Disney vs Silver Dollar City Employee Dress Codes - Confessions of a Theme Park Worker

All theme parks have guides on what is appropriate dress and appearance and what isn't. There were some ways that Silver Dollar City and Walt Disney World were very similar, and others where they were very different.
A behind the scenes look at what a former worker at Disney World, Silver Dollar City, and Busch Gardens Florida experienced in his time working at the parks. From driving large safari trucks around live wild animals while cracking one silly joke after another, to spending 5 years as a #PhotoPass photographer at #WaltDisneyWorld and seeing and experiencing all sorts of things, to being a conductor and #trainrobber on the famous Frisco Silver Dollar Line at #SilverDollarCity. With 10 years of working in the parks, there's lots of stories to tell. Here is some of them...
Not only did I work in theme parks for 10 years, I've visited a whole lot of them as well. Here's some stories of great visits, not so great visits, favorites, reviews, and much more.
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[@radventure4231]

That's cool anymore themeparks dress code stories lol

[@TheDailySwift]

Another great video George! Also, I'm not sure what that Ahsoka Tano thing is to the right of Figment, but I NEED it 😂

[@strongsadventures]

The small park we worked at had a policy that all the guys had to be clean shaven. One Saturday (we were open from 12 p to 10 p that day) I get a call on the radio from the park manager to meet him over by the coaster. I got chewed up and down because one of the coaster guys had a 5 o'clock shadow at 8 pm. Park manager was sure the 16 year old kid had not been clean shaven that day when he arrived at work. My only response was wait till we close and you will see that he will almost have a full beard. To this day I have never met anyone that could grow facial hair as fast as him. Oh btw 30 years later he has a beard that almost touches the floor and yes he trims it almost weekly.

[@meaganwilliams6826]

At SFSTL we were given Holiday in the Park additions to our uniforms. I remember at least a sweatshirt and a beanie. I still have my beanie bc I like it, it’s warm, and it’s a lil bit of a collectible since it was that park’s first season doing holiday. I feel proud to have to worked it! But I had to miss my last 2 days bc I got sick. Maybe from working outside😂

[@UncleAL86]

Interesting - I didn't know Disney had loosened their standards as far as tattoos go.
Sadly I'd never get a job there as I have the seemingly hated hand tattoos haha.
Very cool video, this is the kind of video I really enjoy.

[@sabrinaf7456]

This is another great video thanks for sharing another great video for us. 😃

[@satsuke]

My experience with Disney dress codes in the early 90s was this ..
Women had to wear shoes with a heel and nude/neutral pantyhose. They'd have inspection lines to make sure you were wearing hose and shoes with a heel.
The office ladies when I worked there were quite releaved because the dress code had been recently loosened so that they could wear colored hose.
Bad enough where there was a vending machine by the fantasyland caffeteria / costuming to buy it and black socks for men.

[@Joshodgesr]

Before the show begins, it stands to reason (based on what I've seen at DLR-100 and WDW-50) that the Disney Look has been somewhat scaled back for PR and/or legal reasons.

[@suemoo22]

This was interesting, thank you.

[@tomklock568]

Thanks so much.

[@taylorlynn534]

The new Disney look is out of control. A few years ago, an attractions cast member at Journey of the Little Mermaid had a punk rock, spiked mohawk. It instantly broke the magic for me and distracted me.

[@satsuke]

I know dress code changes at Disney caused a lot of drama in the Disney guest communities .. but .. I'm glad they changed them.
At least, having tattoos, long hair or different colored hair and facial hair don't detract from the show, i just lets CMs have the same type of expression as employees of any other company.
I did read about an interesting wrinkle on dress codes though. At least, most guest facing costumes have a male and female set (or one set) depending on the needs of the costume. e.g. some have skirts/dresses for women, some have trousers for everyone. The wrinkle was when a transgender person transitioned and needed the "alternate" costume. To that point , as I understand it, the alternative costume consisted of the maternity set, which got a little silly for a woman (trans or not) wearing maternity wear in any sense.
The current standard is both sets of costume are available to every cast member, so a gender transition would just consist of asking for the "other" one. (Hence that photo that went around last year of a BBB CM wearing gender nonconforming clothes).

[@thunderfoot223]

I have to ask is there a sir willow to English dictionary to tell me what blaaaaaa blllaaaaaaa bllllaaaaaa is lol😊

[@dappergander]

I like the idea of period accurate attire, but how did they react to eyeglasses? I fear some styles could be seen as too modern.

[@SirWillow]

Safety in this case over rules theme.

[@sharoncauthon6446]

Any news about new things at sdc besides fire in the hole? Will all parking be paid parking this year?

[@SirWillow]

There will still be free parking available for the foreseeable future.

[@alanjwindow]

Would my military class ring be acceptable at either park?

[@SirWillow]

As a guest or employee? Generally rules for employees are either marriage band only or one ring each hand that can't be flashy. And that's if you're not in a position where they could be a safety hazard.

[@JackDecker63]

How about the other parks you worked and their dress codes?

[@SirWillow]

Covered 2 of the 3. :-) the third was so long ago now I don't remember it all that well. At least not anything different than what I did for teaching.

[@eclipsehorse8693]

Would be awesome of Disney went BACK to standards, cleaned up it's parks and it's employees, and started to look and feel like a magical place again. When you're a cast member, or heck an employee of any forward facing company you ARE the company to the guest/customer, and how you dress and act reflects that. Disney for the longest set standards for it's employees, and wanted them to stand out and be a part of the show. They were polite, courteous, clean, and friendly. They set a bar many parks wanted to emulate.
Now, Im not so sure- from what I've heard it's become almost as bad as the state fairs and carnivals walt DIDN'T want his parks to become.
Bring back the standards, be professional, represent your park...