Positives & Negatives
- jessilittlej
- Jan 19
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 20
Disney Negatives thus far:
Our director is very kind but he is not a good director. Much like an actor is miscast, he has been "miscast" in the role of director. Whoever gave him the job did some bad casting. There is no doubt that he, our director, wants the best for everyone in the room, but that alone does not make you a good director. It has certainly been frustrating. Thank God for Caulumn. Not only to have someone who shares the same frustrations, but also to have someone who one, understands how all our shows work cause he was around for the development, and two, he is good at directing, and, three, he knows how to do our directors job without overstepping. So we do the best with what we got. And thankfully, Cal and I just suite our characters; we get them, and we understand the the shows. We are very much in our lane.
Orlando for fittings: Everyone had a block scheduled with the hair and makeup team. For my little session, they did not know who the character Zayah was. HA. When we got back to Toronto, I brought this up to our director and his initial response was, "Oh well, you know, Zayah is a new character so it might take a team a year to know who she is." WHAT?! I replied kindly, "Josh. Don't you think that is an issue?" Our stage manager looked at me and goes, "Jessi. Yes it is. It is a big issue." She has been having a lot of issues with Josh, our director, as well. He back tracked because what an insane thing to say. A YEAR for your hair and makeup team to not know who a character is?! And it has nothing to do with the fact that this is a character that I am playing, but the fact that a team of people don't know who a character is period. AT. DISNEY. Unfortunately, in talking to more cast members this type of thing is common. I could go into more examples but it's too annoying to type out, haha. If you're curious, ask me and I'll tell ya! Process not perfection. Improvement not perfection. What I am curious about is if DCL (Disney Cruise Line) is working to improve these issues? I want Disney to be the best it can be. Everyone working there should want the same thing too, right?
Communication. There has been some bad communication on DCL's part. A lot of stuff I can look over. But I'm also like, "Guys...come on." It may just be too much work for their staff to handle all the little details correctly.
I knew this going in, but most of the cast is and/or feels young. You can imagine the cons. lol.
Disney Positives thus far:
There are many things such as, learning all the ins and outs of how the magic works. Being in the building in Toronto. Knowing we get to go to the parks when we are back in February. Although for us new DCL-ers, we'll only get to go in the evenings because we'll have safety training during the day. But still. Awesome.
Cal and I had reservations for EPCOT on the day of our fitting, but it would have been tight, plus our Spider Man joined us and he didn't have a booking so we all went to Disney Springs to walk around and have dinner. It was Spidey's first time at Disney World, so it was fun to see him connect with it. Plus it was a beautiful evening and the crowds were low.
If DCL likes you, you'll more than likely be invited back. And I am definitely seeing that it's a company that if you want to work your way up, you can.
My housing is great, as you saw. Not everyone has their own room and as much space as I have. Grateful they took my age and experience into consideration and gave me an adult space haha.
The cast is young. There are pros to that as well.
We get Disney+ and HULU for free once we get back to the states.
Getting to see the DCL costuming warehouse was neat. It's impressive. Down a Costco sized aisle, are rows of performer boxes. Every performer going on a ship has at least two boxes filled with shoes, tights, acccessories,and mic belts with their name on it. When you board the ship, they grab your boxes and give it to ya. There were four stations set up for fittings. I had one of the longest fittings due to my character being new, unlike Belle for example, where they have many different size dresses for her. Zayah will be tailored to me. Neat. While I was changing I saw Spider Man, Rapunzel, Bruno (we don't talk about him), Belle get fitted. Fun!
Disney Song Inspiration post #6: "Sunflower" from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Comments