Amber Earns Her Ears: My Secret Walt Disney World Cast Member Diary (16 page)

I had been out on the water cart for maybe an hour when I began to regret having left my own water bottle at the apartment. It was on the floor where I’d kicked it while getting ready for work that morning. I felt a little faint, but thought it was simply from thinking too much about the heat.

I met several families who were having a marvelous time, and obligingly sprayed several guests with the wonderful (and expensive) misting fans. My good humor fled, just a bit, when a large group came up and asked to purchase twenty bottles of water. Twenty.

As soon as I heard the number — a double-digit number! — my brain, programmed as it is for semantics not mathematics, promptly went into panic mode and shut down.

I could all but hear the little sirens warning me that I would not be able to multiply $2.50 by 20. I stared stupidly at the guests. It was no relief when they reduced their order to eight bottles. I looked pleadingly at a couple of nearby Cast Members who were escorting guests on a tour of the park, and one of them said: “Well, two bottles of water equals five dollars”, which should have helped me figure out the cost, but in my state it did nothing but frustrate me further.

Finally, we figured it out, and as I arranged the remaining water bottles in my cart to fill in the gaps, the simplicity of the math finally struck me, and I was glad that I had decided not to major in business, after all.

Shortly after the water people left, I began to feel as if I were going to pass out.

Working at an animal clinic for years has made me intimately acquainted with oncoming unconsciousness. I began to feel cold and noticed that my fingers had gone pale. I looked around pleadingly for my relief to emerge from the crowd. I had been on the cart for a while, and was sure someone would be coming soon to relieve me.

When no one came, despite my telepathic pleas, I called over to the Cast Member standing under an umbrella a few yards away. She made her way over, and I asked if it was okay if I sat down while she radioed for someone from Image to come take my place. Halfway through my sentence, I changed the query to a fact, and knelt in the shadow of my cart.

The difference between having male Leaders and female Leaders was striking.

When I had almost passed out at the Electric Umbrella last year, my male Leader belatedly (it took over ten minutes to find him) authorized me to move into the air conditioning and gave me a cookie.

This time, two female Leaders came right over, one of them literally taking me by the arm and leading me to our break room, where she made me sit and drink water while she microwaved the lunch I had brought. I was given more food to eat than I could have possibly imagined ingesting, and the Leaders stopped by regularly to make sure I was, in fact, eating it all. For the rest of the day, our coordinator walked me to and from the computer for my assignments, making sure I wasn’t put back outside.

I haven’t forgotten my water bottle since.

The rest of the week passed uneventfully.

On Thursday, I finally had a day off. I spent it at the park with some of my roommates, enjoying myself as a guest instead of having to act the part of a Cast Member. I didn’t mind in the least that we went to EPCOT, because it is, after all, my favorite park. Working in Future World has only lessened that area’s appeal, which was never great in the first place. The World Showcase remains my favorite of all the areas in Disney World.

On Friday, I ventured out with people from work. Last year, during CareerStart, it took a good two months before I warmed up to anyone. Since then, I’ve improved my socialization skills, and I was invited to play in Hollywood Studios after work — not by anyone in my location, but by two people in Attractions who share our break room and with whom I had become friendly.

When one of them mentioned that I would finally get to ride Star Tours, I couldn’t refuse. I was glad that I had chosen (grudgingly, at first) to join him, because we managed to hit Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster and Star Tours twice, Tower of Terror once, and see Fantasmic; I consider all of this a great accomplishment, and a wonderful way to spend my free time.

On Saturday, my family arrived for their first visit of my program, and that night I met up with them and my brothers (but not my sister, who had other plans). I returned home tired and only slightly ready for work the next morning.

I awoke early, got my myself ready, had some coffee, and went to work. I clocked in for my 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. shift at Image, got my assignment...and then a coordinator walked over and said I was in the wrong location — and thirty minutes late!

