Page 16 - IAV Digital Magazine #582

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People Do Poop, In Ride Lines In Disneyland And Disney World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c0ElBgL9wE
By Katie Dowd
It sounds too disgust- ing, too outlandish to be real. A Disneyland urban legend of the gross-out variety: that people are dropping trou and pooping where they stand while in line for rides. But unfortunately for the weak-stomached, this rumor is absolute- ly real.
Twice in the last month, posters on the Disney World subred- dit commented in fury and horror about the cursed things they said they’d seen while waiting in line. “I am in the queue for [Rise of the Resistance] - someone let their kid take a dump on the floor and then they just walked out and left it- WTF?” one
wrote recently.
That fecal sighting was supported almost in real time by a com- menter who said they worked at the attrac- tion. “For the skep- tics... this actually happened. Fun fact: this was one of 3 s— t-related incidents at Rise today. Less fun fact: I was here for all 3 of them,” a user responded.
On another thread, a commenter bemoane d the behavior of park guests at the wildly popular
attraction Flight of Passage. “Bodily flu- ids no longer bother me after working at Disney,” they wrote. “Let's just say that the attraction I work at has what the cast ended up dubbing 'the
poop hall' because of the amount of times guests have gone in there and pooped. We even put up a camera and it didn't stop it.”
“Good lord the poop hallway,” another commenter respond- ed, adding, “... from a former flight CM this absolutely gives me war flashbacks ... I dealt with way too many bodily fluids at that dang attraction.”
Two former Disneyland custodial team workers have also written about this unsavory topic in their book “Cleaning the Kingdom: Insider Tales of Keeping Walt’s Dream Spotless.” In the chapter titled “Disgusting Things,”
former “cast mem- bers” (as employees are referred to in company parlance) Ken Pellman and Lynn Barron reveal there’s even a name for such happenings: “Human Code H.”
A Code H, according to the authors, origi- nally referred to “horsecrap.” A Code H meant a custodial worker needed to clean up after one of the horses pulling a Main Street vehicle did its business. The term was later modi- fied to reflect a bowel movement of the human variety (and in case you’re thinking this is a pandemic- induced phenomenon, Pellman and Barron worked in the park primarily in the 1990s and early 2000s).
Their gnarliest
story — turn back here if you’re feeling queasy ... although you did willingly click on an article about Disney poopers so you’re probably here for the horror sto- ries — occurred
at Indiana Jones Adventure in Disneyland.
“There’s a pair of indi- vidual-use restrooms
just backstage from the north unload,” Pellman writes. “It was mainly for cast members, but guests could and did use it. A woman who did not know this burst into the control room for the attraction and deposited her gift right there. ... It must have been challeng- ing for the ride opera- tor to stay at their post in there before it was all cleaned up!”
Should you feel the unstoppable call of nature while waiting in line, don’t do what those folks did. Some rides with notoriously long waits, like Flight of Passage, actually have a restroom mid- queue. Just speak with the nearest cast member about where to find the closest bathroom. Even if you have to leave the line, you can politely explain your circum- stances and ask to rejoin your party upon your return. The cast member at the ride entrance would likely much rather accom- modate that courte- ous request than have to call in the jan- itors for a Human Code H.
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