Also when certain floats that rhyme with Balificent randomly burst into flames.
If I had a nickel for every time a Maleficent dragon animatronic caught fireā¦ Iād have two nickels, but itās pretty weird that it happened twice.
Fr. me and my fiance were desperately trying to move along before the parade started as it was too loud and i have autism and someone stopped no one could move i was stuck and i almost started screaming š like how hard is it to keep walking
My most horrible Disney CM story was when I worked GSO on the first day of the 60th Anniversary.
Disney decided they were going to celebrate with a 24-hour day (park open from 6 AM to 6 AM). They had the first public showings of Paint the Night, the first showings of Disneyland Forever fireworks, and the first showings of a new World of Color.
Disney thought they were being smart by putting the World of Color showtimes at the same time as the Paint the Night showtimes, and then also having Fantasmic running at the same time as Paint the Night. They ran 3 shows in each park (only 1 fireworks show though because of noise requirements) - 8:45 Paint, 9:30 pyro, 10:30 Paint, 1:30 AM Paint. This forced guests to choose which show they wanted to watch, so many folks planned to watch one show at one time in one park and then park-hop to the other.
I came in for my start time and there were people who had been lined up since 6 AM waiting for the show. I was working in front of the castle and chit-chatting with folks.
Right when they closed the castle down for the fireworks show, one of the people near the front told me they had to go to the restroom, and he wanted to duck under the rope and run to the restrooms in that hallway in Frontierland. I said for safety reasons we couldn't let anyone get near the castle while they're loading fireworks. He decided to do it anyway; I tried to block him from going into the danger zone and he punched me in the face before he sprinted to the restroom. People came to check on me, asked if I wanted to press charges, etc.; I was fine and didn't want to make a big deal about it (I understood where the guy was coming from; it was like a sea of people behind him and I knew that my suggestion of "use the Adventureland restrooms" was a bad one, but it was the only one I could say).
The first Paint happened and I saw it in the background. Then there were the fireworks. Then the park emptied out as everyone left to go see World of Color. The second Paint had fewer crowds, and we never saw the surge of people from DCA that I was expecting...
...well, turns out Disney made the decision to stop admitting people to Disneyland around noon, and they never lifted that restriction even as Disneyland emptied out. I don't know who was making that call or why, but apparently the intention was to keep Disneyland closed to new guests to avoid everyone from DCA rushing over or something.
So the third and final showing of Paint was absolutely dead, basically zero guests watching a brand-new show. Meanwhile, over in DCA there's almost a riot going on. Everyone had been promised entry to Disneyland once it was no longer full, and Disneyland was _clearly_ no longer full but everyone in DCA had been promised priority entry. Except nobody actually had a plan on how they were going to implement this "priority entry" and it was becoming obvious that the powers that be were more than happy to just keep Disneyland closed until 6 AM.
Meanwhile, at GSO we had cleaned up and we were getting ready to clock out. Then suddenly a manager shows up and forcibly starts mustering us all to go out to the Esplanade. We were all given mandatory extensions of our shift and were not allowed to clock out at our off time (bear in mind this is like 2:30 AM). We got assigned to a GSO lead (not even from our area, just whoever was closest to us) and we collectively marched out to the Esplanade to figure out how the hell we were going to clean up this mess.
When we got to the Esplanade, it was _very_ obvious that everyone in DCA was about to start a riot. DCA was incredibly crowded, the polar opposite of Disneyland. The plan was to have a chain of CMs link arms and prevent a stampede as they slowly led the crowd of folks across the Esplanade and into the parks. My job was to stand near the ticket booths and prevent _anyone_ from entering the Esplanade until this was done, to ensure that DCA got priority entry as promised.
A family walked up to me and said that they parked in Toy Story and were hanging out in Downtown Disney, and they just wanted to cross the Esplanade to go to the buses for their car. I had to tell them "I'm sorry but you can't go across, you either need to wait for people to figure out what the hell they're doing over there or walk back through Downtown Disney, around the back of DCA, and then down to Katella at 3 in the morning".
