Cast Member Job Selection...who does this?

[azcavalier]

So, I think that i'm probably going to be flamed for this, or called insensitive, but i've just got to bring this up.

I know that most of the cast members have usually at least two things that they are trained to do, like working a ride and a show for example. There are, however, certain jobs that require a bit more....talent....than other jobs. My example would be the Magic of Animation attraction. I had never done this until last April when my DW and I spent four days at WDW for our anniversary. The guy who "hosted" it was very good. He interacted with Mushu very well. Said his lines clearly, with feeling, at the proper times. It was fun. So, when we were at WDW last week with the kids, we took them to it. The CM who was "hosting" the attraction had some physical limitations which really affected the show. Mainly, she couldn't speak clearly. Afterwards I heard someone talking saying that it looked like maybe she had survived a stroke. I don't know...maybe. But she was hard to understand. Her lines were delivered with awkward pauses (timing was off), and without hardly any "feeling". She was basically repeating the lines she had learned, but if I hadn't seen the show before, I wouldn't have had any clue what she was talking about. Her words kind of slurred together. I don't think that my kids (ages 11 and 8) got any of her dialogue.

Now, I am not against Disney employing anyone with disabilities, but when you have an attraction like this one that requires interaction and a lot of speaking and timing, there had to be a better choice for someone to run this show. I suppose she just could have been a fill in, and she's not a regular. Disney is usually all about the show, so it surprised me when she started the program and we couldn't understand her.

So, I guess my question is, when someone is hired and assigned job duties, what kind of screening goes into this? Was she assigned this duty, knowing what her limitations are? Can you ask for particular attractions? Maybe she has a passion for this and requested to be a part of it?

[DizneyRox]

Sounds like the CM had the two requirements for WDW employment. A SSN and a pulse.

Beggars can't be choosers!

Seriously folks, when a company needs 50,000 people to run, I don't care how big the pool of poeple is, eventually you're going to run out. It's taken some 35+ years, but I think they've done it.

[Ian]

Yeah it's funny ... I ran across this same issue at this same attraction a few years back, but it was with a woman who spoke virtually no English.

It was seriously pointless to even visit the show. You could not understand a word she said.

So I agree with you ... I'm fine with employing anyone who meets the basic criteria for employment, but ya gotta know what roles to put these people in. Speaking roles for folks with speech impediments or ESL issues ... not a good idea.

[TinyDancer]

One could equate this issue with sending the majority of IT jobs overseas, lol. I don't want to throw this topic off though.

There is a very fine line people have to walk now. Common sense tells you to fit the candidate with the job, but then there's the fact that people are bringing up discrimination left and right. And then you have, as the OP mentioned, the passion this woman might have had for the attraction. Me, I don't care too much because I am lucky enough to go fairly often, but I understand how others would be very irked by this.

Maybe when we encounter a situation like that, think of how happy this woman (or whoever) must be to get to do the same thing as a "normal" person. I don't know, I don't mean to offend anyone, but that's just how I try to view it. I'd rather have someone who I can't understand because of an obvious problem/disability than someone who just plain doesn't care. That REALLY shows though!!

[Imagineer1981]

2 answeres here:
1) First off most CMs get trained at all areas of an attraction. Doesn't necessarily mean they will work that area(note: usually it does due to rotations, CMs rotate positions about every 45minutes-1hour), but maybe in the case of MoA, the CMs that usually do the hosting weren't available and this person had to sub in, and maybe she was normally a greeter? I know at Space Mountain, we had CMs that were trained at the entire attraction, but due to a physical limitation, they wouldn't work areas that required you to go out on track if the attraction broke down.


