CM Eavesdropping: Rumblings and rumors overheard at Disneyland
You can learn a lot by keeping your ears open and asking the right questions while walking around the Magic Kingdom. Admittedly, hourly cast members are not always the most accurate source for deep inside information, especially when it comes to long-term, blue-sky, or executive-level planning. They also aren’t always up to snuff on their park history—though I have yet to meet a cast member willing to admit it. Told that Walt named the Autopia after his great Uncle Otto, most guests would never know the difference.
But for on-stage action, the rank-and-file often know more about what’s happening on a daily basis than many of the secluded higher-ups in the Team Disney Anaheim building. In particular, roaming cast members like sweepers or security guards are constantly walking the grounds, with their eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. And many, such as the chatty crowd-control recruits, just can’t keep a secret.
Here are a few of the more interesting tid-bits recently gleaned from your neighborhood cast members…
1. The first 50th Anniversary feature to be eliminated will be…
…the cast members’ special golden name tags, which feature the year they joined the park. A nice idea, but sometimes embarrassing when it’s sometimes difficult to spot any employees with a start date dating back to at least the 1990s.
Cast members resort-wide are supposed to be receiving new nametags this September. In place of the year they began working at the resort, their birthplace or hometown will be printed on the bottom. In Anaheim, the practice began over 10 years ago at the Disneyland Hotel—and even longer ago than that at Walt Disney World, where a significantly larger percentage of the workforce hails from all over the globe.
2. The White Rabbit loitering outside the remodeled King and Queen restrooms used to be…
…inside the Alice in Wonderland attraction. The figure used to stand at the load/unload station, with the face of his pocket watch containing a convex mirror so ride operators could ensure that guests were safely entering and exiting their vehicles. The relocated rabbit has turned to stone and the mirror replaced with a painted watch face.
3. Stop asking for FastPasses on…
…Star Tours. After years of infrequent service, the kiosks have officially closed and been removed.
4. Blame Aladdin’s Oasis’s closure on…
…the fire department. Employees claim that the storytelling venue was suddenly shut down a few weeks ago when the city fire marshal discovered that the facility has just one exit for guests. Character cast members hope the location will reopen by August 1—assuming the park is willing to spend the money to make the corrections.
Did the Anaheim Fire Department cause the shutdown of Aladdin and Jasmine Storytelling? Photo by David Koenig.
5. Blame the Jolly Trolley’s closure on…
…DOSH (the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health). Allegedly, safety inspectors did not think the vehicles could stop quickly enough. So, when a trolley suddenly appeared the weekend before last, its left rear wheel chained to the deserted trolley station, it really wasn’t to see if guests missed it enough to bring it back as a ride—but rather as a prop. “If enough guests were seen crawling around it, the trolley was to remain near the gazebo—welded to the track as a photo location,” said one cast member.
6. Unlike other characters in the park, Jack Sparrow may be…
…singing and playing music, as part of a troupe of walk-around scalawags to appear in New Orleans Square. Supposedly, the actors to play the new face characters will be covered by the AGVA (American Guild of Variety Artists) union, instead of the Teamsters, leading one to deduce the pirates will be doing more performing than merely posing for pictures and signing autographs.
7. Managers may be kicked out of the park…
…and relocated behind the Haunted Mansion, if the revamped River Belle Terrace consumes their current offices. Current plans are to shutter the counter-service eatery in the early fall, gut it, and rebuild as an upscale, two-story, full-service restaurant. The expanded facility would swallow not only the Bengal Barbecue, but also the offices for Westside Foods and Attractions, which would be relocated in trailers on the other side of the berm. Tomorrowland Attractions management suffered the same fate during a recent rehab and were banished to trailers behind Innoventions.
If the remodel of the River Belle goes forward a lot of offices need to be moved. Photo by David Koenig.
8. The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage will displace…
…the Autopia’s Winners Circle souvenir store, which currently occupies much of the old sub ride’s queue. After the summer, the gift shop is to be relocated to the Hatmosphere near the Autopia entrance, and the hat shop is to be moved to the shuttered Radio Disney site below the Observatron. Construction is already underway around the Tomorrowland Terrace to accommodate a large submarine queue as well as a reconfigured Monorail entrance and queue.
The Disney Radio booth has been empty for quite a while. Photo by David Koenig.
9. Cars may be coming to Disneyland…
…to take over the Autopia. At least two different scenarios may be being batted around, depending on who you talk to. According to some cast members, Disney is considering adding a temporary overlay to promote the upcoming Pixar movie (hopefully, less tacky than the plywood Disney Afternoon Live cut-outs that haunted the ride briefly 15 years ago).
Others claim Disney wants to redesign the entire ride—from the queue to the billboards to the cars themselves—to tie in with the Cars story and characters. Such a drastic overhaul would be impossible as long as Chevron continues to sponsor the ride. However, proponents of this conspiracy theory say they have heard that Chevron would like to prematurely terminate its 13-year sponsorship deal.
10. The new Dapper Dans don’t fit in…
…on turn-of-the-century Main Street quite as well as their predecessors, since the performers now wear hidden microphones to pipe their voices through park loudspeakers. Their performances are a lot more attention-getting now. But, as one critic noted, “When they are riding the horse-drawn trolley and singing, it is much too loud. It does not sound natural, as everyone down Main Street can hear them. The quaintness of just hearing them naturally is gone.”
Back to 1955 Event!
Finally, for those of you who haven’t had the chance to behold my critically acclaimed “Disneyland: Back to 1955” multi-media extravaganza, I’ll be presenting it next to benefit the Huntington Beach Friends of the Library Friday June 2, 2006, at Noon. Showing rare early photos and sharing never-before-published anecdotes, I’ll try to re-create what Disneyland was like 50 years ago. Reservations are mandatory. The $15 admission includes lunch, followed by my presentation and signing, with all proceeds going to the Friends of the Library.
I’m a strong supporter of these non-profit, volunteer groups that through the year sponsor various programs for the community, hold used books sales, and run gift shops—and donate everything they take in to keep their local library’s doors open and shelves stocked with new books and other unbudgeted items. In the last two years, the Huntington Beach chapter helped keep two local library branches open that would have been closed due to city budget cut-backs (Let’s blame Pressler.)
The Huntington Beach Library is located at 7111 Talbert Avenue, off Golden West Street. Reservations must be made by May 30. For reservations or more information, call (714) 842-4481.
