Work

<p>Iconic theme parks Disney World and Disneyland are known for maintaining a squeaky-clean, family-friendly image in the eyes of the public. This is why you rarely hear about any major scandals taking place at Disney. But every workplace has juicy and dirty secrets, even Disney theme parks. Fortunately, people who have worked at Disney, aka former &quot;cast members,&quot; were more than willing to spill the dirt in response to this Reddit <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/o3emae/former_disney_theme_park_employees_of_reddit_what/" target="_blank">question</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Former Disney theme park employees of Reddit, what are some dirty secrets or stories you can tell us about your time there?</p> </blockquote><h2>These 19 former employees reveal their dirty, little-known secrets from behind-the-scenes of the world-famous theme parks:</h2><p>1.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/mdmahmud880/">mdmahmud880</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>There are Three hidden phones in the magic kingdom that when you pick up<br /> have dialogue from Disney characters like a stitch in Tomorrowland.</p> </blockquote><p>2.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/hashtagdisposible/">hashtagdisposible</a>:</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>This was years ago at DL but there used to be a show of Tinkerbell flying through the sky before fireworks started in the summer. They would put the spot light on her as she went down a zip line and go to black just as she crossed to a back stage area. The novelty of it was that there was no sophisticated mechanism to stop her. There were literally a couple of guys in a tower at the end of the zip line holding a mattress that she would crash into to stop. Nightly, cast members would gather at the base of the tower backstage just to see this happen. As soon as she crashed, everyone would go back to their locations.</p> </blockquote><p>3.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/diego2757/">diego2757</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I worked there for 3 months 2 years ago with my gf at the time and anything news worthy that happens there (usually negative) immediately gets shot down by the official page of Disney (Twitter, insta, Facebook etc) they keep everything hush hush. Lighting struck a bathroom building and there was a small fire and my gf and I weren&rsquo;t working that day but we were there enjoying the park for free bc we&rsquo;re cast members and she records it and posted it on her Twitter. News media pages were commenting and asking her questions like when, how, what&rsquo;s being done and before she could reply the Disney page said to disregard the video bc it wasn&rsquo;t true and the video is edited and the media pages stopped asking after that. She gets called into the office the next day and was super close to losing her job. The reason she didn&rsquo;t was bc of how much seniority she had but she was basically on probation after that. Disney is f**ked they don&rsquo;t tell people sh*t</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>4.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/case_sensitive/">case_sensitive</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Disneyland first interview papers include a blank outline of a person to indicate where you have tattoos.</p> <p>It&#39;s referenced if you want to change positions internally, to indicate how said tattoos could be revealed, based on what your new uniform would be.</p> </blockquote><p>5.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/nerdmoot/">nerdmoot</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>A friend of mine worked at Disney World. According to her Epcot is the best place to work. When she was at the Magic Kingdom she said she went home crying all the time because the moms were so mean.</p> </blockquote><p>6.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/leopoldisacat/">leopoldisacat</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>You have to be in specific height ranges to play the different characters. Because Mickey&#39;s height range is so short he&#39;s usually played by a woman. Likewise for Donald, although the most successful and best known Donald that I knew while I worked there was a little person.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>When the princess face characters come backstage they have to take off their dresses so they don&#39;t get dirty while they&#39;re on break so the princesses are usually walking around in a smock and bloomers if you see them back there. There is some serious cognitive dissonance when you walk back and see Snow White in her bloomers on her phone cursing up a storm.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>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&#39;s shells. I had to open his camera and expose his film so the photo didn&#39;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&#39;d always heard the rumors about ruining the film and nobody really trains you on that so I just went with it. The little a**holes deserved it.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>7.