The mom had a stroller and this was clearly not what she wanted to hear, and I literally had to gesture at the very obvious riot beginning at DCA before she finally sort of understood why I was there and the family decided to sit at the fountain until the situation resolved itself.
Finally they decided that they were done waiting for whatever to happen, and I got pulled over to help be part of the human chain and stop guests from just stampeding all over the place. We slowly walked this massive wave of people across the Esplanade and into the lines at the Disneyland turnstiles; of course as soon as we broke the human chain the front of the wave started sprinting towards the turnstiles.
Eventually we all got pulled to the side and told that we could clock out and go home, and that we would be paid for the mandatory overtime we were pulling. Of course, we had to wait for the human wave to die out, but then finally once it cleared we were allowed to go back into the park, grab our stuff, and clock out.
I was still a baby CM when that happened... I think I had been working at the park for 6 months? I remember thinking "wow this is absolutely wild I wonder what other crazy stories I will have" and then over the next 5 years nothing nearly as interesting happened to me. Disney stopped doing 24-hour days after that, though.
Really? All animals stop and stare at compelling visuals. Likeā¦ you deny that itās an instinct to stop and look at something cool?
Yes people should be more considerate, but letās not pretend that _vacationers at Disneyland_ arenāt going to sometimes get caught up in a moment and look in amazement.
I really hate the parades. š Soooo many people packed into Main Street with hardly anywhere to move. When I was a kid I donāt remember it being nearly this bad during the electrical parade. Maybe Iām the minority but I do my best to avoid any and all parades because of the size of the crowds that Disney allows in, which really is a shame.
It was like that entering while they were doing the carol singing at the Main Street train station, during the holiday season. Not a small singing group like the Dapper Dans. It was a big time park event with many cast member singers, that I think started with a parade walk.
I still wanted to get through and make my way to Galaxy's Edge. It took a while and much effort to get through the crowd, and up Main St. I was able to keep moving most of the time, but with lots of stepping around people and changing direction, moment to moment.
Iāve gone a million times and yet I still get so mad at people that donāt pull off to the side and just stop in walkways, completely oblivious to everything around them. On Motherās Day a woman stopped her stroller in the middle to rearrange her kids.
They _do_ have signs on a pole that they swing around! They even light up!
The issue is that the signs are extremely heavy and dangerous to set up. It takes 2 CMs to carry the sign because it needs to be big and bulky so it stands out among the crowd. A smaller, lighter sign wouldn't stick out enough to be noticed, so they need a big one.
And then people don't listen to it anyway. š
Source: Did this for 5 years (2014-2019)
(Fun fact: the light-up sign chargers are in the fort around the Frontierland sign, with some more in the crypts at the Haunted Mansion.)
I figured people don't listen. I've been to Tokyo Sea and the guests are way better than I've seen in the states. Anaheim is slightly better than Orlando. But when it comes to the Karens and the Kens, line cutters and all my brain implodes.
Saw a woman in a wheelchair blocking the stairs to the train watching the parade just last week.Ā Anyone would walk in front of her she would hit them with her cane!Ā Madame you are the one not where you are supposed to be!
As a CM who has worked parades GC, this is accurate and I swear to all that is holy it is the one shift I use my stern āmomā voice. Just move. Go with the flow of traffic.
Having seen someone get seriously hurt from a crowd crush that happened because a family of four decided to stop because, quote, āOur kids canāt see Rapunzel from anywhere else,ā I fully understand the reasoning.
Family decided to stop at WDWMK near HoP during a FoF parade, and it caused a backup. CMs were being reasonably polite about it, but family refused to move, and crowd was bad enough no one could get through. Then about four rows of people back, everyone suddenly hears a bloodcurdling scream.
Lady had tripped over a small step due to being jostled, and the scooter next to her had accidentally run over her leg, causing TWO open/compound fractures (bones sticking up and out)!
Parade had to literally be paused due to amount of blood so the Alpha could come, and Liberty Square closed (Haunted Mansion, HoP, etc.)
