Here we are, nearing the end of another Disney's Star Wars Weekends and it's been three years since I've had any involvement with the event. Do I miss it ? . . .Not really. . . Okay, maybe a little.
For several years i was heavily involved with the Star Wars event. The first year we did it, I saw an audition notice go up in the greenroom and literally pestered the heck out of the manager until he officially assigned me to work on it with the Costumer and Costumer assistant.
Long hours. Late night and early morning rehearsals. Rooms filled with glue fumes filled my days for five years around April through June. The first week of the 2009 event and mother nature dumped buckets of rain. From my past experience, I know the cast and costumers were NOT having a fun day. Jawas, The Emperor and Tusken Raiders's costumes are all made out of a type of burlap-y, loose weave cotton, a.k.a. they soak up rain like a sponge. Jawas are little. A strong wind could blow some of them over. One year, when it rained, the poor Jawas could barely walk beacause their costume has become so heavy with rain water. And once they become soaked, they take DAYS to dry. I believe a Jawa robe was put in the dryer one year and it shrunk because we suddenly had a baby Jawa robe. It took trying to hand wash a Tusken Raider costume one time to realize they were meant to be drycleaned.
One of my first duties on the very first Star Wars event was a road trip. I saw paperwork on the manager's desk from a circus / traveling show producer in my home city. They weren't just from my home town, they were literally next door to my dad's office. I told my manager that I knew exactly where they were and "I'd love to go pick up the Star Wars on Ice costumes from them." That's right, I said Star Wars on Ice. . . Yeah, I never heard of it either.
Since they were still packing up the last of the costumes when I arrived, I had lunch with my brother and did d speedy "Hi, How are ya?" to everyone back home before heading back north to Orlando. Most of the pieces were used for years. . . until Disney invited THE Star Wars fan club, 501 Legion, to join our parade one week end. My manager and the costumer were checking out the 501 Legion's costumes and realized our Storm Troopers had to have an over haul.
The next year, we had all spiffy new Storm Troopers. Funny how we all of a sudden 'finally had the budget' to get new costumes. One last thing, before i leave the Star Wars on Ice costumes. The people that wore those were itty bitty people and we had to get inventive about how to make plastic bigger. Also, some one had glued a stip of wood inside one of the leg pieces, as if wearing plastic wasn't uncomfortable enough, they now had a chunk of wood banging them in the shin. . . We threw that piece away. If fact we threw alot of those pieces away, since PVC plastic costumes tend to crack easily.
Life hasn't been easy for the Storm Troopers. When you wear spandex and plastic armour in public, the PUBLIC tends to get a little frisky with the roaming hands. . . you get the picture. When it rained, some characters couldn't go out, like Queen Amadalla, a drop of rain would damage the velvet. The Storm
Troopers, however, had no such luck. Rain, shine, they never missed thier sets. . .EXCEPT for the frequent wardrobe malfunctions. The only thing that could keep the costume together was a glue that literally melted the plastic together. A squeeze of glue, squirt of activator and quicklyputthepiecestogether. The first year we had clone troopers and sand troopers, I should have bought stock in the glue company.
An Oh the 5 am Storm Trooper on the Turnstiles rehearsals. We had to be at work at 4:oo-4:30 in the morning, get the characters out the door with thier stuff, then follow them to the front of the park with the Pargo with many tubes of glue and activator. For those who have never seen Star Wars Weekends, 'The Powers That Be' decided to enhance the event by putting three Storm Troopers up on top of the gates entering the park. This is kind of an "A" cast event since they wanted to make sure who ever was up there wasn't going to fall off.
The troopers would heckle the guests coming into the park and try to look menacing. One year, when the state was trying to burn down with hundreds of forest fires, the poor Storm Troopers could barely see the edge of the roof, much less any of the guest down below. Everyone was wearing painter's masks to block some of the smoke. When we all starting to cough when by mid morning, the coordinator called it quits for safety reasons.
There are many more stories to come.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, May 11, 2009
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. :)
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. :)
Saturday, April 18, 2009
THE PRACTICLE THINGS I HAVE LEARNED FROM DISNEY
In all of te years I have worked with Disney, I have learned a few practicle things that everybody can use in daily life.
A product called JINX INX is absolutely fabulous for getting ink out of everything. Unfortunately, I have never seen it for sale to the general public. Basically, it's industrial strength acetone. . . nail polish remover. We have several characters with white gloves. From the Head Cheese (Mickey) himself on down to Shitty Kitty(Sorry, I mean Gideon the cat from Pinochio). Sidenote: We sometimes have pet names for certian characters. Gideon is basically a drunk cat with just one line in the whole movie. . . a drunken hiccup, thus the nickname.
Anyway, kids want autographs. This means kids often come at the characters with sharpies, felt pens, ball point pens and everybody's favroite. . . gel pens. At the end of the night there's always a large basket of gloves that have to be specially treated for ink marks. What Jinx ink dosen't get out, Alcohol will. (no not the drinking kind. . . that comes later.) Rubbing alcohol does wonders at getting ink out of things. Mixing Alcohol and Jinx Inx creates a nice little chemical reaction in the laundry area. A quick fix for ink marks is, believe it or not, hair spray. I don't understand how or why, I've just seen it work.
