Disney World monorail crash kills driver

Unless you are wearing a giant felt head, you should refuse to be considered a cast member of any kind.

 

Disney refers to all of their people, office staff included, in the same way. I think it would have been worse to now refer to him as an employee because he is dead.

 

I agree.

I guess there's some nobility in 'imagineer' (which I didn't know about until I read Dr. Randy Pausch's book), but 'cast member' is another story.

 

"Hey, we're all part of the show here at the Walt Disney World Resort. That's why we refer to you as cast members! Because you are an important part of what we do here. Whether you're in a costume like I am when I play Mickey Mouse (mimes wiping tears because of all the wonderful interactions she has with kids all day), in attractions, or in merchantainment, don't forget you're all part of the show we put on for our guests!"

"And remember . . . if you see Michael Eisner, and he's not wearing his nametag (points to her nametag), he should be. (laughter). You don't have to call him Mr. Esiner, and you don't have to be afraid of him! You can just say 'Hi, Michael!' because we're all on a first-name basis here at the Walt Disney World Resort!"

Ahem.

I wonder if the monorail guy was one of the permanent employe . . errrr . .. cast members, or if he was one of the seasonal ones, or a college program kid, there for six months. Knew a few college kids who drove the monorail, and they all noted that you'd basically have to be asleep to crash the thing. Unless the early warning system was on the blink.

Anyway, WDW would not let go of the whole "cast member" thing because it's part of their brand. I'm a little shocked they admitted that the guy suffered a fatal crash on property. Usual SOP is to move them off property before declaring them officially dead, because "no one can die at the Walt Disney World Resort!"

I'll be very interested to see what AP has on this going forward.

 

-- What are you doing?
-- I'm changing.
-- You took off your Captain Hook uniform.
-- I thought I'd put street clothes on for the drive to IBM. The uniform's uncomfortable.
-- You're going there as a representative of Captain Hook Fish and Chips. Part of our image, part of our appeal is that uniform. You know that.
-- You want me to put the stuff back on?
-- Yes, I do. Show a little pride.
-- Aye, aye, sir.

 

Makes the poor guy no better than Bill Simmons.

 

AP updates:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hQkSBcJYEealqbWm6v_FoKe1gknAD9996ILG0

 

Maybe he accidentally hit the override button instead, the same way many people accidentally slam on the gas instead of the brake.

 

I am always amazed how Disney is able to close ranks and keep these news stories fairly low profile.