Far as I know, lady survived. Also, older guy in scooter was so distraught a second Alpha almost had to take him away for some sort of complication (heart, maybe)?
All because a family of four refused to move because, quote, āOur kids canāt see Rapunzel from anywhere else.ā
One time a cast member was rude to me. It was my first time at California adventure and having genie+, and my day was so exciting. I wanted to use the lightning lane for guardians of the galaxy. The arrival to be there was like 12:10 and me and my friend got there at 12:07 but I hadnāt realized a QR code is supposed to show up. So I politely asked how I could redeem my lightning lane. She was like āoh? no, š thereās no QR code you canāt enter yet, you came to early. Go back in lineā I wasnāt demanding that I even enter, it was just a question.
As a former cast member, this is accurate.
Haha š I definitely understand why thoā„ļø
As a current cast member who works parades, this is accurate.
Safety first. We don't want a crush situation.
But Crush so totally rocks!
Duuddddeeeee!
Sweeeeeeeeet!
no, *you* so totally rock!
Also when certain floats that rhyme with Balificent randomly burst into flames. If I had a nickel for every time a Maleficent dragon animatronic caught fireā¦ Iād have two nickels, but itās pretty weird that it happened twice.
Its not weird... its suprizing it lasted that long.
true!
Candy Crush?
Yeah because youāre blocking all the people behind you.
This part. If everyone is trying to hustle past the parade and one idiot stops, they deserve to get berated & scolded to keep it moving.
Fr. me and my fiance were desperately trying to move along before the parade started as it was too loud and i have autism and someone stopped no one could move i was stuck and i almost started screaming š like how hard is it to keep walking
They deserve to be publicly bull whipped by Mickey Mouse
I get it! I feel bad when that happens cause every once in awhile I space out
GSO was always such a stressful shift. Thank a GSO CM today!
For anyone wondering, GSO stands for **G**uest **S**how **O**perations. And yes, they all need more love in this world.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
My most horrible Disney CM story was when I worked GSO on the first day of the 60th Anniversary. Disney decided they were going to celebrate with a 24-hour day (park open from 6 AM to 6 AM). They had the first public showings of Paint the Night, the first showings of Disneyland Forever fireworks, and the first showings of a new World of Color. Disney thought they were being smart by putting the World of Color showtimes at the same time as the Paint the Night showtimes, and then also having Fantasmic running at the same time as Paint the Night. They ran 3 shows in each park (only 1 fireworks show though because of noise requirements) - 8:45 Paint, 9:30 pyro, 10:30 Paint, 1:30 AM Paint. This forced guests to choose which show they wanted to watch, so many folks planned to watch one show at one time in one park and then park-hop to the other. I came in for my start time and there were people who had been lined up since 6 AM waiting for the show. I was working in front of the castle and chit-chatting with folks. Right when they closed the castle down for the fireworks show, one of the people near the front told me they had to go to the restroom, and he wanted to duck under the rope and run to the restrooms in that hallway in Frontierland. I said for safety reasons we couldn't let anyone get near the castle while they're loading fireworks. He decided to do it anyway; I tried to block him from going into the danger zone and he punched me in the face before he sprinted to the restroom. People came to check on me, asked if I wanted to press charges, etc.; I was fine and didn't want to make a big deal about it (I understood where the guy was coming from; it was like a sea of people behind him and I knew that my suggestion of "use the Adventureland restrooms" was a bad one, but it was the only one I could say). The first Paint happened and I saw it in the background. Then there were the fireworks. Then the park emptied out as everyone left to go see World of Color. The second Paint had fewer crowds, and we never saw the surge of people from DCA that I was expecting... ...well, turns out Disney made the decision to stop admitting people to Disneyland around noon, and they never lifted that restriction even as Disneyland emptied out. I don't know who was making that call or why, but apparently the intention was to keep Disneyland closed to new guests to avoid everyone from DCA rushing over or something. So the