Grasp Cast Member Confidential: A Disneyfied Memoir Crafted By Chris Mitchell Depicted In Electronic Format

read this book hoping to find out all of Disney's secrets, but it was pretty much an aging skater punk's memoir of how he ran away to work at Disney World to avoid the reality of his mother's cancer.
It was still oddly engaging, Hard to know if I believe some of the seedy stories he tells about Disney but they were entertaining none the less, I know the magic that dear ol' Walt wanted to create for all of his guests and I think he truly succeeded for those who are happy enough to take Disneyana at face value.
. . this book is NOT for those people,

If you want to hear about the skeletons hiding in Mickey's closet, . . drugs sex character assassination of a different sort, . . then this book was written just for you,

I've only been to the CA and FL Disney areas once apiece, both when the
Magic still flowed freely in my mind Peter Pan WAS my crush when I was way young.
. . now green tighties Not so much, . . Now, I find that I crave the dirt behind the scenes, the people behind the storybook character facades and what realllyyy goes on behind the scenes,

WARNING: You'll never look at Disney the same after reading this!
This book was just okay, The author/narrator was really unlikeable and seemed really arrogant at some points, I liked reading about the behind the scenes stuff but a lot of it seemed like it was really forced, Idk, not what I expected it to be, and the addition of his family problems interspersed with the Disney stuff was a little weird, If you're looking for a quasianthropological look behindnthe scenes at walt Disney world, this is the book for you, . . to throw away. This isnt a book about Disney World, It's actually a book about an indulged Mama's boy who holds the entire world in contempt, The book opens with him letting us know that he is much much cooler than Disney, a skate park hangaround who tags alleys with spraypaint and photograps skaters doing tricks off tombstones.
When life slaps him down he leaves California to work at Disney World in Florida,

We are then treated to his anecdotes about his job interview, his first day and an improbable orgy at the Cast Member housing complex,

A lot has been made in Amazon reviews about how he doesnt know The Orlando geography, Some people think those criticisms are petty but what i think people are getting at is that it really seems like this guy has either only been to WDW once or was so drunk and high the entire time he was there that it seems he was writing the book after reading a travel guide.
Honestly though it doesnt matter, Because this isnt a book about WDW, It is a book about how some snotty brat from a life of privelege spent a year sneering at hardworking cast members and tourists alike, LA sports photographer, looking to find himself after believing his life isnt going the way he thought it would, decides to spend a year at DisneyWorld to try to get some magic in his life.
He seems to feel, alternately, like hes found the magic and like he wants to rip the cover off “the happiest place on Earth,” so the memoir occasionally feels a little manic.
Not until a series of unfortunate events occurs, though, does he realize theres no place like home, Overall, the book feels a bit contrived, This is one of those books that makes me wonder again can just anyone get published And where are all the editors And why am I being so BITCHY "Despair didn't exist here.
Neither did gloom or desperation or sad endings, Inside the impenetrable fortress of Disney World, fairies, genies, and mermaids were real parking tickets, dead batteries, and blurry photographs were make believe" p,
And for someone who is trying his damnedest to run away from his problems, Disney World's manufactured perfection is a Godsend, Chris lives through hilarious incident after hilarious incident, peppered with unbelievable situations for variety, during his time as an employee or Cast Member of the Magic Kingdom,

While I would guess that this will be a fun read for a lot of people, readers who have crossed the threshold into "Cast Members Only" territory, or even have grownup visiting a Disney attraction on a regular basis, will find this unbearably funny.
During my college years, I spent several summers working at at the Busch Gardens theme park in Virginia, That experience plus trips to Walt Disney World over the years has always made me curious to know what goes on behind the scenes at the Disney theme parks,

So when I saw "Cast Member Confidential" on the shelf, I knew I couldn't pass it by, Could it be the ultimate kiss and tell book at what it's like to work for the most magical place on Earth

Yes and no,

Early on, Chris Mitchell details what it's like to be part of the culture of Disney and the requirements asked of cast members, But as soon as the rules are established, Mitchell then spends page after page talking about how he and other subverted the rules, becoming celebrities among the Disney crew for how far they could push the boundaries.


