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6. Spieling

Jungle CruiseOn its opening day at Disneyland, the Jungle Cruise featured a documentary-style spiel conducted by the boat's "Skipper". In 1962, this was changed to a more lighthearted one, featuring bad puns and jokes. That version made the trip across to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in 1971. Former Skipper Amy recalls: "The main stress for Skippers is staying on script. The official Jungle Cruise spiel was designed and written to entertain every possible type of guest with absolutely no chance of offending anyone. There are plenty of Skippers that deliver the spiel exactly as it is written. If presented correctly with the right pacing, timing, and tone the official script can be riotously funny. However, if the Skipper is indifferent to those things regardless of what he or she is saying, the trip won’t be funny no matter what jokes he or she tells." "Those Skippers who venture off script do so at their own risk. There are people who work at the theme parks whose entire job consists of experiencing attractions in street clothes and watching the Cast Members only to report what they see and hear to upper management. A Skipper never knows if one of these people is on their boat, so doing an offensive joke is not recommended."

5. Collecting lost property

Cast Members working in Walt Disney World's Lost and Found facilities are certainly kept busy cataloguing and, where possible, returning property. Every day an average of 210 pairs of sunglasses are turned in, while 6,000 cell phones, 3,500 digital cameras, 18,000 hats and 7,500 autographs books are collected by Cast Members each year. Unsual items have included a glass eye, a prosthetic leg and a potty trainer.

4. Driving bus, boat and monorail routes

MonorailMillions of resort guests rely on Walt Disney World's bus, boat and monorail routes to reach the theme parks every year. More than 270 buses are in the fleet, making it the third largest in Florida behind Miami and Jacksonville. Since 1971, the monorail trains have logged enough miles to equal more than 30 round trips to the moon.

3. Planting and mowing lawns

Topiary
Image © Disney
All those pretty lawns and flower beds around the theme parks and resorts do not maintain themselves. Each year a horticulture staff plants 3 million bedding plants and annuals, and maintains more than 4 million shrubs and 13,000 roses. On top that, 2,000 acres of turf require 450,000 mowing miles to maintain every year - the equivalent of 18 trips around the Earth's equator.

2. Cleaning hotel rooms

Disney Towel AnimalThere are nearly 25,000 hotel rooms at Walt Disney World, including campsite, cabin and Disney Vacation Club properties. Every day, a legion of Housekeeping Cast Members must keep these clean and tidy. One former hostess at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground and Disney's Grand Floridian Resort recalls: "At the lodge we had to clean 17 or 18 rooms a day. At Fort Wilderness we had 10 cabins, each one with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. At the Grand Floridian we had 10 rooms. The number was fewer there because we were expected to change all the sheets on all the beds every day. The rooms were also marginally bigger." And, of couse, Housekeeping Cast Members leave those famous towel animals behind in their wake.

1 . Pointing the way to the restrooms

Disney Point
Image: Allan, Flickr
Ask a Cast Member for directions to the nearest restroom, and they'll invariably point you in the right direction. What they won't do, though, is point with one finger. Why not? Well, in some cultures pointing with one finger is seen as impolite. And pointing with two fingers or the full hand can be clearer, too. One Cast Member commented: "Whenever I pick up shifts in any location I always ask 'where is the nearest bathroom?' Before I even get started because I know for a fact I will get that question a thousand times before my shift is over." If you'd like to learn more about Cast Members' roles and experiences at Walt Disney World, sign up now to be notified when Creating the Magic: Life as a Disney Cast Member is released.
 
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Comments

Personally I was hoping for more of a list of what EVERY CM needs to to repetitively. Not the different job types. At least the trash pickup, direction giving, and finger pointing were covered.

How did lowering restraints and lap bars not make the list? The vote had to be rigged!

They forgot attractions cast members here! pushing the green button is a way of life

Oh don't worry, I'm pretty sure there's a follow-up article here that focuses just on Attractions!

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