The Hidden Mickey Book Fan Club BLOG! - v010

The OFFICIAL HIDDEN MICKEY FAN CLUB!

Stories of Working at Disneyland...
By David W. Smith

Like thousands of people who dreamed of working at Disneyland, I not only got hired at the Park in June of 1978, but was hired and trained on some of the best rides in the park to work on. Obviously, many of us have favorite rides and thus, have dreams of working perhaps, on those attractions that we enjoyed as guests. Mine were Canoes and Pirates of the Caribbean. As fate would have it, I was first trained on the Davey Crockett Explorer Canoes which I worked summers and holidays as a 'Casual' employee or 'cast member.'

I remember my interviewer asking me, 'How do you like working with people?' My response, purely spontaneous, was, 'Well, as a tennis player, I'm generally a tad bit cocky.' I am pretty sure that it was this response that got me working the Canoes!

What first got me interested in the Canoe ride at Disneyland was when, as a kid of about 12 years old, me and a couple of my friends would go into Disneyland and immediately head to Tom Sawyer's Island where we would play 'Ditch 'em,' a game basically played as Hide and Go Seek. The island was the most ideal Ditch em location since it had caves, paths, hide outs, and was just the right size that you didn't feel like you would never find the other players. During one game, I was 'IT' and was trying to find the other guys. I was a little frustrated, as my friends were pretty good at hiding on the island. I sat on a bench on a short little pier on the north side of the island. I watched as one of the canoes filled with guests paddled by. The guide in the back steering the canoe was leaning back against the curved tail section when he suddenly raised his long paddle over his head and slapped the water in such a way that a perfect stream of river-water shot from the tip of his paddle all the way across from where I sat, the end of that water trail landing perfectly at my shoes.

As an athlete, I saw that trick as I would see a wicked passing shot in tennis: It was something that I thought was very cool.

After my interview was over, the person left the room for a minute coming back holding a file of job openings. 'Would you be interested in working the Canoe Ride?' the interviewer asked looking over the papers in a file. My mind drifted back for a split second to that time when I was twelve. 'Absolutely,' I replied, trying not to show my excitement'but sure my joy was etched across my face.

It was about two weeks into my working the Davey Crockett Explorer Canoes that I saw a young boy sitting on a rock at the edge of Tom Sawyer's Island when I flipped my paddle over my head, (adding a cool spinning action I had developed!) and slapped the water to the other side of the canoe towards the young boy sitting there watching me. A spray of water shot forth from my paddle landing right at the edge of the rock the boy was sitting on. The boy's eyes got wide as I smiled and gave the youngster a little salute as my canoe floated on down the river.

I wonder if that little boy so many years ago, ever formed that same desire to work at Disneyland too?

Well... that's it for this issue...
Enjoy, and have a Magical Hidden Mickey Day!
 

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