10 Cast Questions: WDW Monorail Cast Remembers Austin Wuennenberg

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  Happy 4th of July! Today we launch a new feature where we ask past and present Disney Cast Members about their experiences in a whole new light.
  
  For our first post we decided to put the spotlight on Walt Disney World Cast Members and how they are remembering Austin Wuennenberg and the tragic accident that occurred in 2009. In honor of Austin, an honorary WDW Monorails tribute was created. Even though this design was not created officially by Disney, it shows the tight bond that Cast Members have for one another.

  
  1. Laura, how long did you work as a Transportation Cast Member in Monorails at Walt Disney World?
  
  From 1999-2004. I started on the Walt Disney World College Program. When I did the Program, they only selected seven students into the Monorail Department out of the thousands College Programmers. I was thrilled because it had always been my dream from the age of 3 to drive the Monorails. I don't know why I always wanted to drive them. I just did. 
  
  
  2. As Walt Disney World is known as a place where families go to visit, it seems there is quite a family environment within the workplace. How is that different than most "normal" jobs?
  
   Disney Cast Members do seem to form a bond and have more of a sense of family than most "normal" jobs. I have had two non-Disney jobs and I have never felt a sense of coworkers being like my family as I did at Disney. Even though it's been ten years since I left the company, I still am very close with a lot of my former coworkers. I am closer with them than the current coworkers I have spent the last ten years with. My current boss said Disney brainwashes the Cast. I disagree. People who have never worked there don't understand and will never understand. I don't think it is so much the Company promoting the family atmosphere in the workplace as it is a byproduct of a unique environment. Is it perfect? Not by any means! Just like a normal family, there is going to be some amount of dysfunction. But overall, it is a very unique environment in which you form tight, lasting bonds with many of your coworkers. You are sharing experiences in an environment that isn't found anywhere else on Earth. Countless families, including my own, are also created when working for Disney. Many of the members of my extended "family" met their spouses while working at Disney. Is Disney really responsible for these relationships? Probably not, but you do have to be a special kind of person to work for the Mouse. So in the long run, maybe Disney is somewhat responsible...
  
  3. As another sad anniversary approaches, WDW Transportation Cast Members are still honor Austin Wuennenberg who was involved in the tragic accident on July 5, 2009. Did you know Austin personally and do you care to share any thoughts or memories about him?
  
    I did not know Austin personally. I only met him once while riding in his front cab when I was just a regular guest. I was with several former Pilots and we started quizzing him and grilling him on everything we could think of pertaining to Monorails. He was entertained and happy to play along. He was also very happy to show off his vast knowledge of the Monorail System. You could tell he truly enjoyed his job. I know that he must have been a wonderful person after seeing the pain I saw in my former coworkers after the accident.
  
  4. The WDW "One Family" Monorail Logo you recently created pays homage to Austin. What inspired you to create this work of art?
  
  

  

  Walt Disney World "One Rail, One Family" Austin Wuennenberg Memorial Design by Laura

   
   I cannot take credit for designing the wings. The wings are based on the wings the pilots wear. After the accident, someone replaced the "Monorail Pilot" on the pilots' wings with "One Rail, One Family" in a graphic image. It has been used by many pilots on their Facebook pages on the anniversary each year. Because the original image has been shared through Facebook so many times, the quality has degraded. As an amateur graphic designer, it irritated me to see this. It seemed disrespectful to the reason we were all doing it, and through no fault of our own. It is the nature of Facebook pictures. Since I don't have the original image and I don't know who created it, I was trying to do everyone a favor and clean it up to make it look better again. While I was working on doing that, the inspiration hit to create a new overall design we could use that incorporated the wings and the ribbons. The design will evolve over the years as I am always learning new techniques that inspire new ideas.
  
  5. What is the significance of the pink and purple ribbons on wither wing of the Monorail Pilot Wings?
  
  The ribbons represent the two Monorails that were lost in the accident - Monorails Purple and Pink. Monorails Purple and Pink were retired by Disney and replaced by Teal and Peach. After the accident, at the memorials held for Austin, many of us wore our pins with ribbons attached to the backs as a symbol of the accident. The ribbons have been symbolic since and I thought they should be incorporated in the design.
  
  6. Do you have additional plans to continue to show the strong bond that Monorail Cast Members have and have had in honoring Austin?
  