One costuming trick that we were never allowed to try is Vodka (HMmmm, I wonder why?) I was told that touring shows and professional theater troops spray Vodka in their costumes. When it dries, any body odor is gone. It also works pretty well when dealing with Divas. After a few shots of Vodka, who cares, who's yelling at who.
Sometimes I feel like I've led a deprived life. As a kid I never heard of PEEP Jousting, Dry ice bottle rockets and Mentos in Soda bottles. Easter has just passed and of course packages of PEEPS, chicken shaped marshmellows were everywhere. Some cast members decided to 'blow one up' in the microwave. This was done covertly, so I never actually saw the after math. Since it was in a manager's microwave, i assume the microwaved PEEP just expanded to three times it's normal size before deflating.
The next day, I heard about PEEP Jousting, where you put toothpicks in each PEEP and Microwave them. The winner is called when the toothpick of one stabs the other and makes it deflate. . . some of my fellow cast members really need a hobby. :)
I recently heard a story about dry ice, bottle rockets and pipe bombs. Apparently this happened several years ago when the Muppets On Location show was going on. One day it was raining and the show was downed. A wardrobe person was bored and put dry ice in a soda bottle with a little water. After a few minutes, the soft plastic popped a hole and the bottle shot off like a rocket into the air.
The next day, it also rained. Still bored this person had a new audience, so he did it again. This time, however, the only thing he could find was a harder plastic Evian bottle. He puts the dry ice in it, seals the top, the spectators peek out from half open doors and watch as the thing starts to crackle. Getting nervous that the bottle didn't shoot off, he decided to throw a seat cousion over it and stomp on it. (yeah, real smart) It still didn't do anything. Wanting to hide the evidence, he tired to kick it inside. Thank God it never made it that far, because the break room was wall to wall mirrors. The Evian bottle became wedged under the dry ice bin and literally blew up. It rocked the building and would have shattered the mirrors. Shrapnel flew every where. Manager types and security were checking roof tops after that. One person said they heard it half way across the part and thought it was Epic (Indiana Jones). Needless to say these cast members never played with dry ice again.
Ever since Blue Man Group arrived at Universal, I've been dieng to try the Mentos in Soda experiment. . . when i have a few extra bucks to waste, I mean, to spew every where, I'll try it and report back to you with my findings.
Have you ever tried signing the back of your brand new credit card only to curse out the ball point pen because it won't write. Next time that happens, try the 'ancient Disney secret'. Put a piece of scotch tape over the signing strip, rub it a few times and remove it. I'm not sure if it adds a layer of stickiness to it, so the pen can grab hold or if it removes some kind of oily residue from the manfacturing process, all I know is that it works.
As a way of amusing the hundreds of kids that pass through the resorts, our managers have supplied the bell service guys with the long 'Balloon Animal' balloons. When I was at All Star and had to work luggage, i learned that I should never quit to become a Circus clown. Making balloon animals is not my forte'. Some of the luggage folks got pretty darn good at it though. They were making life size figures of children holding helium filled ballons to keep it upright. Needless to say we were all very impressed.
At Boardwalk Resort, it's helium balloons in the lobby. I have a greater repsect for the balloon sales people that walk the parks. It takes skill to be able to walk from point 'A' to point 'B' with a handfull of helium balloons and NOT have a tangled up mess. I learned how to blow up the double balloons like you see in floral bouquets.
. . .And more importantly I learned how not to do it. When a balloon pops in a double balloon, it will flat make your ears ring. One day I was tieing the weight on a helium balloon for a couple of kids. It didn't touch anything, didn't get near anything, but it exploded. Unfortuneately, down the lobby was a soldier returning from Iraq, like fresh off the plane returning. I was told that the balloon popping about scared the $%%T out of him. . . . Sorry Mr. Army Guy, where ever you are, and Welcome Home !!!!
And my final bit of Practicle Things I Have Learned From Disney is a biggie:
NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING.
If you go on vacation, never assume the hotel, plane, car rental company, etc. will have your information or have the right information. When checking into a hotel, bring your confirmation papers. When getting a rental car, bring your reservation confirmation number. When boarding a plane, bring your confimation number, reservation number and your Photo ID. Every time some one says, "I didn't know I needed my comfirmation information," is usually the time the computer has eaten all traces of thier reservation.
So save yourself a major headache and bring your paperwork when you travel.
TaTa for now.
A product called JINX INX is absolutely fabulous for getting ink out of everything. Unfortunately, I have never seen it for sale to the general public. Basically, it's industrial strength acetone. . . nail polish remover. We have several characters with white gloves. From the Head Cheese (Mickey) himself on down to Shitty Kitty(Sorry, I mean Gideon the cat from Pinochio). Sidenote: We sometimes have pet names for certian characters. Gideon is basically a drunk cat with just one line in the whole movie. . . a drunken hiccup, thus the nickname.
