Anytime I see someone with an interesting name I always ask them about it. I met Wyatt Earp's great, great, great grand kids. I think I impressed the Mendenhall family that I had heard about thier grandfather's Glacier in Alaska.
On a few occasions I actually got a bit of a history lesson. I met the Miller family one day. Not an uncommon name. In fact, in some areas of the country there are dozens of families named Miller and Smith. Ever wonder why ? Accordng to one guest, during the times of war through out history when kings and emperors would form army to attack thier neighbors, the smiths, as in blacksmiths, silversmiths and other metal workers were left behind in the villages to make the armor and weapons. The Millers, or Mill Workers, were also left behind to make sure everyone stayed fed. Hmmm, inretesting. Is it true ? I'm not sure, but it sounds plausable.
I always find it fasinating the number of people who have traced thier family tree. One family i talked to traced thier ancestors all the way back to the Biblical city of Ur. When ever i get families with the last name Disney, they always try to see if that will get them somewhere. The answer to that is. . . No. If you were truly related you wouldn't be checking yourself into a standard room over looking the loading dock. We may have been born yesterday, but we've been around the block a few times since.
One thing you definately learn working in Disney customer service is how to read people. Here's a hint, if you think someone is lying, say nothing. in that moment of silence, the liar gets real fidgity. they can't stand silence. If given enough rope they will usually hang themself.
Service animals come in all shapes and sizes. At the Studios, a tech said he saw a child with a service pony. . . in the park. One of my guest had thier service dogs that was trained ot detect siezsures (i think). During one of kid's play groups (back home), the service dog went to a differnet child and signaled that the person was needing help. Basically, what the parents thought was a behavioral problem ended up being a true medical condition AND it took a dog to figure it out.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
oops it's new year's eve and i never did my posting
I'll fill this in soon. . . as for now, i'm too busy watching my christmas present ( a Roomba vaccum) clean the floor.
that's pretty sad isn't it.
that's pretty sad isn't it.
Monday, November 29, 2010
IT HAS IT'S MOMENTS..
People always ask. "Is it fun to work for Disney?"
I have to be honest, "It has it's moments."
True, we get awesome discounts on the Disney Cruise Line and free addmission to the parks (both California and Florida). They have some pretty nice sales on end of year merchandise. Companies and restaraunts around the theme park area often offer Disney/Universal/SeaWorld employee discounts.
HOWEVER, when I was in costuming and something went wrong in a show, a certian group of performers managed to always blame it on costuming. The Stage Managers usually sided with the performers. Thus, costuming folks seem to live in 'fear' (I use that word loosely) of being accused of doing something wrong. For a while, certian 'precious performers' would intentionally do things to thier costumes just so they could get out of doing a set, then blame it on costuming. Our managers rarely stood up for us. We tended to play CYA in everything we did.
Working the shows was awesome. To hear the audience respond to something I was apart of is an amazing feeling. Our characters become instant classics and the music soundtracks help to define a generation. During my last blog I mentioned the Spirit of Pocahontas show. I wnet back and watched it on youtube afterwards. . . The music has been stuck in my head ever since. :) The holidays, especially Christmas, are bare-none. A forty five foot Christmas tree is in one resort lobby. Chocolate carousel horses are in another resort lobby. Candlelight processional in December at Epcot is simply amazing. When Disney does something, they know how to do it right.
It doesn't mean they always 'did it' right, however. There are plenty of examples of WTH ? The Goosebumps show. "Hey let's put on a show where the audience has to stand in an asphalt road and not put any kind of seating. . . anywhere. And, I know, let's make the ending of the show totally contingent upon a young child saying some lines in fornt of a hoard of strangers." In theory the show could never end if the chosen children got stage fright and/ or backed out at the last minute.
Working for a company that is known world wide for quality and family heritage makes each of us an instant celebrity. . . when we're more than 200 miles from home. My friend and I took a trip to England in the early nineties. We drove from London to Edinburg and stayed in bed and breakfasts along the way. We were running late getting into Edinburg that night, but the little girl who lived at the house refused to go to bed with out seeing the people who knew Mickey Mouse.
THe internet is an awesome infromation tool. Guests can book their vacations, make dining reservations, find out what rides are best for thier interests. They can also find out how to scam tickets, con managers and learn key phrases like "How are you going to compensate me." and "That is not acceptible." Unfortunately, we have to treat everyone the same way, so if it looks like a scam and smells like a scam. . . we're pretty sure it's not a bed of roses you're dishing out.
We had a guest recently come to the desk and demand a manager. She told the manager that her room was filthy and that there was potatoe chips scattered on her balcony. The manager came back later and said the supposed potatoe chips was dried leaves from a near by tree. STILL, this guest wanted fast passed and other compensation. Needless to say, now, he was ticked.
Where else can you work were you see a 'Tron-o-rail' (monorail painted to look like a Tron bike) on your way to work AND see a flock of wild turkeys meandering through a golf course all in the same day ? Because of the Shades of Green resort being a military owned and ran property, we get to see fighter jets fly over Magic Kingdom every so often. How many private companies have the honor of hosting a swearing in ceremomony for thousands of new American immagrants ? Think about it, there is a group of Disney cast members (imagineers, I think) that every time there is a new President of the United States, goes to the White House to meet with them so they can accurately recreate their likeness in the Hall of Presidents. And what other company has future kings (of England), former presidents and celebrities from all walks of like wanting to reconnect to thier child hood. . . if even for a day.