  I plan on remembering and honoring Austin each and every year. Even though I was no longer a Cast Member when the accident happened, it still had a great impact on me. It could have happened when I was there and it could have happened to any one of us. It is something that will remain with me and haunt me for the rest of my life for a lot of personal reasons. 
  
  7. What is the biggest thing you miss about being a WDW Monorail Pilot? 
  
   Driving the monorails, of course!
  
  8. If you have any advice for an aspiring Monorail Pilot what would you suggest?
  
  Have fun and enjoy every moment of your time there. It's an experience like no other. Treasure the friendships you make! It truly is like a family. 
  
  9. Which is your favorite color train and why?
  
   My favorite train was whichever train I was driving! Although all of the trains were my favorite, Monorail Purple was and will always be my true favorite train for no other reason than purple is my favorite color. I was always a little happier at work when I saw Purple was my assigned train for the day. 
  
  and finally...
   
  10. Who is your favorite Disney character?
  
   Animated or human? Animated would be Stitch. He's mischievous, but is lovable and just wants to be accepted. Human would be Jack Sparrow because he's just awesome! He's not afraid of what other people think and he's free-spirited.

DisneyQuest: The End of an Error

DisneyQuest was fantastic. It was different. It was innovative. It was an error.

It saddens me that the concept is finally receiving the final nail in the coffin, but it also make me happy to see this longtime neglected attraction close. DisneyQuest is one of the last concepts to remain from the now defunct "Disney Regional Entertainment" department that once had ambitious plans including ESPN Zone and Club Disney establishments.

ESPN Zone note: There are only two locations left both located in California and neither is directly operated by the Walt Disney Company.

For more info about DisneyQuest click here!

The problem with DisneyQuest arose shortly after the chain opened. The business model was flawed leading to the quick abandonment of the American Express sponsored card charging locations throughout the facility. The "pay as you play" model looked like a great money making design, which eventually led to all inclusive play included in your general admission, but soon became problematic. 

Shortly after a few pre-planned updates the innovation of new and exciting offerings dwindled and future planned locations were cancelled. The last remaining location (Walt Disney World) was eventually used to "build value" into group plans and international tickets. It did not cost the company anything extra to add this attraction to new ticket sales and kept enough people coming through the doors to justify keeping it open.

The problem was Disney needed something new for Downtown Disney. Not just a new store and restaurant, but a new brand to keep competitive with Universal CityWalk and International Drive.

Disney Springs is going to breathe new life into the declining entertainment complex. 

How does DisneyQuest fit in? It doesn't. The real estate is worth more than what it was when the West Side opened so changes have to be made. For years it was rumored that it would be converted into an ESPN Zone. With ESPN Zone facing similar problems, this concept would never come to fruition. 

Will the NBA replacement be a slam dunk or a BRICK? 

Disney and the NBA must have something special for this to work. NBA City, locate at Universal Orlando CityWalk, announced its closure the same time the Disney location was announced. *Keep in mind these are two totally different concepts and the NBA City idea is not transferring over. NBA City did ok and am thinking its great location had more to do with its success than the theme.

Just throwing an NBA themed overlay to a building, making it a restaurant and offering interactive games no longer is lightning in a bottle. Playoffs and Finals are seasonal and do not appeal to all guests (or basketball fans as a matter of fact). 

Here are some ideas to make it work:

- Tap into the vast sports broadcasting power of ABC and ESPN to bring state of the art coverage of games and news to visitors.

- Dust off the old "Star of the Day" program from Disney-MGM Studios (yeah, I said it) and host meet and greets with NBA stars.

- Book groups and teams utilizing the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. (Sure there is an ESPN Wide World of Sports Grill but why not go for the upsell?)

What are your thoughts? Are you sad to see DisneyQuest go? Will the NBA replacement work? Will you go?


If you are a current or ex-Disney Cast Member and have a story or experience to share, please e-mail us at DisneyCastBlast@gmail.com. All emails will be posted ANONYMOUSLY or by a nickname if you prefer.

NEW Posts Coming Soon!!!

Our break is over...FINALLY!

We are going to start posting again with new and exciting stories directly from the Cast Members that do what they do day in and day out!

Stay tuned!