Anyway, kids want autographs. This means kids often come at the characters with sharpies, felt pens, ball point pens and everybody's favroite. . . gel pens. At the end of the night there's always a large basket of gloves that have to be specially treated for ink marks. What Jinx ink dosen't get out, Alcohol will. (no not the drinking kind. . . that comes later.) Rubbing alcohol does wonders at getting ink out of things. Mixing Alcohol and Jinx Inx creates a nice little chemical reaction in the laundry area. A quick fix for ink marks is, believe it or not, hair spray. I don't understand how or why, I've just seen it work.
One costuming trick that we were never allowed to try is Vodka (HMmmm, I wonder why?) I was told that touring shows and professional theater troops spray Vodka in their costumes. When it dries, any body odor is gone. It also works pretty well when dealing with Divas. After a few shots of Vodka, who cares, who's yelling at who.
Sometimes I feel like I've led a deprived life. As a kid I never heard of PEEP Jousting, Dry ice bottle rockets and Mentos in Soda bottles. Easter has just passed and of course packages of PEEPS, chicken shaped marshmellows were everywhere. Some cast members decided to 'blow one up' in the microwave. This was done covertly, so I never actually saw the after math. Since it was in a manager's microwave, i assume the microwaved PEEP just expanded to three times it's normal size before deflating.
The next day, I heard about PEEP Jousting, where you put toothpicks in each PEEP and Microwave them. The winner is called when the toothpick of one stabs the other and makes it deflate. . . some of my fellow cast members really need a hobby. :)
I recently heard a story about dry ice, bottle rockets and pipe bombs. Apparently this happened several years ago when the Muppets On Location show was going on. One day it was raining and the show was downed. A wardrobe person was bored and put dry ice in a soda bottle with a little water. After a few minutes, the soft plastic popped a hole and the bottle shot off like a rocket into the air.
The next day, it also rained. Still bored this person had a new audience, so he did it again. This time, however, the only thing he could find was a harder plastic Evian bottle. He puts the dry ice in it, seals the top, the spectators peek out from half open doors and watch as the thing starts to crackle. Getting nervous that the bottle didn't shoot off, he decided to throw a seat cousion over it and stomp on it. (yeah, real smart) It still didn't do anything. Wanting to hide the evidence, he tired to kick it inside. Thank God it never made it that far, because the break room was wall to wall mirrors. The Evian bottle became wedged under the dry ice bin and literally blew up. It rocked the building and would have shattered the mirrors. Shrapnel flew every where. Manager types and security were checking roof tops after that. One person said they heard it half way across the part and thought it was Epic (Indiana Jones). Needless to say these cast members never played with dry ice again.
Ever since Blue Man Group arrived at Universal, I've been dieng to try the Mentos in Soda experiment. . . when i have a few extra bucks to waste, I mean, to spew every where, I'll try it and report back to you with my findings.
Have you ever tried signing the back of your brand new credit card only to curse out the ball point pen because it won't write. Next time that happens, try the 'ancient Disney secret'. Put a piece of scotch tape over the signing strip, rub it a few times and remove it. I'm not sure if it adds a layer of stickiness to it, so the pen can grab hold or if it removes some kind of oily residue from the manfacturing process, all I know is that it works.
As a way of amusing the hundreds of kids that pass through the resorts, our managers have supplied the bell service guys with the long 'Balloon Animal' balloons. When I was at All Star and had to work luggage, i learned that I should never quit to become a Circus clown. Making balloon animals is not my forte'. Some of the luggage folks got pretty darn good at it though. They were making life size figures of children holding helium filled ballons to keep it upright. Needless to say we were all very impressed.
At Boardwalk Resort, it's helium balloons in the lobby. I have a greater repsect for the balloon sales people that walk the parks. It takes skill to be able to walk from point 'A' to point 'B' with a handfull of helium balloons and NOT have a tangled up mess. I learned how to blow up the double balloons like you see in floral bouquets.
. . .And more importantly I learned how not to do it. When a balloon pops in a double balloon, it will flat make your ears ring. One day I was tieing the weight on a helium balloon for a couple of kids. It didn't touch anything, didn't get near anything, but it exploded. Unfortuneately, down the lobby was a soldier returning from Iraq, like fresh off the plane returning. I was told that the balloon popping about scared the $%%T out of him. . . . Sorry Mr. Army Guy, where ever you are, and Welcome Home !!!!
And my final bit of Practicle Things I Have Learned From Disney is a biggie:
NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING.
If you go on vacation, never assume the hotel, plane, car rental company, etc. will have your information or have the right information. When checking into a hotel, bring your confirmation papers. When getting a rental car, bring your reservation confirmation number. When boarding a plane, bring your confimation number, reservation number and your Photo ID. Every time some one says, "I didn't know I needed my comfirmation information," is usually the time the computer has eaten all traces of thier reservation.
So save yourself a major headache and bring your paperwork when you travel.
TaTa for now.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
IN MEMORY OF . . .
Most of my blogs i try to see the lighter side of Disney life. But as we approach Easter eve and my thoughts tend to drift toward life, death and the 'here after', i want to take a moment and make sure some of my friends who have passed on get remembered. In the past blogs, I have never use a person's real name for security and privacy reasons. But this one time i want to wave that.
