More bad publicity for WDW CMs

[Anna]

Question on the DisBoard: I read that there is an expose that brings up much controversy about WDW behind the scenes, especially with the actions of cast members. (Sex, drugs, and alcohol, specifically among the college program kids, is what I hear.)

Answer: The expose is supposed to be in Radar Magazine. I believe it comes out this week.
Playboy had listed Vista Way ( where College Program kids live ) one of the top 5 places in the world to hook up! (in an article a few years back)
Everyone has fun, everyone gets drunk and has sex, it's how it happens... We were all early twenties and WAY AWAY from home!


"Every once in a while, you read something in a magazine that just makes you feel better about the whole wide world. The premiere issue of the reborn Radar magazine contains just such a story.

It's called "Wild Kingdom," and it reveals the deliciously tawdry goings-on among the "long-suffering, hard-drinking, cross-dressing" folks who play Goofy and Pluto and Cinderella at Disney World."

As an American parent coerced by hype-induced prepubescent whining to cart my kids to Orlando's money-sucking happiness machine, I'm delighted to report that when some of these "cast members" finish a hard day of hugging your drippy-nosed rugrats, they just can't wait to get stoned out of their minds and have kinky sex.

Go ahead, admit it: This revelation brightens your day and gladdens your heart, doesn't it? In fact, there are sentences in this story that made me want to belt out a chorus of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." Here's one of them:

"Trevor Allen, a former Disneyland Pluto who wrote a play called 'Working for the Mouse,' relates an incident when Winnie the Pooh dropped acid, went on set, literally tripped, and rolled down a flight of stairs onto Disneyland's Main Street U.S.A."

Surely, nobody who reads that sentence could fail to believe in a just and righteous God. Besides, you've gotta love a story that quotes people identified as "one former Pluto" or a "former Mickey and Minnie."

At one point in the article, a "former Minnie Mouse" named Susan Santamauro recounts the tale of a crew of costumed characters riding in a van to a breakfast appearance at Disney's Polynesian Resort when suddenly Goofy and Pluto started to . . . well, we can't report exactly what Goofy and Pluto did because this is a family newspaper.

Tyler Gray, author of the article, used to cover Disney World for the Orlando Sentinel, and he has good connections among the folks who make $6.50 an hour prancing around in those hot, sweaty costumes. They tell him tales of dope and sex, and they take him to the "head room," a cavernous storage space where "hundreds of Minnies, Donalds and Mickeys hang side by side, their lifeless heads impaled on posts."

They also invited Gray to a party at "Vista Way" -- a 1,000-unit dormitory complex for Disney's low-level serfs and a notorious "party mecca" for off-duty Mickeys and Cinderellas.

"I hop from party to party," Gray writes. "One room features a wall dedicated to pilfered panties. In another, a stolen Disney security guard uniform is draped over a cardboard cutout character from 'Grand Theft Auto.' Nearby, a mock Disney street sign directs visitors to the bedroom: DRUNK AND HIGH CAST MEMBERS NEXT RIGHT."

Too bad I didn't read this story before I took the kiddies to Disney World. I would have enjoyed the place a lot more.

Asked to respond to the article, Disney World spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said, "This is a publicity stunt to sell a new publication."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01623.html

This article comes on the heals of a former Alice in Wonderland CM posing for the centerfold of the June Playboy issue. My personal opinion is that what CMs do on their time off is their business.

[techie-13]

Okay, so how soon will MTV will read this and start casting for "Real World WDW"?
I do think that there have been some wild parties in the past, come on, they're college kids, (okay, now I feel old) but I also think that some bits in there have been exaggerated to sell. And almost every park has some story about what former employees got away with. I know several for PGA that happened before my time there and I've even seen the pictures, but that doesn't mean it's a constant party & orgy. I'm sure most of the respectable news organizations would recognize that and are reporting it only to carry Disney's statement of it being a publicity stunt to sell magazines.

[PirateJohn]

Doesn't sound much different than Koenig's Mouse Tales, where the true stories were so exaggerated by the time they made it to print that the truth behind the stories is no longer visible. Not to mention that many of Koenig's interviewees simply lied outright to see if their concoctions would make it to print.

[mentu]

it's most definitely a publicity stunt.

