Have you ever dreamed of being a Disney Princess? Of being one of those Cast Members who gets to interact with the public while you’re dressed as Cinderella, Princess Aurora or Belle?
Well, if so, now might be a good time to buff up your resume. For – even as Walt Disney Imagineering filed those Notices of Commencement earlier this week with the Orange County Clerk (which indicates that work will get underway shortly on that $300 million expansion of Fantasyland at WDW’s Magic Kingdom) – word has come from the Disney Auditions side of the house that they are about to begin a huge recruitment drive for new Character Look-alikes to work at the Parks.
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You see, here’s the dirty little secret of the Fantasyland Forest project. Just like with that Mickey’s Mouse and Meet Mickey attraction out at Disneyland (where – in order to make it possible for as many Guests as possible to get their photo op with the Mouse during their visit to Mickey’s Toontown – there are sometimes as many as 4 Mickeys working in close proximity, all meeting with members of the public behind closed doors), in order for “Enchanted Tales with Belle,” “Dreams Come True with Cinderella” and “A Birthday Surprise for Sleeping Beauty” to deliver a reasonably satisfying hourly capacity … Well, that means that each of these Fantasyland Forest attractions is going to have multiple meets-and-greets going on simultaneously.
Given that WDI (obviously) wants to preserve the Disney Magic here, they’re being rather closed-mouthed about how many Belles, Cinderellas & Auroras exactly will be interacting with Guests inside of these new Fantasyland Forest venues at the same time. But given the high number of new Character Look-alike performers that Disney Auditions has reportedly been tasked with recruiting over the next two years (I’ve heard that they’re looking to hire as many as a dozen new Cast Members to play each of these Disney Princesses), it would appear that we’re talking at least two or three meet-and-greet rooms operating simultaneously within each of these structures.
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“So what’s the big deal?,” you say. “There’s lots of lovely young ladies out there. How hard can it actually be to find a dozen new Cast Members to each play Belle, Princess Aurora and Cinderella?” Well, know this: Disney Auditions struggled for months to find three performers who were qualified (i.e. had the right look, sound and demeanor) to play the role of Princess Tiana from “The Princess and the Frog” in WDW’s “Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee” show. They saw actresses in NY and LA, held auditions all over the country, mounted this huge effort to find just the right performers to play this role.
Anyway … Getting back to that Fantasyland Forest recruitment drive: If you’d like to join the Army of Auroras, that bevy of Belles, the cadre of Cinderellas that The Walt Disney Company is looking to recruit over the next two years, you might want to start paying closer attention to the Disney Auditions web page.
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In fact, next Thursday at the Disney’s Animal Kingdom Rehearsal Facility, the WDW Resort is holding auditions for Disney Character performers to appear in parades and shows. And among the Disney Character Look-alikes that they’re currently looking for are …
Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, The Disney Fairies and our newest addition, Princess Tiana.
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Mind you, in order to seriously be considered for these roles, you have to be a …
… Female Character Look-alikes between 4’10” and 5’8″ tall.
And there are obviously other terms and conditions here. Which you can learn about by poking around the Disney Auditions web page.
But if you’re ever dreamed of wearing a crown inside of a Disney theme park … Well, now’s your chance. You could actually be one of the few, the proud, the dainty.
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So – if you really want to become a Disney Princess – now would be a very good time to start practicing your curtsey and/or brushing up on your ability to interact with singing mice & birds.
Your thoughts?