One of the very first lessons I learned as a cast member was that creating and preserving the magic was one of our most important jobs.
As cast members, there are a lot of things we must not to know and many of these are easy to forget. But there is one part of being a cast member that we will always carry with us. No, it's not the two finger point (though that also applies). It's the four keys.
Safety.
Courtesy.
Show.
Efficiency.
And it saddens me to say that, while we former and future cast members know, understand, and embrace these four keys and apply them to our every day lives ... Disney as a whole is losing sight of them in favor of going the way of corporate greed.
Walt Disney's vision of his theme park was a place where families could go to escape from the everyday. Where everything as far as the eye could see was fantastic and magical. While he only partially succeeded in California, they knocked it out of the park in Florida.
Which is why it is disparaging to see all the knew additions Disney is making. It is simply not what Walt would have wanted.
Disney is cutting beloved entertainment offerings in favor of cutting costs. We lost so many characters this year, and also a parade that has been charming guests and tormenting Main Street cast members for years. Yes, I'm talking about MEP. Walt would not have wanted that. He was all about the magic over the profit. He nearly went broke several times over creating his first feature film, and later creating his theme park.
Disney has been cutting hours and employment left and right, in favor of shifting this money elsewhere. Walt never would have stood for that. He was close with all of his cast members. This is where the first name basis policy has come from. In fact, Walt was frequently addressed as "Uncle Walt," to Cast Members - he was family. He never would have stood for the treatment cast members receive today.
And now we move in to focus on the $500 cabanas that Disney is renting out in Tomorrowland, or the newly proposed bus system. I'm not going to bore you with the details on what they are or how they work. You can google them, there's many an article by now. All I'm going to say is, it goes against everything that Walt wanted for Disney. Disney World so fully succeeded in meeting every expectation Walt had for his theme park. It was a way to get away from everyday life and enjoy fantasy as far as the eye can see. But the cabanas basically suggest a class system existing at Disney, and the new buses are going to take guests through backstage areas. You know what that means? No more magic.
This completely destroys the happy, magical, family that Walt Disney desired.
So this is my open plea to the Walt Disney Corporation, to Walt Disney World, and to all those in charge ... for crying out loud, please remember your four keys. And remember, it was all started by a mouse. A mouse created by a man, who would be absolutely ashamed to see the way the parks are headed.