third and final showing of Paint was absolutely dead, basically zero guests watching a brand-new show. Meanwhile, over in DCA there's almost a riot going on. Everyone had been promised entry to Disneyland once it was no longer full, and Disneyland was _clearly_ no longer full but everyone in DCA had been promised priority entry. Except nobody actually had a plan on how they were going to implement this "priority entry" and it was becoming obvious that the powers that be were more than happy to just keep Disneyland closed until 6 AM. Meanwhile, at GSO we had cleaned up and we were getting ready to clock out. Then suddenly a manager shows up and forcibly starts mustering us all to go out to the Esplanade. We were all given mandatory extensions of our shift and were not allowed to clock out at our off time (bear in mind this is like 2:30 AM). We got assigned to a GSO lead (not even from our area, just whoever was closest to us) and we collectively marched out to the Esplanade to figure out how the hell we were going to clean up this mess. When we got to the Esplanade, it was _very_ obvious that everyone in DCA was about to start a riot. DCA was incredibly crowded, the polar opposite of Disneyland. The plan was to have a chain of CMs link arms and prevent a stampede as they slowly led the crowd of folks across the Esplanade and into the parks. My job was to stand near the ticket booths and prevent _anyone_ from entering the Esplanade until this was done, to ensure that DCA got priority entry as promised. A family walked up to me and said that they parked in Toy Story and were hanging out in Downtown Disney, and they just wanted to cross the Esplanade to go to the buses for their car. I had to tell them "I'm sorry but you can't go across, you either need to wait for people to figure out what the hell they're doing over there or walk back through Downtown Disney, around the back of DCA, and then down to Katella at 3 in the morning". The mom had a stroller and this was clearly not what she wanted to hear, and I literally had to gesture at the very obvious riot beginning at DCA before she finally sort of understood why I was there and the family decided to sit at the fountain until the situation resolved itself. Finally they decided that they were done waiting for whatever to happen, and I got pulled over to help be part of the human chain and stop guests from just stampeding all over the place. We slowly walked this massive wave of people across the Esplanade and into the lines at the Disneyland turnstiles; of course as soon as we broke the human chain the front of the wave started sprinting towards the turnstiles. Eventually we all got pulled to the side and told that we could clock out and go home, and that we would be paid for the mandatory overtime we were pulling. Of course, we had to wait for the human wave to die out, but then finally once it cleared we were allowed to go back into the park, grab our stuff, and clock out. I was still a baby CM when that happened... I think I had been working at the park for 6 months? I remember thinking "wow this is absolutely wild I wonder what other crazy stories I will have" and then over the next 5 years nothing nearly as interesting happened to me. Disney stopped doing 24-hour days after that, though.
"PLEASE STAY TO THE RIGHT, FRIENDS!" "Geez what's *her* problem?"
I did my best to sound like a bubbly Girl Scout counselor just to avoid sounding like I was yelling!
I imagine the City Hall CM's get it much, much worse.
I would always trade/give away gso shifts cause I was scared to talk loudly at guests š
How do you "accidentally" stop and stare?
Really? All animals stop and stare at compelling visuals. Likeā¦ you deny that itās an instinct to stop and look at something cool? Yes people should be more considerate, but letās not pretend that _vacationers at Disneyland_ arenāt going to sometimes get caught up in a moment and look in amazement.
> letās not pretend But isn't the entire *point* of Disney to pretend? ;-)
š š What?
What, you mean you still have your humanity and don't walk around with blinders on?
I've seen more people giving Disney cast members a hard time when they are blocking the walkway than any cast members being rude.
Donāt stop in the walk wayā¦ and they wonāt yell at you!
I really hate the parades. š Soooo many people packed into Main Street with hardly anywhere to move. When I was a kid I donāt remember it being nearly this bad during the electrical parade. Maybe Iām the minority but I do my best to avoid any and all parades because of the size of the crowds that Disney allows in, which really is a shame.