A well know rule at Disney, if you're working is never, ever ask for an autograph. It is possoble to get fired for it. That doesn't mean that we can go 'back stage' and say "YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHO I JUST SAW, OMG. I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW." Another well known Disney rule is that if you use one of your passes to let someone in the park, you are reponsible for thier actions. So if you let your beer drinkin' cousin you bearly know into the park, he desides to jump out of the boat in the Pirates ride and runs around the village scenes. You could be reprimended as your relative gets carted of to jail for . . . what ever.
Is Disney a fun place to work ?
To that, I say, "It has it's moments."
I have to be honest, "It has it's moments."
True, we get awesome discounts on the Disney Cruise Line and free addmission to the parks (both California and Florida). They have some pretty nice sales on end of year merchandise. Companies and restaraunts around the theme park area often offer Disney/Universal/SeaWorld employee discounts.
HOWEVER, when I was in costuming and something went wrong in a show, a certian group of performers managed to always blame it on costuming. The Stage Managers usually sided with the performers. Thus, costuming folks seem to live in 'fear' (I use that word loosely) of being accused of doing something wrong. For a while, certian 'precious performers' would intentionally do things to thier costumes just so they could get out of doing a set, then blame it on costuming. Our managers rarely stood up for us. We tended to play CYA in everything we did.
Working the shows was awesome. To hear the audience respond to something I was apart of is an amazing feeling. Our characters become instant classics and the music soundtracks help to define a generation. During my last blog I mentioned the Spirit of Pocahontas show. I wnet back and watched it on youtube afterwards. . . The music has been stuck in my head ever since. :) The holidays, especially Christmas, are bare-none. A forty five foot Christmas tree is in one resort lobby. Chocolate carousel horses are in another resort lobby. Candlelight processional in December at Epcot is simply amazing. When Disney does something, they know how to do it right.
It doesn't mean they always 'did it' right, however. There are plenty of examples of WTH ? The Goosebumps show. "Hey let's put on a show where the audience has to stand in an asphalt road and not put any kind of seating. . . anywhere. And, I know, let's make the ending of the show totally contingent upon a young child saying some lines in fornt of a hoard of strangers." In theory the show could never end if the chosen children got stage fright and/ or backed out at the last minute.
Working for a company that is known world wide for quality and family heritage makes each of us an instant celebrity. . . when we're more than 200 miles from home. My friend and I took a trip to England in the early nineties. We drove from London to Edinburg and stayed in bed and breakfasts along the way. We were running late getting into Edinburg that night, but the little girl who lived at the house refused to go to bed with out seeing the people who knew Mickey Mouse.
THe internet is an awesome infromation tool. Guests can book their vacations, make dining reservations, find out what rides are best for thier interests. They can also find out how to scam tickets, con managers and learn key phrases like "How are you going to compensate me." and "That is not acceptible." Unfortunately, we have to treat everyone the same way, so if it looks like a scam and smells like a scam. . . we're pretty sure it's not a bed of roses you're dishing out.
We had a guest recently come to the desk and demand a manager. She told the manager that her room was filthy and that there was potatoe chips scattered on her balcony. The manager came back later and said the supposed potatoe chips was dried leaves from a near by tree. STILL, this guest wanted fast passed and other compensation. Needless to say, now, he was ticked.
Where else can you work were you see a 'Tron-o-rail' (monorail painted to look like a Tron bike) on your way to work AND see a flock of wild turkeys meandering through a golf course all in the same day ? Because of the Shades of Green resort being a military owned and ran property, we get to see fighter jets fly over Magic Kingdom every so often. How many private companies have the honor of hosting a swearing in ceremomony for thousands of new American immagrants ? Think about it, there is a group of Disney cast members (imagineers, I think) that every time there is a new President of the United States, goes to the White House to meet with them so they can accurately recreate their likeness in the Hall of Presidents. And what other company has future kings (of England), former presidents and celebrities from all walks of like wanting to reconnect to thier child hood. . . if even for a day.
A well know rule at Disney, if you're working is never, ever ask for an autograph. It is possoble to get fired for it. That doesn't mean that we can go 'back stage' and say "YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHO I JUST SAW, OMG. I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW." Another well known Disney rule is that if you use one of your passes to let someone in the park, you are reponsible for thier actions. So if you let your beer drinkin' cousin you bearly know into the park, he desides to jump out of the boat in the Pirates ride and runs around the village scenes. You could be reprimended as your relative gets carted of to jail for . . . what ever.
Is Disney a fun place to work ?
To that, I say, "It has it's moments."
Sunday, October 31, 2010
MEANDER THOUGHTS OF A WONDERING MIND PART TRIO
It's time for my yearly to clean up my file of jotted down Disney snipets that didn't have a home anywhere else.
When dealing with guests, you have to be professional and courteous at all times. Well, when you are checking them into your resort and see that they live on Swamp Poodle Rd ( I think it's some where in north Philly), you just have to ask, "Are you kidding me ?" I also had a guest who lived on Yellow Brick Rd. She said she loved her street was was never going to move. Jump off Joe Rd (Grant's Pass, OR) Actually came with a history lesson. Apparently 'Joe' was being chased by indians back in the day and jumped off a small bluff into the falls to get away. Sadly, the legend states that he didn't survive the fall.
