Danika Miller

                    Working for Disneyland is like serving in the army. Both Uncle Sam and the Mouse enforce strict policies for propriety, dress, and language. Unlike the Army, however, Disney doesn’t have to draft unwilling recruits. Prospective employees beg to enlist. The chance to create magic easily outweighs the many rules and codes they must follow. Employees are empowered to create memorable moments and change a family’s entire trip, all the while enforcing a belief in some of the greatest stories ever told.
                   
                    The Walt Disney Company implements ways to ensure they curate a magical experience at their parks. Renowned for their impeccable customer service, implements four main ideals that govern all action made by employees, ordered by priority. Safety comes first, the company's main concern and first thing they assure in all functions of the park and any incidents. 
Courtesy is the next priority, referring to the way in which employees should act with kindness and positive behavior towards all Guests. Never saying “I don’t know” but if not sure of an answer, “I’ll find out.” Courtesy training teaches employees to get down on one knee when speaking to children, point with two fingers rather than an aggressive one, and to always smile and greet Guests.
                   

                   Show also taught, it’s maintaining the magic and the immersive worlds each land is themed after. Show is essential to Disneyland's unique experience. For example, though several Mickey Mouse characters and people portraying them appear around the park, for Cast Members and Guests, one Mickey Mouse exists. He just uses a little magic to get around the park so quickly. The Disney company also utilizes specific terminology to contribute to the Show. When working at a restaurant in Tomorrowland a Cast Member would say, "Welcome Space Travelers," or “Your food is ready for blast off."
The last component, Efficiency, is the least prioritized. It’s really important to efficiently move lines and serve guests, as the park sees a large number of people daily, but not at the cost of Safety, Courtesy or Show. People don’t come to Disneyland for how quickly and efficiently they can get through the park. Guests come for the immersive experience into the worlds of their childhood bedtime stories.
 

                    The Disneyland uniform is its own version of camouflage into the worlds Disneyland hosts. Costumes are designed to blend in with the atmosphere of the employee’s work location. Uniforms for roles like custodial are all white and universal as they travel from one themed land to another. Uniforms are designed to look like the location and time period of the different lands. An Attractions Hostess at Space Mountain, for example, wears a blue and silver space crew inspired pant/shirt combo. Additionally, the outfits are made to contribute to the presentation of a wholesome family experience. Women must maintain natural hair colors, refrain from bold nail polish and makeup. Females can have only one visible ear piecing and no visible tattoos. Males are expected to have neatly trimmed hair and be either clean shaven or already have presentable facial hair (they can’t be in the process of growing a beard due to the unkempt nature of that process), and they also cannot have visible tattoos or piercings.

The Walt Company also has specific terminology that contributes to the intentionally crafted atmosphere. Disneyland essentially puts on a show and these terms help reinforce that idea. Employees are called Cast Members, patrons to the park are Guests. Backstage and onstage refer to employee only areas and the Disneyland park. Employees also use the term "Code V" pretty frequently. This term refers to when a guest has thrown up and the area needs cleaning. When an attraction is "101", it means that the ride is temporarily down. It could be down for a number of possibilities ranging from a mechanical fault or glitch to a safety violation by a Guest. These terms serve as ways for employees to communicate onstage without alarming or distracting guests from the experience. 
 

                    The Disney experience is set apart from other amusement parks by the allowing of bending rules or making exceptions for the sake of creating the best experience possible. Cast Members have special ways to make magic for guests. Tools for magic can include a "Re-Ad", a slip that allows up to 6 guests to fast track their way onto any ride. Cast Members also have access to "No-Strings-Attached" (NSA) slips that essentially grant a guest anything, depending on the situation. A Cast Member can write a NSA for a new article of clothing if the guest has had a piece of clothing ruined. A new ice cream cone can be given if a guest has dropped it. Or maybe even a NSA for a toy or souvenir in special circumstances. NSA passes are rare and used only in specific circumstances where it will truly make the Guest's visit magical. But even the smallest things, such as giving a button out for specialized occasions, can become a magical moment. People often get engaged at Disneyland and Cast Members can quickly provide the happy couple with “Just Engaged” buttons, complete with a personalized date.

