

What happens after dark in Disney's theme park - cwan
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/02/business/la-fi-cover-disney-20100502

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jason_tko
I had a fantastic experience doing a week of consulting at Tokyo Disneyland. I
got a very unique view into the park from the other side of the fence.

Firstly, everyone is almost pathologically happy and friendly. It made for a
very relaxed and easy working environment.

The attention to detail mentioned in the article extends into the backend.
Everything was impeccably clean, and in order.

There is a uniform 'warehouse' - a huge sprawling uniform wardrobe containing
thousands of uniforms in every possible size. People would walk up and say
"Elf, Large size," and someone would run off and grab the appropriate costume.

Opposite the uniform area, there was a convenience store, with all the same
trappings as a regular convenience store in the city.

There are secret 'doors' into the park. We used them for lunch. It was a
surreal experience to use a secret door to get into the Disneyland Park, and
go and order lunch at the Aladdin themed restaurant wearing a suit and tie.

Very interesting and enjoyable week to see the backend of such a large, well-
oiled and well-managed operation.

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joezydeco
If you have a group of people over 16, you can take a "backstage tour" at
Disney World (Florida) that shows you similar things.

I took the tour in 2000 and got to walk the underground tunnels, see the
computer room, costume pickup desk, the trash vacuum system, and a bunch of
other behind-the-scenes things. It's nothing a Disney park fanatic doesn't
know about already, but it's neat to be able to go back there.

Looks like they still offer it, but I'd avoid the other parks and just do the
MK one: [http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/tours-and-
experiences/backs...](http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/tours-and-
experiences/backstage-magic/)

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replicatorblog
You can actually go with fewer people, They will put you into larger groups. I
totally agree that it is an interesting experience, like an episode of "How
it's Made" in real life.

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joezydeco
Yeah, I guess there's enough demand now that you can just make an individual
reservation. Back in the day they wanted to have a significant group to make
it worth the guide's time.

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huntero
In college I used to work summers as a technician at a large non-Disney
amusement park, and I had a blast. Like many of the workers quoted in the
article said, it truly was something new every day. Even though I mostly dealt
with audio and lighting for the park/theaters, I would often find myself with
random odd-jobs. I distinctly remember when a feral cat had kittens inside of
a wall of one of our theaters. That resulted in an "elaborate" operation to
safely remove the kittens armed with a device we fashioned from half an empty
coke bottle, a stick, and copious amount of gaffers tape. I have no shortage
of good stories from that summer job...

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warwick
"Disney and many other parks recognize that keeping it clean and refreshed,
with all of those little details that you don't notice until they are missing,
are important to the park's success."

This is exactly how I feel about writing software.

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shadowsun7
> "When I started on Disneyland, my wife used to say, ‘But why do you want to
> build an amusement park? They're so dirty.' I told her that was just the
> point; mine wouldn't be,"

Wow. Talk about an eye for perfection.

Somewhat related: <http://www.neatorama.com/2009/06/30/the-dark-side-of-
disney/> (look out for the bits about sprinkling ashes in Disneyland, gave me
the creeps)

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dcurtis
I met the sound designer for Disney World on a plane once.

I wrote about it here: <http://dustincurtis.com/how-mr-q-manufactured-
emotion.html>

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mattm
I thought this was more interesting than the original linked article. I
especially enjoyed the conclusion:

"What's funny is that no one probably ever notices...that's when you know
you've done something right."

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jacquesm
This reminds me of the 'no broken windows' theory.

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sjsivak
I worked for Imagineering for a bit and we would do all of our work in the
parks at night. It is relatively quiet but there are plenty of white pick up
trucks and workers around.

We did some stuff with the Indiana Jones ride and it was really cool to see it
with all the work lights on. Many of the dark rides are fascinating when they
power on all the lights. I bet that would be an awesome coffee table book.

(edit for typos)

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replicatorblog
If you are all interested in this stuff, there is a great behind the scenes
book called "Realityland"

[http://www.amazon.com/Realityland-True-Life-Adventures-
Disne...](http://www.amazon.com/Realityland-True-Life-Adventures-Disney-
World/dp/0964060523/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273234029&sr=8-1)

Beyond the weird and gruesome details highlighted by the Neatorama article it
gives a behind the scenes view of how the parks came to be. It is especially
interesting to read about Walt Disney's view on urban planning. He was a great
entrepreneur and had an amazing vision.

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cosmohh
reminds me of rollercoaster tycoon, where you also had to have a lot of guys
kleening the park to keep customers happy :)

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antidaily
Giant orgies.

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joubert
You mean big ogres?

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mkramlich
Given the title and the city associated with the article was I not the only
one expecting to read something like, "Sex. Lots and lots of kinky sex. With
Disney characters."

And yes, you will be disappointed.