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/jon98gn/">jon98gn</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I think the worst part about character harassment is that Disney does not prosecute the guests at least when I was there. When I was working in the 2000s, there was someone who her wrist broken by a drunk guest that grabbed and twisted her arm really badly. Disney refused to prosecute and I think she may have ended up with permanent nerve damage in her wrist which really sucked because she was also a gymnast too.</p> </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote> </blockquote><p> </p><p>8.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Garbage-Striking/">Garbage-Striking</a>:</p><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>Disney cruise line here, I used to go in to the complaint system and read all the guest complaints from previous cruises. The amount of complaints that were because of sheer stupidity on the guests part is staggering. People seem to think because they&rsquo;re paying lots of money they&rsquo;re allowed to do or say whatever they want, which of course can be unsafe on a ship.</p> <p>This might break the magic, but a lot of Disney princes are gay, and also bad at sex. Looking at you Aladdin/Naveen.</p> </blockquote><p>9.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/johnnyblub/">johnnyblub</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Disney will give VIP treatments to wealthy people &amp; celebrities. Including being chauffeured from backstage between attractions, surrounded by a circle of cast members. I walked right past Justin Bieber &amp; his family behind the Imagination Pavilion at Epcot without realizing it.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>10.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/coprolite_hobbyist/">coprolite_hobbyist</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>No idea how different it is now, but the underground tunnels always smell like hot garbage. Literal hot garbage as the tunnels are used to collect and transport everything that gets thrown away. It&#39;s real bad in the summer.</p> <p>There used to be a trailer park in Lake Buena Vista for the foreign workers for Epcot. These people were basically indentured servants for Disney and they worked them like dogs. But oh boy did they like to party. The sh*t that went on there is legendary. My understanding is that the trailer park is long gone and foreign workers are handled a lot differently now.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>There used to be an annual event where a large Christian organization rented out the entire park. Every cast member hated this event because these kids just went wild. Drugs, alcohol, sex in the Tomorrowland bushes, fights, jumping off rides (especially the Haunted Mansion), just you name it these kids were doing it.</p> <p>There is(was?) a very weird culture there. Cult-like. Seasonal employees were largely segregated from the full timers.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <p>I continued to use the backstage passages and the tunnels long after I quit. Nobody ever challenged me. As long as you met the grooming standards and looked like you knew where you are going it was easy. I don&#39;t recommend trying this unless you are looking for a lifetime ban.</p> <p>There used to be a water park in the artificial lake that was just abandoned. There are a lot of theories, but it most likely was a decision based on the fact that Florida lakes can sometimes have parasites that cause meningitis-like symptoms and often results in death or severe brain damage.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>The Magic Kingdom park is actually on the second floor. The land was cleared and the tunnels and offices were constructed, then the park went on top. There is only a small section of the &#39;tunnels&#39; that actually goes below the actual ground level. There was a pump going constantly to keep it dry.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>11.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/SexyGrannyPanties/">SexyGrannyPanties</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Former amusement park employee in So Cal. In the 80&rsquo;s we had fantasy characters in full body suits (like Disney) &amp; they would walk around &amp; take pictures/shake hands with the guests. Well, LA gangbangers loved this amusement park &amp; were always starting trouble. One of our characters in costume was set on fire &amp; had to jump into a park water feature to extinguish the flames. After that incident, they were assigned security chaperones for safety.</p> </blockquote><p>12.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/mfotaku/">mfotaku</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Hello, previous Magic Kingdom cast member here! There were quite a few times that guests would try to jump off of the boat (attempting to commit suicide, luckily these attempts were not successful.)that takes you to Magic Kingdom and the lagoon would be shut down for the rest of the day after such events.</p> <p>You will never find these stories in the media and Disney keeps these type of events super hush hush.