“That’s what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again.” –Walt Disney
Suspending disbelief: that’s what Tiggers (and theatre
people) do best! It’s so much fun to experience Disney’s “Haunted Mansion”
attraction and allow yourself to believe for just a millisecond that it’s all
real. That you are actually inside a creepy, rustic, haunted mansion. It’s so
much fun to walk underneath Cinderella Castle and imagine just for a moment
what it must have been like on that fateful night at the prince’s ball. But the
moments in which I suspend my disbelief most often at Disney parks are during
character meet-and-greets. After all, as wonderful as Disney World is with its
many fun attractions, food, and shops—the characters are what make the Disney
experience truly magical for me.
I suppose this explains why I wanted to be a Character
Attendant in the first place.
I love telling stories.
My experience with improv throughout my school years has shown me how incredible it can be when you take what your partner says and build off of it even more. For example: A kid asks Pluto if he’s learned any new tricks lately. Pluto nods excitedly and begins chasing his tail. If his attendant were to begin to tell the child about some of the other tricks he and Mickey have been working on, or how long it took to learn that particular trick—perhaps Pluto kept getting to dizzy and falling over—and maybe he got so dizzy one day that he fell over on Minnie and got fur all over her dress!—suddenly there is a connection, a mutual trust and appreciation between the performer and the attendant. Likewise, improv has also shown me that things are much more believable when there are stories to go along with them. A child might be skeptical that he or she is meeting the real Queen Elsa, but the moment she talks about what Marshmallow was doing yesterday and where Olaf is today and how many chocolates Sven ate last night, suddenly it becomes a lot harder to doubt that she is the bonafide queen of Arendelle.
Throughout my time at Walt Disney World, I certainly spent a
lot of time with characters. During most of my free time, I could be found in
Hollywood Studios, more specifically in line to meet Hiro and Baymax. I’m sure
many of you are rolling your eyes at this—I’m obsessed, and I’m aware. :) Besides Mickey Mouse,
Hiro Hamada is my all-time favorite Disney character. I visited with Hiro 16
times throughout my College Program (I was bummed that I didn’t visit more,
quite honestly). He is a honking genius and is honking hilarious and is honking
inspiring. Maybe I feel protective of him because I’m actually Honey Lemon?
Plot twist. Maybe I’m just trying to get to know Hiro so that I can imagine
that I was dating his brother, Tadashi? Double plot twist. But in all
seriousness, there will be more on my admiration of Hiro in a later post (“Oh,
joy…” some of you may be thinking).
I actually made a ton of friends during my time spent
waiting in line to meet my faves, most of which I am still in contact with
today! I have so many wonderful memories because of these two characters, and
will be forever inspired by their influence in my life. All because nearly once
a week, sometimes more, I would suspend my disbelief and wait in line for two
hours to have a conversation. :)
But besides Hiro and Baymax and Mickey, my DCP also gave me
a deeper admiration and connection with other characters—most notably Princess
Aurora, Aladdin and Jasmine, Goofy, and the Incredibles.
I will never forget the conversation I had with Princess
Aurora in which, after discussing her animal friends, I asked her which animal
she would be if she were an animal. If you know me well, you will know that I
would be either a butterfly or a bunny (does a butterfly count in this case?
Haha). To my surprise, the princess said that she would be a bunny! I had just
found another connection with this beautiful princess. After discussing the
similarity, laughing, and wrapping up the conversation, we posed for pictures.
Meeting with Princess Aurora never gets old. It is incredibly unfortunate that I
only got to work with her twice, but I am incredibly grateful for the admiration
that blossomed because of those two shifts.