A friend of mine worked at the Give A Day, Get a Disney Day call center. (Give a Day was a promotion that Disney did in 2010 where they encouraged a million people to do a volunteer project and get a free Disney ticket to the park in return.) Apparently a pageant promoter had ALL of the girls in the pageant do a volunteer project, BUT they only wanted us to only give tickets to the girls who won the pageant. WTH ??? Obviously it was a resounding and unanamous NO from our end. If you did the work, youw received the tickets.
That was about as good as the guest who was soooo pissed off that they weren't going to get the tickets, BECAUSE they didn't actually sign up to be apart of the million volunteers, that they threated to call the President of the United States. My friend was so tempted to say, "Really ? If you have Obama's phone number, can I get it too ?
There was actually two different Pocahontas shows at Walt Disney World in the nineties. The Animal Kingdom version had Pochontas, Grandmother Willow and a cast of sometimes reluctant animals, like the rabbit that needed a nudge from the stage hand to get going. . . I literally saw a hand from backstage pushing the rabbit out on the stage.
Most people, however, have forgotten about the short lived (nine moths + or -) show that was at the Studios. It was supposed to be 100 % native American cast and crew. Yeah, that didn't happen. There was one wardrobe person, one stage technician and about half the cast who were native American. I actually found it on youtube the other day. (Search for Spirit of Pocahontas )During the run of the show one of cast members who played the medicine man performed a traditional native american wedding on the stage. (after hours).
When you work in a show, you tend to 'create your own little world and some things that make perfect sense in your sphere of reality makes other people go "HUH?" One of the lines in Pocahontas was, "Wingapo, this how we say hello?" Which later turned into (backstage anyway) Win-GA-Po. For years after the show went down, a few of us still said, "Win-GA-Po," when we'd see each other.
While I'm on the subject of 'our own little world', the show that came after Poca, was Hunchback of Notre Dame. . . A Musical Adventure !. During the run of Hunchback, we had Gypsy wedding. One of the performers and a Stage Technician got married (not on stage though). Everyone in the cast and crew stepped in to help with the preperations from the dress and food to the photographer and decorating the hall. The bride asked one of her fellow cast members to walk her down the isle, because her elderly father wasn't physically able to. This cast member was so humbled and honored to be able to do it that he got a little teary eyed. He said, "since he was gay, that was probably going to be the only time in his life that he'd ever be able to do that.
When guests come to the park, they can get a Happy Birthday button to wear. I had a guest with some questions come to the desk. As i was trying to help him, I could have swore the name he had written on his Birthday button was 'THE*DORK'. I was about to ask why he wrote that on there, when i realized it actually said THEODORE. O0ps!, Glad i didn't make a comment.
I recently was asked about a new resort that Disney World was going to open called Buffalo Junction . It was going to have Buffalo and Elk, i guess like a north american version of Animal Kingdom Lodge. I had never heard if, but after a little internet searching i realized he was right. It was supposed to be located in the strip of land between the Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness campground. I found articles written about it from the 80's and 90's and a possible resurface in 2009. I'm not sure if the powers that be are still kicking around the idea, but who knows, what will crop up, if the economy gets better.
Speaking of the Fort, i often wondered what ever happened to the famous cow called Mickey Moo. She was a dairy cow with a black corporate mickey shaped spot on her side. Again I went to the internet. My sources tell me that she passed away in August of 2001. Awe does that mean there's no more Mickey Milk ?
Alas, my meanderings are more like fizzelings, so i'm calling it a night
. . .
A NIGHT.
When dealing with guests, you have to be professional and courteous at all times. Well, when you are checking them into your resort and see that they live on Swamp Poodle Rd ( I think it's some where in north Philly), you just have to ask, "Are you kidding me ?" I also had a guest who lived on Yellow Brick Rd. She said she loved her street was was never going to move. Jump off Joe Rd (Grant's Pass, OR) Actually came with a history lesson. Apparently 'Joe' was being chased by indians back in the day and jumped off a small bluff into the falls to get away. Sadly, the legend states that he didn't survive the fall.
A friend of mine worked at the Give A Day, Get a Disney Day call center. (Give a Day was a promotion that Disney did in 2010 where they encouraged a million people to do a volunteer project and get a free Disney ticket to the park in return.) Apparently a pageant promoter had ALL of the girls in the pageant do a volunteer project, BUT they only wanted us to only give tickets to the girls who won the pageant. WTH ??? Obviously it was a resounding and unanamous NO from our end. If you did the work, youw received the tickets.
That was about as good as the guest who was soooo pissed off that they weren't going to get the tickets, BECAUSE they didn't actually sign up to be apart of the million volunteers, that they threated to call the President of the United States. My friend was so tempted to say, "Really ? If you have Obama's phone number, can I get it too ?
There was actually two different Pocahontas shows at Walt Disney World in the nineties. The Animal Kingdom version had Pochontas, Grandmother Willow and a cast of sometimes reluctant animals, like the rabbit that needed a nudge from the stage hand to get going. . . I literally saw a hand from backstage pushing the rabbit out on the stage.
