweating profusely by this time, and looked as though she didn't wear any anti-perspirant that day) It was a small price to pay to ensure the safety and satisfaction of the child and his family, but this merchandise maiden was happy to do it (even if her manager never DID acknowledge her for her brave deed of guest recovery/satisfaction!) The End.

My disney moment happened on one of my nights off. my friend wendy and i purchased tickets for one of mickey's very merry christmas parties. we claimed seats for the parade very early since we knew how quickly people line up. while we were waiting wendy decided to run to pecos bill to get the free hot chocolate and cookies for guests. when she returned the lady seated beside us asked where she had gotten that from. it seemed that she had not received a map when she entered so we gave her ours and told her where she could find the free goodies. after asking us a few more questions she seemed amazed that we were able to answer them all so we told her that we were cast members. for the next 45 minutes we talked about everything. she was there on vacation with her neice, kim. we tried to offer as much advice as we could but the next day would be their last. at one point the lady mentioned to me that they were having a difficult time deciding what park to revisit the next day. i really enjoyed talking to them and was disappointed when the parade started. the next afternoon i was working at a popcorn wagon in frontierland and i heard someone yell "kim". when i looked up there was the lady and her neice, kim, from the night before. they had picked the magic kingdom for their last day because kim wanted to get a picture with me for her photo album before she went home. i couldn't believe that just by talking to someone the night before i had made such an impact. that's the magic of disney though.

as i said earlier, it was the time of my life. and i already miss it even though it hasn't even been a week since i left my roommates and friends. i know that there will never be anything like that in my life again. i thank god every day for giving me the opportunity.

My best moment was on shift at Great Movie Ride. I was in the theatre at the HC line when I spotted a newywed couple in "bride" and "groom" t-shirts wearing the Mickey and Minnie bridal ears (top hat for him, bridal veil for her). I was just about to go off shift and my bump had just come through, so I offered to escort them to the front of the line. I knew once they got on the ride, I would have 22 minutes before they would come back on dock. I managed to get a Micky card (one of the nice gold emobossed ones) from my manager that was blank inside and I ran up to characters to get it signed. By the time they were done, the entire card was covered, inside and out. I ran back downstairs just as their ride ended, and the vehicle was pulling onto dock. I opened their door for them, and hand them the card while telling them that the gang was sorry that they weren't able to give their personal greetings. I just couldn't resist following them to see their reaction. They didn't see me behind them as they opened the card. I couldn't see thier faces until she turned to him. He was grinning ear to ear, and she had tears in her eyes, she was smiling and saying "Look...even Pocahontas signed it, and Cindarella, and...." I had to duck in the manager's office at the end of the dock to regain my composure. Every now and then I think about that card, in a Wedding Album somewhere, and it instantly brightens my day up.

I was working a really hot 98 degree summer day at Disney's the Hunchback of Norte Dame, it was one of my last weeks on the college program. While standing a theater two answers the same question over and over, Where's the Bathroom? (toilet, outhouse, potty, lavatory, washroom), I was beginning to go out of my mind until this couple came over all angry and they were saying really rude things about a cast member and I thought it was me b/c we all know that we are not allowed to let any one come under that rope, unless they went out that way, and already went through the photocell. Anyway back to the story, I asked them what was the matter and they said they lost there camera cover in the Muppets 4D movie and the Cast member said they would get it for them and never returned. So I told them to come back to me when the show was over, and I will go in their and get it for them. At the end of my show they returned, I was shocked but, then I went to Muppets held up the next show, looked all over for it, but could nor find it. So the husband came in and then we found it. I was hugged and thanked by the Mom and Son, and it made my college program experience go out with a bang.

The view from the top of Teamboat Springs, a family ride, is amazing. You can see the entire resort from the mountian. One day the conveyer belt that carried tubes up broke down (nothing new). One perticar family was waiting in line and was wondering what they were looking at. I pointed out to them Cinderella Castle, Spaceship Earth, The Earful Tower, The Tower of Terror, The Grand Floridian, The Animal Kingdom, Wide World of Sports and the All Star Resorts. They loved it. They also noticed that my name is Irish and told me they were from Ireland. We were just starting to talk about my name and my family when the conveyer started working agian and I had to send them down the slide. I wished I could have talked to them longer, but even those few minutes were special.