                    This behind the scenes information regarding the appearance, behavior and terminology of Disneyland Cast Members is confidential. When asked what their jobs entails at Disneyland, Cast Members often simply say, "I make magic." And though there is so much more than that, revealing the secret codes and rules could ruin the collected experience the regulations create.
Working for the Mouse isn’t so bad. At the end of the day all these regulations add up to that goal, to make people happy and to create their time at the Happiest Place on Earth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                   Low Style is to teach, for the style of language to disappear beneath the content. This style thus works best for wide audiences and explanations. Low Style avoids figurative language and lofty diction. The goal of my Low Style piece was to teach about the mechanics behind working in Disneyland. This topic is accessible to a large number of people and the language ensures that. The rules and expectations for Cast Members is not information readily available to the general public, therefore it’ll be a lot of new information to readers. For Low Style, the author should typically hold information that isn't known by the reader but is something they will want to learn about and can do so without measured effort.

                   

                    I have a certain ethos when it comes to Disneyland because of my time spent there as an employee. This piece has been designed to inform readers about the many components of being an employee at Disneyland, as well as communicate that it's a job unlike any other. I placed emphasis on the subject matter, the unique requirements and rules of a Disneyland employee, rather than me as an author behind the experience. I did this by manipulating language to keep "I" out of it and excluded any anecdotal situations from my own experience with a rule or term. I started off the piece with parallelism by comparing the Army to Disney using similar traits. This list also served to indicate a map for what order the information following would be presented. I tried to balance out the harsh tone of militia like restrictions with the great opportunity to be so empowered to create magical experiences for people. The title spurs from the comparison, “Cast Member Militia”, implies the military similarities and provides the personalized Disney term for employee, a distinct difference from the military.

 

                  The term magic was interesting to play with in regards to Low Style. I use it as if magic’s existence and relevance is common knowledge. Though that may not be true because it is rather abstract, for the purposes of this content it is considered an everyday term with specific but not limited meaning. This style helped clearly explain what magic means in regards to Disneyland and how to understand that abstract concept with clear actions and intentions that create it. I also employed metonymy by replacing the idea of the Disney company with the phrase and image of the Mouse, referring to Mickey Mouse the ultimate figurehead for the company. 

 

                  In revision I did a lot of reordering to better serve low style. I brought the paragraph about customer service components to follow directly after the introductory paragraph. Then the piece detailed smaller restrictions that are ultimately a result of those four ideological bases. This created better flow of information and understanding. With this reordering, readers better understand the strict rules about appearance and conduct serve the larger goal of experience. This reordering also caused me to look more closely at the transition and connection between paragraphs. I tried to connect the last sentence of one paragraph with the start of the next to create a more seamless read and overall cohesion. The Known-New method worked best to achieve this.

 

                  I also went through word by word, sentence by sentence and erased any ‘you/you’ll/your’ words because I found they were a jarring switch in perspective and footing with the reader. I also clarified a lot of my “there are/is” for more specific pronouns; this helps readers more clearly understand the descriptions and explanations I provide.

 

                 One example of a significant change I made was the opening of the paragraph about appearance. The first draft said, “Appearance wise, employees have to be clean cut and shaven, with natural hair colors, makeup and nail polish.” I rewrote it to now say, “The Disneyland uniform is its own version of camouflage into the worlds Disneyland hosts. Costumes are designed to blend in with the atmosphere of the employee’s work location.” The revision made a connection the military parallel and connected the previous paragraph about the immersive experience. The revision of this section also included expansion of the appearance rules that were simply listed in the first draft. 

 

                This piece is successfully available to a wide audience and leaves the reader with more information than previous to reading it. It presents magic as an experience and feeling that can be created, how that’s done and the effect of that. My Low Style piece informs exactly how Disneyland has been granted the title of The Happiest Place on Earth.