Memories of Africa
Animal Kingdom
We were cast members at Disney World for several years.
The first few years were in Animal Kingdom... Africa. The Mombasa Marketplace gift shop. And the Out in the Wild gift shop. We had a great time interacting with guests. Disney encouraged cast members to have fun interacting with guests to enhance their experience. It made our experience nice too.
One day in the gift shop, two ladies were looking at the leather bracelets. Some little gifts for the daughters and their friends. Different colors and patterns. Since it was right on the counter, and I'd never miss an opportunity to have fun, I told then stories with my usual sincerity, of course, completely made up... But you never know, it could have been true. As they looked over the bracelets I told them that each color and pattern made a specific meaning. And since they seemed somewhat amazed with my explanation and knowledge, they were in the perfect frame of mind to believe everything I was saying. Yep.. That's my thing... telling stories.
As they looked over their selections... oh how pretty. I told them what each one represented. This one represented maturity. This one relaxation. This one good health. This one happiness. And so on. And while they gathered their selections, the one lady said her teenage daughter would love this one... It's her favorite colors. And I said that it represented fertility. "Oh... no,no, no" . Then she put that one back. Go figure. They bought their selections and departed.
Then the second part of the story. Working next to me at the counter was a college student, working on the college program. He watched and heard the entire encounter. And with the most serious look on his face, he questioned me... "Wow? Do you go home and study about this stuff at night?" My response... "yep". "You're never to old to learn new stuff".
The first few years were in Animal Kingdom... Africa. The Mombasa Marketplace gift shop. And the Out in the Wild gift shop. We had a great time interacting with guests. Disney encouraged cast members to have fun interacting with guests to enhance their experience. It made our experience nice too.
One day in the gift shop, two ladies were looking at the leather bracelets. Some little gifts for the daughters and their friends. Different colors and patterns. Since it was right on the counter, and I'd never miss an opportunity to have fun, I told then stories with my usual sincerity, of course, completely made up... But you never know, it could have been true. As they looked over the bracelets I told them that each color and pattern made a specific meaning. And since they seemed somewhat amazed with my explanation and knowledge, they were in the perfect frame of mind to believe everything I was saying. Yep.. That's my thing... telling stories.
As they looked over their selections... oh how pretty. I told them what each one represented. This one represented maturity. This one relaxation. This one good health. This one happiness. And so on. And while they gathered their selections, the one lady said her teenage daughter would love this one... It's her favorite colors. And I said that it represented fertility. "Oh... no,no, no" . Then she put that one back. Go figure. They bought their selections and departed.
Then the second part of the story. Working next to me at the counter was a college student, working on the college program. He watched and heard the entire encounter. And with the most serious look on his face, he questioned me... "Wow? Do you go home and study about this stuff at night?" My response... "yep". "You're never to old to learn new stuff".
Yep... Working at Disney was lots of fun.