I stared at her, dumbfounded. Had I not just checked my schedule, which had me down for an 11-8 shift? I spoke with strong conviction that she must be wrong, that the computer had made some mistake, but she sent me back to Costuming to change into my Seas Costume for a 10:30 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. shift.

It was only when I got to the break room that I realized I had gotten the days of the week messed up: I had been operating under the belief that it was Saturday (again), when in reality it was Sunday. I didn’t have the heart to see what kind of penalty I was given both for appearing a half hour late and in the wrong costume, but now I make sure that I cross the days off of my schedule, and quadruple check everything.

To recover from my lovely blunder, I made an emergency stop by the Basin store in Downtown Disney to get more of those excellent cocoa butter bath bombs that so relaxed me on my last program. They have worked their magic, and as I check my schedule for the umpteenth time, assuring myself that I really don’t go in until 4:00 p.m. tomorrow, I can’t help but feel a little less stressed about everything.

Kind of.

“SO, WHAT IS GONNA happen is that I’m going to stand up here and stare at your face for about twenty seconds, and it’s gonna be totally awkward. But we’re going to play some awesome music to hopefully make it a tad less so.”

When you say you work at Disney World, many people assume you’re an entertainer. I have two friends who work in that role, and I’ve heard great stories about what it’s like, so when I had some free time I decided to check it out. Lindsey had been talking about auditions since we arrived, and when she mentioned the upcoming auditions for princess-height women, I tagged along for fun. Disney doesn’t exactly specify which character they’re looking for, but since I was just going to experience auditions, it didn’t matter.

Since I don’t particularly look like any character, I knew going in that I would be sent home with the first cut. But I went anyway. I just wanted to have fun and do some serious people-watching.

Going was well worth it on both counts. It meant waking up ridiculously early and catching the bus, which I’m sure the Cast Members on their way to work thoroughly enjoyed. On the bus, I struck up a conversation with a girl wearing a
Les Miserables
shirt who spent the entire ride telling me her life’s story, from her family’s work with Disney to the fact that she auditioned for the little girl’s role in
True Grit
to her current relationship status (confusing; they haven’t said “I love you” yet, but there is always that anticipatory pause before hanging up on Skype).

Upon arrival, we waited in line, forming an even larger group of entertainment hopefuls. Stories were traded; for some this was their first audition, and for others it was as high as their third. Excited chatter filled the waiting area, as hopes hadn’t yet been squashed into little tiny pieces.

The
Hercules
soundtrack greeted us as we moved into the room where we would be measured and registered. The group of girls I was with made it into the second group of fifty, and as we all sat on the floor and waited for the final person to sign our paperwork, the excited nerves that had previously caused so much chatter lulled the group into a bubble of silence.

When the evaluators stepped up to explain the audition process, our nervousness escalated to almost audible proportions. People were responding to the auditions in different manners: I, who honestly expected nothing, was gazing around with wide eyes (as wide as possible at that hour, anyway) taking everything in; my roommate was filled with butterflies and nervous energy; and others just wanted to talk with other people about how much they wanted this.

Sixty by sixty they let groups into a dance studio where, as promised, the evaluator awkwardly stared at rows of faces while popular dance music loudly played. Far from formal, the sense of disappointment afterward was still palpable. Leaving after just one name in our entire group had been called was much more awkward than waiting in a room full of 187 hopefuls.

The people I met — or even simply watched — in the few hours I was at auditions could supply a novel with a host of interesting characters. Even though I didn’t interact with many beyond my small group, just observing them before and after the auditions was a unique experience that made me wish I could get a pass to attend all future try-outs. I feel as if I could sit, tucked away in a corner, writing up character descriptions the entire time.

You could tell the girls going to auditions, as they were the ones in yoga pants and sneakers. One of the girls, however, was so obviously aiming for Snow White that it was not even funny. You could feel her attitude from yards away; she had on the stage makeup, and a red flower pinned in her hair. It was so brashly apparent that it was off-putting. Waiting in line with a superior attitude, she seemed to think her spot in entertainment was assured. It gave the wicked part of me no small amount of satisfaction to see her walk out of our group with the rest of those rejected.