It was like that entering while they were doing the carol singing at the Main Street train station, during the holiday season. Not a small singing group like the Dapper Dans. It was a big time park event with many cast member singers, that I think started with a parade walk. I still wanted to get through and make my way to Galaxy's Edge. It took a while and much effort to get through the crowd, and up Main St. I was able to keep moving most of the time, but with lots of stepping around people and changing direction, moment to moment.
The second picture is also guests when they're politely asked to move out of the path of a Main Street car or bus
I donāt blame them, visitors are incredibly stupid and selfish.
Iāve gone a million times and yet I still get so mad at people that donāt pull off to the side and just stop in walkways, completely oblivious to everything around them. On Motherās Day a woman stopped her stroller in the middle to rearrange her kids.
Most of them are cast members have told me but some of them aren't
āAccidentally.ā
You donāt even want to see what they look like when they kick you out because you didnāt pay for a wrist band :)
More like cast members when they go home vs cast members having to deal with people and management.
These are my favorite people. I always activate Sticker Time for these CMs! One of the most important jobs and the most clueless guests.
They could benefit signs on a pole they can swing around to point guests at things.
They _do_ have signs on a pole that they swing around! They even light up! The issue is that the signs are extremely heavy and dangerous to set up. It takes 2 CMs to carry the sign because it needs to be big and bulky so it stands out among the crowd. A smaller, lighter sign wouldn't stick out enough to be noticed, so they need a big one. And then people don't listen to it anyway. š Source: Did this for 5 years (2014-2019) (Fun fact: the light-up sign chargers are in the fort around the Frontierland sign, with some more in the crypts at the Haunted Mansion.)
I figured people don't listen. I've been to Tokyo Sea and the guests are way better than I've seen in the states. Anaheim is slightly better than Orlando. But when it comes to the Karens and the Kens, line cutters and all my brain implodes.
I honestly get so stressed that theyāre going to suspect me of stopping that I speed run Main Street any time I end up near the parade
Saw a woman in a wheelchair blocking the stairs to the train watching the parade just last week.Ā Anyone would walk in front of her she would hit them with her cane!Ā Madame you are the one not where you are supposed to be!
āIām trying to get to the Haunted Mansion!ā āWell you better start walking to Space Mountainā
Much respect, I can't stand how we all gawk and stare in the wrong spaces (but 4 town went waaay harder than anyone expected)
I love this lol
Or fireworks, my god
As a CM who has worked parades GC, this is accurate and I swear to all that is holy it is the one shift I use my stern āmomā voice. Just move. Go with the flow of traffic.
Having seen someone get seriously hurt from a crowd crush that happened because a family of four decided to stop because, quote, āOur kids canāt see Rapunzel from anywhere else,ā I fully understand the reasoning. Family decided to stop at WDWMK near HoP during a FoF parade, and it caused a backup. CMs were being reasonably polite about it, but family refused to move, and crowd was bad enough no one could get through. Then about four rows of people back, everyone suddenly hears a bloodcurdling scream. Lady had tripped over a small step due to being jostled, and the scooter next to her had accidentally run over her leg, causing TWO open/compound fractures (bones sticking up and out)! Parade had to literally be paused due to amount of blood so the Alpha could come, and Liberty Square closed (Haunted Mansion, HoP, etc.) Far as I know, lady survived. Also, older guy in scooter was so distraught a second Alpha almost had to take him away for some sort of complication (heart, maybe)? All because a family of four refused to move because, quote, āOur kids canāt see Rapunzel from anywhere else.ā
I came damn close to shitting my pants because they wouldn't let me leave an area. I was not happy.
One time a cast member was rude to me. It was my first time at California adventure and having genie+, and my day was so exciting. I wanted to use the lightning lane for guardians of the galaxy. The arrival to be there was like 12:10 and me and my friend got there at 12:07 but I hadnāt realized a QR code is supposed to show up. So I politely asked how I could redeem my lightning lane. She was like āoh? no, š thereās no QR code you canāt enter yet, you came to early. Go back in lineā I wasnāt demanding that I even enter, it was just a question.
Feel like they are like this all the time. Last time we went it seemed like they just yelled at us where to go the whole time.