Turns out being a theme park worker isn't as fun as their smiles and greetings to visitors let on. These workers share the dark side of working at some of the most fun places on Earth. (Content has been edited for clarity)
It’s Not Such A Small World After All
“I work a part-time job at Disneyland as a ‘Gibson girl’ ( a person who works at the Gibson girl ice cream shop, Coke’s corner, Cone shop…basically any quick service place in Main Street) and have found out a lot of things.
We aren’t allowed to point with one finger (pretty much everyone knows this one..)
The rumor about there being a basketball court inside Matterhorn Mountain is false but not entirely false. While there isn’t a big basketball court, there is a basketball hoop that is downstairs that employees who perform maintenance on the ride sometimes use when on break.
The wires hanging around the park are used by the cast member who plays Tinkerbell. She zips around the park on a zip line during the parade (the witch has the best freaking job ever)
Never get a soda from the cone shop (don’t ask…)
The apartment Walt Disney lived in while building the park is located here. When he was in the park, the light in front of the apartment would be lit as a sign. We still turn the light on as a symbol of how he still is with us, in spirit. This is the single hardest place to get into (I haven’t been inside). There is a huge waiting list, and important people (movie stars, politicians, etc.) are the number one priority.
Peter Pan is a big time smoker.
There are loads of plainclothes security and police working undercover in the park
We have our own fire department (I’ve heard Walt Disneyworld has its own fire department, EMT unit, secret service, police station and even has a certified heart surgeon).
We have accidents of all sorts on a daily basis and the only time something will get on the news is when someone dies or is injured severely on a ride (on Monday, a lady had a heart attack riding It’s A Small World).
You ( the park ‘guest’) can pretty much get away with a lot as long as it isn’t illegal in nature. We aren’t really allowed to say ‘no’ to you. We’re pretty much your slaves.
We aren’t allowed to say ‘I don’t know,’ either. We have to find a solution for you no matter what…
If you were to drop your ice cream cone, food, etc, we are obligated to give you another, free of cost.
We’re all secretly miserable, even Tinkerbell.
Cameras are everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE. Except for the bathroom, of course. I hope…
Some people like throwing the ashes of a recently cremated loved one at the Haunted mansion sometimes and when this happens, the ride has to be closed down and hazmat units are called in.
The rides employees hate working are ‘It’s A Small World,’ Pirates of the Carribean, and Roger Rabbit. Why? Because they’re rather creepy…and back in the 70’s an employee died at It’s A Small World America Sings attraction and everyone nowadays says that it happened at ‘It’s a Small World.’ She was crushed between two revolving doors that separated the backstage area from the front stage. The doors were removed after the incident.
Someone was dragged into the teacups once, but they survived.
The only places to get adult drinks in Disneyland are Ariel’s Grotto (in Disney California Adventure) and Club 33 (forget about ever getting in there….just keep in mind there’s a ten-year waiting list to get in…)
Backstreet boy Kevin Richardson used to work at Disneyland dressed up as Aladdin, Steve Martin worked at the Magic Store, Michelle Pheiffer was Alice, and apparently, Robbin Williams used to sell maps there, but I’m not sure about that one.
You really do get to see famous people every now and then…(believe me or not, I saw Keanu Reeves two weeks ago) Kobe Bryant is a regular and loves taking his kid there all the dang time (lucky girl..).
A lot of girls riding Splash Mountain and Space Mountain tend to lift their shirts while getting their picture taken, but unforgivably, we have a system in place that now prevents such pictures from popping up. I think the only ride you can get away with this is on California Screamin, but it’s rather hard lifting your shirt up on that ride on the account of it being a roller coaster.
As a Disneyland employee, you get loads of discounts from places you wouldn’t even think you would get a discount from (Mcdonald’s, Subway, At&t, Sprint, etc.)
As an employee, I can get into the park whenever I want. I just have to use my id. It’s just guests I invite in that are regulated and if they aren’t related to me in any way, I have to be with them at all times.
A lot of people have died of heart attacks on The Haunted Mansion, believe it or not. There’s this rumor about some lady having a dream she was going to die if she went on it that prevented her from riding and saved her life, but I dunno how true that is.”
