I spent 12-plus years as a part-time Disney Store cast member, from November of 1999 to February of 2012. It was a long and winding road, to be sure, with equal doses of fun, magic, challenges, exhaustion, and sometimes, blood, sweat and tears – and I mean that literally.

The Disney Store as we knew and loved it – circa the 1990s through the early 2000s – is no more, a victim of Covid-19 lockdowns and the stark realization that many would-be guests prefer to do their shopping online.

True, there still are a handful of physical Disney Stores in existence, but they are few and far between. The closest one to us is located 40 miles north in the Jersey Gardens Mall. There’s the flagship store in Times Square in midtown Manhattan and, during a recent double-decker bus ride along Oxford Street in London, England, we spotted another Disney Store among the dozens of high-end establishments.

The Disney Store is part of the Walt Disney Company’s billion-dollar retail wing, but during its heyday, it was a major part of that segment of the company. Now, it almost seems like the brick-and-mortar stores are an afterthought.

During its prime, the Disney Store made it a point of hiring people who were hard-working, motivated, team players … the cream of the crop, if you will.

Once you got through a rigorous hiring process [I was interviewed twice by different managers], new cast members were required to go through an extensive training program very similar to the one introduced by Disney Legend Van France prior to the opening of Disneyland in 1955.

The program is called Traditions and no matter if you’re being hired as an Imagineer, a retail worker, or a costumed character, you’re required to go through Traditions.

France was brought in by Walt Disney in March 1955 to set up a training program for Disneyland’s incoming employees. His training strategies were ahead of their time and have been copied by many leading companies to this day.

When he started, France’s “office” was in a renovated house located on the outskirts of the Disneyland property. That house once belonged to the family of Disney Legend Ron Dominguez. The Dominguez family owned and operated a citrus farm near what is now New Orleans Square/Frontierland.

The house was moved to a backstage area behind the Plaza Inn.

To turn the house into a functioning training center, Disney carpenters came in, knocked down a few walls to create space and painted the exterior white … and thus the training center became known as The White House.

When I took part in the Traditions program on my first day as a Disney Store hire, the “training center” was actually the break area in rear of the store, not all that far from the restrooms.

We watched a series of videos dealing with the history of the Walt Disney Company as well as the culture of the Disney Store. We were told how and when to wear your name tag [always when you’re on stage, never outside the store], the importance of presenting a neat appearance, and the significance of being as courteous and helpful as possible to guests either in the store and on the phone.

We then took a tour of the backstage area, conducted by a veteran cast member, where we learned about stock and shipment, as well as the importance of keeping the room neat and organized.

Then it was on to “the floor,” otherwise known as onstage. We observed as our soon-to-be fellow cast members interacted with guests, engaged them in conversation and helped them find the perfect gift.

Finally, we were taken to the busiest part of the store – the box office, in Disney Store parlance. Here, guests finalized their purchases and cast members rang them up. Payment back them came in many forms: Cash, credit card, personal check or Disney Dollars.

Before we clocked out on that first day, we were given our costumes, name tags and a copy of the Traditions manual.

We were told to study the manual and, frankly, so many of the points made throughout that booklet’s 60-plus pages were important then at the Disney Store and remain relevant standards for Disney cast members to this day.

Things like:

When people think Disney, they think fun, excitement and quality;

We create a show each day for each Guest;

Cast members are the most important element of our show;

Guests are our number one priority;

Each Guest deserves the same special treatment;

We uphold the Disney image;

We create happiness for our Guests;

People expect the best from Disney. Our goal is to go above and beyond to exceed those expectations;

We work while others play.

The beginning of the manual best summed up just what it meant – and still means – to be a Disney cast member:

“Hello and welcome to the worldwide Disney Team. We hope that this will be the beginning of a very rewarding experience. You are now part of a very special group, and a key member of an organization that has a unique way of doing business.

“The Walt Disney Company is known the world over for providing the finest in family entertainment. We strive for excellence daily … We will share with you our milestones and accomplishments and offer you our time-honored techniques for providing the outstanding service that has become the hallmark of the Disney name.”

I did find it curious that on Page 18 of the handbook, under the heading Stage Directions: Daily Expectations, there’s a line that reads: “Cast Members should not talk to the press. Instead, refer them to your Stage Manager, who will assist them.”

In fact, I was a member of the press for 48 years … which meant that every one of my fellow cast members who talked to me during my Disney Store tenure was in violation of that Traditions rule!

Looking back, being a Disney Store cast member was an honor and a privilege. I worked at five different locations in New Jersey [Freehold, the Jackson Outlets, Woodbridge, Monmouth and the new Freehold Imagination Park store] during my 12-plus years, each presenting its own set of challenges and rewards.

But no matter what store I was assigned to, the feeling of being part of a team was truly special, whether it was handling shipment at 5 a.m. with two other still-drowsy cast members or working on a Black Friday or a Christmas Eve with the store jam-packed with guests.

I won’t go as far as to say every shift was magical. In fact, the day I ended up in the emergency room with a gash on my head that required two staples to close bordered on tragical.

But the experiences I had, the people I met, the memories I cherish will stay with me forever.

Chuck Schmidt is an award-winning journalist who has covered all things Disney since 1984 in both print and on-line. He has authored or co-authored seven books on Disney, including his latest, The Beat Goes On, for Theme Park Press. He also has written a regular blog for AllEars.Net, called Still Goofy About Disney, since 2015.

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