THIS IS HOW WE DO IT . . .

Backstage at Walt disney World has it's own lingo, that we often forget is not normal for the rest of the world. Sometimes it's as simple as calling a glorified golf cart a PARGO, or as disturbing as telling a guest that thier hotel package exploded incorrectly.

I can only assume that the term PARGO started many many moons ago when the company that supplied the modified golf carts called them Pargos. Most of them are Club Cars ot Tiger Trucks now, but the name PARGO has been drilled into our Disney Speak over the years. To call these vehicles golf carts is an understament, however. In costuming they were equiped with flat beds and side boards for carrying costumes. (A little side note: The side boards were removeable and some how they seemed to disappear over the years. Although they wouldn't have helped the day I had an Esmerelda dress fly out of the back in a gust of wind, get wrapped up in the wheels and was literally ripped in half. )

Some are gas, but with the electric ones, it always a game of "where's an outlet". AND if the closer had problems locating a vacant working outlet to plug it into, the morning person had the fun game of "Where's the Pargo?" At All-Star resort, Each of the three resorts have a front desk runner who is assigned a certian Pargo for the day. Since thier Pargo's are all gas powered, their game of "Where's the Pargo?" is because they kept breaking down.

A phrase we tend to use that disturbs many a road weary tourist is "your package didn't EXPLODE properly." Before 911 terrorist attacks, I don't this this term was such a big deal, but now people are more sensitive to words like EXPLODE and DAMAGED Reservation. Basically, when a guest's resevation downloads to the individual resort, all of the elements scatter to their proper place, like dinning plans, tickets, deposits, ect. In pre-911 days, the creators of this system would say a package Exploded correctly. Now, there is a shift in terminology and we're trying to say "The package was ACTIVATED properly". It's a softer, gentler front desk.

If you hear a group of cast members talking, don't be suprised if you hear them say it's 'my Monday' when it's Thursday. As with any 24 hour, 7 days a week operation, we have various days off. As that old country song always used to say, "It's 5:00 somewhere." Every day of the week is somebody's Monday, and every day of the week is is somebody's Friday. . . even if it's monday.

Here's a short list of Disney Speak: Cast member = employee / Guest = Customer / ER = Early Release of shift (a.k.a. I don't want to be here any more.) / Schedule Bid = time to pick your days off according to seniority (a.k.a. every six months management's attempt at stirring up people's life's)/ Costume = uniform (a.k.a. You Want Me to Wear What ?!!!)

Costuming has a special place in our lives. . .somewhere near the pit of your stomach. The designers sit in their office scouring novels of information to design a fabulous 'looking' costume based off the turn of the century National Parks from the Pacfic Northwest for Wilderness Lodge folks to wear. The result is smashing long skirt with Navajo print and a long sleeve shirt. . .Rrright. Let me point out that A) it is not the 'Turn of the Century' anymore, B)We are not in the chilly Northwest. We are in 90 to 100 degree Florida. I will not wear this to work for fear of having to stop somewhere on the way and looking like a 'Little House in the Prairie" refugee. When i worked at Boardwalk resort, I had a wool blend tight fitting skirt. I learned real soon that tight skirts and driving a Jeep to work, didn't blend. Again, I changed clothes at work. The All Star resort costumes made us look like a run-a-way from a clown circus.

You would think that costuming cast members would have nice clothes, because after all, we were COSTUMING. Wrong. We got everyone's hand me downs. Our shirts were the same ones used at Downtown Disney merchandise. Ours just had a different logo on the front. Our pants were Entertianment tech pants. And to top it all off, one year they made this announcement that we were getting a snazzy fleece jackets for winter wear. . .It was the spare fleece linning from the Security Jackets. They embroideried Costuming on the front, but we knew it was another hand me down.

In a final thought, for most people EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomarrow. . .for a cast member, it means Every Paycheck Comes on Thursday.

When you work for the vacation capital of the world, where do you go on vacaction ?

When you work at the vacation of the world, where do you go on vacation? I get that question often. Since I just returned from a vacation to San Francisco, I thought I'd give you an answer: As Far Away From Disney As I Can.

My first vacation from Disney was to Australia. Twenty-four hours into my Disney escape and we walked into a restaurant that was giving away a free Disneyland vacation. It was at that point I realized that I could never truely get away from the Mouse. In my nineteen years since, I have a running bet with myself to see how long I can go with out seeing the Mouse or some variation there of.

My best 'Where's Mickey?' moment was during a small group tour I did to Greece. We stayed in a little port town called Gerolominas (sorry if i spelled it wrong). During our hike up the mountian to see an ancient temple, we saw very few locals. In fact one town we walked through was practically a ghost town. The only person we saw was a young child standing on the door steps of her house. She must have heard there was a bunch of Americans walking through her village that day, because she wore Minnie Mouse head to toe: Minnie dress, Minnie tights, Minnie shoes, A Minnie hair thing.

We were going the Parthenon, the cradle of civilization and philosophy, and we ran across a vendor selling plastic Mickey junk. . . .I mean merchandise. That's just not right.

Several years later, a friend from work and I decided to go on a volunteer trip to Montana. For two weeks we'd be helping to build a playground at a school and various other projects on the Blackfoot Reservation. Since Disney managed to piss off many Native Americans with thier depiction of Pocahontas, I figured there would be no way I'd run into that Mouse on this vacation. WRONG. During the tour of the Headstart school where we'd be staying for the next two weeks, the second room we walked into, on the wall, bigger than life, is a hand drawn picture of Mickey and Minnie in Indian buckskin. My friend and I busted out laughing.

A different friend and I did a driving tour through England, Scotland and Wales. In Edinburg we were really late getting to our bed and breakfast stop for the night, but the family's little girl waited for us to get there because she had to meet the people who knew Mickey Mouse.

A side note: My friend had brought a Disney-MGM Studios jean jacket she had relocated from the wardrobe building. When we got back, we realized there were very few pictures of our trip we could show anyone, since my friend wasn't supposed to have had that patrticular jacket. Now, it doesn't matter since we take the clothes home. Back then, she had to smuggle the item out. . . .She was such a rebel. :)