It’s been pretty well established at this point that I’m a bit of a Disneyland geek.
That fact about me just has a way of coming up, even when I don’t say anything.
Perfect example: I proudly have my experience as a cast member tucked onto the bottom of my resume because I just can’t bear to leave it off. At one of my internships I didn’t say a word about it, I just talked about my journalism experience. Little did I know that I had walked into an office with several Disneyland fans and, before I knew it, I was being introduced as Katherine, the new intern who had worked at Disneyland. Of course, I love Disney so I loved having the chance to talk about it. This experience also proved to me that people do actually read all the way to the bottom of your resume.
Disney conversations just have a way of springing up. At the same internship the woman I shared an office with commented on the music we were listening. She said it sounded a bit like the Tiki Room, so of course we ended up talking about Jose and Dole Whips and how the whole thing was originally supposed to be a dinner theater experience. It just happens.
While in Los Angeles — and at Disneyland of course — in January I found myself talking to some folks next to me in line and, while I don’t remember exactly what I said, I know it wasn’t anything especially knowledgable or noteworthy, and the woman I was talking to said, “do you work here?” I just smiled and told her that no, I did not, and left it at that. Once a Skip, always a Skip, they say.
Back when I was a cast member, I worked in Adventureland — that means I worked Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room and Indiana Jones. I also spend a fair amount of time on the parade route directing traffic, and I worked exactly one Fantasmic crowd control shift.
Crowd control essentially equals lots of walking around, talking to guests and waving a flashlight with a lot of directional spieling. Things like, “please stay to your righthand side all the way through the walkway, folks, stay to your right hand side please.” My favorite thing about these kinds of shifts was all that walking. Getting paid to stroll around Main Street on a beautiful SoCal summer afternoon and talk to guests about the resort, answering their questions? Don’t mind if I do. One afternoon during the parade, while I was directing traffic near the Main Street Cinema, I looked over at the float parked across from me and, low and behold, Mickey had his pants on backwards.
One of my best friends and I really met and started becoming friends because of Disney. She went to Biola, too, and we lived across the hall from each other our sophomore year. She had Disney stuff on her door. The rest is pretty much history.
I have to say that is one of the best parts about the job are the little things. Disneyland is a huge show and so much happens there every day. Those little things that you notice when you are in the same vicinity all day that you miss otherwise are one of my favorite parts. Sometimes it’s guests — there was a woman who used to come and ride Indy over and over again every morning. She carried a little notebook with her and would make a tally in it after every ride. There was also a guy who would come a lot dressed as Indiana. Or it might be the small trivia things — where the hidden Mickeys are, showing the Eeyore parking lot sign in Indy to guests, the half red, half white light bulb at Coke Corner, etc. Sharing the magic. And sometimes it’s the harmless oops moments, like Mickey having his pants on backwards.
I only worked Tiki Room twice, and that was OK with me. I understand the historical significance of the attraction and all the animatronics but it just isn’t my favorite.
Jungle and Indy were what I really loved. The spieling was great fun at Jungle. They give you a whole packet of jokes when you’re new and you get to put together your spiel however you want. It’s funny how jokes go in an out of fashion in the Jungle, and yet some are enduring classics that never go away — backside of water anyone? Here in the Jungle we call that 02H.
At Jungle downtimes, when the attraction is closed for some reason or another, are pretty rare but when they do happen there’s a lot of driving the boats back and forth through the Jungle, shifting around a stuck boat to let guests off and then hanging out in your boat until things get going again. It’s impressive how the Jungle truly is a jungle these days. Almost 60 years of trying to grow a jungle will have that effect.
At first I was skeptical about Indy but I quickly fell in love with working it. The Indy costume is just cute — because of course that is what really matters — and the whole thing operates at a much faster speed than Jungle. One afternoon I was at the loading station and I was looking out across the jeep and a guy in row three caught my attention. I couldn’t figure out where I knew him from. Several jeeps later it hit me. He played a minor character in Gilmore Girls, a show I’m a big fan of.
And that’s another thing, you just never know who you might bump into. Might be an A lister, might be someone you went to high school with who has no idea you live in California, let alone work at Disneyland.
On another note, Disneyland is both deceptively big and deceptively small. When you walk around backstage you realize how close all the show buildings for the rides are. Several lands away is really just a hop, skip and a jump. On the other hand, Indy is massive. When walking the track during training I realized just how tall that ride really goes and how many hills there are. Case in point: Snake Temple is on the third floor.
The stories and memories from that place are virtually endless. Every time I go it seems like there is something new I notice, or something new to experience. Which is good, I need new material every now and then. After all, it just has a way of coming up.