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>13.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/jcwagner1001/">jcwagner1001</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Before I worked for them, when I was <em>just</em> an annual passholder, I got overcome by the heat and humidity, almost had a heatstroke, at the bathrooms outside the EPCOT entrance. Two security guards wanted to take me to the park&#39;s First Aid, but a Disney manager refused. &quot;He gets in the park when he buys a ticket.&quot; Manager walks away for a minute. Security guards say &quot;man, I can&#39;t believe this&quot; and &quot;<em>what an operation</em>.&quot; 30 mins for Reedy Creek Fire Dept. to show up. I was so sick I didn&#39;t even pull out my AP until they got there. Security guard #1 says &quot;NOW can he go to First Aid?&quot; Suddenly that manager is all about helping me - and so apologetic! He pushed me in a wheelchair all the way to First Aid. &quot;Can I get you some water, sir?&quot;</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>14.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ohshititsausername/">ohshititsausername</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Worked at Disneyland for almost 5 years. I personally haven&rsquo;t gone to see the &ldquo;Disney&rdquo; doctor for cast members but I know friends who have an heard the doctor doesn&rsquo;t give a sh*t about the CM&rsquo;s coming in for injuries.</p> </blockquote><blockquote> <p>The time I was there, photographers and other departments weren&rsquo;t allowed to drink water from the water fountains because we are &ldquo;on stage&rdquo;. It was a big issue the last year I worked there and some of the leads were fighting for umbrellas for photographers. It gets really brutal in Carsland where it&rsquo;s 5x hotter. Almost past out from the heat and dehydration.</p> </blockquote><p>15.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/jennyrob669/">jennyrob669</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>My SIL got a the role of Cinderella at Disneyland Paris.</p> <p>She had to practice Cinderella&#39;s autograph over and over because although different actresses play her all over the world, the signature of the character has to be identical anywhere it&#39;s signed for consistency.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>16.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/WimbleWimble/">WimbleWimble</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Disney Employees started referring to Disneyland as Mousechwitz due to working conditions.</p> <p>Management told them to stop, so they used Duckau instead</p> </blockquote><p>17.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/honeybunhitta/">honeybunhitta</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>I worked in reservations. They give you a name, that is not your own and you better use it. My name is not Robyn Leigh, but in Disney reservations, it was.</p> </blockquote><p>18.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/thenineteenthhole/">thenineteenthhole</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Had to maintain &ldquo;the Disney look&rdquo;</p> <p>No facial hair with exception of groomed mustache (picture Walt Disney).</p> <p>Clean looking haircut that couldn&rsquo;t hang over the ears or neck (male).</p> <p>Before I started a shift I was given a razor and asked to shave because of stubble/5 o&rsquo;clock shadow.</p> <p>This was 2007-2010ish, lifeguard at resort pools.</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div><p>19.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/hamooosh/">hamooosh</a>:</p><blockquote> <p>Worked on the cruise ships for a year. Disney is super f**ked up. A crew member died from an unknown illness a few years back and after a year or so the body still hasn&#39;t been returned to the family, despite their protests and Disney were refusing to return it for a reason I can&#39;t quite remember. (It was something along the lines of didn&#39;t not wanting an investigation on the body so they wouldn&#39;t get in trouble)</p> </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

19 former Disney theme park employees share 'dirty secrets' from behind-the-scenes.

Iconic theme parks Disney World and Disneyland are known for maintaining a squeaky-clean, family-friendly image in the eyes of the public. This is why you rarely hear about any major scandals taking place at Disney. But every workplace has juicy and dirty secrets, even Disney theme parks. Fortunately, people who have worked at Disney, aka former &quot;cast members,&quot; were more than willing to spill the dirt in response to this Reddit question: Former Disney theme park employees of Reddit, what are some dirty secrets or stories you can tell us about your time there? These 19 former employees reveal their dirty, little-known secrets from behind-the-scenes of the world-famous theme parks:1.) From mdmahmud880: There are Three hidden phones in the magic kingdom that when you pick up have dialogue from Disney characters like a stitch in Tomorrowland. 