Joel, entertainment technician, football player. I worked with Joel on the opening crew for Fantasmic!. He was a big guy with and even bigger heart. One christmas eve, he wanted to bring the tradition of reading the Christmas story to the Fantasmic! cast and asked if my Bible was in my car. That night he had a mini-church service in the green room. To see him you'd think he could crush anything. To talk with him you knew he was a big teddy bear.
He played on an arena football league for several years, but never achieved his dream of making it big. He had a part time job as a bouncer at a bar and it was assumed someone got ticked off that night. After hours Joel was sitting in his car and was shot several times in the chest. At last report, they still had no idea who did it.
Aeyrk was a dancer for Beauty and the Beast (B&B)and Pleasure Island. He was one of those people that every body knew. My fondest memory of Aeyrk was between shows when he was bored. He'd come into wardrobe, sit on the clothes dryer and keep us all amused with stories. One day particular, we got sex tips from a gay guy. . . it was very educational and kind of odd.
One afternoon, while riding his motorcycle, he was involved in a head on collision with a car. His was the first African-American funeral I had ever been to and it was the biggest emotional roller coaster I have ever been on. We laughed. We cried. We laughed some more. Disney management cancelled the morning's shows at B&B and any where else he had worked so people could go to the funeral. They also provided a bus to transport anyone who wanted to attend. For me it was very impressive that an individual was so well loved and respected by managment that they shut down several shows that day in his honor.
One last thing about Aeryk, when a friend of mine and I left the funeral, there was a car alarm going off. We were rather upset that some one would 'just allow thier alarm to keep going off'. Then we realized . . . it was her truck. She didn't even know she had a car alarm and had no idea how to turn it off. After fiddling with some wires and with some help from several of funeral attendees, we were able to turn the thing off. We decided that it had to have been Aeryk saying good bye to everyone in his own special way.
Joe, stage manager, was one of the sweetest, nicest guys you could ever meet. He worked at Epic for a long time and never once let the boy's shannigans get the better of him. Which is saying alot for that show. In fact, one day the boys had been watching too much wrestling on TV and started trying out wrestling moves on any one who walked through the door. Joe came in to announce 'Places' for the next show. One of the guys tried a few moves on him and he played along.
Joe had brain cancer. He was gone for a very long time while he had chemo, surgery and other treatments. I'll never for get when i saw him again for the first time. I said, "It is nice to see you back here again." His said, "It's nice to been seen." That really stuck with me, because that was his way of saying he was just happy to be alive. Sadly, Joe lost his battle with cancer a short time later.
Tom, Character Coordinator, was one of the most dedicated cast members I have ever seen. He lived, slept and breathed the Star Wars event at the studios every year. In fact, when he was sooo sick during his last Star Wars event that he could barely stand, we told him he should go home and take care of him self. He was almost in tears when he said, "If I do, they'll take the event away from me." Tom had terminal cancer and while in his thirties, in the middle of his beloved special event, he passed away. One of my most profound memories of his passing, was the fact that his fellow cast members rallied around him morning, noon and night. They practically moved into the hospital waiting room. They also put on a benefit show to help raise money for his mounting medical bills.
Donnie was one of the few managers who everyone respected. Things weren't good between hourlies and managers in costuming for years (but that is a whole other blog). Most managers, if they asked us to extent to cover a shift, we'd say, "nope, gotta go." If Donnie asked, we usually stayed because we could never tell Donnie no. Why ? He worked side beside with us. He backed us up and he respected his cast. One friday he left for the day with huge plans for his weekend. I was called Sunday and told that he had died from a heart attack. That week, we were all wrecks.
I want to end this blog on a high note and tell you one of Donnie's stories. He was in Bogota, Columbia with a bunch of costumes for a Latin America promotional tour. He realized too late that his driver's license had expired and the rental car company refused to rent him a car. After catching a cab to the his hotel, he decided it was not a good place to walk on the streets. He had no idea when he was supposed to meet his contact person, he was getting hungry and spoke no spanish. He tried to ask a housekeeper if the hotel had room service. She looked horrfied at him and ran away. Not knowing what he had said, the next day he told his contact person about the incident. He was told that instead of asking for room service. . . as in food, what he had asked for was to be serviced in the room . . . as in sex. Poor Donnie.
God Bless and Happy Easter
Joel, entertainment technician, football player. I worked with Joel on the opening crew for Fantasmic!. He was a big guy with and even bigger heart. One christmas eve, he wanted to bring the tradition of reading the Christmas story to the Fantasmic! cast and asked if my Bible was in my car. That night he had a mini-church service in the green room. To see him you'd think he could crush anything. To talk with him you knew he was a big teddy bear.
He played on an arena football league for several years, but never achieved his dream of making it big. He had a part time job as a bouncer at a bar and it was assumed someone got ticked off that night. After hours Joel was sitting in his car and was shot several times in the chest. At last report, they still had no idea who did it.
Aeyrk was a dancer for Beauty and the Beast (B&B)and Pleasure Island. He was one of those people that every body knew. My fondest memory of Aeyrk was between shows when he was bored. He'd come into wardrobe, sit on the clothes dryer and keep us all amused with stories. One day particular, we got sex tips from a gay guy. . . it was very educational and kind of odd.
