Disney Cast Member Makes Guest Cry Amid Declining Morale

Thousands of Disney cast members make the magic happen at Disneyland Park, Downtown Disney, and Disney California Adventure Park. Despite recent union negotiations, these employees don’t have it easy, with low wages forcing them into difficult living conditions in pricey Southern California. Still, most work as hard as they can to give guests the best Disney Park experiences possible.

Unfortunately, guests report that a small percentage of Disney cast members aren’t embodying the spirit of The Happiest Place on Earth. On Reddit this week, fans shared their negative experiences with Disneyland Resort employees.

“I had an interaction that left me in tears during Food and Wine Fest,” u/littlegreen wrote. “I was a new pass holder, it was my first time ordering. There were signs that said specifically to ask how to order, so I figured I’d do that. I’m service industry so I greeted the CM working the ordering booth pleasantly… and his response was so cold, his coworker started to urge him to go on his break mid-sentence.”

“I asked how it worked and he said something along the lines of ‘how it works is you’ll be very polite, say please and thank you,’” they continued. “I tried to clarify the question and he said ‘you just order.’ Cried humiliated tears into the garlic mashed potatoes.”

Other guests recalled similarly upsetting experiences throughout Disneyland Park, Downtown Disney, and Disney California Adventure Park.

“I… attended the Oogie Boogie Bash last night and my boyfriend had purchased the dessert package which I was not initially aware it was outside or that it was to watch the parade,” u/WeirdCupcake6942 explained. “I wasn’t aware and didn’t know that was even an option when I got tickets. When we were being seated I said oh the parade is coming through here? The CM who helped us said ‘well yeah what did you think this was for’. I just thought it was rude.”

One guest didn’t have issues with how Disney cast members treated her but with the way they spoke to each other.

“I had a cast member help me get my phone that I had left on smugglers run,” u/Am3thyst_Asuna said. “She let her coworkers know where she was going and they nodded and said alright. As we waited, they turned to each other and started ripping her to shreds behind her back for leaving her post.”

The guest was confused and disheartened.

“She clearly communicated she was helping to retrieve my phone and you all said it was okay?” she continued. “That was really weird and I felt bad I put her in that situation.”

u/Unequivocally_Maybe stated that the guest experience has declined more since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Disneyland Resort. But the guest blamed The Walt Disney Company for treating its cast members poorly.

“If you offer bottom dollar wages, crummy schedules, and a high-stress work environment, you aren’t going to get the best people or the best performance out of people,” they wrote. “Working at Disneyland should be a prestigious job, something highly sought after for people in the area. It should be the absolute best-paying customer service/food service/custodial/maintenance/engineering/management/etc job around.”

“The declining experience is Disney’s fault,” the guest continued. “Every horrid cast experience I’ve had since reopening is a symptom of the larger issue of Disney cutting costs at every turn while simultaneously charging us all more.”

Have you had negative experiences at Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World Resort recently?

Please note that the story outlined in this article is based on personal Disney Parks Guest experiences. No two Guest experiences are alike, and this article does not necessarily align with the site’s personal views on Disney Park operations.

This post originally appeared on Inside the Magic.