Dis(ney) & Dat

Today’s Cast Blast is sort of a grab bag from our column on MiceChat.com. We are sent small bits of info and stories from time to time that do not warrant an entire entry, so we thought we would put some of those together for you. These are interesting or fun facts that you may not be aware of.

• - Guests used to try to “check in” at the All Star Café located at the then “Disney’s Wide World of Sports.” The signature themed restaurant was located not far from the All-Star Resorts and there was some obvious name confusion.

• - When working in marketing, another name we considered for “Downtown Disney” at Walt Disney World included “The Disney District.”

• -Marketing and sales Cast Members began efforts to promote “MYST Island” an entire year before it was decided not to move forward with the project.

• We used to take a shortcut, to “Pride Rock” (Disney’s Animal Kingdom Cast cafeteria,) by walking through a dirt field that was located behind “Pocahontas and her Forest Friends.” There was a small concrete slab and loop where some would park knowing that one day it would become Beastly Kingdom. *That area is now ground zero for Avatar.

• One day I was working in guest relations at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and a guest claiming to be a professional photographer called to have a special safari set up for him so he could take pictures of the animals. He wanted a personal vehicle to drive him around the savannah as he wished to get whatever shots he wanted. The more we spoke to him the angrier he became, because we were not able to fulfill his request. Turned out he was not a professional photographer at all and just a regular guest who was trying to get special access. We would get quite a few requests from guests claiming to be “professional photographer” in order to get special treatment. Please do not try this…it does not work.

• On the Epcot monorail station located at the TTC (Ticket and Transportation Center), we adopted a wild crow and brought in bird seed for him to eat. Some called him Mr. Pee Pants. He would fly in and land on our hand, arm or shoulder. Little extra things like that really made it special.

• Prior to the opening of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, all opening team Cast Members were involved with a pep rally that really made us all feel like one family. It took place in the then open-air “Theater in the Wild.” The overall theme was “up with people” and built the trust between various departments. There were a lot of unknowns with the park and it was a crucial event to make all the teams feel comfortable.

• One day I was driving home from work and I took an exit off of World Drive and had to come to a screeching stop. There was a minivan parked in the road with barely enough room to get around. I immediately thought something was wrong. Their hazard lights were on and I stopped and jumped out to see what I could do to help. A man rushed up to me and told me to be quiet. I looked and his wife was literally standing about six feet away from a four foot alligator that was in the retention pond in the middle of the exit loop. She was trying to take a picture and he wanted me to be quiet so I wouldn’t scare it away. I warned him that what they were doing was very dangerous, got in my car and drove away.

•  When the water cannon was originally installed at Splash Mountain, we would sometimes try to convince guests that we had the button that would shoot the water.
• At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, some guests would ask us if we had real dinosaurs. My friend would say “why do you think it took them so long to build the park?” Quite a few did think the dinosaurs were real.

Thank you for reading Cast Blast. We are currently working on stories dealing with Cast Members and celebrities. If you have any Cast Member stories involving celebrities please send them to DisneyCastBlast@gmail.com .

 

Free Cake in My Purse?

Happy 2014!  We have a lot going on for the new year and kicking it off with a retro story from 1998 from Mickey's birthday party at the Magic Kingdom. Also, the silly shenanigans of guests trying to sneak into the parks. OH MY!

Enjoy the latest post from the Disney Cast Blast!

Would you like to share your stories? 
Please e-mail them to disneycastblast@gmail.com NOW!

Welcome to the Jungle

 

Catch it ALL here LIVE!

Kilimanjaro-o-whoa-whoa-whoa Baby!

I was working at Animal Kingdom’s Kilimanjaro Safaris. I had been assigned to Pram Parking (stroller parking) for this part of my shift. At Kilimanjaro Safaris we would actually take strollers from guests while they were in line and park them in one of our two stroller lots.

On this occasion I was greeting guests and passing their strollers down the hill to my partner. As one family approached me I asked the dad for their stroller and he proceeded to push it right past me and down the hill (he was very excited to be reaching the attraction). As his stroller rolled down the hill and into the other ones already parked I calmly looked at him and informed him that he forgot to take his child out first!


 Be sure to check out EXCLUSIVE articles now available to read at www.MiceChat.com!

If you are a current or ex-Disney Cast Member and have a story or experience to share, please e-mail us at DisneyCastBlast@gmail.com. All emails will be posted ANONYMOUSLY or by a nickname if you prefer.