A Disney Theme Park Insider Confesses Some Secrets

(photo: Jeff Noel)

Robert Niles of Theme Park Insider worked five summers at Walt Disney World at such rides as Pirates of the Caribbean and Tom Sawyer Island. In an article last year on BudgetTravel.com he submits some confessions as a cast member:

• Having to ask women in line if they're pregnant: "Hell hath no fury like a women who's been mistaken for being pregnant."
• Name tags don't always match the name of the person wearing it: After losing his name tag he was forced to get a new one. "There wasn't a single Robert left, so until a replacement could be made, I pretended to be Randy, a name that amused visitors from the U.K. to no end."
• Selection of volunteers from the audience is far from random: "Typically, you need to be a certain gender, size and age for each different roles. You might even need to be wearing a specific item of clothing....also helpful to getting picked: cuteness and enthusiasm."
• People who work there have come to loathe strollers: A cast member's job includes keeping strollers neatly in place at designated areas. But park visitors keep their strollers in appalling condition, loaded up with dirty diapers, rotting bottles of milk. Others see no problem with parking their strollers right in front of an attraction's exit or entrance. Thoughtless individuals like this incur the wrath of the stroller police and these strollers are relocated to a place "far, far away" at the very back of area cordoned off for strollers.
• This attraction has been camera monitored for your safety: A couple had a boat to themselves while parkgoers were watching the fireworks display. The real fireworks display was visible on the security cameras. The show the couple put on wasn't exactly G-rated.

Visit budgettravel.com to read the full article.