Most people, however, have forgotten about the short lived (nine moths + or -) show that was at the Studios. It was supposed to be 100 % native American cast and crew. Yeah, that didn't happen. There was one wardrobe person, one stage technician and about half the cast who were native American. I actually found it on youtube the other day. (Search for Spirit of Pocahontas )During the run of the show one of cast members who played the medicine man performed a traditional native american wedding on the stage. (after hours).
When you work in a show, you tend to 'create your own little world and some things that make perfect sense in your sphere of reality makes other people go "HUH?" One of the lines in Pocahontas was, "Wingapo, this how we say hello?" Which later turned into (backstage anyway) Win-GA-Po. For years after the show went down, a few of us still said, "Win-GA-Po," when we'd see each other.
While I'm on the subject of 'our own little world', the show that came after Poca, was Hunchback of Notre Dame. . . A Musical Adventure !. During the run of Hunchback, we had Gypsy wedding. One of the performers and a Stage Technician got married (not on stage though). Everyone in the cast and crew stepped in to help with the preperations from the dress and food to the photographer and decorating the hall. The bride asked one of her fellow cast members to walk her down the isle, because her elderly father wasn't physically able to. This cast member was so humbled and honored to be able to do it that he got a little teary eyed. He said, "since he was gay, that was probably going to be the only time in his life that he'd ever be able to do that.
When guests come to the park, they can get a Happy Birthday button to wear. I had a guest with some questions come to the desk. As i was trying to help him, I could have swore the name he had written on his Birthday button was 'THE*DORK'. I was about to ask why he wrote that on there, when i realized it actually said THEODORE. O0ps!, Glad i didn't make a comment.
I recently was asked about a new resort that Disney World was going to open called Buffalo Junction . It was going to have Buffalo and Elk, i guess like a north american version of Animal Kingdom Lodge. I had never heard if, but after a little internet searching i realized he was right. It was supposed to be located in the strip of land between the Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness campground. I found articles written about it from the 80's and 90's and a possible resurface in 2009. I'm not sure if the powers that be are still kicking around the idea, but who knows, what will crop up, if the economy gets better.
Speaking of the Fort, i often wondered what ever happened to the famous cow called Mickey Moo. She was a dairy cow with a black corporate mickey shaped spot on her side. Again I went to the internet. My sources tell me that she passed away in August of 2001. Awe does that mean there's no more Mickey Milk ?
Alas, my meanderings are more like fizzelings, so i'm calling it a night
. . .
A NIGHT.
Friday, September 24, 2010
WAR STORIES
WAR STORIES. . . When I thought about what to write this month, I started coming up with a list of near misses, slip ups and other accidents that the participants eventually walked away from, but they sure did have a good story to tell anyone willing to listen.
With Epic being a Stunt show, people do get hurt. Luckliy, no one had ever been killed on the stage.(At least up until 2009, but that's a story for another blog). We did have two serious near misses over the years, however. Both accidents involved the the slide for life. Which is a cable slide from the top of the Indy high fall building to the floor. During a rehearsal in the early ninties, when the park had barely opened, one of the Marion stunt doubles fell from the cable near the top of the building. She broke several bones in her face and elsewhere. Although she did survive her injuries, I don't believe she ever returned to performing after that. Then one of tumblers fell from the slide for life in the early 2000's. After some time in the hospital and a lengthy rehabilitation, he tried to return to the stage, but we didn't see him much after that.
One of the Epic tumblers was on the buildings in scene two and landed wrong. He didn't break his leg, instead is bowed out on him. It was about like having a sprained bone. He limped into the stage one day to show off his injury. His entire leg from the knee down was solid black and blue. The tumblers have their names written on the inside tounge of the shoes, so obviously, we know who's is whose. One of the tumblers sprained an ankle and was taken to the hospital for x-rays. He said the emergency room workers were giving him a hard time because a grown man 'had his name written inside his shoes'.
Stunt men aren't the only one's with 'war stories'. Characters are constantly getting wacked, hit and jumped on by the 'precious darling children'. A operation's cast member was working the autograph line for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and had to cut the line off so the performers could leave the stage after thier 'set' was done. Apparently a particular guest, who was not included in the last few people to get the autographs, took offense to that and hit the cast member. Did i mention that this particular cast member was a 5 foot nothing grandmother.
During the nineties, we had a group of performers who rode to thier set location in a modified minivan. (For integrity sake, I can't tell you which performers they were). The one in the back wasn't prepared for the van to start moving and fell out of the truck. He was taken, in costume, by ambulance to the hospital to be checked out. Once he was given a clean bill of health, he had to wait to be picked up by some one from his dept. Oh yeah, he was 'still' half dressed in a muscle suit costume. . . a green muscle suit. He said the people at the hospital was giving the oddest looks. Just remember, those things that don't kill you, make you stronger. . . Right?
When Universal Studios had the X-Men stunt show, several of our guys jumped over there to do that show as well. And yes they brought back more 'War Stories'. Like the time 'M', was supposed to run off the top of a building and rapell down. However, the rigging malfunctioned and he went straight down. Everyone who saw it thought he was dead. Thankfully, enough of the rope was wrapped around him to slow his fall. He still hit hard and messed his back, knees and ankles up. 'M' never really got over that fall and he felt the aftermath for many, many years.