One day I was working at the top of Runoff Rapids and one family kept coming to my line again and again. It was just after a long rain closing so the park had emptied out a lot. I had seen them all day long. No matter what stand I was on, they came buy. I finally started to talk to them and found out they were from Wales, England. I had a lot of fun with them. A week or so later one of my roommates and I were at Busch Gardens and wound up right behind them in line for one of the rides. I was so surprised. Their daughter even remembered my name. We talked about everything from my school to why Disney is better than Busch Gardens. Even though it wasn't in Disney, that was one of my most magical moments that summer.

Of course I had to work on July 4. I was disappointed that I would get off work too late to see any fireworks. It ended up raining that day and we closed early. Blizzard also ended up hosting an after hours party for some managers and other important folks. They let us leave early, but some of us volunteered to stay and work until the end of our shifts. When we were done, the managers let us join the party. We had free food and drinks. There was free beer, too. The best part, however, was seeing all the firworks form 120'. We watched the fireworks form the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM, Universial Studios, Sea World, Orlando and Kissmmee. They were magical -- the best I have ever seen.

Now I've never had what you call an ego, but one instance that happened to me made me feel like a king!! One day i was working the Pretzel wagon in Fantasyland (which i hardly ever did cause i had to work by my self and i really hated doing that), anyway, I had just finished banking out and had punched out to go home when I decided to run back out on stage to tell my replacement something (i dont remember what) when i was stopped by a family of guests. they asked if they could take my picture in front of Dumbo's flight. I was perplexed but agreed, and after posing in a welcoming manner, flashing my best Disney grin asked why they wanted my picture. Seems that a daughter that was not in attendance was some sort of clothing design majior in chicago and couldn't come with them on thier visit to Disney. They knew that she would love to see all of the costumes at Disney, so they decided to get a photo of each different costume in each land. also seems that their daughter loves redheads, and as some of you know, I have have the brightest carrot top you've ever seen! I told them that i was off duty and to save other cast members from neglecting their duties, I would like to voluntEAR to be their model. So I made up a time and place to meet them in each land, allowing them enough time to get there and me enough time to change and run to meet them. I went to each land (and grabbed a female cast member in each one) and posed for photos- in attractions, foods and etc. the only time i ever had any problems was when i tried to get a guest relations costume. anyway, they were delighted and insisted on taking me out to dinner, but it had to be a non disney restaurant (im glad to see that GUESTS get disneyed out too.) i enjoyed my afternoon as a model. several months after i returned back to school, i recieved a package. it was my photos, as well as examples of all the other costumes at all the other parks (as well as all star sports). its a cool momento and I cherish it!

I had a thought yesterday - it really surprised and saddened me. It seems that my excitement had died. I had lost the ability to be amazed by the everyday, and thrilled by the opportunity presented by the rising sun. Work was work, and not the adventure it has been for the last two years. Then it hit me. I needed a quick infusion of Disney.

It all began during my last class of the day, when I was teaching about DNA transfer in strep bacteria that infect mice. Something came over me and I drew Mickey on the board as a mouse fighting the bacteria - the students were cracking up and asking me about WDW, and even got me to go into my Jungle spiel! Suddenly teaching was fun again! I remembered why I started doing this in the first place, and how I define myself as an educator and a human being. Still, the venir is pretty thick, and I need your help!

******Please post any good stories from WDW experiences - I need to be reminded that the world is a fascinating and wonderful place, and that I'm far too young to get the slightest bit bitter. THANKS!!!!!

I worked at an outdoor attraction (MK Grand Prix, now the Tomorrowland Speedway - there's a misnomer if ever I heard one) that, of course, went 101 whenever there was violent rain. Light rain, we still operated (albeit in those kooky transparent slickers), but in hard rain we'd park the cars and close the queue. Well, one evening the light rain suddenly turned into hard rain. I mean, real hard rain. Not quite tropical storm, but hard enough to close us down. There were still people in my queue -- I was grouper for tracks 3 & 4, naturally - and they got stuck. An adorable mid-thirties couple with an adorable little boy. All three in matching "Northwestern" sweatshirts. The dad left the queue and ran across the way to join the sudden rush on slickers at Mickey's Star Traders, but he didn't want his wife and young son to get wet, so I stuck around to make small-talk with them and we cooled our heels under one of those aluminum umbrella shades on the queue ramps over the track. I didn't have any raingear, so I got soaked pretty quickly and it about ruined my hair (look at the pictures on my page, I think it's pretty obvious it would melt pretty quickly in a hard rain), but it was easy to stay cheerful. Anything's better than being there on a hundred-degree day with all four tracks open and a 20-minute wait. Anyhow, I was actually pretty happy, and the Northwestern mom appreciated hearing all about the college program, up until my supervisor, Jimbo (ex-Tomorrowlanders know who I'm talking about - seven feet tall, four hundred pounds of muscle, quite possibly the nicest supervisor I've ever had at any job), arrived with an umbrella, we got the mother and son out of there, and I took my place with the other waterlogged cast members. The mom actually came back and hugged me on their way out.