2)there actually is some screening that happens casting. You go through a general casting, and your resume is reviewed. I believe, if I can remember correctly, you check the areas you are interested in. Then based on your resume and interest the cast agent who actually hires you, if you make it that far, will assign you to certain areas based on your skills and education. I was told during this process that I was being placed in tomorrowland attractions, and later specifically at Space Mountain because I passed a difficult hearing test (due to the loud noise at SM you need to be able to hear well) and based on my resume, they hired more "educated" CMs for that attraction due to its complexity. Whether or not that is true, I don't know, but I know I went through lots of screeners and its what I was told. I was also told that people with histroy of acting or are in drama or something similar in school are usually hired for more speaking roles, such as Great Movie Ride. Again, this is what I've heard...

[dmallan]

In January at the Backlot Tour we had a young man during the walk through part of the tour who had a very thick foreign accent and it was difficult to understand him. I missed most of what he said because of it.
That same day on the Great Movie Ride our gangster hijacker had a foreign accent, but she was trying to speak with a gangster-type accent besides! It sounded pretty silly.

I understand they have to hire thousands of people and many of them do not have English as their first language, but you would think for speaking roles, especially when the words spoken are part of the plot, they would do a better job of placing people.

[CleveRocks]

There is a very fine line people have to walk now. Common sense tells you to fit the candidate with the job, but then there's the fact that people are bringing up discrimination left and right. And then you have, as the OP mentioned, the passion this woman might have had for the attraction. Me, I don't care too much because I am lucky enough to go fairly often, but I understand how others would be very irked by this.

Maybe when we encounter a situation like that, think of how happy this woman (or whoever) must be to get to do the same thing as a "normal" person. I don't know, I don't mean to offend anyone, but that's just how I try to view it. I'd rather have someone who I can't understand because of an obvious problem/disability than someone who just plain doesn't care. That REALLY shows though!!

I'm not disagreeing with anything you said or how you say it ... I merely quoted you to continue part of the discussion.

part of my job sometimes entails my helping people with disabilities get and keep jobs. As far as the law goes (especially the Americans with Disabilities Act), the standard is that the applicant must be able to perform "the essential functions of the job." An employer is not discriminating against someone with a disability if that person can't perform the essential functions of the job the person is applying for.

For example, a blind person can't perform the essential functions of a surgeon, so he/she can't righteously accuse the employer of discrimination. But that same person could possibly shine as a medical school professor. If he/she can teach in a classroom, then the employer could not discriminate against that individual based on the fact that they simply don't want to hire a blind professor who can otherwise do the job.

[laward32]

Sounds like the CM had the two requirements for WDW employment. A SSN and a pulse.

Beggars can't be choosers!

Seriously folks, when a company needs 50,000 people to run, I don't care how big the pool of poeple is, eventually you're going to run out. It's taken some 35+ years, but I think they've done it.

My parents were just there inquiring about jobs with WDW. They were told they had 1600 applications waiting for openings and they weren't hiring right now. I am guessing with the economy the way it is people aren't leaving their jobs for silly reasons. I would think if CM got too many complaints they wouldn't worry about letting them go because of how many people are wanting and waiting for a job with WDW.

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

Ah, yes.

But then there is training for the new CM's - essentially, 7 days worth of paying them for doing nothing. Which would cost them money, plus the premium for the trainers who get more money because of it. So it would be more expenses.

Keep the already trained ones and cut their hours, spending less money.

However, they just opened the hiring freeze but there is already people on file for them to call before they take new applicants.

[AnnetteFan]

One thing to take into account is that whatever her disability may be may have developed after she was originally hired. Like if it was a stroke for instance it may have happened after she'd had the same job for several years.

One of the main reasons that certain roles can be so hit or miss is that at the end of the day the person in question is hired to work an attraction, not be an actor. Jungle Cruise skippers, GMR guides, Backlot Tour guides, etc aren't exactly roles that you audition for the way you would entertainment roles. Except that when hired for attractions Disney usually gives you a test to see if you suit a high speiling attraction or a low speiling attraction. Which would make the difference between being assigned a role someplace like GMR verses working at say Peter Pan's Flight.