People Ruin The Magic!!!

[PrncssCinderAlly]

The thing i that i think makes me sad about this whole thing is that overall.. its not a feeling of ANGER its dissapointment. I pride myself on being a great CM. I am a trainer at one of my attractions. I have gotten many a guest compliment and i love talking with guests and making their days better. I have even been told by a manager that he thinks Walt would be proud of the way i go out of my way sometimes and because of the type of person i am... Im way overly sentimental when it comes to disney stuff and i used to be an AP myself. The reason at first we were all so miffed about people taking pics was just because thats something you dont do... its just a respect thing. It is a dissapointment to CMs that people dont repect the magic we do. In resoponse to some things that the MousePlanet peeps said:
**Ultimately Walt DID do behind the scenes specials for things like tiki room etc that showed how things were done. And i think its great, but i dont recall him ever showing "Mickey" with "things" missing (hypothetical, i know you didnt so that) or Gipetto puppets without their costume attatched to a parade float (which you did).
**Im well aware that there are bad CMs out there. We are taught at training that when we wear a costume or nametag offsite, we still represent the company and what its all about. Its something i have held to. I agree that WE are mostly a young lot and i agree some have that "dont care much" attitude. (i bet that would change if we were paid a bit better for what we do... its really hard work, but thats a whole different story...) The bottom line is there are many of us who DO care, who DO enjoy our jobs and thats why we get defensive when we feel violated.
**This website is full of a lot of bitterness at times, but it is a place for CMs to vent when they've had hard days. I think Guests dont really think of you as people sometimes and can be very unforgiving. Most of the "hatred" toward APs stemms from the "we do this all the time and we know all about it already" attitude that we sometimes get. The majority of APs arent bad, we can all agree on that. Just as the majority of CMs arent. Anytime you work in a PR type job, where you are under stress to get high counts in your attraction, and keep guests' enjoyment of the overall park high, you are going to get many a conflict. As it says on the mainpage, this site was designed for Cms or anyone whos ever worked in a theme park because only people who have worked somewhere like Disney could understand.
**im not going to address the "get over myself..." comment... LOL except to say that people in general are NOSY BUTTHEADS... and we dont really hate you, we just get mad and then dissapointed and then come post on here... ;)
**Also, please please please stop it with the I know everything walt did thing... its very condescending and icky in general
**I really like my pitch fork and torch...
:p:
**I also think people misunderstand what i mean by ruining the surprise... you have already seen the floats, the costumes, etc. Its the fact that you see these girls on the float not in costume and you think "wow those are real people who have real lives outside of being a <insert job here> Although we like you to know we have real lives, we also dont want you to think about "Cinderella" smoking a cigarette or whatever... its just a remider thats a bummer... thats what detracts from the "magic"
**"I wonder if that same CM gets the urge to start yelling at people when they look through the "peepholes" in the walls around rides that are being worked on?" We dont yell at them for it, but we ask them to stop.
**"The attitudes we see at SGT are all too typical of performers. They call guests idiots for not knowing anything. They guests idiots for knowing too much. So what's a perfect guest?" There are many wonderful guests. Mostly ones who are excited to be there, happy to have a good time. ONes that use their common sense and, though they may know things about the way we operate, they dont act like they know everything or try to tell everyone else how its done... they are like perfect people should be. Well educated, humble, respectful, and quick witted. :)
**FabPLaidGal said it well... you didnt inted for the pics to be malicious, but didnt stop to think how it'd make cms feel to do what you did. Also, I shouldnt have been saying things like that we hate you, however, your "we pay your salary" idea is old and overly used... there is a rift between guests and CMs that good CMs and good guests will try to bridge... thats where the magic is. Understanding and REspect is what its about. Disneyland is a wonderful place to be for anyone whether backstage or on. Lets focus on that, shall we?

I love my job, i enjoy its challenges, and i am saddened by the dissapointments it occasionally brings, but if the good didnt outweigh the bad, i wouldnt be working somewhere or wanting to represent something as much as i do. So, i think we should all just simply sit back and accept that we all have had wrong doing or done wrong over the past few days and move on...

[Thatguy]

nice post cinderally

[PrncssCinderAlly]

i think i may be done with my soap box for a bit... lol... someone else can borrow it still... im still interested about how other CMs feel about this ordeal...

