Disney Rejects Princess Wannabe Due to the WEIRDEST Reason

For many Disney Guests, it’s their dream role.

When visiting Walt Disney World Resort in Florida or Disneyland Resort in California, most Guests long to hug their favorite Disney characters in magical meet and greets, or wave to them in a beloved Main Street, U.S.A. parade.

And this love of characters often leads to some Guests wanting to be “friends” with a Princess or sidekick, from Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater to Cinderella at Princess Fairytale Hall.

But what actually happens during the audition process? Well, one Disney Cast Member gave the inside scoop on their audition journey, with some crazy feedback from The Walt Disney Company.

Across Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme parks, and at Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure, there are so many opportunities to spot your favorite Disney character and get that coveted selfie.

From calling out Rapunzel’s name during the Festival of Fantasy parade, or catching butterflies with Winnie the Pooh at EPCOT Park, Guests can always bet they’ll run into some classic Disney character magic.

But one former Disneyland performer has now revealed the arduous journey it takes to be “friends” with characters at a Disney Park, including the time, money, and feedback she received.

Insider interviewed a former Disneyland character performer about her experience of trying out at 13 auditions before landing a role as one of Cinderella’s stepsisters at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.

Melanie auditioned for Disney with the hopes of being a Disney princess – what is known as a “face character”.

Disney has multiple rules when it comes to being a Disney character to keep consistency across its theme parks, as well as ensure that younger Guests recognize their favorite Prince or Princess.

From nose size, height, and face shape, Disney is known to be picky. And, of course, with the number of people who audition, it means they ultimately can be.

But Melanie (whose identity and employment were both verified by Insider but last name withheld for privacy reasons) revealed the strange feedback she received from Casting Directors when she solicited feedback after 12 failed auditions.

When pressed for an answer, she said, they told her that her “eyes were too round.”

Crazy, right? We know there’s picky, but then there’s picky.

“If you say, ‘Oh, your eyes are too round.’ I can’t change that, right? That’s just how my eyes are,” Melanie told Insider. “But if they’d been like, ‘Oh, well it’s your nose’ or ‘It’s your teeth.’ I mean, I was a 19-year-old girl. I probably would’ve gone out and done something about that, right? I mean, I was obsessed with trying to get this job.”

Fortunately, she landed her dream role at Disneyland during her next audition, and in a weird twist of fate, the Casting Director who commented on her eye shape later offered her a job at the Walt Disney World Resort!

Melanie explained, “When I came to Florida, the same lady that told me that ended up being the one that did my Florida audition and told me that I was amazing.”

According to Insider, Melanie’s experience isn’t the norm at non-equity character-performer auditions.

“Disney doesn’t really like to waste time in any way. There are all these rumors that like, ‘Oh, they told me I was too fat or that my eyes were too far apart,'” former Disney princess Helen Jane Planchet told Insider. “They don’t do that.”

Planchet auditioned to be a character at Disney’s theme parks 60 times before securing a role as a face character (Elena) but claims she never received any kind of feedback like Melanie’s when she was rejected. She also stated that she thinks The Walt Disney Company could “be in a lot of trouble” if Casting Directors made comments to auditionees.

“Even though I was rejected a bajillion times, I never heard like, ‘Oh, you’re not good enough for this thing,'” she told Insider. “I just didn’t hear back.”

So, if you’re aiming to be “friends” with a Disney character at Disneyland or Walt Disney World, don’t expect to be hired on the first audition!

It seems with both of these Princess performers, it took them a few auditions to be considered to meet Guests at Disney Parks, alongside some strange comments from Disney Casting Directors.

Disney CFO Christine McCarthy has promised that “normal” meet and greets will be returning to Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California soon.