Favorite Guest Questions, From a Disney Cast Member

As a Disney cast member, I was asked literally hundreds of questions a day, and some were pretty crazy. Here are some of my favorites!

As a brand new Disney Cast member and Disney addict, I naively thought I could answer most any question I was asked. One day during training, a manager asked me how I felt about my question and answer abilities, and I told him I felt pretty confident. Having been to the Animal Kingdom many times, I thought was pretty knowledgeable about the park.

I was wrong.

He proceeded to drill me with questions like: “Which is the better show to see: Finding Nemo or Festival of the Lion King?” I didn’t know; I hadn’t seen either. Shameful, I know!; “Where can I find the princesses?” I didn’t think there were any princesses. Wrong. Pocahontas, duh!; “Where was the old Festival of the Lion King location?” Really, come on?! So, after fumbling through his questions, I realized that all my vacations to WDW really didn’t prepare me as well as I had thought.

As a Disney Cast member, you’ll be hundreds of questions a day!

What helped me the most were two things: 1 Ask your fellow cast members. Most likely, they have probably worked there much longer than you have, therefore are pretty knowledgeable people. In my experience, a cast member is more than happy to help a newbie and teach them everything they know. 2 Study your park map and know it like the back of your hand. Guests are going to expect you to know everything about the park you work at, even if you never leave your attraction area like I did. Typically question topics include how to get to point A to point B the quickest, what attractions are better suited for the younger kiddos, the locations for beer and ice cream, etc, etc.

As I said earlier, I got some pretty interesting/hilarious questions while working at the trains. Sometimes it was hard not to laugh or be like, “Really?” You just have to remind yourself that: (a) they may have never been to WDW before and are truly unaware of seemingly obvious things or (b) are in what we call “vacation fog”, where all common sense goes out the window. No matter how trivial, obvious, or laughable the question was, I also did my best to answer it correctly and with a smile.

Here are some of my favorite questions, along with their answers. And by the way, some are a tad bit more snarky compared to how I would have normally answered them to the guests, ha!:

“Does this train take you to Epcot?”

Answer: Nope, the train brings you to Rafiki’s Planet Watch, which is – and always will be – located in Animal Kingdom.

“Can I bring my drink/food with me?”

Answer: Yes you may! PS: I always loved answering this one, because guests would get so excited, like you told them they just won a $100, haha!

“Can I leave my child with you?”

Answer: As much as I love kids, your children must accompany you.

“What tree/bird/flower is this?”

Answer: I have no idea. I am not a botanist, ha!

“Where is the monorail?”

Answer: I’m sorry, but Animal Kingdom does not have a monorail.

“Wasn’t there a boat ride here?”

Answer: Unfortunately, not anymore. But there is a water ride located in Asia called Kali River Rapids. PS: Brownie points goes to the guests that ask this question, because YES there actually was a boat ride in Animal Kingdom years ago, which is something I did not know until I worked there.

“Who is Rafiki?”

Answer: He is the monkey from the Lion King. If that answer didn’t suffice, I would then do the raising-Simba-to-the-heavens move and that usually did the trick, ahaha!

“WHERE AM I?!!! HOW DO I GET BACK TO THE PARK? WHY DO I HAVE TO TAKE A TRAIN?!”

Answer: You are at Rafiki’s Planet Watch and the only way to and from this location is via the train, which arrives every 5-7 minutes. Don’t worry, you won’t be stranded here. =D

“What time is the 3:30 parade?”

Answer: The parade starts at 3:30, beginning and ending at Pizza Safari.

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Written by my daughter, Brittany. She completed several Disney internships and eventually accepted a full-time position on the conservation team at Animal Kingdom. Read all about her time there over at her blog Britty Loves Disney.