I’ve noticed I get more engagement from my columns about working at the Disneyland Resort than from any other subject.
So here’s another one. I’m not proud…
After a couple of months working Trams I was trained to work Field. When you enter a Disney parking lot or structure you’ll see folks dressed like the photo above directing traffic. They’re working field.
Of all the possible roles in RT&P my absolute favorite was Field. The job is to create order out of chaos.
There are several positions in field. If you’re working Point you literally point drivers into the aisle they’ll be parking in.
Then there’s the Push position, who directs you into a spot. There may also be a Pull CM who directs you to pull all the way forward into your spot.
There are other positions who’s names I’ve forgotten, but almost all of them involve getting you from the entrance to your parking spot as efficiently as possible.
Several key positions include carrying a two-way radio so you can coordinate with other positions.
In the flat lots, such as Toy Story, there are positions at the load/unload area, assisting guests on and off shuttle buses to the parks.
You rotate positions at about 20 minute intervals, which means your radio call sign changes as you work through your shift.
I was notorious for forgetting what my current call sign was.
In the structure things are a little more complicated because there are two lanes of cars coming in so you have Point 1 and Point 2 pointing cars from each lane into adjacent rows.
I strongly disliked working Point in the structures because each level is slightly different, and when a level is close to being full Point 1 needs to perform a whole series of tasks to “Close out the level” including
radioing downstairs to stop sending one lane
keeping track of how many spaces are left
knowing about how many cars are coming up the ramp…
…so you can radio down to the crew on the ground level and let them know when to switch to a ramp to another level.
I never had a panic attack working point in the structures, but it was close a couple of times.
Luckily, usually when it was time to close a level a Lead or two would show up to help out.
So if at all possible I tried to work Toy Story. Only one level, you could see the cars coming in, and, at first, there were only three main lots, Woody, Jesse and Buzz.
But my favorite position, by far, was Toy Story O-Zone:
At O-Zone you face up-to six lanes of traffic coming in through the toll booths.
As each vehicle approaches you need to check for an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) placard or license plate, and send that vehicle to one of the three ADA parking areas.
There were also various colored tags the Tolls CM might put under the driver’s windshield wiper to indicate an oversize vehicle, a vehicle for the ADA lot, a vehicle that’s exiting, etc.
If you’re working O-Zone by yourself you need to run over and move four cones to send oversized vehicles to the oversized lot, then replace them.
There are painted dots on the pavement to show where the cones go and I developed a talent for flipping the cones from up to about 10 feet away and have them land upright, and pretty close to their dots.
I mostly worked afternoons and evenings so there’d only be three or four toll lanes open, which made it pretty easy to direct all incoming vehicles to the correct lots, or to the exit, if needed.
I recall St. Patricks Day, 2019.
It was a Sunday, and there was a large event at the Convention Center across the street. You’re only supposed to park in Disney lots if you’re going to the parks, but a lot of folks would park at Toy Story and walk over to the Convention Center. I think we charged less than the Convention Center.
When I got there, about 2pm, it was a madhouse. A lead asked me to work O-Zone with another CM and send every fifth car to Woody, and all the rest into Buzz, where they’d be directed down a road to Jesse East.
The problem was that all 6 toll lanes were open, and the line of cars back to Jesse East wasn’t moving, so I was having to send most of the cars into Woody, which didn’t have many open spaces.
Then the other CM had to leave because her shift was over. So I was on my own.
Next thing I knew I was standing in the middle of complete gridlock, nobody was moving.
The problem was that there were a lot of cars exiting from all three lots, and with all the toll booths open the only way out was through Woody.
So I moved over to where the Jesse and Buzz exit lanes were and started sending 5 cars out of Buzz towards the exit, then five cars from Jesse, then five from Woody, then directed five incoming cars to each of those lots to (hopefully) find the spaces the exiting cars had freed up.
Another CM saw what I was doing and came over and started directing Woody traffic so I could concentrate on Jesse and Buzz.
There was a manager nearby and I suggested to her that we open a drive lane through Woody that’s normally only used in the morning so folks looking for spots in Woody wouldn’t be in the same drive lane as the exiting cars.
She said “No”.
About that time I was called in for my first break. The break is 15 min but it’s a five minute walk to and from the break room. The walk is not part of your break.
When I got back 25 minutes later there were about 5 CMs directing traffic in and around O-Zone. The structure was full so they closed it and brought some help over to Toy Story.
Oh, and they’d opened the drive lane as I suggested so Woody traffic didn’t interfere with exiting vehicles. So much for the “No” I’d gotten.
Traffic was flowing pretty freely under the circumstances. My next position was at the shuttle loading zones.
At that time there were two load/unload zones, one for Woody and the other for Buzz and Jesse. This caused no end of confusion.
This was “fixed” about a year later, but that’s a story for another day.
I was on the Buzz & Jesse side when I noticed we had two radios. I called (yelled) over to Woody and they didn’t have one, so I walked the extra radio over there during a lull in the shuttles.
As I was walking up a guest was talking to a new CM and giving him a hard time. I asked what the problem was and she yelled, “I’m late for my reservation at Club 331 and there aren’t any shuttles!”2
I told her shuttles would be along momentarily and offered to call Club 33 on her behalf to let them know she and her party would be delayed. I had the Field phone in my hand and was looking up the extension.
She pointed at all the traffic in and around O-Zone and the line of cars waiting to exit Woody and yelled, “You people are supposed to know what you’re doing!”
I assured her that we were doing the best we could given highly unusual amount of traffic in and out of the lot.
She ignored my offer to call Club 33 for her and started to walk away. The first CM she’d been talking to said, “We’re sorry for the inconvenience.”
She turned and literally hissed, “No you’re not!” then walked off into Woody yelling, “The happiest place in the world!” sarcastically.
I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her the slogan is “The Happiest Place on Earth”.
You’d think that was the end of the story, but not quite. About three years later, after the COVID break I was working in Galaxy’s Edge and got talking to a lead who I used work with in RT&P.
I told him this story and he said, “I remember that day, and I remember that guest!”
She had parked her van across three spots in Woody and refused to straighten it out. She and her party went into the parks and he got some other CMs and some roller jacks and pushed her van all the way out to Jesse East.
Sometimes Karma works fast! :)
Sorry for the long, involved story. If you want me to try to be more succinct please let me know in the comments. I’ll open them up for everyone for this column
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Club 33 is an exclusive club at Disneyland and Walt Disney World for people with too much money.
I was tempted to ask her to yell that again, but louder because I didn’t think the folks out in Jesse East heard her.