Working at Disneyland

It isn't often that you get to take field trips from work and do something that might be considered more fun and more interesting than your day-to-day guest servicing, cashiering or greeting at the Disney Store. But every so often, an opportunity arose within another business unit of the Walt Disney Company that afforded me this chance. One of the best opportunities was getting to work at Disneyland.

I was a part of what Disneyland called its "Summer Utilization Study." I don't know if or how this program has changed since I was involved but every couple of years, Disneyland would send out a bunch of people into the park to take a "snapshot" of guest traffic flow and facilities use during a moment in time. They would then take this data and extrapolate it into something that offered a broader picture of how guests "used" the product that is the Happiest Place on Earth. Think that visiting your favorite attraction doesn't make a difference? Think again.

Working at Disneyland as Part of the Summer Utilization Team in 1996

But this study was more than just taking an hourly count of how many guests went through the turnstiles. We counted traffic flow at certain entry points at the top of each hour. We counted the number of tables and chairs at selected eateries and recorded how many were in use. We'd take a count of how many guests were in a store. We even visited the restrooms to see how many potties were being utilized. I'm sure the final results were very interesting after all of our hard work was done, but for me, I was thrilled to be paid to roam around not only onstage but also backstage of Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom.

I participated in the Summer Utilization Study two years - 1995 and 1996 - each session being a week long.

My first year, a co-worker and I drove to Disneyland, entering the employee lot off of Harbor Blvd. I had been in this area before, usually to visit Company D, the employee store, in its former location. But this day would be different. After signing in with security, I walked down the sidewalk, under the Disneyland Railroad track and to the backstage of Disneyland. We made our way to the post-America Sings/pre-Innoventions carousel theater, which was being used for administrative purposes.

Our first day was an orientation -- finding out what the study was about, why we were needed, what kind of duties we'd be performing and so forth. We had been told to dress nicely and to bring our Disney Store nametags. Some people said that they had forgotten their nametags and the person in charge scolded them a bit and took their names. My friend and I had ours in our pockets so we didn't dare say that we didn't have. We were prepared. We got our routes and told to go out and familiarize ourselves with the seating at the restaurants that we were covering, including counting tables and chairs and matching them to the count we had on our list. When we got back, those that forgot their nametags were given Disneyland 40th Anniversary cast member badges with their names engraved. It was too late for me to ask for one. I got stuck with my regular, everyday Disney Store double bubble. Bummer!

Each day for the rest of the week, we'd have our assignments. You had to be at your designated entry at the top of the hour to count guest flow in and out of that spot. I was assigned the gate at Frontierland. For three minutes, I clicked my clicker for guests coming in. After recording my count, I clicked my clicker for guests going out. One of the interesting things that we were told was to record everyone going through your imaginary reference point, which meant that if someone saw you clicking and walked back and forth five times, they got counted five times. While counting tables and chairs at restaurants, it was easier to count the occupied during slow times and count the empties when it got busy. And going into the men's room to see how many urinals were being used and how many pairs of legs could be seen under the stall walls was always an interesting experience.

Counting Guests Through the Frontierland Gate, Summer of 1995

The best part - from a Disneyland fan standpoint - was that as soon as you were done with your route, you could go to the backstage areas and take a break until the top of the next hour would roll around. At first, I would trek back to the carousel theater after my tour of duty on the park's Westside but eventually I'd find myself hanging out below New Orleans Square at the cast member Westside Diner. I got to know some of the other guys doing survey work too and we'd hang out, have fun and play songs on the jukebox.

Year Two was even better because Kathy got to be a part of it too and it was arranged that she'd work the same shift as I did. She was assigned my old counting spot at the entrance to Frontierland. Since I had worked the Summer Utilization Study before, I had a more difficult route with two different paths to count. We were never offered nametags, even if we didn't bring ours, this time. But we knew to hang out at the Westside Diner instead of going back to the project's new home base of a trailer behind Main Street. Kathy and I would finish our routes in less than 30 minutes, so we'd have almost a half hour together hanging out behind the scenes.

For our service, we were given Summer Utilization Study T-shirts, a thank you letter from then-Disneyland President Paul Pressler and a couple of tickets to come back and enjoy the park from a guest's perspective. We got paid our hourly rate at the Disney Store though I probably would have done it for free.

A T-shirt and Letters of Thanks for My Participation in Disneyland's Summer Utilization Study

It was great to go below decks and hang out at the Westside Diner in New Orleans Square. I got to eat at the Inn Between just off of Main Street. It was fun to see the Golden Horseshoe or the Blue Bayou without any guests one hour and then packed the next. It was a different experience seeing characters coming off the parade route taking off their heads. And it was kind of magical walking underneath the electrical canopy from the Main Street Electrical Parade's Cinderella unit each night before leaving for home. I've always been fascinated with magic and seeing how Disneyland performed it from backstage made me appreciate it even more.

When I first hired at the Disney Store, I had planned for it to be for two years before transferring to Disneyland to work for the other two years while I was at college. But plans changed and I spent 7 1/2 years at the Disney Store, never making it to Disneyland except for those two weeks. But what great two weeks they were!

- Story by Matthew Walker
Matt started working at the Disney Store as an 18-year-old in 1991. "I Was A Teen-Age Cast Member" is a look at the magical Disney memories of a former cast member as remembered years later.
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