2.) From hashtagdisposible: This was years ago at DL but there used to be a show of Tinkerbell flying through the sky before fireworks started in the summer. They would put the spot light on her as she went down a zip line and go to black just as she crossed to a back stage area. The novelty of it was that there was no sophisticated mechanism to stop her. There were literally a couple of guys in a tower at the end of the zip line holding a mattress that she would crash into to stop. Nightly, cast members would gather at the base of the tower backstage just to see this happen. As soon as she crashed, everyone would go back to their locations. 3.) From diego2757: I worked there for 3 months 2 years ago with my gf at the time and anything news worthy that happens there (usually negative) immediately gets shot down by the official page of Disney (Twitter, insta, Facebook etc) they keep everything hush hush. Lighting struck a bathroom building and there was a small fire and my gf and I weren&rsquo;t working that day but we were there enjoying the park for free bc we&rsquo;re cast members and she records it and posted it on her Twitter. News media pages were commenting and asking her questions like when, how, what&rsquo;s being done and before she could reply the Disney page said to disregard the video bc it wasn&rsquo;t true and the video is edited and the media pages stopped asking after that. She gets called into the office the next day and was super close to losing her job. The reason she didn&rsquo;t was bc of how much seniority she had but she was basically on probation after that. Disney is f**ked they don&rsquo;t tell people sh*t 4.) From case_sensitive: Disneyland first interview papers include a blank outline of a person to indicate where you have tattoos. It&#39;s referenced if you want to change positions internally, to indicate how said tattoos could be revealed, based on what your new uniform would be. 5.) From nerdmoot: A friend of mine worked at Disney World. According to her Epcot is the best place to work. When she was at the Magic Kingdom she said she went home crying all the time because the moms were so mean. 6.) From leopoldisacat: You have to be in specific height ranges to play the different characters. Because Mickey&#39;s height range is so short he&#39;s usually played by a woman. Likewise for Donald, although the most successful and best known Donald that I knew while I worked there was a little person.  When the princess face characters come backstage they have to take off their dresses so they don&#39;t get dirty while they&#39;re on break so the princesses are usually walking around in a smock and bloomers if you see them back there. There is some serious cognitive dissonance when you walk back and see Snow White in her bloomers on her phone cursing up a storm.  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&#39;s shells. I had to open his camera and expose his film so the photo didn&#39;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&#39;d always heard the rumors about ruining the film and nobody really trains you on that so I just went with it. The little a**holes deserved it. 7.) From jon98gn: I think the worst part about character harassment is that Disney does not prosecute the guests at least when I was there. When I was working in the 2000s, there was someone who her wrist broken by a drunk guest that grabbed and twisted her arm really badly. Disney refused to prosecute and I think she may have ended up with permanent nerve damage in her wrist which really sucked because she was also a gymnast too.    8.) From Garbage-Striking: Disney cruise line here, I used to go in to the complaint system and read all the guest complaints from previous cruises. The amount of complaints that were because of sheer stupidity on the guests part is staggering. People seem to think because they&rsquo;re paying lots of money they&rsquo;re allowed to do or say whatever they want, which of course can be unsafe on a ship. This might break the magic, but a lot of Disney princes are gay, and also bad at sex. Looking at you Aladdin/Naveen. 9.) From johnnyblub: Disney will give VIP treatments to wealthy people &amp; celebrities. Including being chauffeured from backstage between attractions, surrounded by a circle of cast members. I walked right past Justin Bieber &amp; his family behind the Imagination Pavilion at Epcot without realizing it. 10.) From coprolite_hobbyist: No idea how different it is now, but the underground tunnels always smell like hot garbage. Literal hot garbage as the tunnels are used to collect and transport everything that gets thrown away. It&#39;s real bad in the summer. There used to be a trailer park in Lake Buena Vista for the foreign workers for Epcot. These people were basically indentured servants for Disney and they worked them like dogs. But oh boy did they like to party. The sh*t that went on there is legendary. My understanding is that the trailer park is long gone and foreign workers are handled a lot differently now.  There used to be an annual event where a large Christian organization rented out the entire park. Every cast member hated this event because these kids just went wild. Drugs, alcohol, sex in the Tomorrowland bushes, fights, jumping off rides (especially the Haunted Mansion), just you name it these kids were doing it. There is(was?) a very weird culture there. Cult-like. Seasonal employees were largely segregated from the full timers.  