The Hidden Mickey Book Fan Club BLOG! - v019

The OFFICIAL HIDDEN MICKEY FAN CLUB!

Jobs at Disneyland: Diversity for every Personality
By David W. Smith, co-author, HIDDEN MICKEY

Following our HIDDEN MICKEY books and reading our periodic newsletters, you know that I worked at the Magic Kingdom in California for around seven years as a ride operator. I initially hired on with the Davy Crocket Explorer Canoes, and later was trained on Pirates of the Caribbean, and then on the Keel Boats. After my first 6 years, I left Disney for a year, then rehired as a ride operator on the Monorail in Tomorrowland. This was a very different experience in operations than my previous years on the West Side of the park in New Orleans and what was then called Bear Country.

I've written a few pieces on those rides on the West side, including Pirates, Canoes and Keel Boats. But, perhaps my most prestigious job was driving the Monorail. (Most prestigious yet not the most fun, which I'll describe later.)
The point of this letter is to first describe one of the most interesting things about working at Disneyland, (and, I'm sure, Disneyworld and other Disney parks around the world!): The diversity of jobs at the park is as diverse as there are diverse people in the world! From sales positions in the various retail shops to food service and preparation... from security to ride operations to janitorial services... there are jobs for the introverts as well as the extroverts. (However, Disney tends to look for some level of personality, communication skills, and other people skills when they hire new recruits.)
There was diversity even between rides as the employees in Tomorrowland on Monorail were much less interactive and creative than were my colleagues on the West Side. This made sense to me, as most of the rides on the West Side were rides where the operators directly interacted with guests in the form of spiels and being in character. From Jungle Cruise to Keel Boats... from the Canoes to the Haunted Mansion and Pirates... all of the operators are usually very involved in the 'story' presented to the guests. Unfortunately, for me, the Monorail was very, well, monotonous!
When I was the pilot on the Monorail, (these were the older Mark IV Monorails with the bubble on top of the lead car), we never got to interact with the guest. The exception was that we would give a short spiel as we neared each of the two stations. I also spent a little time at the Tomorrowland station and the Hotel station, but this was primarily to assist guests in moving to the appropriate gate for the arrival of the next Monorail. (The polyester jump suits we wore back in the early 1980's were not the most attractive either!)

The good part is that the Monorail is a very sophisticated machine, probably the most expensive transportation vehicle in the Disney Parks. For simplicity, the Monorail is really more like a kid's toy train set. However, instead of a transformer using 110 volts of electricity like a typical toy train set used, the Disneyland Monorail used 600 volts of power. Like the toy train set, the Monorail uses DC (direct current). That is, the inside rail of the track has two conducting metal beams that the monorail motors used to draw that 600 volts.

Well, that's it for now, I hope you enjoyed this little tidbit of Disney knowledge.

David W. Smith

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

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