Our performers worked hard, lived hard and in some cases played even harder. Since the inception of 'turn around pay' it was possible for people to be literally on the clock, getting paid for several days straight, 24 hours a day. The 'Turn Around Pay' clause in the contract says if there is less than 8 hours between shifts, you get paid straight through. The characters were notorious for working Fantasimic! at night and a character breakfast shift the following morning. This meant less than 8 hours between shifts and it usually meant at least a few of them sleeping in the breakroom over night.
A favorite 'in the park' cast member past time, especially for the college kids, is drinking thier way around the world at Epcot. The few times I joined in, we rarely made it passed a couple of countries. At least drinking in the park was a bit safer that down town Orlando. At one point, Orlando's downtown was nothing more than bars and tatoo parlors. (AS OF 2010, IT'S NOT THAT WAY ANYMORE). One night three of our performers from Epic went out drinking and got into a bar fight. Long story short, they were jumped in the parking lot by people with knives. One actually got some teeth chipped when a knife went through his cheek. It all came to an end when one of our guys grabbed his gun from the car and fired into the air.
While working at Universal Studios, I watched a stilt walking class practice in the rehearsal room. I asked what happens if you fall? Are there any tips for landing safely? The answer, 'you don't fall'. Rrr-i-g-h-t. Hunchback of Notre Dame had it's own fair share of War Stories, not the least of which was when a stilt walker fell on stage and broke his hand. I was actually sitting in the audience that day and had no way to help him. The stage had a run way that the cast used to enter the theater. The stilt walker slipped on a wet spot and as he fell one of his stilts got hung up under the bleechers. With out missing a beat, the rest of the cast ran off stage and literally picked him up. Once he was back on his feet, or stilts, he finished the scene, then went to the hospital with a broken hand.
Like I said, work hard, live hard, play hard.
With Epic being a Stunt show, people do get hurt. Luckliy, no one had ever been killed on the stage.(At least up until 2009, but that's a story for another blog). We did have two serious near misses over the years, however. Both accidents involved the the slide for life. Which is a cable slide from the top of the Indy high fall building to the floor. During a rehearsal in the early ninties, when the park had barely opened, one of the Marion stunt doubles fell from the cable near the top of the building. She broke several bones in her face and elsewhere. Although she did survive her injuries, I don't believe she ever returned to performing after that. Then one of tumblers fell from the slide for life in the early 2000's. After some time in the hospital and a lengthy rehabilitation, he tried to return to the stage, but we didn't see him much after that.
One of the Epic tumblers was on the buildings in scene two and landed wrong. He didn't break his leg, instead is bowed out on him. It was about like having a sprained bone. He limped into the stage one day to show off his injury. His entire leg from the knee down was solid black and blue. The tumblers have their names written on the inside tounge of the shoes, so obviously, we know who's is whose. One of the tumblers sprained an ankle and was taken to the hospital for x-rays. He said the emergency room workers were giving him a hard time because a grown man 'had his name written inside his shoes'.
Stunt men aren't the only one's with 'war stories'. Characters are constantly getting wacked, hit and jumped on by the 'precious darling children'. A operation's cast member was working the autograph line for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and had to cut the line off so the performers could leave the stage after thier 'set' was done. Apparently a particular guest, who was not included in the last few people to get the autographs, took offense to that and hit the cast member. Did i mention that this particular cast member was a 5 foot nothing grandmother.
During the nineties, we had a group of performers who rode to thier set location in a modified minivan. (For integrity sake, I can't tell you which performers they were). The one in the back wasn't prepared for the van to start moving and fell out of the truck. He was taken, in costume, by ambulance to the hospital to be checked out. Once he was given a clean bill of health, he had to wait to be picked up by some one from his dept. Oh yeah, he was 'still' half dressed in a muscle suit costume. . . a green muscle suit. He said the people at the hospital was giving the oddest looks. Just remember, those things that don't kill you, make you stronger. . . Right?
When Universal Studios had the X-Men stunt show, several of our guys jumped over there to do that show as well. And yes they brought back more 'War Stories'. Like the time 'M', was supposed to run off the top of a building and rapell down. However, the rigging malfunctioned and he went straight down. Everyone who saw it thought he was dead. Thankfully, enough of the rope was wrapped around him to slow his fall. He still hit hard and messed his back, knees and ankles up. 'M' never really got over that fall and he felt the aftermath for many, many years.
Our performers worked hard, lived hard and in some cases played even harder. Since the inception of 'turn around pay' it was possible for people to be literally on the clock, getting paid for several days straight, 24 hours a day. The 'Turn Around Pay' clause in the contract says if there is less than 8 hours between shifts, you get paid straight through. The characters were notorious for working Fantasimic! at night and a character breakfast shift the following morning. This meant less than 8 hours between shifts and it usually meant at least a few of them sleeping in the breakroom over night.
A favorite 'in the park' cast member past time, especially for the college kids, is drinking thier way around the world at Epcot. The few times I joined in, we rarely made it passed a couple of countries. At least drinking in the park was a bit safer that down town Orlando. At one point, Orlando's downtown was nothing more than bars and tatoo parlors. (AS OF 2010, IT'S NOT THAT WAY ANYMORE). One night three of our performers from Epic went out drinking and got into a bar fight. Long story short, they were jumped in the parking lot by people with knives. One actually got some teeth chipped when a knife went through his cheek. It all came to an end when one of our guys grabbed his gun from the car and fired into the air.
