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A former Disney cast member who performed as multiple princesses recently shared some shocking information about Walt Disney World Resort’s character costumes.
TikToker @jenstopit makes videos about her time as a Walt Disney World Resort character performer. She recently answered a Disney Parks fan’s question about how Disney cast members stop costumes from getting “stinky” from sweat:
@jenstopit Replying to @Baby Scoop Survivor Ever heard of Scabies?!? #disney #disneyprincess #castmember #disneytok #disneytiktok #disneyworld #performer
“Sometimes they did smell,” the former Disney cast member said. “I always did a sniff test. If it smelled funny, I would go turn that costume in and grab a different one.”
She said “the stinky part” wasn’t what performers were most concerned about. Instead, Disney cast members always worried that the laundry and cleaning department didn’t get all the sweat or “whatever they might have” out of the fabrics.
On multiple occasions, Disney character performers contracted scabies from their costumes.
Credit: Disney
“This didn’t just happen once,” the former Disney cast member said. “This wasn’t one time. I heard about this when I was in training. A girl started breaking out in a rash. They had to remove her from training; they were like, ‘I think she has shingles.’ I see her in the tunnel a few weeks later; she was like, ‘No. I got scabies.'”
There was also an outbreak of it in like ’07, ’08 at a certain show at Magic Kingdom and another show…at [Disney’s Hollywood Studios],” she continued. “I feel like I heard about it at least one other time while I worked there.”
The former Walt Disney World Resort cast member added that this didn’t happen constantly but happened enough that performers were hyper-aware of the state of their costumes.
Credit: Disney
“Sometimes they cleaned them, and sometimes you got scabies,” she quipped. “…Most of the time, it was fine. They have a whole department dedicated to cleaning these costumes.”
The TikToker also recounted having “bad reactions” to some costumes.
“I remember one having a really heavy chemical smell, a dress,” she said. “I wore it for one meet-and-greet, and I had to call and be like, ‘I need another dress…My skin is getting irritated. It’s turning red.'”
Credit: Disney
She warned that too many complaints could impact cast members’ ability to perform:
“If you… constantly had that reaction and constantly complained about it, they would just pull you out of the character. They weren’t going to specialty wash anything for you because, again, we all shared costumes.”
Do you have a favorite memory of one of the Walt Disney World Resort princesses? Share it with Disney Tips in the comments.
