News The 'Disney Look' to be further relaxed at Walt Disney World

MrPromey

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
Cmdr_Crimson said:
Alright! Now we've reached Carnie levels!
carnie-shocked.jpg

Can't wait to see them allowing CM's to use their smartphones during work and playing Death Metal in the queue of It's A Small World..
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Death metal?

Pft...

More like 80's "hair metal"...

Seriously, every time I hear that one White Snake song I think of one of these:

233529098_c79a13b23b.jpg


I wonder when I hear these songs today if they're playing from new casset copies recored on a double-deck of the originals or off of someone's early 2000's spin-wheel ipod in the booth with something they pulled off Napster. :hilarious:
 
Tony the Tigger

Tony the Tigger

Well-Known Member
MrPromey said:
Death metal?

Pft...

More like 80's "hair metal"...

Seriously, every time I hear that one White Snake song I think of one of these:

233529098_c79a13b23b.jpg


I wonder when I hear these songs today if they're playing from new casset copies recored on a double-deck of the originals or off of someone's early 2000's spin-wheel ipod in the booth with something they pulled off Napster. :hilarious:
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All of those plus vinyl.
 
phillip9698

phillip9698

Well-Known Member
WondersOfLife said:
Has nothing to do with it. Disney Parks present themselves as a "performance" or a "theatrical presentation," if you will. That's why every worker is called a "cast member." Every Disney park worker plays a critical role in the storytelling throughout the parks. In a sense, they are all a character. And when they are cast, there is a strict costume guideline for them. That includes hair style, facial hair, ect. It is no different than performing onstage. You are performing a role.

If you don't want to perform a role "onstage," then go work for Universal, Six Flags, Busch Gardens, or Sea World. Over there, you can be yourself. But at Disney, you are essentially playing character. If you're an attractions cast member on Pirates of the Caribbean (which is where I was), you don't have a generic outfit. You have a pirate outfit with a vest, knickers, a hat... Disney is your director. You are the actor. The actor performs a character. Actors in plays whether it be broadway or community theatre must abide by a costume/hair/makeup guideline. The same goes for Disney cast members. It's all part of the storytelling.
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None of that explains how having a beard would be out of character. Maybe i missed it but i dont recall the character of gift shop clerk being one that demanded a clean shaven look.
 
MrPromey

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
Personally, I get why the beard thing is controversial in both directions.

I don't understand the necklace and bracelet thing though.

Beards take time to grow and not being able to have a beard or grow one on the job impacts your personal life so I can understand castmembers not being happy about that but I also know that they often don't look so good during the growing in phase which is what's been problematic on the Disney end - makes perfect sense.

That said, I wonder what Disney's stance (and the stance of people on this forum) in upcoming years will be on visible neck and face tattoos, both of which we see more of today than a decade ago and neither of which can really be covered with clothing (but possibly makeup).

For the record, I've met a number of perfectly nice and friendly people with face tattoos in my daily travels through society although I have to admit that the initial appearance did give me a momentary pause.

Necklaces and bracelets though?

Being able to personally express yourself?

It's a job. You are there to do a job. In this case, it's usually an unskilled job*, at that.

If you want to personally express yourself, do it on your own time.

As a castmember, you are a front-line representative of the company who is not being paid to "express themselves" but to do their job.

Take it off. Leave it in your car, put it in your pocket, or keep that necklace tucked under the shirt where it's not visible.

How is that an issue?

Again, I understand the beard thing because of concerns on both sides but I don't get why saying to take jewelry off (or conceal it) for your job is such an offense to a castmember's id.

Is this really the thing making unhappy castmembers unhappy?

It feels more like Disney is giving up this instead of something more important that they don't want to, to me - be it money or policy changes that castmembers would truly benefit from.


*This isn't a dig at people working in unskilled labor. I've had my fair share of those kinds of jobs in my lifetime and I know there are plenty of mostly-retired people working as cast at Disney. I'm sure many of them, for instance, have a very long and detailed career and education history which have no bearing on their ability to tell people how to board a monorail.

It's about the job - not the person doing the job and when the job requirements are so minimal that almost any unskilled worker can do them, your expectations for the kinds of demands you can make need to be set accordingly.
 
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raven

raven

Well-Known Member
WondersOfLife said:
If you don't want to perform a role "onstage," then go work for Universal, Six Flags, Busch Gardens, or Sea World. Over there, you can be yourself. But at Disney, you are essentially playing character.
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Have you ever visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter or Sesame Street to see examples of the exact same character play you are describing that every Disney CM must play? Story telling exists outside of Disney as well. But even Disney can’t clone a model person to work every role on their property and they realize that; you haven’t.

Employees are human beings from today’s society. Things have changed a lot from the clean-cut sterile look of the 1950’s.
 
R

rowrbazzle

Well-Known Member
mdcpr said:
Women used to be intimidated by facial hair. Oh no!
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I don't know about intimidated, but I remember reading a poll some years ago that said something like 85% of women preferred a man without a beard. This was before beards became in vogue, though. I saw a commercial for the Bachelorette a while back and I think almost every guy had a beard. It's crazy how things have changed.
 
Tony the Tigger

Tony the Tigger

Well-Known Member
MrPromey said:
Meh... most of those guys seem more 8-track to me than the vinyl type. I could be wrong though - I'm not looking to box anyone in, here.
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(not to derail or argue but...as someone who owns two record stores and has to pay attention to this stuff, we sell tons of hair band on vinyl, some on CD, and some on cassette on a regular basis!) (including Whitesnake!)

Now if they'd only reissue the first Winger album...;)
 
TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
I haven’t really seen the current facial hair rules enforced so I’m not sure this is a big change.

I’m really confused on the bracelet / necklace thing. It doesn’t really bother me... but.... why?

By the way if you want to see non-Disney look at Disney stop by the Starbucks at Disney springs or if you really want an eye-opener stop by salt & straw ice cream at downtown Disney. All sorts of piercings, tattoos, crazy hair, etc.
 
MrPromey

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
Tony the Tigger said:
(not to derail or argue but...as someone who owns two record stores and has to pay attention to this stuff, we sell tons of hair band on vinyl, some on CD, and some on cassette on a regular basis!) (including Whitesnake!)

Now if they'd only reissue the first Winger album...;)
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Oh, I'm just talking about the carnies - not people who like this era of music in general.

For the record, I find nothing wrong with "here I go again" and my pre-teen self found absolutely nothing wrong with the video, even not knowing about the "blooper" until many years later. ;)
 

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