It's summer vacation! Who's going to Disney World? Sadly, not me. I have actually never been to the Magic Kingdom itself, but I did spend one day at Epcot, 8 or 9 summers ago. In retrospect, I wish we'd done the Magic Kingdom, but it was a very fun day. This doesn't mean I was able to resist picking this title up when I was at the library a couple of weeks ago. (Months ago? Who knows, time flies these days!) Cast Member Confidential: A Disneyfied Memoir
by Chris Mitchell is exactly what the title suggests- the memoir of a cast member, as Disney employees are called. After everything in his life turns ugly, Chris runs away from home and joins the photography crew at Disney World. He is almost immediately shown the ugly side of the job, and the almost cultlike working experiences. I found the actual facts of working there very interesting- being called a "Cast Member", how the shifts work, how the employees get around the grounds without being seen by guests, how they prevent two Mickey Mouses from appearing in the same location- that sort of thing. I was less than interested in the scandalous details that Mitchell includes- orgy of staff parties (literally), drinking on the job, porn at work, some illegal excursions with coworkers, sex while on the clock, etc. It wasn't the best written book I've read and I felt like he included the illicit details to make it interesting.
When looking for the link to this book I noticed quite a few memoirs of this type, including Mouse Trap: Memoir of a Disneyland Cast Member
by Kevin Yee, which my library also had on the shelves. While I checked that one out as well, I found the writing in it to be even more disjointed. Any suggestions for a well written memoir of this behind-the-scenes type? Have you been to Disney World? Disneyland? Are you like an acquaintance of mine who goes every year even though her only child is 18? Has Epcot bothered to update the out-of-date exhibits from 2001 yet? Which park would you recommend, if you were to only see one? Is there an amusement park you like better?
Cast Member Confidential
Chris Mitchell
Citadel Press
2010
320 pages
I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks.
