20 Times Disney Theme Park Employees Revealed The Pros And Cons Of Working There
A job at Disney sounds magical but it comes with its own bright and dark sides.
Disney theme parks seem like a magical place to work at. Who doesn't want to get paid for being happy and spreading happiness, right? But, is it really all unicorns and rainbows, or do we need to remove our rose-tinted glasses to dive deep into the lives of Disney employees?
Folks at Bored Panda have collected some fascinating stories from Reddit that were shared by Disney staff members. Some of these instances are heart-warming while others are heart-breaking. But these stories definitely give us a glimpse into the lives of cast members of Disney. Scroll below to find out the sweetest, saddest, and weirdest stuff encountered by Disney employees.
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Image source: Nataliyana
"We were in the queue for Tiki Room and the woman in front took off her shorts, stood in her not very full underwear then put a fresh pair of shorts on,.. in front of 10 people."
Image source: aka_chela
"I was at Food and Wine in early September, and it was HOT and HUMID. A child was SCREAMING in his stroller because he was on the brink of passing out from the heat, and his parents were ignoring him while they got beer from a booth. After they got their beer, the mom casually gave him a sip of water from a water bottle. It broke my heart."
Image source: leopoldisacat
"People sexually harass the characters super frequently. I was working with Ariel and cast members will always count down before they take a photo so people have time to get into position. I counted down and this teen boy decided to try to rip off one of Ariel's shells. I had to open his camera and expose his film so the photo didn't get developed and passed around. I found out later that I was supposed to take it to the Kodak shop to have the film developed and that one removed - but I'd always heard the rumors about ruining the film and nobody really trains you on that so I just went with it."
Image source: too-tsunami
"I was Pocahontas, & I met a little girl named Emily. she was about 7 & with her dad. She came up & said, "Hi Pocahontas, I made you this card." I opened it & it said "Dear Pocahontas, I drew some flowers for you. I hope you have a lovely day. Love, Emily."
I thanked her, & she left. Two days later, I was Silvermist, & guess who comes into Pixie Hollow? Emily. & she gave me a card: "Dear Tinkerbell & her friends, I drew some flowers for you. I hope you have a lovely day. Love, Emily"
Her dad didn't recognize me, but I was excited to have two cards from the same girl. a few days later, I was Mulan, & GUESS WHO COMES UP TO ME? So I said, before she started talking, "I know you , you're Emily! I heard you're really good at drawing flowers, all of my friends told me."
This girl's face lit up like the Fourth of July & she pulled a card out. "Dear Mulan, Shang, & Mushu, I drew some flowers for you. I hope you have a lovely day. Love, Emily." I have three cards for all three of my face characters from the same girl."
Image source: Knightro2011
"A guest came in to get disability pass told me their daughter had chicken pox. 'It was a major health issue. I've never had them before - and it became a huge health issue for me. thankfully, I didn't get them.' I won't go into the legal aspects of it.
Image source: GATORinaZ28
"A lady pushing a stroller while getting irritated that the guy in front of her was walking too slow...so she rams him with the stroller and then plays it off as an accident."
Image source: overnight_cm_girl
"Overnight cast member here. Please PLEASE leave your cremated loved ones at home. stop dumping them in Haunted Mansion. They just get vacuumed up and disposed of."
Image source: unicornCornUnique
"The woman came up to me and told me that she didn’t like the wet stuff coming from the sky and that I should tell my boss to turn it off. At first, I laughed because I thought she was kidding, which only pissed her off more.
“Don’t they know that this stuff ruins people’s vacations?” She said.
“We have no way of controlling the rain, ma’am. This is Florida and we get quick storms like this in the summer, but it might go away after a while,” I said.
“What about the bubble?” She said.
I was thoroughly confused by what she meant by bubble so I had to ask that she was saying “bubble.” Apparently, she thought that all of Disney was under a big bubble and we controlled the weather, like Risa on Star Trek. I confirmed that there was no bubble, that this was the real deal. She walked away insisting that something should be done about it."
Image source: liluzienthusiast
"My whole day gets improved when someone says thank you and uses my name and actually acknowledges that I am a human being."
Image source: broken_long_thumbkey
"This couple was trying to ride Space Mountain, and had a black duffelbag. He heard something come from the bag, so he asked them to open it. They refused. Security comes, forces them to open it. It was their 6 month old baby."