[Thatguy]

I personally have avoided all pictures/sound clips whatnot of the new stuff (I closed the curtains at a friends house when the fireworks went up even.) I want to be surprised too.

I hate when directors let people sit in on a rehearsal of a play that I'm in and wouldn't do that to any other performer.

[LiveWire]

There are always going to be people who want to know things first and be the cool guy by saying hey look I have things you don't, wanna see? Im not saying this is what happened but that's just life. As a dancer and singer I know that I would be upset if people took video or pics of my rehersal. However, at the same time I know I love movie trailers and seeing set pictures of something like star wars or Hitchhiker (which comes out on friday :D: )

I feel bad for the parade cms who have been rehersing hard and want to have a true permiere night. But I understand curiosity and curiosity is something very hard to restrain. Guests need to understand that the parade cm's feel like they are being robbed of a true premiere (something I really understand) and should feel bad about that. CM's need to understand that sometimes guests just can't help themselves (I understand that too) and kind of say well it's happened the pics are out there. In a way both sides are valid and neither side is stupid. It's a different point of view. I for one have stayed away from pictures, I dont want to see the parades or fireworks till I am there as a guest.

I remember when I saw a picture of ewan mcgregor smoking while his hair was being done for episode two....I chose to look at that and it amused me. But after that I stopped looking at spoiler pics.

These things are called spoilers for a reason. For some people it SPOILS the fun. For others it doesnt. This kind of an issue is gonna go on forever cause neither side is going to give.

The guilty photographers need to understand that what they are doing hurts and offends somepeople. sure he has a right to post it but its always been my view that if something you are doing is offensive or hurtful then even if you have a RIGHT to do it then maybe in consideration of other peoples feelings you shouldn't do it. Not everyone follows rules like that but oh well it's something to think about.

Sorry for the long post but I felt I needed to say it.

[DisneylandIs101]

For those who don't understand why Entertainment CMs would be upset, I have a reminder for you:

The Annual Passholder Light Magic preview.

As I recall, the performers were booed and disrespected by a throng of APs who all asked for their $10 back after the show. All because it wasn't the Electrical Parade...and I may be in the minority, but I preferred Light Magic (anything that opens with thunder and bagpipes has my vote).

APs sometimes think that a preview is supposed to run perfectly, when I always looked at it as a dress rehearsal that I was fortunate enough to watch. I was one of the types of CMs who would stay to check out new things before they premiered, but with the understanding that if I were to describe it to a guest, I could be way off of a description of the finished product (not to mention violating my NDA). I remember when Fantasy in the Sky was still around, but Disneyland was adding those spotlights around the park to be choreographed with the show, and I hung out by the computers they were using on Main Street and chatted with Paul Pressler about the show and an idea I had for it. CMs generally show other CMs more respect (even if they are Paul Pressler) and are constructive in their comments. We've already seen that many APs are not.

So, if APs are sneaking a peek early, my feeling (and possibly that of some Entertainment CMs) is that Al Lutz or Mouseplanet or somebody will be slamming something they haven't even fully seen. I know that's not the case for all of you, but thank the jerks who sent performers offstage in tears once before.

I know it's fun (and way too easy) to lambast anything with Eisner's fingerprints on it, but despite his best intentions most CMs still value the magic and play their roles accordingly no matter how hard Mike makes it to stay happy in Disney. So please, if you must sneak pictures like a little KGB agent, keep them to yourself. Don't walk by the movie line talking about the ending.

[Captain Josh]

I find it amusing that more often than not, CM's end up being villainized by the guests in these sorts of threads.

[MEng85]

I find it amusing that more often than not, CM's end up being villainized by the guests in these sorts of threads.

ahhh yes i noticed that..... :D: it is a bit amusing....

[Thatguy]

What I have trouble with is the comparison of these pics to movie production stills which are taken with the performers knowledge and consent, and distributed by the production company!

I'm sure we've all seen the photo albums and videos taken by cast members of a movie on the dvd, can you imagine if they tried to use that to turn a profit by distributing it through by themselves? that's a more apt comparison I think.

[Thatguy]

Also if Tinkerbelle923 reads this from the other board, thank you for taking the time to poke around the board rather than jumping on the they're all horrible CMs bandwagon.