You Might Lose More Than Just Your Bikini Top On This Ride
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“Being from Orlando, I have worked all the theme parks. I will tell you something about my employment with Wet N Wild. If an attractive (large busted) woman was at the top of the slide, the guy working at the bottom of the ride would give the secret ‘chest signal’ for the lifeguard up top. This was code for the lifeguard to send her down the slide with her hands interlocked behind her head instead of her arms folded across her chest. If a person’s arms are folded across the chest, this method prevents wardrobe malfunctions, which is a reason why it is the policy to do so, because when the hands are interlocked behind the head it prevents the said female from covering her escaping lady parts. It goes without saying that this led to optimal chestage for the lifeguard waiting below. Oh, to reminisce on those scenes, me gawking at those helpless girls through my mirrored sunglasses as they failed to realize that their bosom was exposed for all to see. In retrospect, this may have been an inappropriate use of power…”
This Land Of Fun Turned Into A Living Nightmare
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“I worked at a small amusement park in Maine for a summer. Basic stuff; teacups, log flume, pirate ship, antique cars, go-carts, a wooden roller coaster that was #10 in the world for a few years. Some of the jobs were horrid, others weren’t so bad.
One of the worst jobs was called ‘Tower.’ If you saw your name listed next to ‘Tower,’ you knew that you were in for 8 hours sitting at the top of the log flume slide, watching people make fools of themselves. I really never minded, they let me bring a notebook and a pen, so I would write basically all day (it was during my ‘productive’ period).
I was assigned to Tower at the beginning of a shift and was walking from the employee area to the log flume when I suddenly heard a loud BOOM. My radio lit up and everyone with one was told ‘Get to flume NOW!’ We all went running.
Apparently, the pump for the flume had exploded, stranding people on the belt going up the slide. One cart was literally stuck at the end of the slide, and carts were backing up at the start of the belt and sinking, with people in them. It was awesome chaos. The pump was smoking, the Tower swaying madly, people were freaking out everywhere, children crying…”
Getting Into Character Isn’t As Easy As It Looks
“It’s really hard to sign the autographs in some of the costumes.
In some of the characters, you look through the mouth but have to act like you’re looking with the eyes of the character, which means most of their head is above your own. The heads can be really fricken heavy and stuffy. Lilo was the worst, plus the water parks are really humid. I almost passed out.
CPs at Disneyworld get free Gatorade. It’s the yellow kind…
Every Disney Prince I met was a gay man.
Getting free park entrance was the best part of working there. The pay was the worst.
If you see a character rub their eye, it means they need to go backstage because they’re going to pass out, feel sick, or are having some sort of costume malfunction. I had to do this twice as Lilo because that costume was fricken terrible.”
This Kids’ Ride Might Not Have Been Suitable For Anyone At Any Age
“I used to work at a place called Camelot Theme Park, it’s a modest place in the northwest of England. It was also my first job. I was a rides operator but worked in what they called ‘section 1,’ which was the part of the park with all the kids’ rides. Years before I worked there, some employee was apparently killed after being hit by a rollercoaster during safety checks, but I’m not sure how much of that is a myth.
There was a ride there that had been around since it opened in the mid-eighties known as the caterpillar/apple ride. The cart train was modeled on a giant caterpillar and it went through a big red apple halfway around the track. It was aimed at toddlers and small kids really, but by god, it was the most primitive rollercoaster I’ve ever seen. Apart from the chain that pulled it up to the top of the main dip, it ran completely on gravity, and to start the ride you released the breaks (which were clamps on the tracks, not the cart itself) and literally had to push it out of the station. If you didn’t push it hard enough it would slow down and stop before the foot of the hill and you’d have to call maintenance to get the stranded people out. My first day operating the ride, the breaks were faulty. It was only meant to go round the track twice: I ended up making it go round 15 times.”