A disturbance rippled through the holding room as we were waiting for everyone to get signed in, and when I looked up to see what had caused so many whispers from the group, I saw one poor girl who had shown up wearing short shorts and a t-shirt that had been cut and tied above the waist. Some were scornful; others felt bad for the person who had come with no prior knowledge of how auditions went.

Others who received this strange mixture of scorn and sympathy were a girl who showed up with one of those dreadful orange tans and bleached blonde hair, hoping to befriend Cinderella, and a Hispanic girl with a thick accent (beautiful, but not French) who was convinced her destiny was to be paired with Belle.

And let’s not forget the wonderful girl who regaled me with her life’s story on the bus, and who continued with it into the audition room. On the bus ride back to the apartments, she nodded off frequently, jerking upright when the bus stopped or when her head made contact with her neighbor’s shoulder. Others on the bus provided similar entertainment, but it would take far too long to write up descriptions of them all.

Auditioning is highly selective; I think about 11 of the 187 people who showed up made it past the first cut. But even if you’re not serious about an audition, the experience alone is so entertaining that I recommend it. Getting your feet wet never hurts, and it’s one more thing you can add to your list of Disney experiences that other people will never be able to say they’ve done.

Back in the work world, not much has happened.

I’ve played with numerous small children who manage to make even the most wretchedly boring days worth it, taken some great photos, and finally conquered the squeeze breeze cart without the slightest hint of faintness — twice!

I can add up how much three bottles of water will cost without the aid of a calculator, I lived up to my Donald Duck character from last year on Monday night dealing with one of my leaders, and I spent a week of sleep deprivation hanging out with my family after work every night.

The Florida storms are excellent; lightning is frequently on the horizon, and I really should start putting my raincoat in my bag instead of leaving it in my locker, which is a good distance away from my work location.

The recycling in our apartment has reached ridiculous levels, as all of us are too lazy to take it out. I spent my one-month mark here in Florida in bed all day having a Harry Potter movie marathon after waking up at ungodly hours to hear the Pottermore website announcement.

I’m trying to earn the vast sums of money I’m sure to spend on my upcoming trip to New York City by working as many spare hours as possible, no matter the assignment. I’m even on the lookout for a parade control shift at Magic Kingdom (call me crazy).

Fingers crossed for extra hours and no fainting spells!

AS EACH WEEK PASSES, I’m amazed when I look back at my schedule and try to recall everything that happened during the previous seven days. Events that feel as if they happened ages ago were merely two days past, and things that feel as if they were yesterday I wrote about last week.

This week has had some fun stories.

On Tuesday, I went to Magic Kingdom with my roommate, Lindsey. Flynn Rider’s last day was Saturday, and we were determined to see him as many times as possible. Lindsey had already visited with Rapunzel and Flynn on numerous occasions, but I had yet to see either of them.

We planned to arrive as soon as the park opened, because the line to meet these two can get as long as the line for Soarin' (which is pretty long!). I woke up early, showered, made coffee and bagels, and even had time to fall asleep watching Wimbledon before Lindsey was awake and ready to go. We caught the bus to Magic Kingdom and found ourselves in place at 10:30 a.m. for the projected 12:30 p.m. arrival of Rapunzel and Flynn.

Lindsey had a tactic: we would swap back and forth. I would stay in line with my autograph book, and she would go visit some characters, then we would switch. She visited with Alice and got some ice cream, then I visited with the stepsisters (the photo of which mysteriously got deleted from my camera, which vexes me to no end), and then she went to visit a few other characters. By the time she came back, we were let in to meet Rapunzel and Flynn.

They have the most adorable setup for the meet. A large concrete table is in the center of the pavilion, in front of a raised platform, with coloring books and crayons available to keep kids busy while waiting for the fun couple. To get everyone excited, a Cast Member comes out and starts a dance with the kids around the table, and after the grand finale, Rapunzel and Flynn make their entrance.