Image source: MeleMallory
"I worked at a restaurant in Downtown Disney in California as a host. James Spader came in once, tried to get a table with his dog. Who was obviously not a service dog (and even if it was an emotional support dog, they don’t have to be legally allowed inside a restaurant.) I told him I would be happy to seat him if he left his dog at the Kennel, right across the esplanade, but I could not seat his dog inside - what if a health inspector came in? He yelled at me so much, his face turned red. He told my manager to fire me. Luckily, the restaurant had a patio, and the manager sat Spader at a table on the patio closest to the exit so we wouldn’t get in trouble. My manager actually stood up for me, told Spader I was right. Spader still tried to get me fired. This was 10 years ago, I still hate James Spader with a red hot passion. Such an entitled a**. And since he always plays a**holes, I know he’s not even a good actor. However, Christian Slater was very polite when he came in."
Image source: evansnead
"Woman inappropriately touched Gaston."
Image source: mishins6111
"Not me, but I witnessed this happen to a fellow CM. She was ringing up a guest for an item and he looked a little upset. She did the Disney thing and asked, "how's everything been going sir? Happiest place still the happiest?" He responded with "no, something happened today." "What's wrong? What happened?" She asked. "I wanted to get my Mickey ears embroidered, but they wouldn't do it," he replied. She inquiries, "what did you want embroidered on it?" "I wanted it to say, 'God Hates Gays,' but those pricks said it was against policy." he said bitterly. She wasn't so nice to him after that."
Image source: Eticket15
"I worked at one the Restaurants in MK. I had a family abandon their adult son, who was in a wheelchair with a slew of health complications, in the middle of our walkway while they went on rides. He was there for about 2-3 hours."
Image source: contaminatedesert
"One woman came up and asked where the bathrooms were, so I told her. She then decided that the line was too long so she tried to just pull down her pants and pee in the lobby. Security came VERY quickly!"
Image source: misslyss96
“The opening of our parks depend on guest behavior.”
Image source: atheistpiece
"We had a lady try to smuggle an infant onto Indy at DL one time. She put a huge jacket on (in the summer) and stuffed her child down near the bottom in an attempt to look pregnant.
Several cast members warned her that it is not recommended that pregnant women go on the ride, but she insisted, and we couldn't stop her. So she manages to get on the Jeep, and puts the seat belt on, and that was when her stomach started screaming and crying."
Image source: liluzienthusiast
"I won’t say what I do but I will say that the best way to raise my mood and or compliment me is to actually laugh at my jokes when I tell them so we’re not sitting in silence for seven and a half minutes."
Image source: DEADLYDISNEY
"So my friend went to the parks dressed as Anna, and this was Anna’s reaction upon spotting her in the crowd."
Image source: Bkbee
"Got asked about putting the dome up when it was raining."
#1
Image source: Nataliyana
"We were in the queue for Tiki Room and the woman in front took off her shorts, stood in her not very full underwear then put a fresh pair of shorts on,.. in front of 10 people."
#2
Image source: aka_chela
"I was at Food and Wine in early September, and it was HOT and HUMID. A child was SCREAMING in his stroller because he was on the brink of passing out from the heat, and his parents were ignoring him while they got beer from a booth. After they got their beer, the mom casually gave him a sip of water from a water bottle. It broke my heart."
#3
Image source: leopoldisacat
"People sexually harass the characters super frequently. I was working with Ariel and cast members will always count down before they take a photo so people have time to get into position. I counted down and this teen boy decided to try to rip off one of Ariel's shells. I had to open his camera and expose his film so the photo didn't get developed and passed around. I found out later that I was supposed to take it to the Kodak shop to have the film developed and that one removed - but I'd always heard the rumors about ruining the film and nobody really trains you on that so I just went with it."
#4
Image source: too-tsunami
"I was Pocahontas, & I met a little girl named Emily. she was about 7 & with her dad. She came up & said, "Hi Pocahontas, I made you this card." I opened it & it said "Dear Pocahontas, I drew some flowers for you. I hope you have a lovely day. Love, Emily."
I thanked her, & she left. Two days later, I was Silvermist, & guess who comes into Pixie Hollow? Emily. & she gave me a card: "Dear Tinkerbell & her friends, I drew some flowers for you. I hope you have a lovely day. Love, Emily"
Her dad didn't recognize me, but I was excited to have two cards from the same girl. a few days later, I was Mulan, & GUESS WHO COMES UP TO ME? So I said, before she started talking, "I know you , you're Emily! I heard you're really good at drawing flowers, all of my friends told me."
This girl's face lit up like the Fourth of July & she pulled a card out. "Dear Mulan, Shang, & Mushu, I drew some flowers for you. I hope you have a lovely day. Love, Emily." I have three cards for all three of my face characters from the same girl."
