While it's difficult to squeeze three months of the best summer of my life into four articles, I'm going to try. Although my story is one of hundreds, I don't think anyone has had an experience quite like it. So close your eyes as we go back in time to the year of The New Tomorrowland: The Summer of 1998. — Shoshana
After being selected to be a cast member in Fantasyland Classics, due to a lovely twist of fate (read Part Two), I was looking forward to attending the Attractions and You seminar. Ironically, I went to the 8 a.m. class with Shannon, the girl I switched roles with who would be heading to the Submarine Voyage (in its last season before closing). We weren't the only members of the Disneyland College Program (DLCP) who were assigned to attractions, but, for some reason, we were the only ones at this particular class.
The strange part about the seminar was that while we did go into the park, we never went on any attraction. Our hostess worked at a raft guide and came to the class in her costume. For some reason I found it very hard to concentrate on the finer points of working in attractions when the person delivering the speech looks like Tom Sawyer. We learned what would be expected of us as attractions Cast Members – especially when it came to safety. They reinforced the code of Guest Service:
- S-Smile
- E-Eye Contact/Body Language
- R-Respect and Welcome
- V-Value the Magic
- I-Initiate Guest Control
- C-Create Service Solutions
- E-End With a Thank You
And the four keys: Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency
The next day I had to meet with my trainer, Brandon, at 7:30 a.m. prior to park opening. One thing I had to get used to was the usage of military time. For example, my schedule for the week was 7:30m to 16:00, 7:30 to 16:00, 9:00 to 17:30, and 11:30 to 20:00.
My schedule noted that my trainer would assist me in getting my locker, costume ID and future schedule. It also included the name and phone number of my scheduler. I would learn that there would be some days where I would be scheduled for a time, but not necessarily a location and would have to call in to find out where I would be needed.
After parking my car at the Katella Cast Member Lot and taking a shuttle to Harbor House (where all the CMs check in and out) I met Brandon. The next 30 minutes were kind of a blur. I got my costume – a white frilly shirt, blue skort, white knee-highs, and a short gray jacket because it was cold (longer jackets, scarf, gloves and rain gear were also available). CMs needed to provide their own shoes and socks – except in special instances – and I had brought black flats that would evolve into black chunky shoes. I was given a locker in the area behind Space Mountain — I was always so tempted to open the door leading from our section to the attraction and go for a ride — and took my picture for my ID. Then after changing, it was into the park we went.
We walked onstage (after passing a mirror reminding me to smile) and a huge feeling of happiness came over me. The park was still several minutes from opening and it was that magic moment that Walt would often describe. We headed past Snow White Grotto and Wishing Well to Pinocchio's Daring Journey – where the CM home base was located. Before every shift I would need to go to that office and find out which rotation I would be working. There were five, although at the beginning and end of the day, there were four. (Note: these rotations have changed since 1998).
1) Snow White Scary Adventures Loading (operating the panel), Snow White Unload (helping people off the attraction),Casey Jr. Circus Train.
2) Pinocchio Load, Pinocchio Unload, Casey Jr.
Rotations One and Two would combine based on crowds and we would lose the unload position at both attractions until midday when we would have the most CMs. At night we would become one rotation again.
3) Mr. Toad's Wild Ride load, Mr. Toad unload, Peter Pan's Flight load, Peter Pan unload (which would become a permanent position halfway through the summer).
4) Mad Tea Party (which would occasionally pick up a second CM to help check the teacups), Alice in Wonderland load (and as crowds increased we picked up the unload – and these were the days before the White Rabbit's mirror).
5) Dumbo the Flying Elephant (two CMs, one to operate the attraction and the other to hand out feathers) and King Arthur Carrousel. I got to work this rotation on the Fourth of July when the park stayed open until 2 a.m.
It's a Small World, the Matterhorn Bobsleds and Storybook Boats were in a different jurisdiction.
Each rotation included a 15-minute break and if you were working more than 6.1 hours, as most of us did, you would get a 30-minute lunch. Where I worked determined where I had my break. There was a break room on Small World Way, a maintenance room behind some large wooden doors between Alice and the Prince and Princess bathrooms, a small room between Peter Pan and Mr. Toad, and an outdoor area past Village Haus (and a large indoor seating area down the stairs inside). I almost always took lunch at the Village Haus, where I could get a burger, fries and a drink for a pretty decent rate.
