Cast Member experiences

After working numerous hours a day and too many hours a week working in Disney World can start to wear on you and sometimes you can almost dread going to work, just knowing how much you are going to have to face from long hours on your feet, disgruntled guests, silly and mindless questions, and the long hours through it all. Yet there are some things, that despite the tough conditions that we are all under, that I have found to make the long hours worth it all. Here are a few short stories/examples:

Every park does what are called Extra Magic Hours, or EMH's as referred to by the cast. These hours, for those who do not know are hours when the park stays open for just it's resort guests, that is, those staying in Disney hotels. These hours can either be before the park opens to the public, or after the park has closed for it's regular hours. EPCOT has both, one night it opens one hour prior and on Friday nights, it stays open till 12am for it's resort guests. Working EMH nights can be and is grueling. Everyone is tired, the Nemo ride has very few guests due to the fact that it is a children's ride and not many families stay in the park that late, some do, but not enough to make the time go by fast. This last Friday I was working till 1am on EMH night. While this felt like just another typical day/night at work, it was the walk home that made it magical. Standing beside Spaceship Earth at 1am, after the guests had left, the park started to dim and shut off some of it's main lights, usually this hardly ever happens, and especially not this early in the night. With the lack of these lights, the sky opened up and the stars could be seen. As I continued my walk, gazing above, when I got between Spaceship Earth and Mission: Space the coolest and most uncommon thing happened. The park music went mute. Never has a guest walked through the park with the music off and very few first and second shift workers get to hear the park silent. This lack of sound coupled with the stars was absolutely amazing and stopped me in my tracks. With Spaceship Earth lit up in it's beautiful colors and Mission: Space silently glowing and the Earth spinning it has easily made it's way to the top of some of my favorite Disney moments. Nothing is more peaceful.

Sunday night I was able to participate in what we call the Goodbye wave. This is something that I have wanted to do since some of my first trips as a guest. at 8:45 I walked to the fountain view plaza to meet some other cast members where we donned white Mickey Gloves and made our way onto the Fountain area itself. From there we were able to watch illuminations (EPCOT's fireworks show. from our raised platform with the dancing fountain behind us. That site alone was cool but what really made this moment fun was when illuminations ended signaling the park officially closed for the night, I had the absolute pleasure of being able to wish goodnight to every guest the walked past in my Mickey Gloves. Giving High Fours has never been more fun. It was a great experience that will easily become one of my favorite things to do in the parks.

And finally, as a cast member, i have the absolute pleasure of being able to meet, work, and become friends with people from all over the world. For a small town girl from Iowa there really isn't anything cooler than meeting people that are from places that I have only dreamed about visiting, like Sydney, Australia where my friend Scott is from, or Wellington, New Zealand like David, or Japan like Yuna. having the ability to work and live with all of these amazing people is a great pleasure. I'm sure they all get so tired of me asking tons of questions about their city and cultures, but I can't help it. It all seems so amazing to me, to meet people whose backgrounds, cultures, and customs can be so different from mine, even the differences such as "What do you eat for breakfast?" or "What do you do for fun?" I just find it all so amazing and feel completely blessed to be living and working with people from all over the world.