Wielding a lightsaber

Cast Members were encouraged to immerse themselves in the Star Wars mythology: "I enjoyed working with the characters. Darth Vader and two of his stormtroopers would come through a few times a day, and that was a lot of fun. We were allowed to carry light sabers on our belts and sometimes we would play out little conflicts with the stormtroopers. During Star Wars weekends, other characters like Darth Maul would roam around. This was all before the stage show became a permanent fixture outside, so Vader and the storm troopers probably spend more of their time there, now."

"One of the stormtroopers was particularly fond of terrorizing me. I had fun playing with them but it was unnerving when they would just stand and stare at you, and he figured out early on that he could get to me so this one stormtrooper would always come after me when we were working together. It was so surreal to have this ongoing interaction with a stormtrooper. Darth Vader freaked me out a little bit when he stood right behind me too, because he’s very tall and imposing. Fortunately he didn’t pick on me as much."

The Dark Side

There were some downsides to working on Star Tours - most notably, parents that seemed to have adopted the ways of the Sith. "I hated dealing with the height sign. Parents could get so upset when their children were too short to ride. The Cast Members aren’t the ones who make the rules, but we could lose our jobs for missing a child that’s too short. Parents never seemed to appreciate that the height limit is a safety consideration and we have to follow it the same way for each and every guest, even if the child is only a hair too short."

Fortunately, Amy could "use the force" to keep an eye on unruly guests: "We have cameras in every simulator that you can see both on the console outside the Sim and in the tower. So anything silly you’re doing in there, there’s at least one and probably two people watching you."

Thanks to Amy for sharing her memories with us. 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.