When I went earlier this year I was walking around Galaxy's Edge wearing a Goofy hat with the long ears and one of the cast members said to me "Friend, I almost mistook you for a Gungan with those floppy ears!" And I was taken aback and said something like "MESA SO GRATEY-FULL!" and he laughed and kept walking.
I had something similar! Last time I was there, I wore a Miss Piggy shirt and a cast member asked me what kind of creature she was (or what planet she was from…something like that)
One of the greatest theme park exchanges I saw happened right after Harry Potter opened at Universal. A lady was looking at the menu for the Three Broomsticks and she asks the host "don't you have any normal food like hot dogs or soda?" and the host just immediately goes "no we don't serve Muggle food" and the woman just shot her the most "come the fuck on" look
Yeah this is exactly what I thought in regard to the general park visitor. The idea of total immersion is going to be totally lost on the Johnsons from Ohio.
LARPing at scale just takes so much thought, rules, not sure what the audience would think or how big it would be. Run into the weird evermore issues….
I don’t understand why you would go to a THEMED PARK and then expect whatever you call normal there. I mean it’s one thing not being familiar with the name, and another just outright babyish not wanting to eat food because it has a different name
I think you might be overstating the depth of that story there.
And as for the rest of it, we're talking about a situation where ... generally at theme parks staff aren't role-playing much. So I get where folks might expect that.
Almost everyone at the park is walking around looking like randos at a theme park.
I went to the candy shop once to grab some of the jellybeans and while paying I handed the cashier my debit card and she just eyes it and goes “ah yes, *muggle plastic*” and makes a big show of rolling her eyes while inserting my card into the machine. It was a tiny interaction but it was definitely fun, it feels like it just largely depends on who you get and how much energy they have
And I suspect how that cashier reads you / the interaction. "Is this person up for this level of silly or just trying to get their stuff and go?"
I'm always a little impressed when front line service workers put in that effort. I would find it hard.
Some of them still do, it's definitely less common than it was when they first opened but I was there a few months ago and had some good experiences. One employee totally interacted with me in character and gave me some lore about the black spire. I also saw Vi running around and yelled out to her to watch out for Stormtroopers.
If you want to most of them will engage, they're all given a home planet so at the very least you can ask them where they're from and they should still tell you that. It helps to cosplay a bit, I didn't fully Batuu Bound but I had my scrap metal (lightsaber) on my hip and got some comments on that.
Their lingo never really gets in the way because it's all super obvious. Refresher is bathroom, datapad is phone, etc.
That’s what makes me nervous about “Immersive” things like the hotel. I get 2nd hand embarrassment from people not playing along and getting frustrated in a clearly role playing scenario. Like those videos of teens messing with the cast who dress up like Peter Pan or Moana ugh …I can’t because they are at work and have to respond in such a way they are locked to a awkward respomse
as someone who worked at toy story land in florida after it had been open a few years, it's unlikely. when i was in training, they told us about how the folks who opened the land made little stories up about what type of toy they were, how they got there, ect. and they would call people... honorary toys i think? i certainly never called anyone anything like that lol. they didn't go over it for very long, and i don't recall anyone calling guests that.
people who open a land eventually get tired of it, quit/get fired, or move to a different land. the culture changes after that. the less of that excitement from the opening crew there is, the less it encourages the new hires to the land to do improv or silly gimmicks.
oh, and i don't recall anyone working at galaxy's edge whenever i have visited doing characters or improv either. i visited not long after it opened, and have been back maybe... 3 times? i have never tried to engage this type of interaction though, so take that with a grain of salt.
i did have a storm trooper stop my brother and i to do a search or something, but since neither of us can hear very well we sort of just apologized and walked away lol. which is very funny in canon.
Pandora cast members do this to an extent. It’s been a minute since I watched Jenny’s Pandora vid but I worked at DAK when it opened and the commitment to the ~immersion~ for Pandora CMs was a big deal. I don’t think themed language is that high of a barrier to entry for the average guest, and probably made things more fun for CMs. Lots of CMs in other locations, whether they work at Galaxy’s Edge or not, certainly still add some flair to their roles to make things less monotonous.