Because I had so many attractions to learn, we ended up extending my training an additional week. I sort of hit the ground running. Brandon took me from one attraction to another where I had a chance to operate a few of them. At one point a guest approached us and said her camera fell off her seat on Pinocchio and could we get it for her. So Brandon and I did a walkthrough holding onto an empty car. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to run into every door possible and tripped over the track at least a dozen times. Suffice it to say I didn't find the camera, so I stayed with the guest while Brandon went back through to look. He didn't find it, but we told the guest to check lost and found at the end of the evening because the CMs turn everything in after they do the closing walkthrough.
I spent the next week helping to open, close and operate the attractions. Over the course of the summer I was scheduled in rotation one or two more than the others. They became my favorite rotations (although doing the closing walkthrough on Snow White is a little scary – even with the lights on). My favorite attractions to work were Casey Jr. and the Mad Tea Party (where I would often improvise the spiel reminding guests that there were no tea, crumpets or scones allowed on the attraction; that we were at a California tea party and there was to be no smoking; and that the faster they turned the wheel in front of them, the faster they would get sick. I once got a call from one of the Managers who heard me while she was at Alice to tell me how great my spiel sounded.)
Casey became my favorite, even though it was one of the hottest attractions I had to work — once I got over my fear that I would set off the alarm by not stopping in front of the patchwork quilt when the other train was at the station.
As you approached the last hour of your shift, you were supposed to have the other CMs bump around you since you couldn't take a break. At the end of the night, the CMs at the rotation would determine who would close which attraction. I would ask to work Casey so I could not only back it into the tunnel, which was so cool, but I would often turn off the prerecorded music and narrate to my passengers what they were seeing in Storybook Land (riders on Casey get a much better view of Cinderella's Castle than those on the boats).
My least favorite rotations were Toad/Pan – because I was always worried that the cars would back up on Toad into the attraction because the loading station was so small – and Dumbo/Carrousel – because both were outside and involved a lot of walking in circles (although I did learn to jump on and off the Carrousel while it was moving). There was one advantage to closing the Carrousel – you got to close Sleeping Beauty Castle. Sadly, they stopped allowing the female CMs to close it because they were worried teenagers would hang out in the castle and scare us, but it was fun while it lasted.
As part of my training I had to go through a workbook and answer several questions about the attractions and their operating procedures. Brandon had me take these tests in the maintenance room behind the marching card scene in Alice. That song ran through my head for weeks. Although one of the times we were up there, Alice had a breakdown and we were needed to escort the guests out of the attraction and to hold on to the caterpillar as we walked it down the ramp. (Peter Pan was also a fun one during a breakdown as we all had to be on phones throughout the attraction calling out the ship numbers as they flew by since we could only take the guests out at the station).
Once I had passed training and began working, I learned to get past my fears and really enjoyed myself (although I had to remember not to put my sunglasses on top of my head, which one of the managers would tell me by putting his hands on his head and moving “invisible glasses” to his chest). I had the opportunity to shadow a manager for a couple of hours and learned it was a lot harder than it looks. Since one of the “keys” to the magic was “Show,” before starting a shift I would pass the Grotto and call maintenance if it wasn't working. I would then check out the cue for Peter Pan. If the line was long enough to touch the line for Snow White, I would fix the ropes, move the strollers out of the way and guide the guests through.
I loved working in Fantasyland so much, but even Disney isn't always perfect. One day the scheduler had overscheduled and there were more Cast Members than there were positions. Rather than short-shift people, two CMs were given the task of replenishing all the water jugs, and I was given the assignment of changing the batteries in all the flashlights. After that I was to make sure all the strollers were lined up properly. In the last hour of my shift, the manager came up to me and asked if I could help out with Guest Control for the Mulan parade. I had never worked Guest Control before, but she told me all I had to do was make certain guests kept moving and didn't sit or stand where they shouldn't. I figured I could do that – and I had a great deal of fun. Little did I know that this was a bit of foreshadowing.
What would happen the next time Fantasyland was overscheduled? And what happened when the College Program ended? Check out Part Four.