One afternoon, while riding his motorcycle, he was involved in a head on collision with a car. His was the first African-American funeral I had ever been to and it was the biggest emotional roller coaster I have ever been on. We laughed. We cried. We laughed some more. Disney management cancelled the morning's shows at B&B and any where else he had worked so people could go to the funeral. They also provided a bus to transport anyone who wanted to attend. For me it was very impressive that an individual was so well loved and respected by managment that they shut down several shows that day in his honor.
One last thing about Aeryk, when a friend of mine and I left the funeral, there was a car alarm going off. We were rather upset that some one would 'just allow thier alarm to keep going off'. Then we realized . . . it was her truck. She didn't even know she had a car alarm and had no idea how to turn it off. After fiddling with some wires and with some help from several of funeral attendees, we were able to turn the thing off. We decided that it had to have been Aeryk saying good bye to everyone in his own special way.
Joe, stage manager, was one of the sweetest, nicest guys you could ever meet. He worked at Epic for a long time and never once let the boy's shannigans get the better of him. Which is saying alot for that show. In fact, one day the boys had been watching too much wrestling on TV and started trying out wrestling moves on any one who walked through the door. Joe came in to announce 'Places' for the next show. One of the guys tried a few moves on him and he played along.
Joe had brain cancer. He was gone for a very long time while he had chemo, surgery and other treatments. I'll never for get when i saw him again for the first time. I said, "It is nice to see you back here again." His said, "It's nice to been seen." That really stuck with me, because that was his way of saying he was just happy to be alive. Sadly, Joe lost his battle with cancer a short time later.
Tom, Character Coordinator, was one of the most dedicated cast members I have ever seen. He lived, slept and breathed the Star Wars event at the studios every year. In fact, when he was sooo sick during his last Star Wars event that he could barely stand, we told him he should go home and take care of him self. He was almost in tears when he said, "If I do, they'll take the event away from me." Tom had terminal cancer and while in his thirties, in the middle of his beloved special event, he passed away. One of my most profound memories of his passing, was the fact that his fellow cast members rallied around him morning, noon and night. They practically moved into the hospital waiting room. They also put on a benefit show to help raise money for his mounting medical bills.
Donnie was one of the few managers who everyone respected. Things weren't good between hourlies and managers in costuming for years (but that is a whole other blog). Most managers, if they asked us to extent to cover a shift, we'd say, "nope, gotta go." If Donnie asked, we usually stayed because we could never tell Donnie no. Why ? He worked side beside with us. He backed us up and he respected his cast. One friday he left for the day with huge plans for his weekend. I was called Sunday and told that he had died from a heart attack. That week, we were all wrecks.
I want to end this blog on a high note and tell you one of Donnie's stories. He was in Bogota, Columbia with a bunch of costumes for a Latin America promotional tour. He realized too late that his driver's license had expired and the rental car company refused to rent him a car. After catching a cab to the his hotel, he decided it was not a good place to walk on the streets. He had no idea when he was supposed to meet his contact person, he was getting hungry and spoke no spanish. He tried to ask a housekeeper if the hotel had room service. She looked horrfied at him and ran away. Not knowing what he had said, the next day he told his contact person about the incident. He was told that instead of asking for room service. . . as in food, what he had asked for was to be serviced in the room . . . as in sex. Poor Donnie.
God Bless and Happy Easter
Friday, March 27, 2009
W T H Part II
Working with the public from around the world, you see the good, you see the bad, then you see things that you can only classify as "What The Hell. . ."
The number one pissed off guests comment is "THIS IS NOT ACCEPTIBLE." I wish I could just once say. "I am sorry that you were too igorant to read the information that was sent to you, but the world does not revolve around you." But that would be un-Disney-like. You can make a room request, but I can not gaurantee requests. Why? Because they are requests. The more requests you ask for the less likely you'll get them, especially when a specific request doesn't exist. Three connecting rooms, poolside, on the 12th floor of the Wilderness lodge and everything is to be ready by 7:00 in the morning when I arrive on Easter Weekend. (here's your assignment, go to Disney.com and find out why that won't happen. . . ever) Yelling at a cast member or manager and pitching a crying fit in the lobby won't change the fact that a specific room is already occupied.
If you come to Disney from June to August, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Martin Luther King Day, March to end of April due your self a favor and Make Dinning Reservations as before you get here. Although we can usually find something, somewhere, it's usually not in a park or it's at 9:00 at night or 7:30 in the morning. Dining is the second biggest reason for a melt down. "Oh My God, My life is ruined if I can not eat dinner at 6:00 every night in my favorite restaurant." My answer to that, "You lead a sad, sad life if that's all it takes to ruin it."
I can not tell you how many times I have suggested a restaurant and have had a guest ask me," Do they have good food?" Do you really think I'm going to say, "No that place Sucks."
We had a guest come to the front desk at the Lodge in a fit of rage and screamed at the cast member, "I SHIT IN MY BED LAST NIGHT AND IT'S STILL THERE." . . . I have a hard time figuring out which is more disturbing. The fact that a grown woman would 'S!!T' in her bed AND admitted it. Or the fact that a houskeeper could make the bed with out seeing the stuff and change the sheets. Ewww. We're moving on.
