A cast member at Disneyland.
A cast member (or CM) is a Disney employee that works at Disney Parks or at the Disney Store. Cast members have various jobs, such as watching over security (telling people the safety rules of rides and attractions, for example), tending to rides and attractions, and playing Disney characters. The term comes from Walt Disney himself, when he was using theatrical terms for park operations. Guest Tommy Des Brisay even befriended two cast members, who allowed him to go into the Car Barn before the Celebrate A Dreams Come True Parade was going to start.[1]
Most cast members have lanyards for Disney Pin Trading, but depending on the color of the lanyard they will only trade to certain ages.
Some cast members are part of a college intern program that lets them work in Walt Disney World for a season and go back to school in the other seasons.
Like employees at the Chick-fil-A and the Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant chains, cast members are trained to be as positive and as nice as possible, to both the young and young at heart. Any negativity and/or mistreatment of any kind (such as swearing, yelling, punching, slaps in the face, etc.) by cast members to guests is not tolerated, and usually results in termination if repeat offenses take place.
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- WDW has more than 3,000 different paid cast member positions. Positions can be anything from topiary artists to cosmetologists.