Maybe Skip Disney And Universal And Opt For Busch Gardens Instead
“Busch Gardens. No, we’re not owned by Disney. No, your Disney passes will not work here. No, not Universal either. Do your tickets say Busch Gardens on them? No? Then please buy a ticket. No, you may not get in for free because you have Disney passes. Also, no. Go ahead and cry all you want, I’m the one sitting in the AC.
Disability passes available at guest services are free, and allow you to wait the time of a line anywhere you please. Make sure you tell them you have some form of autism and no broken bones. You can put up to six people on that pass with you. Take it to the ride attendant and they’ll give you a pass for x amount of minutes. Come back after those minutes, and you go straight to the front of the line.
Working the Howl-o-Scream events are more fun than you can possibly imagine if you want to make a quick $1,000 in a month and sacrifice all your weekends in October. Be prepared to have some injuries from repetitive motions, and be prepared to be cursed at, hit, and spat on.
The seats in the middle of rows 5 and 6 on Montu are meant for heavier set people.
The drivers at Rhino Rally are actually driving those trucks. No, they are not on tracks. We go through hours and hours and hours of training and observation to be able to drive those enormous rovers. Yes, sometimes the rhinos do charge towards the trucks. It’s nothing to be scared about, though.
You can get small ticket discounts for friends with a Fun Card.
If you need to eat in the theme park, go to the Zambia Smokehouse. More bang for your buck. Order your drinks without ice, you’ll get double the amount.
If you come to guest services complaining about how it’s raining on a day that was forecast for a hurricane, we will not be sympathetic. Please read the weather forecast before you come to a theme park.
When you are perched 200 feet up on Sheikra, waiting for that drop, you are being held up there by a small, tiny latch of metal.
If you’re going to be at the park all day and you want a drink/snack, shell out for the souvenir cup/bucket. Refills are absolutely dirt cheap.
Whenever you buy anything in the park, just ask the shop/vendor, and they’ll send it to guest services at the front so you can pick it up later. Free.
If you go to Jungala early enough in the morning and hang around the white tigers for a bit, you may have a chance to play tug of war with one of them.
In the mid-morning on a slow-ish day, you can pay for regular parking, then just drive into the preferred parking lot to park. No one checks. Also, if you get to the park about an hour and a half to closing, the toll booths usually aren’t manned.
Half the time that you’re on Montu, most of the mechanism isn’t touching the track; just a couple guiding ball bearings.
Unless you’re there in the summer at night, don’t try to do anything stupid on the sky ride; there are cameras everywhere, with no blind spots.”
There Are Big Perks To Being In The Know At This Theme Park
“I spent a summer working games at Hersheypark. Not the most exciting things to be learned, but here we go:
All of the popular games have cameras installed in them. That means Ring Toss. Ring Toss has four cameras. It’s because if the attendant gets distracted and a ring lands on the outer two ring of bottles, you have to call it in. People notoriously have little kids lean over and just place it and try and guilt the attendant into giving away super big bears.
When you play Wacky/Winding Wires, by July, all of the new employees can beat that game, but that does not mean we will bend the rules if we hear that annoying buzzer, but it also doesn’t mean we CAN’T tell you which game station has a smaller ring or larger ring. It can make a large difference.
Only one place in the entire park sells drinks and that is the Minetown Cafe right by the Great bear.
Check out the smoothie place in the food court area, they are amazing and vastly underrated.
Every year, 1% of all profits from Hersheypark and Hershey’s chocolate goes to the Milton Hershey School, which was originally a school for orphans, but will now also help kids whose parents can’t afford to send them to school. This means the school will never go bankrupt. Ever. That school is worth over a billion dollars.
If you live somewhere CLOSE to Hersheypark, make friends with the employees. They get two free tickets per paycheck, 15% off everything in the park, and 25% off everything in Chocolate World. Make friends with an employee, give them your money and make them buy your chocolate for you.
Employees can BUY the prizes in the game stalls (I know you’re thinking, ‘Who’d buy a super crappy dolphin that costs less than a nickel to makes?’) but people LOVE giant teddy bears as big as them and they make great birthday gifts. Does not mean we can buy them for GUESTS. This can get us fired.
If you are thirsty, but also a cheapskate, food vendors can give out free cups of water.