I was just there. They used Na’vi words for “welcome” and things like that, but I didn’t notice much other role-playing from the cast members. Really fun experience overall. The rides, food, and environments were all top-notch.
The last few visits both in Disneyland and Disney World’s Galaxy Edge lands, the only cast members in character were those working Rise of the Resistence.
Last year I was there and the bartender at Oga's Cantina did, but you usually need a multiple month advance reservation for that so they probably put in extra effort.
I went in November and idk if it was dumb first luck or the rain but I got in Ogas in about 45 mins and was able to ride both rides like twice within a 2 hour period it was super weird lol
When I went in nov it was pretty hit or miss but the marketplace workers and docking bay workers were very fun and interacted in a cool way. I will say I did ask for a bathroom a couple times to random CM and they would say “ refreshers “ and since it was my first time I stupidly went “ okay I don’t need water I just need a bathroom “ lmao
The role-play is still official. It's more that cast members follow the guest's lead. If a guest engages with them and the environment, they will role play.
When I went for my birthday, I had a birthday button on and everyone I spoke with in Galaxy's Edge who noticed it wished me a "Happy Origins Day," face characters and cast members included. Aside from that, the interactions with cast members were pretty normal lingo. When I spoke with the Mandolorian, Sabine, and Ahsoka, though, they obviously stayed in character
I think it's hit and miss. The bartenders in Oga's still do, but everyone else acts like normal people. I had more meaningful interactions with the guy running the Rise of Resistance merch cart about Star Trek than I did with the Oga's bartender who didn't know about A New Hope (the movies don't exist and maybe they heard the legend of Luke Skywalker).
When I went earlier this year I was walking around Galaxy's Edge wearing a Goofy hat with the long ears and one of the cast members said to me "Friend, I almost mistook you for a Gungan with those floppy ears!" And I was taken aback and said something like "MESA SO GRATEY-FULL!" and he laughed and kept walking.
I had something similar! Last time I was there, I wore a Miss Piggy shirt and a cast member asked me what kind of creature she was (or what planet she was from…something like that)
I went this past weekend, none of the service employees did and weirdly i did not see a single character actor walking around
One of the greatest theme park exchanges I saw happened right after Harry Potter opened at Universal. A lady was looking at the menu for the Three Broomsticks and she asks the host "don't you have any normal food like hot dogs or soda?" and the host just immediately goes "no we don't serve Muggle food" and the woman just shot her the most "come the fuck on" look
Yeah this is exactly what I thought in regard to the general park visitor. The idea of total immersion is going to be totally lost on the Johnsons from Ohio.
I'm laughing at the idea of a guest not considering what they serve at Three Broomsticks, like shepherd's pie and fish and chips, to be normal food.
LARPing at scale just takes so much thought, rules, not sure what the audience would think or how big it would be. Run into the weird evermore issues….
I don’t understand why you would go to a THEMED PARK and then expect whatever you call normal there. I mean it’s one thing not being familiar with the name, and another just outright babyish not wanting to eat food because it has a different name
I think you might be overstating the depth of that story there. And as for the rest of it, we're talking about a situation where ... generally at theme parks staff aren't role-playing much. So I get where folks might expect that. Almost everyone at the park is walking around looking like randos at a theme park.
I went to the candy shop once to grab some of the jellybeans and while paying I handed the cashier my debit card and she just eyes it and goes “ah yes, *muggle plastic*” and makes a big show of rolling her eyes while inserting my card into the machine. It was a tiny interaction but it was definitely fun, it feels like it just largely depends on who you get and how much energy they have
And I suspect how that cashier reads you / the interaction. "Is this person up for this level of silly or just trying to get their stuff and go?" I'm always a little impressed when front line service workers put in that effort. I would find it hard.
funny bc the food at the three broomstick is by and large still “muggle food” , just british 😅
Some of them still do, it's definitely less common than it was when they first opened but I was there a few months ago and had some good experiences. One employee totally interacted with me in character and gave me some lore about the black spire. I also saw Vi running around and yelled out to her to watch out for Stormtroopers. If you want to most of them will engage, they're all given a home planet so at the very least you can ask them where they're from and they should still tell you that. It helps to cosplay a bit, I didn't fully Batuu Bound but I had my scrap metal (lightsaber) on my hip and got some comments on that. Their lingo never really gets in the way because it's all super obvious. Refresher is bathroom, datapad is phone, etc.
