Would You Like Magic with That?: Working at Walt Disney World Guest Relations Read Online Free PDF Page B

went in and I skill coded for a new attractions role. I could pick five different locations and rank them in the order I wanted. It’s a simple process, thankfully. For me, the top pick was Studios, Icon Attractions, Great Movie Ride. And then Magic Kingdom, Adventureland, Jungle Cruise, followed by Magic Kingdom, Liberty Square, Haunted Mansion.
    The guy behind the desk told me that there was a list for all my locations, but that something should open up at one of them within the next month. I also learned (after many trips to Casting) that if you managed to get someone nice behind the desk, they would tell you exactly what number you were on the list, and also what lists were the shortest. So for anyone who was just desperate for any type of work, they could go in and politely ask for the shortest list. It was still not a guarantee, but that’s how a lot of people managed to get moved around quickly at Disney.
    I did this whole process in January. A few weeks passed, and I still hadn’t heard anything about a new job at Disney, so I went back to Casting to check my number on the list. The day I initially went to Casting was a Friday, and the guy behind the desk was nice. I decided to take my chances and head back there on a Friday, and thankfully I found the same guy on duty. He told me that I had moved up a few spots on all of my wait lists, but I’d still be waiting for a while.
    A few more weeks passed. I went back to see my Friday friend at Casting. I was closer to the top of the list, but still no positions had opened up, either for part time or full time. He asked me if I just wanted “first available” and I asked him what location had open spots.
    “The Pirates League. I could make you-part time there,” he said. As much as I really wanted to turn little boys and girls into pirates, I had to tell the guy I had no experience with makeup or hair. There’s no way I could turn kids into pirates. I passed on the spot.
    More weeks passed. And then it was the end of February and I still hadn’t heard from anyone at Casting. I went back, and this time I found a mean woman behind the desk who wouldn’t tell me my number on the list, and threatened to remove me from the list for even asking. I left Casting very quickly that day.
    During the second week of March, I got a call. A spot had opened up at Icon Attractions in Hollywood Studios, at Great Movie Ride, no less. Would I be interested in a part time there?
    Obviously, the answer was yes.

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    During the opening day dedication of Disney-MGM Studios, CEO Michael Eisner called it “a Hollywood that never was, and always will be”. That’s actually a perfect way to describe the park. It’s based off of Hollywood, but it’s not a real representation of Hollywood. It’s just an idea of the place, during its heyday in the 1920s and 1930s. It’s similar to the Hollywood you find in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? It’s Hollywood, yes, but at the same time it’s not.
    The contract that Disney had with MGM expired in 2009, when MGM was going through a nasty round of bankruptcy, so Disney decided not to renew. Instead, it renamed the park Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
    The idea was for it to be half theme park, half working studio. The park opened with few attractions for guests, but lots of studio space where things were being filmed, such as a revival of The Mickey Mouse Club . (That sound stage is gone. The building now houses Toy Story Mania.) Disney wanted to have studio space in both Los Angeles and Florida, and planned to turn Studios into a real, working studio. A few movies were actually filmed at the park on the backlots. In the animation building, for instance, Mulan and Lilo & Stitch came to life.
    I remember as a kid taking the Backlot Tour through the actual back lots. I remember being driven through the scenery and costuming buildings, and then down the residential street, which had the exteriors of The Golden Girls and Brady Bunch houses. I remember that