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Clocking Out
After making sure I haven't left anything at the locker, I leave the locker area to stash my pan. Hourly cast members never move so fast as when they are going to clock out and have somewhere they want to go. I wave to familiar faces that I bump into along the way, whether guests onstage, or cast members onstage or backstage.

I slip behind the western side of Main Street for a quicker way to go. I pass by the Jungle Cruise boat storage, past cast members lounging on a break. A small vehicle is being carefully backed up out of the dead-end alley.

I reach the unmarked door I'm looking for, one that gives me access to the back door of the Center Street restrooms and the restricted door of a merchandise stock closet. I remember walking through stock closets on my way to answer a call or fulfill a request made in person, but nowadays the doors are kept locked, restricted, and many have keypads on them. I could go on here about why this was decided to be necessary, but I won't. You can pretty much figure it out for yourself when you compare what cast members were getting paid before 1984 and what they are getting paid now.

Opening the restroom door, I walk back onstage, out of the restroom, and make my way across the parade route at the Center Street crossing. It is rather crowded on the other side with people crossing the route, walking up or down the sidewalk, at the fruit cart, or going to the lockers / Lost & Found location.

Pushing open the large door with the "Cast Members Only" sign on it, I'm backstage for the final time today. From there, I can go through the area the parade floats and equipment will be heading to, past the large break room, past the Opera House building, back to the old Administration Building, down the stairs to Custodial Central.

It's a busy time again there with the changeover. I hand in my radio and tell the clerk the name of the foreman who now has the keys I'd checked out in the morning. This is when I'll often see the closers, especially the ones who now work at DCA, for the few moments I'll see them this week.

After Marching back up the stairs, I head quickly back towards my locker room. Along the way, I'll wave and nod to other cast members who are also leaving or some of whom are just coming on. Maybe we'll exchange a word or two.

Back at my locker, while changing out of my costume and emptying my personal items out of my pouch, I try to remember my car keys. In the old days, it wasn't as big of a deal to forget them, but now it means a lot of extra time if you don't remember them until you are heading for your car in the Katella Cast Member Lot (KCML).

I walk back towards the undercrossing, through Harbor House, to Harbor Pointe, where I can clock out so long as it is twelve minutes before my off-time or later. The allowance of early clock-outs started before the costuming and parking changes were made, back when some people were able to change quickly and be at Harbor House a few minutes before their clock-out time. The amount of time allowed has been reviewed and modified since. Many were suspicious when it first started that it was going to be used to take away walk time. Now, with the parking the way it is, early clock-outs are needed.

At Harbor Pointe, I check to see if I can clock out yet, press the button, and slide my card. I show my open backpack to the Security Host if he isn't too busy, and join the line for the cast member shuttle, under the monorail track.

Getting Back to the Car
Lines for the cast member shuttles can quickly grow. Tour busses were added to the rotation, but it takes them longer to get to the parking lot and they can only stop in one place, which may not be the stop you want.

If I had parked at the TDA structure, I could double back from my locker towards Custodial Central to take a minivan shuttle to Ball Gate, but I usually choose to walk straight from my locker and have to cross the parade route.

I pass up the chance to get on a larger bus, choosing to wait for the shuttle instead.

We all pile in, and away we go into Harbor Boulevard traffic. After enduring the traffic lights, the shuttle turns left onto what used to be Freedman Way, and we get to pass right by Melodyland. A right on Clementine takes us right past the fire station and aims us directly at KCML, though we have to make it through a traffic light.

The shuttle pulls into the lot, and turns right. At this time of day, there are a lot of cars pulling into and out of the lot, there are a lot of people looking for parking spaces. I get off the shuttle at the first stop and head for my car. It may be a little busy getting out of the lot, and I have to be extra careful at times like this with cars and pedestrians going every which way.

A few more traffic lights, and then I'm back on the freeway. In less than twelve hours, I'll be back on the freeway, heading to the park again.

In Conclusion
Once you come to work for Disney, you never see it the same way again. It is impossible. The curtain has been pulled back, and you need to find the magic a different way. It is still there, even if you see things with a different perspective than before. No matter how cynical, no matter how upset, no matter how much they complain, whine, shake their heads, and declare that the park is going down the tubes, most cast members have a certain pride in Disneyland Park, a certain fondness and nostalgia about it, and will do their best to keep the magic alive for the guest, the Kings and Queens of the Magic Kingdom.

Sometimes a cast member can lose sight that for people all over the world, this is a special place. They don't know about your trials and tribulations, and they shouldn't. You aren't Jane Smith from Orange with a house payment and a car that is in the shop. You're Cast Member Jane at Disneyland, the one who makes their day brighter and solves any difficulties they may have in having a magical, memorable experience.

No matter how much you've read up on it, no matter how many backstage pictures you've seen, no matter how many friends you have that are cast members, no matter how many times you've found yourself backstage, no matter how many times you've read fascinating books like Mouse Tales and More Mouse Tales, you just don't have the experience that actually working in the trenches gives you.

There are slow times, tedious times, scary times, fun times, fast times, frustrating times, easy times, and magical moments. There is no other place like it, and being a Disneyland cast member is a unique experience.

I am much more relaxed about it all now, because I'm at the park part-time, by choice, and don't need to be there. The fact that I'm willing to give up my weekly three-day weekend to stay on board says something about the upside to being a cast member.

There is still so much to say, but there will be other columns. Alas, some things should remain in the realm of cast members, some others in the realm of Custodial alone, and still others to my close circle of friends or myself, and will not be shared here.

Thanks for letting me share a day with you. As always, these are my own personal thoughts. Disney is not paying me to be a writer or a spokesman, so nobody should think I'm speaking on behalf of the company.

Please don't hesitate to write to me with questions or comments. See ya at The Resort!

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-- Ken Pellman

©2001 Ken Pellman, all rights reserved. Licensed to LaughingPlace.com.

-- Posted April 9, 2001