I’ve always been fascinated with the behind-the-scenes going-ons at Disneyland. Every time I’ve been to the Magic Kingdom, I can be found looking behind gates, wondering what goes on behind the scenes. LAMagazine has a great article with one of the actors who use to play Captain Jack Sparrow at the Magic Kingdom. Here are some of the highlights:
When he got the part, Disney warned him that a lot of horny women would try to flirt with him, and that he should not flirt back. Rumor has it that Disneyland had an Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame who was very flirtatious. Men started acting out so the character was pulled. Tarzan was also supposedly pulled due to “excessive pinching of Tarzan’s ass by the park’s female visitors.”
Disney has a no-facial-hair policy for all employees, which shockingly includes character employees, even if their character have facial hair, like Jack Sparrow, how ridiculous is that?. “I had the Jack goatee, and I threw a small fit. No facial hair for this character? Why would you want to glue on a mustache in summer? You can see the glue!” They also told him he wasn’t allowed to mention drinking (even through the Pirates of the Caribbean on the ride are clearly drinking and singing about it). He had to sign documents that stated if he was in the park and out of costume, he couldn’t tell people that I played Jack Sparrow.
He also talks about mother-daughter season pass-holder teams who would regularly stalk him, coming twice a week to every set and the company’s internal way of firing or suspending employees based on a “hugely flawed point system.”
“If you’re part-time and you build up 24 points, you can be fired. Points come from things like clocking in late-even only a minute late. That’s one-and-a-half points on your record. You call in sick the day of work? Three points.”
And even worse, you could get fired for being seen talking to another Disney character:
“There is a big thing in the park about not being visually linked to another character. You’re told to stay in your area. But Pluto was a friend of mine, and one day he came over to see me. We posed for photos, and the next day he told me it was on YouTube. Eventually he got fired.”
Disney prefers that the characters don’t date, and the characters even have a slogan: “Don’t Date Disney,” or DDD. He dated a red head who played Ariel from The Little Mermaid but was eventually fired for paying $1500 to Make-A-Wish Foundation to attend the premiere of At World’s End at the park in his own costume. He was told he could reapply in five years.
Read the whole 2-page story on LAMag.com.
via: SuperPunch
May 25th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
pretty interesting
May 25th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Disneyland is in CA, The Magic Kingdom is in FL…
May 25th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
I thought Disney World is Florida.
May 25th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
That was easily one of the coolest things I have EVER read. I admire their absolutely ridiculous guidelines, but wow, at laughed at some of them. This actually makes me want to go to Disneyland now and heckle the guys in costumes. Such an incredible read, thanks for posting Peter. What better way to spend a boring Memorial Day evening… :)
May 25th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Disney purhased the Queen Mary years ago and fired the Captain because he wouldnt shave his Handle Bar Mustache. He was one of the original employees and had been there for around 30 years…
Disney Sucks man!!
At Disney/ABC Burbank I’ve heard that all employees are constantly monitered with RFID chips in there Id badges.
These folks are draconian! Or control freaks in the sense that they support a Big Brother government and its tactics.
I can’t say Boycott Disney in a louder voice!!!! Boycott the scums!!!!
May 25th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Some of my family members worked for Disney and you’d think that they’d be able to get a few free passes now and then, but no dice.
And I don’t think Magic Kingdom refers to any one particular Disney theme park. Disney World is in Florida, Disneyland is in California and California Adventure… well, lets just forget about that place.
May 25th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Poor Tarzan … =)
May 25th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
YoungZe, have you seen some of the fat freakish women that frequent the Disney scene.
Gag me with a spoon….
Barf out!
Totally.
May 26th, 2008 at 12:48 am
That sounds really crazy. I can understand why they need to run a tight ship with the connecting characters and such, even the not letting people know your a character outside of work. but… geez…. that 24point system sounds pretty harsh, and no facial hair even when its in character?? silly
Very interesting read. Sounds like an awesome job, but a lot of crap to put up with too. Something Id love to do for a short while (not that its ever gonna happen, living in Australia). I wonder what the guy looks like, he’d have to look pretty close to his character to have people recognize him late
May 26th, 2008 at 1:12 am
That was a brilliant insight into the World of Disney. I went there a few years ago with my family and we saw some British people working there and we asked them if they missed england and they said they did because of the rules they can’t get back enough and cant buy anything from park even if they are off.
May 26th, 2008 at 9:32 am
If you’re looking for more interesting behind-the-scenes style Disney tales check out the excellent zine MURDER CAN BE FUN. The new issue features an update of the zine’s classic ‘Death at Disneyland’ feature that goes in to all the accidents and such that have taken place over the years.
May 26th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I remember by senior year in high school summer. A bunch of friends went down to a disney hiring fair in orange county all got hired on June 16. The last one was gone before fourth of July weekend. Four people in less then thirty days. It’s a horrible place to work.
May 26th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Yeah Kip, I’m sure somebody in the hiearchy proposed that the standards be taken down a notch, and then he was fired.
Disney Sucks!!!!!!!
May 26th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Interesting read. I used to work @ Disneyland CA, and boy was that a trip down memory lane. You can’t even imagine how strict the guidelines (They have a specific strict 2-finger pointing system). My girlfriend ended up getting fired by getting really sick on the clock, collapsing, and she had 23 points racked up. She was willing to resume her shift after the episode, but it was a mandatory no show, even though she survived over half her shift, and had to get fired the next day. I would tell all kinds of stories, but Futurama is on, so that’s all for now.
May 26th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
it just makes me wonder how fun it would be to get drunk with Ariel and Snow White.
May 27th, 2008 at 12:03 am
I used to work at Disneyland as well (Attractions Host on Splash Mountain) and I have bittersweet memories about my time spent there. The point system was Draconian and I eventually ended up quitting because (among other things) I got sick of running to my location to avoid being even a minute late. However, I loved having the ability to see the inner workings of the park (I’d often sneak around rides after the park closed) and to interact with people from around the world.
Nothing in that article surprises me, though. I feel sorry for that guy — if you have one iota of self-worth and independence, you don’t stand a chance at that place. They’re looking for mindless drones. Hope he’s still breaking himself off a piece of some sweet mermaid action.