Employees have their own cafe outside the park, and it’s got all the foods we serve in the park (minus the delicious smoothies, grr) at like 75% off. Those $8 burgers are only $2 and are made to order, unlike the generic cheeseburger you get in the park. We also had a weekly meal such as Salisbury steak, breakfast for lunch, etc.”
These Ridiculous Rules Made This Six Flags’ Employee Quit
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“I worked at Six Flags Great Adventure (New Jersey) at the start of this season and a few years ago.
There is only one place employees can get food in the park (we can’t eat where guests eat). It’s called the Backstage Diner and it is an employee’s only area, right behind the go-karts. The food there is exactly what you get in the park, for the same price. They do not have napkins. I swear to God, I’d look for napkins every time I was there and found nothing. You can either sit in the high school cafeteria like inside or the picnic tables outside. Everyone is depressed.
They have a social media policy that forbids you from talking about the park on Facebook/Twitter/etc, and they do check. I purposefully mocked them online in order to get fired, and it worked. Well, they were going to suspend me from work for a week, but I was like, ‘Nah dude I’m out.’
Employees cannot have facial hair, except for mustaches. I was reprimanded for having a five o’clock shadow twice, and one time I was stopped by a security guard and not allowed in the employee entrance because of it until I shaved. So I had to wait for the little convenience shop near the employee parking lot to open to buy a razor. They were out. I freaking snuck past the guard. Screw that guy. Actually, you get stopped a lot if you are not complying with their arbitrary aesthetic guidelines: no belt, no entry. Wrong belt, no entry. Shirt not tucked in, no entry. Sideburns go past earlobes, no entry. No nametag, no entry. Nametag covered by a jacket, no entry. The hoodie hood outside of flimsy Six Flags rain poncho, no entry.
They have secret shopper types that make sure you are doing the stupid crap you’re supposed to be doing, like telling people ‘Have a Six Flags day.’ I never did that once.
When you get your uniform, you have to try it on in this big concrete locker room type place with no stalls and just one bench. When I did it, there was some old guy just walking around in there.
As an employee, you are not allowed to carry more than $20 cash on you just so guests can’t claim you are pocketing money from the register (also why we can’t accept tips).
As an employee, you cannot visit the park as a guest on the same day you are scheduled to work. So I can’t get off work at 6 and go ride Superman before I leave.
There is an entire abandoned chunk of the park behind the normal attractions that employees walk through, and it is freaking creepy. Like, burned down circus creepy.
The managers are understaffed and unorganized, which was the worst part for me. You had to call one of them and wait for them to walk across the whole park just so you can take a bathroom break. But before you go, you have to take your money out of the register, into a bag, and lock it in a box. Then come back and put it back in the register as they watch. You can’t do anything without someone there making sure you aren’t fisting piles of money into your pockets. This is why you’ll still be there an hour after you were scheduled to leave.
The security guards stare at the elementary school dance groups stretching in the employee only areas.
There is a monetary incentive for snitching. If you snitch on someone and they are found doing something worthy enough of a firing, you get $100. I actually snitched on this guy who pocketed a customers money but freaking nothing happened. He wasn’t even fired.
Most of the employees are teenagers with no authority and no idea what’s happening.
The caricatures, henna, Daredevil Dive, facepaint, and airbrush t-shirts are managed by two people. You know how we have to wait for a manager to do anything? Yeah, we’ll be waiting for a while for that bathroom break.
They have this free service that nearly no one knows about – if you buy something at a retail store, you can leave it at the store and they will deliver it to the exit for pickup whenever you leave.
You get discounts all the heck over the place with your season pass. Whip it out.
They have this deal now that if you pay with Discover card anywhere in the park, you get 5% off automatically.
When you park, go all the way and park in the back right corner. There is an exit there that connects to the employee parking lot and you’re guaranteed to not be stuck in ‘let’s get the heck out of here’ traffic. You can also get into the employee lot this way, so go ahead and park there. No one cares.