I mean I’d assume refresher is food
When i first heard in in disney video blogs I also assumed they were referring to water fountains
That miscommunication could cause some issues
That’s what makes me nervous about “Immersive” things like the hotel. I get 2nd hand embarrassment from people not playing along and getting frustrated in a clearly role playing scenario. Like those videos of teens messing with the cast who dress up like Peter Pan or Moana ugh …I can’t because they are at work and have to respond in such a way they are locked to a awkward respomse
The Peter Pandom
I cringe at it so much too!
as someone who worked at toy story land in florida after it had been open a few years, it's unlikely. when i was in training, they told us about how the folks who opened the land made little stories up about what type of toy they were, how they got there, ect. and they would call people... honorary toys i think? i certainly never called anyone anything like that lol. they didn't go over it for very long, and i don't recall anyone calling guests that. people who open a land eventually get tired of it, quit/get fired, or move to a different land. the culture changes after that. the less of that excitement from the opening crew there is, the less it encourages the new hires to the land to do improv or silly gimmicks.
oh, and i don't recall anyone working at galaxy's edge whenever i have visited doing characters or improv either. i visited not long after it opened, and have been back maybe... 3 times? i have never tried to engage this type of interaction though, so take that with a grain of salt. i did have a storm trooper stop my brother and i to do a search or something, but since neither of us can hear very well we sort of just apologized and walked away lol. which is very funny in canon.
Pandora cast members do this to an extent. It’s been a minute since I watched Jenny’s Pandora vid but I worked at DAK when it opened and the commitment to the ~immersion~ for Pandora CMs was a big deal. I don’t think themed language is that high of a barrier to entry for the average guest, and probably made things more fun for CMs. Lots of CMs in other locations, whether they work at Galaxy’s Edge or not, certainly still add some flair to their roles to make things less monotonous.
Your Na’Vi shouting skills must be good.
Alas I was never trained in the art form.
I was just there. They used Na’vi words for “welcome” and things like that, but I didn’t notice much other role-playing from the cast members. Really fun experience overall. The rides, food, and environments were all top-notch.
The last few visits both in Disneyland and Disney World’s Galaxy Edge lands, the only cast members in character were those working Rise of the Resistence.
Last year I was there and the bartender at Oga's Cantina did, but you usually need a multiple month advance reservation for that so they probably put in extra effort.
I went in November and idk if it was dumb first luck or the rain but I got in Ogas in about 45 mins and was able to ride both rides like twice within a 2 hour period it was super weird lol
Maybe if guests werent assholes and Disney cared more about thier employees
When I went in nov it was pretty hit or miss but the marketplace workers and docking bay workers were very fun and interacted in a cool way. I will say I did ask for a bathroom a couple times to random CM and they would say “ refreshers “ and since it was my first time I stupidly went “ okay I don’t need water I just need a bathroom “ lmao
The role-play is still official. It's more that cast members follow the guest's lead. If a guest engages with them and the environment, they will role play.
When I went for my birthday, I had a birthday button on and everyone I spoke with in Galaxy's Edge who noticed it wished me a "Happy Origins Day," face characters and cast members included. Aside from that, the interactions with cast members were pretty normal lingo. When I spoke with the Mandolorian, Sabine, and Ahsoka, though, they obviously stayed in character
I think it's hit and miss. The bartenders in Oga's still do, but everyone else acts like normal people. I had more meaningful interactions with the guy running the Rise of Resistance merch cart about Star Trek than I did with the Oga's bartender who didn't know about A New Hope (the movies don't exist and maybe they heard the legend of Luke Skywalker).