On the Concierge floors at the premium resorts we provide breakfast, snacxs, wine, cheese, bottled beer and cordials through out the day. Recently we had some guests who were waiting for the elevator with a stroller covered in jackets. However, when they hit a bump in the floor, a bottle of beer fell out. These people had tried to wipe out the lounge's beer supply and stuffed it in their stroller.
In another case of the classic, give them and inch they'll take a mile, my managers will usually refuse to give a written guarantee to anything. Apparently people have taken the good will deeds of a manager or two in the past and photocopied it to give to thier friends or worse yet sell it on ebay. I'm not sure if it ever cost anyone thier job, but who wants to take that chance.
Disney offers discounts to Florida Residence for tickets. People try to con us by saying that thier Florida ID is in the room or it's in thier car and they get upset when we refuse to sell them tickets at the Resident rate. At this point, I wish I could say A)Unless you plan to support me the rest of my life, when I lose my job, I'm not selling you tickets at a resident rate, B) As a resident of this state and having to deal with all of you tourists, if getting into the park a little cheaper is a perk Disney is willing to put out there, I AM NOT giving that perk away to anyone who does not live here, C)If you can afford to stay in a premium resort, you can afford to pay for tickets to the park.
Not every W T H guest encounter is an angery one. We had a young guy hanging out in the merchandise shop one day and kept asking people if they spoke french. He didn't speak french, he just wandered how many people he could find who spoke the language. I believe he was asked to leave.
I was looking up a guest's record and asked for a first name. The lady's answer "His first name is Doctor." "Mam, that would be a title."
A Sheriff Deputy walked through the lobby and we started talking. He said most of the traffic stops on property are cast members who are late for work. However, they stopped a guest one day who got a $105 speeding ticket. When asked why he was speeding, the guest said, "I have to go pee." I had another guest so excited about being at Disney, even a little souvenier from the Florida Highway Patrol didn't dampen the mood. She admitted that when asked why she was speeding, she said, "We were trying to figure out the words to the song 'The wheels on the bus go round and round' and I wasn't paying attention." She said the Trooper was not amused when she asked him if he knew the words to the song.
While at Coronado Springs, one of my manaagers needed to walk guests to the Yacht and Beach club. (Simply, when we get over booked, we make arrangements at a different resort for them.) These guests refused to go. Coronado is a Moderate price resort. Yatch and Beach is a premium resort. Still, they pitched a fit. Next to them were some cast members checking in (using a discounted cast member rate). They said they'd take the room if the guest's didn't want it. Long story short, cast members didn't just get a room at a high end resort for just over $100, they got a water view suite. My best guess is that it was a $400 or up room. After the 'fit pitching' guests heard this, they said, "well, maybe we will take that room." My manamger said, "Sorry to late, thier names are already on the room." I know what he wanted to say was "You are such a LOSER."
Not all of the W T H momnents belong to the guests. I was in the elevator with a couple construction workers and over heard thier conversation. Apparently they just caught a painter dumping a five gallong bucket of paint in the a planter. We reached our floor, they went one way, I went the other, so I never found out what happened after that.
And on that note i must now go to work and gather more material for next time
The number one pissed off guests comment is "THIS IS NOT ACCEPTIBLE." I wish I could just once say. "I am sorry that you were too igorant to read the information that was sent to you, but the world does not revolve around you." But that would be un-Disney-like. You can make a room request, but I can not gaurantee requests. Why? Because they are requests. The more requests you ask for the less likely you'll get them, especially when a specific request doesn't exist. Three connecting rooms, poolside, on the 12th floor of the Wilderness lodge and everything is to be ready by 7:00 in the morning when I arrive on Easter Weekend. (here's your assignment, go to Disney.com and find out why that won't happen. . . ever) Yelling at a cast member or manager and pitching a crying fit in the lobby won't change the fact that a specific room is already occupied.
If you come to Disney from June to August, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Martin Luther King Day, March to end of April due your self a favor and Make Dinning Reservations as before you get here. Although we can usually find something, somewhere, it's usually not in a park or it's at 9:00 at night or 7:30 in the morning. Dining is the second biggest reason for a melt down. "Oh My God, My life is ruined if I can not eat dinner at 6:00 every night in my favorite restaurant." My answer to that, "You lead a sad, sad life if that's all it takes to ruin it."
I can not tell you how many times I have suggested a restaurant and have had a guest ask me," Do they have good food?" Do you really think I'm going to say, "No that place Sucks."
We had a guest come to the front desk at the Lodge in a fit of rage and screamed at the cast member, "I SHIT IN MY BED LAST NIGHT AND IT'S STILL THERE." . . . I have a hard time figuring out which is more disturbing. The fact that a grown woman would 'S!!T' in her bed AND admitted it. Or the fact that a houskeeper could make the bed with out seeing the stuff and change the sheets. Ewww. We're moving on.