Mitchell also details what drove him to want to work for Disney for a year and a lot of the book dwells on his personal situation, At times, Mitchell comes across as too selfinvolved, a factor that works against this reader working up much, if any, sympathy for some of the trials he faces,

I guess what it all boils down to is I was hoping for something more than I got, I doubt we'll ever really get a true behind the scenes look at how things work at Disney because it might spoil the magic, But it would still have been nice if "Cast Member Confidential" had been a little more of what was promised, Two things really irritate me about this book:As a former Disney cast member myself a CP, then a CT, I know that we all have a memoir in us that would surprise people with regard to WDW in some capacity.
That's why I don't understand how this book could be so effing boring, The "salacious" stories he tells are all the same stories that everybody tourists, Disneyhaters, and cast members alike has heard, AndThe number of factual errors in this book is incrediblefrom simple geography e, g. where the Everglades are seriously, dude to basic Disney practices and attractions,

Basically, this guy wrote a Disney "tellall"littered with horrible surfing metaphors, no lessthat appears to be mainly madeup, yet still really lame, Wipeout. When my friend you know who you are, Nikki!

announced that she was going to Disney World with her husband and parents for a midwinter getaway, I was jealous, It has been years since I've been in mouseland, and it sounded like a fun trip, So, when I stumbled on this book by accident, I just HAD to read it,

The author, Chris Mitchell, is disenfranchised by the state of his life after his girlfriend dumps him for his best friend, he loses his job and he finds out that his mother is battling an advanced form of cancer.
So, he hops into the car and drives to the "happiest place on earth" to see if he can put himself back together again in the cozy comfort of Disney World as an employee.


What he finds is a complex, fascinating and not always sugary sweet experience, It's an entertaining behindthescenes look at one employee's experience getting "Disnified, " For some, this might spoil the magic, but for me, I mostly just found it interesting and a fascinating study of the people behind those smiling Disney characters,

The author's incessant whining about what an edgy guy he is gets a little tiresome, and thankfully it's the Disney experience that despite its own wartsultimately helps him gain new perspective.


And, by the way, if you've ever wondered what is going on inside that Winnie Pooh character costume that you can't see, . . well you'll learn about that, too, Took with me to read on the flight to Florida, This is not my fave backstage read as you can tell from the rating, Even tho these behind the scenes books tell you what really goes on, the people who write them usually belive in the Disney magic, Chris does not. Well not at first anyways, He just has a cynical view towards Disney that I just don't like, I just don't think I liked him very much, I hated the way he avoided dealing with his mums cancer, What he's saying is proberly true, i, e the thing about the face characters being "princess" is true, I just don't like the way he says it, I think Mouse Trap, Mouse Tales and Realityland are far better backstage books,


After reading Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom last month, I decided to dip into the underbelly of the actual Disney World, It is for this reason that I got Cast Member Confidential: A Disneyfied Memoir from the library, In this memoir, Chris Mitchell describes the year that he spent in Disney World and all of the insanity that he encountered in thosedays, Though his observations are enlightening, humorous, and certainly go against our image of Disney, it is nothing entirely new,

Before entering the Disney workforce, Mitchell as a professional skateboarder who believed in rebellion above anything else, He had a steady girlfriend, a loving family, and an excellent job that allowed him to be an anarchist in his own right while still making a living, All of that changed when his mother was diagnosed with cancer and his longtime girlfriend left him for one of his friends, Mitchell was unable to cope with these developments in his life so he decided to go where there is no hurt or death: Disney! When he arrived there, he discovered what most of Americans had only fantasized about Disney is just a microcosm of the world with just as much sex, drugs, and rock amp roll.
He found that all Disney employees take their work very seriously and have even created their own hierarchy based on the kinds of costumes the employees known as cast members wear.
Mitchell was also confronted with the fact that there is an entire book of rules to which cast members must adhere while "on stage" in the park, Most nights Mitchell is invited to parties thrown by cast members that become as out of control as a frat party, Everyone in the underworld of Disney is sleeping with one another despite sexual orientation, Drugs are passed around as frequently as Mickey ears are and there is even a Winnie the Pooh who was found masturbating in his costume, Though Mitchell finds acceptance in these misfits, he comes to understand that the "Disney magic" is nothing like what it seems,

Though this book was interesting for the firstpages or so, I found that it lagged about halfway through and I had to push myself to finish it.
Some of the stories were interesting, but most were nothing that couldn't be found on a college campus, Disney World is basically just like a microcosm of the rest of the world with its drug problems, infidelity and caste system, Sadly, the majority of the book is focused on these aspects of Mitchell's life there, However, there are certain gems that pushed me to keep reading, Such as the fact that costumes are based on height and not sex, Therefore, a woman often is inside the Donald Duck costume while a man is often "casted" as a Minnie Mouse, Besides the "face" characters such as the princesses and some of the princes who have to show their faces, the rest of the costumes are based on height, The rules that cast members must adhere to are also interesting such as no eating while "on stage", Also, cast members must never point to a direction using a finger but must use their entire hand, Lastly, the entrance and rides at the Magic Kingdom park are actually located on the second floor of the park, The first floor is a series of underground tunnels that lead to different lands and rides, The contracted built these "tunnels" and then just built the park on top of them, It is these vignettes that make the story so interesting, However, these are just a peppering of the tale and not the overall substance, This disappointed me, though it might please others, Overall, it's worth a reading even if you skip over certain parts to get to others, Despite its faults, Mitchell does pull the mask off of Mickey which shouldn't go unnoticed!

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