One night I was asked to do guest greeting at the exit of Epcot just before the closing of the park (we called it "Wave Bye Bye") I was getting really bored and the guests didn't seem to care much about my: "Goodnight sir, bye kids" stuff so when I saw a school group of about 50 people I had a brilliant idea. I had these guys, along with their teachers, do a very long tunnel with their arms which would lead to the exit turnstile. Every guest would have to pass under it in order to exit the park. We had so much fun and even manage to have a huge choir singing "It's a Small World After All" (yeah, I know, we all hate that song!!) until a manager came saying: "This is a very bad show, stop immediately". I guess some people don't really know how to have fun and can't stand those who do.

We were working (counting the minutes left until break) in the jewelry just by the Chrystal Shop when a woman comes in, doesn't even look at me and Cristiana and walks with her 10 year old son by the wooden Pinocchios.

The boy asks: "mom who's that "
she replies "that's Pinocchio (pronounced "Pie-nocho")
Boy: "And what does he do ?"
Mom: "Oh, he's like the Italian Santa Claus, but he doesn't bring any gift to children who lie"

Me and Cristiana behind the counter couldn't stop laughing histerically.

In mid August of 1997. It was pouring rain and Wonders of life was packed. I was working in the resturant at Wonders and this woman approached me. She needed a cast member's assistance. I left the resturant, which had a full line by the way, and she took me up to the main doors. She explained on the way that as her family left Universe of Energy, they found this little boy standing in the rain crying and all by himself. They took it upon themselves to "adopt" him until he found his family. I went up to him and found out that his name was Jaime, he was 5 and he was from Tuscaloosa, AL. I figured that the only thing he probably recogonized was the Mickey on my nametag, so that was all that I needed to know about him. We, meaning the family, Jaime and myself walked all around Wonders for about an hour. While in Wonders we rode Body Wars (without having to wait in line and in the front even), went in Cranium Command and did just about everything that there is to do in Wonders. When my Supervisor caught up with me he asked what I was doing, so I explained it to him. We then went down to Guest Relations and that is where his parents were waiting. As I turned to leave, I was stopped by Jaime. He asked what my name was. I told him that my name was Andy. He the ran up to me, gave me a big hug and said, "I'll never forget you!" That just made my day.

The second story was when I was working Body Wars during Christmas. We had a full line and then some. I was working turnstyle when this little girl busts through and tells me that she lost her parents. I then got bumped out of that position and walked around BW for about half an hour. Within that time, she "helped" me close up and launch the probes, we sat in Tower and she, once again, "helped" up when we had a stop of some kind and we did this for about half an hour. She was a 4 year old named Melissa and she was from England. When she got re-united with her family, who just happened to be in the line, I bumped back into rotation. A few minutes later, a gentleman approached me and asked if my name was Andy. I said yeah, and asked if there was something I could help him with. It turned out that he was the girl's father and he said that he was going to write a letter to the company commending me for that job I did with his daughter. Sure enough, after I got back to WI in January, I got a call from my supervisor at Wonders telling me that they got a letter from the family in England.

One of my friends told me once, that if you ever have a moment like that, you never forget the people's names. That stuck with me, not just because it's true, but because now I will never forget the magical role that I played in 2 little children's lives. They will probably come back there in the future with their families and remember that one person helped them out when they needed it, and that one person was a kid from WI who missed his family dearly over the holiday but but brought spirit to somebody else.

That is why I work for Disney. Not just for the small checks, or for shits and giggles, but for all of the Jaime's and Melissa's and their families.

