Its A Small World After All

Dr. Richard Waters is a Public Relations Professor at the University of San Francisco. 150 hours out the year Waters spend at one of the most Magical places on the planet, Walt Disney World as a requirement to be a seasonal worker. During his seasonal work, Water is an operator at the famous Tower of Terror in Hollywood Studios.

 This afternoon I had the pleasure of following skype chat with Waters the public relations professor.  Waters began his chat with an introduction of who he is and how he got where he was today and his experience and journey with the Disney brand. This brought us to his key points: Becoming a cast member, The Underground Tunnels, and Safety.

Becoming a cast member:  

It is somewhat of a daunting task to become a Disney cast member, first, you would have to apply if your application is accepted then you are asked a series of questions, finger printed, and a background check ran. If all of that goes well those beginning personality questions are then used to determine where you will be placed in the park. This system is used in order to place people with similar personalities which helps keep down conflict. After being presented an offer Disney expects cast to hold an image standard, women and men must be well groomed at all times, and expects cast to know the safety manuals by heart because safety is the utmost importance at Disney.

 The Underground Tunnel:

 



Safety: As mentioned above safy is highly important to the Disney brand and they take extra precaution in making sure that safety is implemented into the every aspect of Disney.  According to Waters, there are huge manuals given to every cast member on how to safely run and operate the ride, weather, how uniforms should be run, handling guest, to even the best way to wave a flag on a float. Disney goes above and beyond to make sure the Disney experience is achieved, in the link above you will find more safety precautions.  

Not many may know about this secret area but I know most Disney enthusiast do. This area can be entered through hidden passageways throughout the park. Disney's underground tunnels were created when the park was established, their sole purpose was to assist with structure in the Florida swampy marsh. The tunnels are throughout the park except the most recent additions.  Later they became underground transportation ways to assist with emergencies within the park, and according to Waters it the place where Stitch, Pinocchio, and Aldan can be seen dining together, Mickey without his head and Disney princesses cat fighting in the alley.