On the Concierge floors at the premium resorts we provide breakfast, snacxs, wine, cheese, bottled beer and cordials through out the day. Recently we had some guests who were waiting for the elevator with a stroller covered in jackets. However, when they hit a bump in the floor, a bottle of beer fell out. These people had tried to wipe out the lounge's beer supply and stuffed it in their stroller.
In another case of the classic, give them and inch they'll take a mile, my managers will usually refuse to give a written guarantee to anything. Apparently people have taken the good will deeds of a manager or two in the past and photocopied it to give to thier friends or worse yet sell it on ebay. I'm not sure if it ever cost anyone thier job, but who wants to take that chance.
Disney offers discounts to Florida Residence for tickets. People try to con us by saying that thier Florida ID is in the room or it's in thier car and they get upset when we refuse to sell them tickets at the Resident rate. At this point, I wish I could say A)Unless you plan to support me the rest of my life, when I lose my job, I'm not selling you tickets at a resident rate, B) As a resident of this state and having to deal with all of you tourists, if getting into the park a little cheaper is a perk Disney is willing to put out there, I AM NOT giving that perk away to anyone who does not live here, C)If you can afford to stay in a premium resort, you can afford to pay for tickets to the park.
Not every W T H guest encounter is an angery one. We had a young guy hanging out in the merchandise shop one day and kept asking people if they spoke french. He didn't speak french, he just wandered how many people he could find who spoke the language. I believe he was asked to leave.
I was looking up a guest's record and asked for a first name. The lady's answer "His first name is Doctor." "Mam, that would be a title."
A Sheriff Deputy walked through the lobby and we started talking. He said most of the traffic stops on property are cast members who are late for work. However, they stopped a guest one day who got a $105 speeding ticket. When asked why he was speeding, the guest said, "I have to go pee." I had another guest so excited about being at Disney, even a little souvenier from the Florida Highway Patrol didn't dampen the mood. She admitted that when asked why she was speeding, she said, "We were trying to figure out the words to the song 'The wheels on the bus go round and round' and I wasn't paying attention." She said the Trooper was not amused when she asked him if he knew the words to the song.
While at Coronado Springs, one of my manaagers needed to walk guests to the Yacht and Beach club. (Simply, when we get over booked, we make arrangements at a different resort for them.) These guests refused to go. Coronado is a Moderate price resort. Yatch and Beach is a premium resort. Still, they pitched a fit. Next to them were some cast members checking in (using a discounted cast member rate). They said they'd take the room if the guest's didn't want it. Long story short, cast members didn't just get a room at a high end resort for just over $100, they got a water view suite. My best guess is that it was a $400 or up room. After the 'fit pitching' guests heard this, they said, "well, maybe we will take that room." My manamger said, "Sorry to late, thier names are already on the room." I know what he wanted to say was "You are such a LOSER."
Not all of the W T H momnents belong to the guests. I was in the elevator with a couple construction workers and over heard thier conversation. Apparently they just caught a painter dumping a five gallong bucket of paint in the a planter. We reached our floor, they went one way, I went the other, so I never found out what happened after that.
And on that note i must now go to work and gather more material for next time
Friday, March 13, 2009
ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A PARADE CALLED 'ALADDIN'S ROYAL CARAVAN'
Way back when, the powers that be used to have big, grand unveilings when a new movie came out. And we always knew we'd have a new show to open soon or a new parade to dress. When Beauty and the Beast hit theaters, we openned the Beauty and the Beast show. Which as of March 2009, it's still going strong. Since then, there's been Ninja Turtle shows, Muppet shows, Pocahontas shows and the much loved Hunchback of Notre Dame show. In between the stage shows we had a Dino parade, Mulan Parade, Toy Story parade and . . . either you loved it or you hated it, The Aladdin Royal Caravan parade.
The costume designers got real creative with this one. 'I know, let's put character performers in huge blow up cotumes and make them walk down the street while doing a dance routine'. And POOF . . . Inflatable Costumes came into being. Dressing performers in the inflatables was like building an erector set. There was alot of insert tab A into slot B and hope you don't whack someone in the head while doing it. Once the frame work was assembled we had to attach the batteries, zip the performer inside and watch it blow up. You'd think with fans blowing inside the costume to inflate them they wouldn't be as hot in the 100 degree August summers. Wrong, at the end of the parade route costuming was half dressers, half health coach. We had an arsenal of gatorade, water and wet towels set up at step down (end of parade) everyday.
THe Acrobat costumes were large and heavy two piece contraptions that we had to climb on a four foot high platform in order to put it together. Once together they looked like two or three cartoon clown acrobats on each other's shoulders. A good friend of mine fell off the platform one day. No, I take that back, she fell Under the platform. We were running late and the parade was leaving the park so my friend "S" ran to the Acrobat dressing area, missed the step and ended up underneath the thing. She survived.
THe Jewlery attendants were just kind of wierd and creepy. They were over sized shirtless men with baskets of fake gold and jewlery on their heads. They were simpler to assemble, but still really heavy. If you remember the movie, at one point Genie splits himself in half and the legs run around on their own. We had an inflatable for that too.
