Working in attractions is considered by many to be the height of the Disney Cast Member experience. While you can work in housekeeping or food and beverage in establishments all over the country, you can only work on a theme park attraction in a handful of places. Disney’s attractions are some of the most innovative and beloved in the world, making its Cast Members special indeed.
Working in attractions gives you the opportunity to perform a job unlike any other. Among the daily button pushing and safety spiels, you’ll also get to do some pretty incredible extras.
Walk the track
Image: Benjamin Wong, Flickr (license)
Every day attractions Cast Members walk the attraction’s ride track at least twice – once in the morning to make sure everything is up to snuff, and once in the evening to check for lost items and any potential signs of trouble. The overall experience of tackling the ride track varies dramatically from one location to another. Climbing the stairs lining the track for Expedition Everest is an obviously strenuous journey, while walking through a Star Tours simulator is so quick it hardly qualifies as a full “walk.”
Regardless of the attraction, this walk can be a pretty awesome experience. It lets you see the whole environment with the lights on. Illumination is essential as you’re checking for malfunctioning animatronics, slick spots on the ride path, and the remnants of fallen sunglasses. Something like the dark frightening jungles of Dinosaur transform completely when you see them with the lights on and the half-formed dinosaurs visible on all sides.
Walking the track brushes some of the pixie dust off the rides and shows them in a clearer and more realistic light. For Cast Members who are interested in the inner workings of these rides that are more engineering than imagination, this is the way to see it.
Man the tower
Image: Matt Baume, Flickr (license)
Every attraction has a tower. This is typically the most coveted position in the rotation. In most attractions, working in the tower offers a rare opportunity to pull up a chair and rest your legs. The majority of attraction towers are also hidden away backstage, so you’re out of the line of sight for awhile.
However, it isn’t the seclusion or isolation alone that can make the tower such an enticing place to be. Working in tower is the closest that an average Cast Member can get to a position of power. Here, you’re in charge of alerting other Cast Members to a down time, relating important messages from one position to another, and generally staying on top of everything that’s happening in the attraction.
Many towers are equipped with powerful tools like cameras throughout the ride that let you watch guests throughout their journeys. You can stop vehicles or make announcements over the speakers for those behaving badly, or enjoy the looks of awe, shock, and surprise as riders get the experience of a lifetime. Acting as a watchful eye over the entire ride is a position to be enjoyed.
Take routine ride-throughs
Image: Jeremy Thompson, Flickr (license)
When an attraction is over-staffed, Cast Members will periodically get assigned to various “tasks” that involve the general upkeep and maintenance of the attraction. If an attraction is extremely overstaffed, you may end up “tasking” for hours. Tasks can include things like sweeping the queue, taking guests for a backstage tour, or cleaning up the break room.
One of the best tasks you can get is a ride-through. This is a free pass to use your time on the clock to bypass the line, get on the attraction and ride like a guest. Tasks usually last for about 15 minutes, so depending on attraction, you may even elect to go multiple times.
Ride-throughs are a lot of fun, but they do serve an important purpose. You can’t rely on the average guest to report or even notice when something is amiss. Riding through in the middle of the day gives Cast Members the chance to catch pending problems early. You might notice that an animatronic is starting to tilt, or a maintenance Cast Member left a light on behind one of the ride scenes. Ride-throughs minimize the number of guests who might spot these errors and make sure that issues are handled as promptly as possible.
Close out the ride
It’s tradition for Cast Members to ride through the attraction on the last vehicle of the night. Once the queue is cleared and the last guests are put on the ride, any nonessential Cast Members can hop in the next ride vehicle and go through behind them. This helps to make sure that the ride is completely free of guests at the end of the night. Once that Cast Member vehicle comes back around, you know the ride is completely clear.
Getting a spot on that last vehicle of the night is even more fun than riding through during the day. You’re in a vehicle exclusive to other Cast Members, ready to have a little fun at the end of a long day. You all know when and where to pose for funny photos, where to pretend-shriek, and which corners to wave at to say hello to those watching in tower.
If the ride is dead at the end of the night and there are no guests on the attraction ahead of the Cast vehicle, you may even get to flip the lights on and ride the attraction without the mask of darkness around you. This puts a whole new face on the ride, and really gives you an all-out behind-the-scenes experience.
Attractions Cast Members are some of the few to see Disney rides in their full light. Though you’ll pay your dues doing mundane tasks too, it’s definitely a job you’ll never forget.
