Sue Burbach (Photographer).

(2016, March).

A Walk Through Magic Kingdom

By: Hannah Burbach

5/24/17

If you’re still with me here, congratulations. You’ve shown your loyalty and now you get to hear my side of things. As I’ve said before, I’ve been to Disney World more than any sane, frugal, and self-respecting person should. But I don’t regret it at all because now I have so many awesome stories and memories. I’m not really a situationally aware person by nature; in fact, I’m quite oblivious to anything that’s not directly in my line of sight. However, on my last trip to the magical world of Disney, I took it all in. Literally all of it. I was a kid in a candy store, looking every which way in awe. And what I observed actually correlated with the research I’ve been conducting on the topic of Disney’s social hierarchy (see my first article for the categorization of workers).

You Shall Not Pass (until you get your bag checked)

We took the ferry across the lake to get to Magic Kingdom and upon entering the park, we had to have our bags searched. This was my first encounter of the day with a Disney employee and, even though they were wearing the cherry blue uniforms, they were definitely not feeling the magic. It’s not like they were miserable; they were simply doing their job of searching and confiscating. They smiled slightly, if only to return a polite greeting, but who can blame them? They don’t even get to spend their workday inside park. I would categorize these workers as the menial workers since they aren’t quite guides, despite their interactions with the guests. These were some of the older workers, not quite the youthful look often associated with Disney World.

Bright and Cheery

Then, we were walking right down Main Street, with only the occasional college intern waving at us with a giant white Mickey glove and a costumed Pluto (Mickey Mouse’s dog), chillin’by the American flag. These are  the guides. They’re the young, bright, cheery people who are ridiculously underpaid but appear happy to be alive nonetheless. A guide is likely  the job that most people think of when they imagine working for Disney World, especially the little girls who wish upon a star to become a Disney princess. I know this from experience, because I always wanted to be Ariel… okay, I’ll be honest. I still want to be Ariel. Or maybe Merida from Brave. I could settle for either. But I’m getting off track. My apologies.

Technical Difficulties

Sue Burbach (Photographer). (2016, March).

There I was, exploring Magic Kingdom and I’d seen workers from two of Johnson’s categories: menial and guides. I had yet to see any workers that seemed to be from management or from the technicians group. But, that’s to be expected because they do most of the behind the scenes work. I wasn’t too disconcerted, especially because I didn’t know what I was looking for at the time. So, I went on my merry way and headed to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Adventureland. If any of you have been on this ride, then you’ll know that it breaks down constantly. I remember one breakdown in particular for two reasons: 1) I wrote about it, and 2) we stopped right before a big drop in the ride. That tell-tale voice came over the intercom to explain a technical difficulty and I just knew we would be sitting there, anticipating the splash, for a long time. I looked around and as I looked upward, I saw a window set into the “rock.” And in that window were two technicians, running the ride and trying to work through the problem. I was shocked because this ride’s my favorite, I’d been on it numerous times, and never had I seen this window. It’s so subtle that if the ride hadn’t stopped at that exact moment, no one would’ve seen it. However, due to the circumstances, I took notice. And, with me being me, I smiled and waved at the workers. They seemed stunned that I was looking at them, but they waved back nonetheless. And a year later I checked technicians off my mental list of workers.

The Last Hoorah

Disney PhotoPass (Photographer). (2016, March)

My family and I continued to make our way through Magic Kingdom and as we did so I kept seeing the guides and the occasional menial worker. But the technicians weren’t coming around as often and I don’t believe I ever did see a worker in management. I suppose the head honchos have more important things to do than amble through the park interacting with tourists. The day ran its course and we did our thing, eating packed lunches because we learned not to be manipulated into eating at the restaurants, buying our overpriced souvenirs (yeah, not so good at avoiding the manipulation with that), and riding the rides. The last worker I saw in the park was on my way out at 11:00 pm. A young boy had obviously had too much sugary goodness and looked like he was about to blow. I quickly ushered my family past him, which was a good thing because I glanced back to see a nice… pile… on the ground. I eagerly wanted to share the disgustingness with my cousin, however when I got her to turn back, a man was already sweeping up the sawdust-ed mess into a bin. It was miraculous how quickly that worker was on top of the situation. I applaud him. He helped keep Magic Kingdom clean and tidy.

It's nice that I can use my previous research to categorize the workers I saw on my last trip, but I also would never use those categorizations in daily conversation because the workers are all equally important. The labels could be interpreted incorrectly and I want to avoid that, especially since I’ve seen the workers in action. Each and every person who works in Disney World has a unique and vital role. Anyone who says otherwise can come talk to me, because I’ve done my research. I recently asked my mother if we could take another trip next summer, 2018, and who knows, maybe I’ll finally see a magical manager meandering among the masses. Or maybe I’ll just try to see Mickey Mouse. Yeah… that sounds more fun.