While working at Universal Studios, I watched a stilt walking class practice in the rehearsal room. I asked what happens if you fall? Are there any tips for landing safely? The answer, 'you don't fall'. Rrr-i-g-h-t. Hunchback of Notre Dame had it's own fair share of War Stories, not the least of which was when a stilt walker fell on stage and broke his hand. I was actually sitting in the audience that day and had no way to help him. The stage had a run way that the cast used to enter the theater. The stilt walker slipped on a wet spot and as he fell one of his stilts got hung up under the bleechers. With out missing a beat, the rest of the cast ran off stage and literally picked him up. Once he was back on his feet, or stilts, he finished the scene, then went to the hospital with a broken hand.
Like I said, work hard, live hard, play hard.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
OPENNING OF ANIMAL KINGDOM. . . AHhh the memories
Over the nearly twenty years of being with Disney, I have had the opportunity to be apart of some amazing and unforgettable events, not the least of which was the openning of Disney's Animal Kingdom. To start out with, this job wasn't even something i was pursuing. In fact I was just passing through the Epic (Indiana jones show) breakroom one day and a friend of mine was on the phone. She stopped me and told me about her phone call with one of tech managers/ crew chief's (not exactly sure what his title was then). His job with the Animal Kingdom opening was assisting all of the radio broadcasters who where doing live remotes from the various parks and he was looking for people to help out with the setup/ tear down/ escorting (basically get the media folks thier stuff and keep them from getting lost).
Of course I jumped on that with a vengences. 'J' and I pestered the snot out of our department manager for permission leave the department briefly and a week or two later we're sitting in the rehearsal room at the studios finding out what our job would be. Call times at 2:00 AM, most mornings. 12 + hour shifts most days. Exclusive rights to join the media's parties most nights. Basically a no sleep marathon for a week. Since, for the week, we were concidered media crew, we were allowed to join in the parties, eat free food and get the souveniers. In a word 'AWESOME'.
They were also celebrating the newer Downtown Disney Westside opening, so during one of the parties we sampled food from Wolfgang puck and Bongos. David Copperfield made an appearance at Pleasure Island. Way back then, they were going to build a David Copperfield's Magic Underground restuarant at the Studios and they opened a magic shop in the newer part of Downtown Disney.
The Studio's media party was amazing. Disney has what they call Screaming Fans. Cast members get paid over time to line a red carpet and scream and yell like the people who are walking in were movie stars. They do this for conventions and other occasions. I've worked it. It's fun. You just have no voice left the next day. Anyway, at the Studios party, we were met by Screamng fans. At the end of the red carpet, managers were handing out pineapples filled with wine. My manager who gave us the permission to do this side job was there. I looked at him and said, " I guess I picked the right extracurricluar activity". As I worked the crowd, I saw my other managers standing off to the side just watching and unable to participate. They were alot like seeing Roudolph not being allowed to play in the reindeer games.
The only party I didn't make was the one at the new sports complex, now called ESPN's Wide World of Sports. My heart was willing, but the little thing called sleep deprevation was kicking in. It didn't help that I had to be at work at 2:00 the next morning. . .
Oh yeah, 'the work'. I guess I should talk about that too :). At 2:00 in the morning, we were back stage loading up Pargos( flat bed golf carts) with tables, coolers of ice, media gear and a hundred and one other things, then we'd get our assigned areas that needed to be set up. We learned, very quickly, when driving a bumpy little golf cart at full speed, that the back section of the park (between African and Asia) is not flat. In fact it's down right rough. I won't tell you how we found out the first time, but. . . . Table ? what table? . . . KIDDING, sort of.
At 2:00 in the morning you freeze, but by noon, you'd about get heat stroke. We'd get the tables for the stations set up early in the morning. The morning radio personalities would arrive and get a ride to their spots through out the park. However, at 9:00 all motorized vehicles had to be out of the park. We were hustling along the media crews that were right on the edge of the cut off time, because we knew it was foot traffic only after the park openned. During the week WE got a crash course on where all of nooks and crannies in Animal Kingdom were. At one point, I could almost draw you a map to were the all of sprinkler heads and power oulets were located. To this day, when I go to the park, I look around and think, we were there and through that backstage gate is the Lion King breakroom and over there is the Pride Rock Cast Member comissary. . . .
The afternoon was spent walking back and forth assisting the broadcasters with tons of equipment. Okay, maybe not tons, but at near 100+ degrees out, it sure seemed like it. After one of my trips to the furthest reaches of the world. . .I mean park, I chugged an entire bottle of water in in one gulp. Others in our group were manning media information stations in the present day Tusker House covered seating area. (Oh, yeah, we were fed there too. . . At that time, they had rotiserie chicken, ribs and Prime Rib. Mmmm, prime rib). I never worked at that post, I just remember seeing radios all over the place and a bees nest of activity.