In the morning, before they open, they let people wait by the big fountain near the entrance but block off the park until the exact minute the park opens. As the park opens, the entire crowd runs to whatever coaster they want to be first on. Don’t do this. You are buttholes.
If you have a group of three or more, play the game that involves shooting water into a target to blow up a balloon. One of you is guaranteed to win and, so as long as no one else joins, one of you will get a prize.
The game where you have to balance on a rope ladder that is angled 150 degrees and ring the bell at the top? No one ever wins.
Caricature artists need to be drawing every 15 minutes, so we’ll occasionally offer people free demos. This means we demonstrate how you’d look if we drew you (read: we draw your caricature) and if you want to buy it, you can, otherwise, we leave it at the stand. They tell us to sell it at full price but you can talk us down to $5.”
The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter Doesn’t Run Just By Magic
“Here are some ‘secrets’ from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter:
The costumes worn by the Team Members were designed by Potter costume designer Jany Temime.
Some of the Hogwarts costumes worn by TMs working Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey were actually used in the films and worn by extras.
TMs working Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey are sorted into houses based on their height.
Universal Operations, Merchandise and Food Service TMs may usually wear their work wardrobe home. However, the Wizarding World wardrobe items are the only wardrobe items that these TMs may NOT take home. TMs caught doing so will be immediately terminated and may face criminal charges (for theft and IP theft) if they do so.
After The Three Broomsticks Restaurant was designed, the real film set was altered to more closely resemble the theme park restaurant.
The male dress robes seen in the Gladrags Wizarding Wear storefront are the same ones worn by Daniel Radcliff in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The female dress robes are an exact replica of the ones worn by Emma Watson in the same film.
The TMs who work in that area are encouraged to act ‘in character’ — but they may NOT say ANYTHING that would ‘add to the Harry Potter story.’ For example, they may not say they know Harry, Dumbledore, or any of the characters — or say what those characters may or may not like or do. For example, if you see a little girl with a stuffed cat, you can say ‘I like your kitty! I have a kitty like that at home!’ You may not say ‘Oh, I’ll bet Hermione would like your kitty!'”
One Man’s Trash Is Another Disney World Employee’s Treasure
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“You know all your crap that you lose at Walt Disney World? Well, after 90 days of being unclaimed, it gets shipped to a cast only shopping area in the back of Magic Kingdom Parking lot where it is sold to us lowly cast members for a huge discount! YAY! Cheap cameras and phones and such.
However, when I was working attractions, a lot of the best, lost stuff never even made it to lost and found. Co-workers would take the items. I know a few that had 5-6 digital cameras and were collecting them. I never understood it.”
“Despite What You May Choose To Believe, In Games, We Actually Want You To Win”
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“I worked for Worlds of Fun out in Kansas City for about 7 years. These are mostly game related things since that was my department:
Despite what you may choose to believe, in games, we actually want you to win. How many times you win, now that’s debatable. A side point to the games, they are all winnable, some of them are just really really hard.
If you have a little kid and are generally pretty nice to the employee in the game and your kid doesn’t win, most of us will generally be really nice and let them try again for free or give them some smaller plush for trying.
No, we cannot sell giant plush to you, stop asking.
Yes, we really do have cameras in all the games and they do work. Seriously, we cannot sell anything to you or give you something for free.
The 3-point challenge at any Cedar Fair park is completely winnable, I’ve seen it done.
Management (unless your in a ‘leadership’ position) will hate you, it’s just a fact you have to face.
It is actually ridiculously hard to fire bad employees, I have no idea why, but it took us three months to fire someone who was tardy literally every single day (by at least an hour) and sometimes never showed up for a shift.
Red means stop, red tags are jailbait. A red tag is any employee between 15 or 14 years old.
Eat before you get there. The food is crap and where it’s made is even worse. You can also leave and come back and just pay for parking again, it’s way better than getting terrible, overpriced food.
The Prowler, Mamba, and Monsoon are the best rides in the park and the only ones that don’t break down at the drop of a dime.
If you have a friend that works at the park and is willing to do so, have them use your vehicle information for an additional employee parking pass (you get an extra for free). This plus a season pass equals extra savings.”