I continued to use the backstage passages and the tunnels long after I quit. Nobody ever challenged me. As long as you met the grooming standards and looked like you knew where you are going it was easy. I don&#39;t recommend trying this unless you are looking for a lifetime ban. There used to be a water park in the artificial lake that was just abandoned. There are a lot of theories, but it most likely was a decision based on the fact that Florida lakes can sometimes have parasites that cause meningitis-like symptoms and often results in death or severe brain damage.  The Magic Kingdom park is actually on the second floor. The land was cleared and the tunnels and offices were constructed, then the park went on top. There is only a small section of the &#39;tunnels&#39; that actually goes below the actual ground level. There was a pump going constantly to keep it dry. 11.) From SexyGrannyPanties: Former amusement park employee in So Cal. In the 80&rsquo;s we had fantasy characters in full body suits (like Disney) &amp; they would walk around &amp; take pictures/shake hands with the guests. Well, LA gangbangers loved this amusement park &amp; were always starting trouble. One of our characters in costume was set on fire &amp; had to jump into a park water feature to extinguish the flames. After that incident, they were assigned security chaperones for safety. 12.) From mfotaku: Hello, previous Magic Kingdom cast member here! There were quite a few times that guests would try to jump off of the boat (attempting to commit suicide, luckily these attempts were not successful.)that takes you to Magic Kingdom and the lagoon would be shut down for the rest of the day after such events. You will never find these stories in the media and Disney keeps these type of events super hush hush. 13.) From jcwagner1001: Before I worked for them, when I was just an annual passholder, I got overcome by the heat and humidity, almost had a heatstroke, at the bathrooms outside the EPCOT entrance. Two security guards wanted to take me to the park&#39;s First Aid, but a Disney manager refused. &quot;He gets in the park when he buys a ticket.&quot; Manager walks away for a minute. Security guards say &quot;man, I can&#39;t believe this&quot; and &quot;what an operation.&quot; 30 mins for Reedy Creek Fire Dept. to show up. I was so sick I didn&#39;t even pull out my AP until they got there. Security guard #1 says &quot;NOW can he go to First Aid?&quot; Suddenly that manager is all about helping me - and so apologetic! He pushed me in a wheelchair all the way to First Aid. &quot;Can I get you some water, sir?&quot; 14.) From ohshititsausername: Worked at Disneyland for almost 5 years. I personally haven&rsquo;t gone to see the &ldquo;Disney&rdquo; doctor for cast members but I know friends who have an heard the doctor doesn&rsquo;t give a sh*t about the CM&rsquo;s coming in for injuries.  The time I was there, photographers and other departments weren&rsquo;t allowed to drink water from the water fountains because we are &ldquo;on stage&rdquo;. It was a big issue the last year I worked there and some of the leads were fighting for umbrellas for photographers. It gets really brutal in Carsland where it&rsquo;s 5x hotter. Almost past out from the heat and dehydration. 15.) From jennyrob669: My SIL got a the role of Cinderella at Disneyland Paris. She had to practice Cinderella&#39;s autograph over and over because although different actresses play her all over the world, the signature of the character has to be identical anywhere it&#39;s signed for consistency. 16.) From WimbleWimble: Disney Employees started referring to Disneyland as Mousechwitz due to working conditions. Management told them to stop, so they used Duckau instead 17.) From honeybunhitta: I worked in reservations. They give you a name, that is not your own and you better use it. My name is not Robyn Leigh, but in Disney reservations, it was. 18.) From thenineteenthhole: Had to maintain &ldquo;the Disney look&rdquo; No facial hair with exception of groomed mustache (picture Walt Disney). Clean looking haircut that couldn&rsquo;t hang over the ears or neck (male). Before I started a shift I was given a razor and asked to shave because of stubble/5 o&rsquo;clock shadow. This was 2007-2010ish, lifeguard at resort pools. 19.) From hamooosh: Worked on the cruise ships for a year. Disney is super f**ked up. A crew member died from an unknown illness a few years back and after a year or so the body still hasn&#39;t been returned to the family, despite their protests and Disney were refusing to return it for a reason I can&#39;t quite remember. (It was something along the lines of didn&#39;t not wanting an investigation on the body so they wouldn&#39;t get in trouble) 

Iconic theme parks Disney World and Disneyland are known for maintaining a squeaky-clean, family-friendly image in the eyes of the public. This is why you rarely hear about any major scandals taking place at Disney. But every workplace has...