We did see our fair share of celebrities. The most memorable story was when one our ladies was told to stand by an open box truck. They were loading and unloading items and needed to make sure things didn't walk away without one of us tied to it. She said a gentleman walked passed her and asked he could sit on the truck's lift gate for a few minutes. He stated that he wasn't feeling as energetic as he usually did. She didn't see any harm in that, so they hung out and talked for a few minutes. She asked if he was having a good time and was able to see all the animals. He said he was and had no problem getting into the exhibits and rides. She noticed his hair was shaved or very short, but never recognized who she was talking to until the plaid dressed VIP escort walked up and asked if he was ready to go. As he walked away, she realized she was chatting with Micheal J Fox. (He had resently had surgery trying to help the Parkinson's disease)
The one and only time I ever saw Mr Eisner was back stage before a media appearence. . .moving on.
Animals have away of letting you kow when they are not happy. The Gorillas in the Gorilla Falls portion of the Savanna were no exception. If you go to Animal Kingdom now, you'll notice that it's not called Gorilla Falls. That's because not long after the park openned, the charming primates started throwing Poo at people. Disney quickly changed the name of that section and has kind of down played the Gorilla exhibit ever since.
Another park openning faux pas came from our illustrious leader himself. During an interview with Mr. Eisner, a bird in the background kept squaking and drowning him out. When asked what was the bird's problem, Eisner said something to the effect of eating it for lunch if it didn't stop. , , OF COURSE the Disney Spin Doctors jumped in and said 'no, no that what our CEO meant to say was that someone needed to feed the bird it's lunch'. Riiight.
Of course I jumped on that with a vengences. 'J' and I pestered the snot out of our department manager for permission leave the department briefly and a week or two later we're sitting in the rehearsal room at the studios finding out what our job would be. Call times at 2:00 AM, most mornings. 12 + hour shifts most days. Exclusive rights to join the media's parties most nights. Basically a no sleep marathon for a week. Since, for the week, we were concidered media crew, we were allowed to join in the parties, eat free food and get the souveniers. In a word 'AWESOME'.
They were also celebrating the newer Downtown Disney Westside opening, so during one of the parties we sampled food from Wolfgang puck and Bongos. David Copperfield made an appearance at Pleasure Island. Way back then, they were going to build a David Copperfield's Magic Underground restuarant at the Studios and they opened a magic shop in the newer part of Downtown Disney.
The Studio's media party was amazing. Disney has what they call Screaming Fans. Cast members get paid over time to line a red carpet and scream and yell like the people who are walking in were movie stars. They do this for conventions and other occasions. I've worked it. It's fun. You just have no voice left the next day. Anyway, at the Studios party, we were met by Screamng fans. At the end of the red carpet, managers were handing out pineapples filled with wine. My manager who gave us the permission to do this side job was there. I looked at him and said, " I guess I picked the right extracurricluar activity". As I worked the crowd, I saw my other managers standing off to the side just watching and unable to participate. They were alot like seeing Roudolph not being allowed to play in the reindeer games.
The only party I didn't make was the one at the new sports complex, now called ESPN's Wide World of Sports. My heart was willing, but the little thing called sleep deprevation was kicking in. It didn't help that I had to be at work at 2:00 the next morning. . .
Oh yeah, 'the work'. I guess I should talk about that too :). At 2:00 in the morning, we were back stage loading up Pargos( flat bed golf carts) with tables, coolers of ice, media gear and a hundred and one other things, then we'd get our assigned areas that needed to be set up. We learned, very quickly, when driving a bumpy little golf cart at full speed, that the back section of the park (between African and Asia) is not flat. In fact it's down right rough. I won't tell you how we found out the first time, but. . . . Table ? what table? . . . KIDDING, sort of.
At 2:00 in the morning you freeze, but by noon, you'd about get heat stroke. We'd get the tables for the stations set up early in the morning. The morning radio personalities would arrive and get a ride to their spots through out the park. However, at 9:00 all motorized vehicles had to be out of the park. We were hustling along the media crews that were right on the edge of the cut off time, because we knew it was foot traffic only after the park openned. During the week WE got a crash course on where all of nooks and crannies in Animal Kingdom were. At one point, I could almost draw you a map to were the all of sprinkler heads and power oulets were located. To this day, when I go to the park, I look around and think, we were there and through that backstage gate is the Lion King breakroom and over there is the Pride Rock Cast Member comissary. . . .
The afternoon was spent walking back and forth assisting the broadcasters with tons of equipment. Okay, maybe not tons, but at near 100+ degrees out, it sure seemed like it. After one of my trips to the furthest reaches of the world. . .I mean park, I chugged an entire bottle of water in in one gulp. Others in our group were manning media information stations in the present day Tusker House covered seating area. (Oh, yeah, we were fed there too. . . At that time, they had rotiserie chicken, ribs and Prime Rib. Mmmm, prime rib). I never worked at that post, I just remember seeing radios all over the place and a bees nest of activity.
We did see our fair share of celebrities. The most memorable story was when one our ladies was told to stand by an open box truck. They were loading and unloading items and needed to make sure things didn't walk away without one of us tied to it. She said a gentleman walked passed her and asked he could sit on the truck's lift gate for a few minutes. He stated that he wasn't feeling as energetic as he usually did. She didn't see any harm in that, so they hung out and talked for a few minutes. She asked if he was having a good time and was able to see all the animals. He said he was and had no problem getting into the exhibits and rides. She noticed his hair was shaved or very short, but never recognized who she was talking to until the plaid dressed VIP escort walked up and asked if he was ready to go. As he walked away, she realized she was chatting with Micheal J Fox. (He had resently had surgery trying to help the Parkinson's disease)
The one and only time I ever saw Mr Eisner was back stage before a media appearence. . .moving on.