#5
Image source: Knightro2011
"A guest came in to get disability pass told me their daughter had chicken pox. 'It was a major health issue. I've never had them before - and it became a huge health issue for me. thankfully, I didn't get them.' I won't go into the legal aspects of it.
#6
Image source: GATORinaZ28
"A lady pushing a stroller while getting irritated that the guy in front of her was walking too slow...so she rams him with the stroller and then plays it off as an accident."
#7
Image source: overnight_cm_girl
"Overnight cast member here. Please PLEASE leave your cremated loved ones at home. stop dumping them in Haunted Mansion. They just get vacuumed up and disposed of."
#8
Image source: unicornCornUnique
"The woman came up to me and told me that she didn’t like the wet stuff coming from the sky and that I should tell my boss to turn it off. At first, I laughed because I thought she was kidding, which only pissed her off more.
“Don’t they know that this stuff ruins people’s vacations?” She said.
“We have no way of controlling the rain, ma’am. This is Florida and we get quick storms like this in the summer, but it might go away after a while,” I said.
“What about the bubble?” She said.
I was thoroughly confused by what she meant by bubble so I had to ask that she was saying “bubble.” Apparently, she thought that all of Disney was under a big bubble and we controlled the weather, like Risa on Star Trek. I confirmed that there was no bubble, that this was the real deal. She walked away insisting that something should be done about it."
#9
Image source: liluzienthusiast
"My whole day gets improved when someone says thank you and uses my name and actually acknowledges that I am a human being."
#10
Image source: broken_long_thumbkey
"This couple was trying to ride Space Mountain, and had a black duffelbag. He heard something come from the bag, so he asked them to open it. They refused. Security comes, forces them to open it. It was their 6 month old baby."
#11
Image source: MeleMallory
"I worked at a restaurant in Downtown Disney in California as a host. James Spader came in once, tried to get a table with his dog. Who was obviously not a service dog (and even if it was an emotional support dog, they don’t have to be legally allowed inside a restaurant.) I told him I would be happy to seat him if he left his dog at the Kennel, right across the esplanade, but I could not seat his dog inside - what if a health inspector came in? He yelled at me so much, his face turned red. He told my manager to fire me. Luckily, the restaurant had a patio, and the manager sat Spader at a table on the patio closest to the exit so we wouldn’t get in trouble. My manager actually stood up for me, told Spader I was right. Spader still tried to get me fired. This was 10 years ago, I still hate James Spader with a red hot passion. Such an entitled a**. And since he always plays a**holes, I know he’s not even a good actor. However, Christian Slater was very polite when he came in."
#12
Image source: evansnead
"Woman inappropriately touched Gaston."
#13
Image source: mishins6111
"Not me, but I witnessed this happen to a fellow CM. She was ringing up a guest for an item and he looked a little upset. She did the Disney thing and asked, "how's everything been going sir? Happiest place still the happiest?" He responded with "no, something happened today." "What's wrong? What happened?" She asked. "I wanted to get my Mickey ears embroidered, but they wouldn't do it," he replied. She inquiries, "what did you want embroidered on it?" "I wanted it to say, 'God Hates Gays,' but those pricks said it was against policy." he said bitterly. She wasn't so nice to him after that."
#14
Image source: Eticket15
"I worked at one the Restaurants in MK. I had a family abandon their adult son, who was in a wheelchair with a slew of health complications, in the middle of our walkway while they went on rides. He was there for about 2-3 hours."
#15
Image source: contaminatedesert
"One woman came up and asked where the bathrooms were, so I told her. She then decided that the line was too long so she tried to just pull down her pants and pee in the lobby. Security came VERY quickly!"
#16
Image source: misslyss96
“The opening of our parks depend on guest behavior.”
#17
Image source: atheistpiece
"We had a lady try to smuggle an infant onto Indy at DL one time. She put a huge jacket on (in the summer) and stuffed her child down near the bottom in an attempt to look pregnant.
Several cast members warned her that it is not recommended that pregnant women go on the ride, but she insisted, and we couldn't stop her. So she manages to get on the Jeep, and puts the seat belt on, and that was when her stomach started screaming and crying."
#18
Image source: liluzienthusiast
"I won’t say what I do but I will say that the best way to raise my mood and or compliment me is to actually laugh at my jokes when I tell them so we’re not sitting in silence for seven and a half minutes."
#19
Image source: DEADLYDISNEY
"So my friend went to the parks dressed as Anna, and this was Anna’s reaction upon spotting her in the crowd."
#20
Image source: Bkbee
"Got asked about putting the dome up when it was raining."DE
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