Well one of my funny Disney moments happened during Fall 96, when I was working at Hollywood and Vine (QSR) at the Studios. We had just received our 50% off Cast Member Christmas vouchers. I had been really sick for almost a week with the flu and had called into work about four days straight. Well I was starting to feel a little better, when my roommates informed me that they were going to go do their half off shopping at the World of Disney. Well we had to use our vouchers within a certain time period, so I decided to go with them and call in sick again. I was miserable the whole time because i was still very ill. Well we are walking through the World of Disney later than evening and low and behold; I run into my manager, the same manager i had called in sick to. He acted like nothing had happened and it wasn't a big deal. I was so embarrassed since I should've been at work instead of shopping. But he was really cool about it!

I was lucky enough to work on October 1st, the 25th anniversary date. There was a big press event and the park was closed to regular guests, only press from all over the world was in the park that night. We stood in the streets cheering and clapping as the press entered the Studios. There were tv cameras everywhere. We had a blast that night. On my break my manager let us run down to see the Village People play live and then later my manager, (the same one who caught me lying about being sick) snuck out with me and a couple of others to watch the Motorcade of the stars. It was so cool, it wasn't very crowded, since it was only the press, and we had a great spot to see everyone. I saw all kinds of stars that night: Drew Carey, Bob Hope, Tim Allen, and all the Disney Execs. It was really great to be a part of such a special event!

I interviewed for my first program at SW Missouri St and Kristi Breen was the recruiter. You know how the recruiters always travel in pairs, an official recruiter and another cast member from another location? well, mabel (i think that was her name, correct me if im wrong) was the other "recruiter". anyway, while i was on my SECOND program as a merch planner intern, i went with a few of the other planners in my department to walk the Sea Base Alpha merch location. while we were all introducing ourselves to the mgrs, control tockers, etc, i recognized one of the mgrs! it was mabel!!! i asked her if she had gone on a recruiting trip to missouri in the spring of 96 and she said she did. of course she didnt recognize me right away but after i told her my story she remembered me. (or atleast acted like she remembered me) i told her that i was the one at SW Missouri St that drove 9 hrs to make it to the interview session. (they didnt offer any in okla that semester). i couldnt believe it!!! of all the 40,000 castmembers, i found the lady that helped me fulfill my dream of becoming a disney castmember!!! aahhh, a warm fuzzy for me!!:)

Well, my ride didn't go 101 for this, but it shows how crazy people are. One day this summer at Pirates of the Caribbean a guy got on the ride fully clothed and then by the time he got to unload he was COMPLETELY naked. He just took all his clothes off while on the ride, apparently he was stoned on something. Would have loved to have been at unload for that one! Then there was the guy who decided he wanted to take a swim in the bombardment scene (the part with the big pirate ship), he was just wading around in the water like it was normal or something (does anyone know how DIRTY that water is???). Then there is the occasional guest who likes to become part of the show scenes and climbs out of the boat and just sits on the set. People are crazy!

Hey! I was GMR Summer '96 and we had a handful of ggreat 101s, though I would have like to have seen the witch having seizures. The alien's hand fell on a guest once, and there was the time where someone switched the track switch on the vehicle so instead of turning into musical, it went straight and smashed into the corner and broke the wall. They tried to cover it up by putting a random plant in front of it. Several times we had random spottings of people running through finale, too. But I'm sure everyone's had those...

I was a CP during the Spring of 97 semester and worked at the World of Disney (the really big store in the marketplace.) After the semester was over I auditioned to, ummm, "work with" the characters for the summer. I made it and was quite excited about my new job. Well the whole summer went by with no problems. I didn't make any major mistakes (we've all heard about the lawsuit at Disneyland.) About 3 weeks before I was going to leave to go back to school I did an AT&T Special (this is a private meeting for guests who have earned so many points from AT&T; it's held inside Spaceship Earth in Epcot.) So anyway, I was "working with" Minnie Mouse that day and, being that there were only two families at this private meeting, we were all just kind of hanging out, playing with the kids and such. Well, poor "Minnie" failed to notice that while just standing there, "her" bloomers fell down to "her" ankles, and "she" just stood there with that smile on her face. Well, the escort ran over and said "Minnie, please come with me. Your bloomers fell off." The poor guy had to help "her" get fixed, while everyone was just cracking up. Someone probably got it on video. As embarassed as "she" was, it was the funniest thing that had happened during the whole course of the summer and my experience working with the characters. If you ever see this video on America's Funniest, please let me know! :)