Animals have away of letting you kow when they are not happy. The Gorillas in the Gorilla Falls portion of the Savanna were no exception. If you go to Animal Kingdom now, you'll notice that it's not called Gorilla Falls. That's because not long after the park openned, the charming primates started throwing Poo at people. Disney quickly changed the name of that section and has kind of down played the Gorilla exhibit ever since.
Another park openning faux pas came from our illustrious leader himself. During an interview with Mr. Eisner, a bird in the background kept squaking and drowning him out. When asked what was the bird's problem, Eisner said something to the effect of eating it for lunch if it didn't stop. , , OF COURSE the Disney Spin Doctors jumped in and said 'no, no that what our CEO meant to say was that someone needed to feed the bird it's lunch'. Riiight.
Monday, July 19, 2010
SNIPETS ABOUT SHOWS I NEVER WORKED
To say I never worked at Doug Live on Stage isn't quite right. I did work there a couple of times dressing the guests that were picked out of the audience, but it was never my scheduled home stage. Doug was a Nickelodeon character that Disney bought, created a show and a merchandise line out of it, then sent it back to Nick. Doug was a very imaginative pre-teen that turned in to the super-hero Quail Kid in an effort to save the world. . . or maybe it was just to survive middle school and to conjure up enough courage to ask out Patty Mayonnaise. When they were in rehearsal for Doug they had a Veerrrry expensive prop called a Cosmic Thingy. It was worn on the head and had gadgets and gizmos all over it to simulate something from an old sci fi movie. I was told it cost nearly $2000, that's right two thousand dollars. Well, it never made it past rehearsal because it was dropped and broke. Never Fear The Techs are here. One of the techs built a similar looking gizmo out of a bike helmet and coiled tubing. Same effect at a mere fraction of the cost. Have I mentioned that Disney is like a small government. Bids for items are always inflated. Sometimes you just have to sit back and go "Huh?"
I have been told by good authority about a Magnet Incident that sent a wardrobe cast member to the doctor. The Quail Kid costume had a large 'Q' on the front held on by a set of very strong magnets. When costuming was preparing the costumes for laundry, one of guys put the magnets in his pockets and continued sorting the clothes. As he loaded the clothes washer, the magnets did what magnets do and attached themselves to the washer, BUT not before they snapped together catching a particular part of the male anatomy we'll call Mr Coolie along the way. The costumer was stunned at first, but then he realized he was helplessly stuck to the clothes washer. My good friend SS worked at the show. She was too busy laughing hysterically to help free him. To add insult to injury, he said that in the doctor's office, they also were laughing when he told them the story (By the way, he survived the incident and later became a manager. So it's all good.)
I asked CJ, a good friend of mine about any stories he had about his days as a Disney character. I think he has writer's block, because he could only think of one. While working at the Jungle Book show in Animal Kingdom, since their stage was in an out of the way place, they'd send the monkey characters out in the street to draw people back to the show. On one particular day, a monkey was messing with some guests at the Restaurantoursaus. At that time I think it was still a McDonalds. He knocked on the window glass and actually broke the glass. After that, there were no more Jungle Book monkeys running a muck in the park.
During the Pocahontas show, the short lived one at the studios, about half the cast was native Americans. In a world of 'cookie cutter' people (men with similar hairstyles, no facial hair, no tattoos, etc), seeing the Indian cast members with native hairstyles was refreshing. Apparently the Greta Groom, now it's referred to as the Disney Look people, had fits about letting them keep their long hair. They wanted them to conform to Disney standards. . .then wear wigs for the show. In order to get Native Americans in the cast Greta had to give in and for a while we had cast members with Mohawks, braids and hair down to their waist. . . Ah the good ole' days.
One of the cool things that happened at the show was a wedding. Two of the cast members were married on stage (after hours) in an authentic Native American wedding ceremony. Unfortunately, I wasn't working there at the time, so I missed the event.
During the show, John Smith meets Pocahontas, offers to shake her hand and says, "this is how we say hello". For a brief period of time Indiana Jones Stunt show was doing shows out on New York street not far from Pocahontas. (I think they were rehabbing the stage or something). The Stunt show audio kept bleeding over into the Poca stage. In fact at one point John Smith said his line, "This is how we say Hello". This was followed by gun shots from the stunt show. . . Nothing like some brutal honesty here at Disney World. It was said that the Poca cast was getting a bit aggravated at intrusions and talked about forming a War Party to invade the stunt show. . . Yeah, that never happened.
Goosebumps was a show who's popularity was affected by the fact that there was no seating, no shade and it was hot a blue blazes out there. It also didn't help that to end the show, kids from the audience had to say particular lines. If they got stage fright and didn't say the lines. . . in theory, we'd all be doomed and evil would rule the world. Translation: The cast members had to improvise at times. As part of the area, they also had a haunted maze. The characters loved that part of their job because the could scare the bejesus out little kids and get paid for it.
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