I only had the opportunity of working with Aladdin and
Jasmine once. I was terrified at first, because I had heard how busy the location
was and was extremely worried about closing the line for each set. Aladdin and
Jasmine could tell that I was nervous and went out of their way to make the
experience wonderful for me. They gave me tips and tricks for the location,
constantly included me in their stories, and genuinely expressed gratitude
whenever they could. Watching Aladdin and Jasmine made me realize how much I
had missed them since my previous Disney vacations. And talk about RELATIONSHIP
GOALS. After working with Aladdin and Jasmine, I can proudly say that those two
rival Rapunzel and Eugene as favorite Disney couple!! At the end of the day, I
had a wonderful conversation with Princess Jasmine and got to know her even
more. :)
My love for Princess Jasmine had kind of mellowed since I
went to high school. In 8th grade, my stake (a large group of
individual LDS church communities in an area) put on a production of Aladdin Jr. in which I was cast as
Princess Jasmine in one of two casts. :) What a wonderful experience that was. Unfortunately, I had almost completely
forgotten about that experience until I worked with Aladdin and Jasmine.
Suddenly my connection with the princess was revived, and now I love her more
than ever before.
Goofy and Donald were the first characters I worked with
upon entering my Character Attendant training. I was an overwhelmed, anxious
blueberry. While Donald tried to loosen me up by flirting (oh, that duck),
Goofy recommended that the best remedy for my tension was laughter! Those two
helped me to become a much better attendant by allowing me to tell stories with
them right from the beginning. Stories are my comfort zone and helped me to
feel that I might actually be able to do this attending thing. Goofy and Donald
definitely kept me on my toes, that’s for sure. It was extremely stressful
having to keep my eye on two characters, two Photopass Photographers, and a
long line of Guests, especially when the characters were being so silly. But it
was because of Goofy and Donald that I learned to juggle my responsibilities.
Goofy isn’t exactly an ideal juggling teacher for most people, but he was the
most wonderful teacher I could possibly be matched with.
Throughout my program, I got to spend more time with Goofy
than almost any other character because we had many mutual friends. It was
always a wonderful surprise when I would visit Goofy and he would be very
excited to see me because one of his friends told him that I was coming! I have
so many fun memories because of that Goof. :)
Although I also bonded with many other characters, I will
end this post by talking about Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and their super “cool”
pal, Frozone. Starting out as an Attendant, it was very difficult for me to
make lasting friendships. Friends that I could hang out with on a day off.
Friends that could make me laugh or cheer me up or would call my name if they
saw me from a distance. I was always working at a different location and
couldn’t spend a lot of time backstage to get to know anyone. About a month
into actually working in the Magic Kingdom, I was scheduled to work with the
Incredibles and Frozone at the Tomorrowland Incredibles Super Dance Party. This
experience was a turning point in my program.
I had so much fun dancing and interacting with the supers
that night that they introduced me to their friends, who exchanged Facebook
information with me. At the end of the night, we ended up staying for an hour
after clocking out—just talking! We were already making plans to hang out. I
had finally made real friends outside of my Attendant/Performer training group.
I got to work with them at the Dance Party again during the Magic Kingdom's 24-hour event, and I ended up going to visit Mr. Incredible and Frozone in Hollywood Studios a few times as well! During my favorite interaction with them as a Guest at Hollywood Studios, I told them that we missed them at the supers meeting that morning. They asked me where my supersuit was, and I told them that I was late to the meeting because I couldn't find it, so everybody there thought that I was just an average citizen. They asked me what my super power is, and I told them that I have a voice that can hypnotize people and break things. Frozone responded by miming that he has ice powers. I asked, "What do you do, Mr. Incredible? Clean toilets?" Frozone thought this was very funny, but Mr. Incredible gave a sassy response and began to show off his strength. We decided to get a picture together, posing with our appropriate super power. Frozone prepared to use his ice powers, Mr. Incredible flexed, and I stood up straight, opened my mouth, and reached out my hand as if I were about to sing some kind of aria. Mr. Incredible began to make fun of my pose, so I responded, "Why are you making fun of my power? You're the one who cleans toilets." Once again, Frozone died of laughter. We posed once again. Frozone prepared to use his ice powers, I prepared to sing an aria, and Mr. Incredible hunched over with an invisible toilet want.
BEST. INTERACTION. EVER.
These are just a few of my journeys from simply being an
Attendant to having adventures with some of my favorite Disney characters, on
and off the clock. I can’t wait to be reunited with my all of my friends in
April 2016, when I will be returning to Walt Disney World to have even more
adventures as a Character Attendant!
Walt Disney World,
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