The 'Disney Look' to be further relaxed at Walt Disney World

Oct 22, 2019 in "The Walt Disney Company"

Posted: Tuesday October 22, 2019 8:30am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney World will be relaxing some of its "Disney Look" guidelines for its costumed Cast Members at the US based parks later this month.

According to those familiar with the situation, beginning October 28, Cast Members will be able to wear a single bracelet and a single necklace, including a pendant an inch or less in size.

Cast Members will also be to grow facial hair to an inch, and can have visible stubble while it is growing. Previously introduced in 2012, any beard growth would have to be done during vacation time to avoid the stubble look, and limited to a quarter inch.

The famous "Disney Look" dates back to the late 1950's and was strictly enforced for decades. Originally, a clean shave and neat haircuts were an absolute requirement to work at the parks.

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phillip9698Nov 09, 2019

Most people shave as part of a bathing routine. It would be weird to bathe in the morning, go about your day, then come back and shave before heading to work. When I worked third shift I didn't wake up until 8pm so I bathed and shaved then.

CircusPeanutsNov 09, 2019

Or... you know... you could have shaved right before you went into work like the rest of us as opposed to shaving in the morning and then being shocked when it grew in when you worked in the afternoon...

Rich BrownnNov 08, 2019

Wow, I only got 1 day of training for Grand Prix. The longest training I had was for monorails (five days). Pirates was 3. And back then there was none of this separate "control" training. You got trained on every position at once. (I will admit my monorail training was scary. My trainer lit up the announcietor panel and said "See all those light? In five days you will know what each one means... or you'll be taking tickets...") Jungle took a while to get comfortable doing the spiel... which, unfortunately, 40+ years later, I can still do.

Prince-1Nov 08, 2019

Ooohhh, a swing and a miss.

castlecake2.0Nov 08, 2019

When when I started 10 years ago traditions was only a day, followed by almost 2 weeks of on the job training, I thought it was never going to end

Rich BrownnNov 08, 2019

It was only a day for Traditions when I worked there .... in 1974. Also this insn;t the first -- or even second time -- standards have been changed.

TrainsOfDisneyNov 07, 2019

??? So you were agreeing with my post that you quoted?

Brad BishopNov 07, 2019

...and that's where the market steps in. Don't want to shave and work for Disney? That's fine. go work somewhere else. Can't find a clean cut employee? Either pay more to find / lure them over OR change your standards. ...at the end of the day this is about money. Disney doesn't want to pay more for employees so they'll just change their standards. I heard, I forget where, that the "Disney Traditions" course that they used to give to all employees which would take a week is down to something like 4 hours now. It's really just a matter of time until it's gone. THIS Disney is not Walt's Disney and this Disney only thinks about today's bottom line.

Kram SaculNov 07, 2019

Backstage vs on stage. The weird creative people are allowed to have their quirks.

No NameNov 07, 2019

I was reading this thread and this ad came up at the bottom of the page. Point being, some people might look better with facial hair!

Jedi StitchNov 06, 2019

Ok, well I guess we will have to come back to this in how ever much time to figure if my jab at humor was satire or a bad joke?

FlswimmerNov 02, 2019

So I can personally comment on this. When I was a part of the Disneyland College Program in Spring of 2018, there were several times where I shaved in the morning, and then had to work in the afternoon. Since my facial hair grows pretty fast, I would sometimes have a very slight five o clock shadow. Most of the supervisors were fine with it, but I had one specific one who would see it before I clocked in(or after), and gave me a razor and shaving cream to shave again. And if I was already clocked in, he'd make me clock out, shave, and then clock back in when done(and adjusting the time on the time clock), making me late twice(since he often wasn't there until close to the time when my shift ended up starting). And since I always had used an electric razor or trimmer before that, I had one or two times where I was rushing and cut myself, I needed a small bandaid two of the times, and then one of the times I got sent home because a small bandaid wasn't considered "Disney Look" by him. I was never opposed to following "Disney Look", or remaining "neat" at all, but some supervisors take things way too far. So glad to see that there's some slightly improved guidelines regarding this. Though if I do another program or work at Disney World at a later date i'm going to just have a maintained beard before I get there most likely, it's nice to know I have the option of growing it in, without worrying about things like this

TrainsOfDisneyNov 01, 2019

Why should he be held to a different standard than other imagineers? I’ve met imagineers with blue hair, visible tattoos, nose rings, etc.

lazyboy97oNov 01, 2019

The Cleavers were not opposed to accessorizing and jewelry.