Because of the complicated costumes, cotuming had to walk the parade wearing a kaftan (sorry if i spelled it wrong) and a hat along with carrying a radio, so we could let people know when a unit went down and where we were. For me, the kaftan was always too big, the hat always fell off and the radio was always hard to understand what anybody was saying. By "a unit going down", I mean anything could happen with the inflatables. Batteries died or melted down (sometimes literally melting). The metal frame work would sometimes break. A performer would get over heated and have to be quickly removed from the Hefty Bag. . . . I mean costume. You name it. It happened. There were certian points in the parade route were we could exit a performer safely. Sometimes they made it there. . . .and sometimes they didn't.
Beleive it or not, the Aladdin parade orginally had concubines as well. They always cast the real butch guys to do it. The costume was a dress and coconut shells for breasts. Needless to say, they didn't last.
THe next time you go to Magic Kingdom, next to Tiki birds is the Aladdin Magic carpet ride. The two gold camels that are by the ride, used to be floats in our parade. I'm not sure if the still spit, but in our parade they did.
We also had an Elephant float that Aladdin and Jasmine rode on. The only way on and off the float was by fork lift. Aladdin's Prince Ali's costume is a cream almost pale yellow shirt, pants, cape and turban. The turban is supposed to have a big purple fluffy feather. One day, with a thunder storm fast approaching, Aladdin and Jasmine settled on thier elephant float. The fork lift was no where around and mother nature decided pour down the rain. We ran for cover and watched as Aladdin and Jasmine became completely drenched. Aladdin's feather wilted and rivers of purple dye ran all over his costume. Needless to say, we soon had a white feather for the possible rain days and the purple one for sunny days.
Speaking of rain days. One day the parade didn't go out because of bad weather. We were bored. The performers were bored. Being the mischievious children that they are,
a couple of performers talked us into letting them 'ride in the dryer'. By the second time around, they were ready to get out.
SSHhhh just don't tell the managers that someone went for a spin in the industrial dryer.
The costume designers got real creative with this one. 'I know, let's put character performers in huge blow up cotumes and make them walk down the street while doing a dance routine'. And POOF . . . Inflatable Costumes came into being. Dressing performers in the inflatables was like building an erector set. There was alot of insert tab A into slot B and hope you don't whack someone in the head while doing it. Once the frame work was assembled we had to attach the batteries, zip the performer inside and watch it blow up. You'd think with fans blowing inside the costume to inflate them they wouldn't be as hot in the 100 degree August summers. Wrong, at the end of the parade route costuming was half dressers, half health coach. We had an arsenal of gatorade, water and wet towels set up at step down (end of parade) everyday.
THe Acrobat costumes were large and heavy two piece contraptions that we had to climb on a four foot high platform in order to put it together. Once together they looked like two or three cartoon clown acrobats on each other's shoulders. A good friend of mine fell off the platform one day. No, I take that back, she fell Under the platform. We were running late and the parade was leaving the park so my friend "S" ran to the Acrobat dressing area, missed the step and ended up underneath the thing. She survived.
THe Jewlery attendants were just kind of wierd and creepy. They were over sized shirtless men with baskets of fake gold and jewlery on their heads. They were simpler to assemble, but still really heavy. If you remember the movie, at one point Genie splits himself in half and the legs run around on their own. We had an inflatable for that too.
Because of the complicated costumes, cotuming had to walk the parade wearing a kaftan (sorry if i spelled it wrong) and a hat along with carrying a radio, so we could let people know when a unit went down and where we were. For me, the kaftan was always too big, the hat always fell off and the radio was always hard to understand what anybody was saying. By "a unit going down", I mean anything could happen with the inflatables. Batteries died or melted down (sometimes literally melting). The metal frame work would sometimes break. A performer would get over heated and have to be quickly removed from the Hefty Bag. . . . I mean costume. You name it. It happened. There were certian points in the parade route were we could exit a performer safely. Sometimes they made it there. . . .and sometimes they didn't.
Beleive it or not, the Aladdin parade orginally had concubines as well. They always cast the real butch guys to do it. The costume was a dress and coconut shells for breasts. Needless to say, they didn't last.
THe next time you go to Magic Kingdom, next to Tiki birds is the Aladdin Magic carpet ride. The two gold camels that are by the ride, used to be floats in our parade. I'm not sure if the still spit, but in our parade they did.
We also had an Elephant float that Aladdin and Jasmine rode on. The only way on and off the float was by fork lift. Aladdin's Prince Ali's costume is a cream almost pale yellow shirt, pants, cape and turban. The turban is supposed to have a big purple fluffy feather. One day, with a thunder storm fast approaching, Aladdin and Jasmine settled on thier elephant float. The fork lift was no where around and mother nature decided pour down the rain. We ran for cover and watched as Aladdin and Jasmine became completely drenched. Aladdin's feather wilted and rivers of purple dye ran all over his costume. Needless to say, we soon had a white feather for the possible rain days and the purple one for sunny days.
Speaking of rain days. One day the parade didn't go out because of bad weather. We were bored. The performers were bored. Being the mischievious children that they are,
a couple of performers talked us into letting them 'ride in the dryer'. By the second time around, they were ready to get out.
SSHhhh just don't tell the managers that someone went for a spin in the industrial dryer.
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