First of all, the actual Playboy "article" was just a throwaway list of internships. The College Program was listed with a slight blurb about having fun in the sun and meeting hot guests.

The rest of this just takes isolated incidents and blows them way out of proportion.

[Tara_Lee3]

I dunno guys.... I was a CP in Fall of 2004. Literally, the first morning of actual work I opened my front door to find a used condom on the welcome mat. Don't ask me where it came from, I didn't ask and I still don't want to know. :barf:

I listened in forced-sympathy to another CP as she bewailed the fact that every guy she met and slept with while on the program turned out to be a total jerk. She wasn't the only one... Another CP girl from my work location had to end up changing apartments because she couldn't handle her room-mate's constant "sleepovers".

The girls in the appartament across the hall from me got kicked off the program for violating the Wellness rule. (which is basically no alcohol or drugs in an apartment where people under 21 live.) :dope: They then proceeded to tear up the entire apartament in revenge before leaving. It took the repair guys better than a week to get it squared away again.

:piano:

Monday nights witnessed a pilgrimage to Jungle Jim's where bad karaoke was made worse in everyone's attempts to get as drunk as humanly possible without pickling themselves beyond being able to crawl to work the next morning.

And, really... Don't even get me started on the hot tub antics. It was amusing my first week there when someone put shampoo or something in the Vista Way hot tub by the transportation hub... The bubbles! Oh the bubbles! :p: It was not funny when I happened to glance out my window which overlooked that hot tub to see a couple of my fellow CP's literally getting busy without caring who could see them. :hottub:

Well, I'll stop for now... I just wanted to let those who care know that not everything you hear about the College Program is an exaggeration. They say the program is an "experience that will change you." It certainly is for quite a few CP's, some moreso than others though.

[Ho-say]

I just wanted to let those who care know that not everything you hear about the College Program is an exaggeration. They say the program is an "experience that will change you." It certainly is for quite a few CP's, some moreso than others though.

Like Tara_Lee3, I was also on the College Program in the Fall of 2004. Honestly, I'd take that article with a grain of salt. While the CP definitely can be a "hook-up" and drunken debauchery central....in my opinion, it's certainly blown way out of proportion.

Now, maybe I had a different experience, maybe because I didn't live at Vista Way and therefore can't comment on what happened there. Chatham Square (the other CP apartment complex where I lived) for the most part tended to be a lot more subdued. We had our share of parties and drinking escapades but nothing really ever got terribly out of hand, and in general the complex was a welcomed retreat at the end of your work day (or work night/early morning/late night...whatever "fun" schedule you might be working that week! LOL).

I absolutely loved my CP experience and had roomies that were overall extremely respectful of everyone's living and working schedules.

Just wanted to share my tale - as there are always at least 2 sides to the story...or in this case, multiple sides to the CP experience!

[PirateJohn]

I have to figure that whatever this guy is claiming goes on during the CP is nothing more or less than what happens during a pretty average semester in a college dorm.

[SoarWhoreCoCo]

This you'll love....you cant find this magazine within a 5 mile radius of WDW property...Its been pulled from Virgin Megastore....I saw it and really its a CP who got screwed trying to get one up (go out with a bang). Really if anyone has worked in the theater its the same thing kicking back getting silly, cast party drinkning, having fun, camping it up spoofing/parody...drugs sex...Mom dad it happens in your kids dorm at college. What pisses me off is some of the innocent(?) by standers in the photos....Pocohontas still works for us (Note the blurred photos of her face)...poor kid was having fun and probably will get canned now as well as anyone else in the background of the photos!

[hhsrat]

Yet another Fall 2004 CP here (and now FT ... guess 4 months wasn't enough Disney for me). Yes, some folks were partying, and doing stuff they probably shouldn't have been doing. But, that same sort of stuff happens on every college campus across the country. Vista Way, for all practical intents and purposes, is a big dorm. Some folks will party, others won't. Some folks are out to get as drunk as humanly possible, others aren't.

(for the record, I was also in an apt overlooking the pool/hot tub near the transportation hub, and I never saw anyone getting it on in the hot tub)

Random side question: Ho-Say ... I think I saw you post that you were front desk at the resorts ... did it happen to be CBR?