Disney’s theme parks can be a magical place to work. Sometimes, though, the roles available can be a little unusual…
Over the years, Cast Members at Disneyland, Walt Disney World and the company’s overseas resorts have been handed some pretty unusual tasks. Over time, some of these have been eliminated, but often only to be replaced by even stranger new roles.
Let’s take a quick look at 5 of the strangest Cast Member jobs of all time.
5. “Flash Mountain” censor
Splash Mountain at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom is designed to be a family-friendly water ride past characters from Song of the South. The attraction’s finale is a spectacular drop that leaves many riders soaked to the bone. Naturally, Disney installed a camera to capture the moment that guests plummet down this drop, enabling it to sell them on-ride photos from a kiosk at the ride’s exit.
Unfortunately for Disney, some mischievous guests relish the opportunity to turn Splash Mountain into “Flash Mountain” by exposing breasts and other body parts as they plunge downwards. Disney, of course, can’t have its younger visitors seeing these photos on display in the kiosk. For a while, there was a dedicated role at Disneyland to remove these images before they were posted. Nowadays, Cast Members can still cover the screen when a ride photo is deemed inappropriate.
4. Submarine Voyage mermaid
The original Submarine Voyage attraction at Disneyland opened in June 1959, taking guests on a simulated voyage under the seas. Originally, it was to include real fish, but this was deemed impractical. Instead, animatronic creatures were used. There were, though, some real-life characters on show. From 1965-67, female Cast Members donned mermaid costumes and could be seen sunbathing around the lagoon. They even performed sychronized swims and underwater stunts.
The mermaids were paid $1.65 per hour, but this wasn’t enough to stop some complaining about the diesel exhaust fumes from the submarines and the highly-chlorinated water. The mermaids were dropped, eventually being replaced by audio-animatronic versions.
3. Matterhorn climber
The Matterhorn Bobsleds opened at Disneyland in the same year as the Submarine Voyage, as part of a major expansion. The first tubular steel continuous track roller coaster ever constructed races around a recreation of the Matterhorn mountain in the Swiss Alps.
The real Matterhorn is a magnet for climbers. And so too is the Disneyland version, where from the early days of the attraction Cast Members would don mountain gear and scale the peak. They could even play a game of basketball in a special court hidden inside the upper floors of the structure. While they have at times disappeared from its slopes, the climbers were brought back during a major refurbishment of the ride in 2012.
2. “Pooper-scooper”
From Disneyland’s early days, horse-drawn carriages have been a feature on Main Street, U.S.A (and they remain so at the California park and its clones elsewhere). Pulling guests up and down the street is hard work, and naturally the horses involved need to perform their usual bodily functions.
One of the less enjoyable jobs for a custodian at the park has long been to scoop up the mess left behind by the horses, lest an unlucky guests set foot in it.
1. Scuba diver
Image: HarshLight, Flickr
The last Cast Member role on this list is another unusual one, but also completely essential to the parks’ operations. Each resort employs dozens of scuba divers who are responsible for maintaining and fixing attractions and other equipment in their extensive waterways. This, of course, means that the divers have to possess other skills besides scuba diving, including being electricians and machinists.
After the parks close for the day, the divers don their gear and check crucial elements such as tracks, the undersides of vehicles and animatronic characters. Often, they do this in the pitch dark using flashlights or headlights. Temperatures can be freezing, making wielding bolts, wrenches and pneumatic tools underwater even more difficult.
Spare a thought for these hardy souls next time you ride Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage or watch World of Color or Fantasmic!
Share your own bizarre Cast Member roles!
What’s the strangest job you’re aware of at a Disney theme park? Let us know in the comments below!
We’re currently publishing a series of article on Theme Park Tourist in which we talk to Cast Members at Walt Disney World to understand their roles and the part that they play in “creating the magic” for guests.
The interviews will offer an insight into Cast Members’ day-to-day roles, the training that they undergo and the aspects of their jobs that they find the most rewarding. We might even uncover a funny story or two. They are a prelude to a new book: Creating the Magic: Life as a Disney Cast Member – if you’re interested in being notified when this is released, sign up for our special e-mail newsletter.
