So, the new girl I worked I trained is doing very well! For those who missed the last post, she used to work in Disney World as a “costumed character” when she was younger (like, right after high school/during college type thing)…and yes, since Jomz asked, that’s the official title if you’re an employee who dresses up as a character. “Face Characters” are the ones who play roles like Jasmine or Cinderella. I asked her all kinds of questions that I’m sure you guys as well as virtually everyone wants to know! She told me she was “too tall” to be Mickey or Minnie but the main characters she was was Chip and Dale..but she was also Mushu as well as Timon. She’s only about 5’1”…hence why I thought I was too weird a height to be any character since it seems you either have to be really short or really tall (another of my cousins was really tall and was Goofy at Disney …who happened to marry my OTHER cousin who played Mickey and Minnie as well as Alice, Snow White, Wendy….XD) but she said there’s a character for virtually any height and that at 5’8” I could be Tigger.
She said they get paid only minimum wage but she said you work 20 minutes in the costume and then you get a 40 minute break. Hour lunches and if it rains, you get paid to just sit in your trailer and wait for the rain to stop. She told me so many funny stories…one being how the “costumed characters” enjoy having a little “fun” now and again…like the guy in the Jafar costume pretending to hump Minnie, that sort of thing.XD No surprise since she said most of the people in the costumes are college kids and people in their 20’s-30’s or so.
She also told me…”never rub a character’s belly.” Why? Well, most of the costumes, the character’s belly actually goes all the way down to the person inside’s knees…so when people would come up and rub their “bellies” you are actually rubbing the crotch of the person inside the costume.XD XD XD Oh man, that cracked me up. She said she got felt up once by an old lady trying to see if it was a boy or a girl inside the costume when she was Dale.
She also said that before you play any character, you go through a 3 hour training process where you learn how to “act like the character” as well as learn how to autograph like that character too. She said it was one of the funnest jobs she’s ever had.^^
So yeah, thought those were some fun and funny facts about the characters who work for Disney that people would enjoy.
Picture of the Day comes from Loveless:
