A former cast member at a Disney theme park has said there’s one thing she wishes guests would stop doing while visiting, and it can ruin someone’s day if you break the unwritten rule
When you go to a Disney theme park like Disney World or Disneyland, there are some golden rules you should follow. For example, most people know that adults are banned from dressing up as Disney characters because they might confuse children into thinking they’re the real cast members, and there’s also a ban on bringing folding chairs and drones into the parks because of the disruption they might cause.
But did you know there are also rules about how to interact with cast members? Many of these are unspoken, but there are some things you should never do when you meet the actors and actresses who are dressed up as your favourite Disney characters.
Kayla Nicole, a former Disney cast member, shared a video on TikTok in which she highlighted the number one thing she wished people would stop doing when they line up to meet Disney princesses.
During her eight years as a cast member, the woman played a number of roles at the park, including Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Merida from Brave, and Cinderella. She said that if you’re ever meeting two characters at once, you should never ignore one in favour of the other.
She explained: “If you’re in a meet-and-greet location like the hall, where you have one princess on this carpet and a different princess on the other carpet, do not skip one to go to the other.
“Operationally, that tiny little area between princesses is getting clogged up. But beyond the operational aspect, there’s a humanity aspect. How would you feel getting consistently skipped over? With side eyes and smirks and backs turned, not even acknowledging you.
“Per our rules, we’re supposed to average around 70 seconds for each interaction to make it fair for every family. So if you’re skipping a princess, you are saving one minute of your time and potentially causing a world of hurt to that performer.”
Kayla said that despite the cast members doing everything in their power to embody the character they’re playing, they are still real people underneath the costume, and they have real feelings. She also said this can be even more difficult for people of colour playing princesses like Tiana from The Princess and the Frog or Elena from Elena of Avalor.
She added: “Imagine you’re a person of colour playing Elena or Tiana, the two characters that meet in the hall. In real life, you feel looked over, given fewer opportunities, etc, and then you come to your job and people are still looking over you.
“We’ve had to stop loading the rooms so many times throughout my Disney career because my Elena was crying at how she was being treated. I promise you, you’re still going to make that Space Mountain fast pass.
“If you’re a guest, just walk up, smile, and say hey. The performer should, in theory, take the reins and guide the entire interaction from there on. Just ‘yes and’ everything they say and it’ll be over before you know it.”
Several commenters on the video shared their own experiences with seeing Disney princesses skipped over, especially when it comes to lesser-known characters.
One person said: “Elena was my daughter’s favourite princess when we went. People kept skipping her over, and she spent extra time with my little, and we never knew of that princess before.”
Another added: “I never watched Elena’s show, but we had such a great interaction when I met her! I’m glad she took the reins because honestly, I was so nervous about what to say to her. Total sweetheart!”