The absolute highlight of my weekend was the Jungle Cruise Skipper Reunion on Saturday night. It was great to reconnect with people I hadn't seen in forever - some of them in at least 13 years. It was a small group but a fun group. It allowed us to catch up on what we had been up to, where we still wanted to go, and all the fun stuff in between. The night was kicked off the right way when Josh Troesh sat down with us, looked at Chad, and asked the one question about Chad's infamous spiel: "What were you thinking?" From there, all we could do is look back and laugh.
For those who don't know, let's skip down memory lane together. (BTW, this is based on my recollection, so others will have different versions of this story.) The summer of 1997 was my first at Disneyland. I split my time between the Jungle Cruise and guest control for "Light Magic." Being so low on the seniority list, I worked closing shifts. This is where I first met the one and only CHAD GORDON. He had been a CT (seasonal) for many years because he was going through law school at the time. He had been there before the Jungle Cruise had been rethemed to the 1930's style in order to marry it with Indiana Jones. He had been there since before the "approved jokes" had been put into place. I was trained with the approved jokes, so I didn't know anything else. He had taken the scenes in the ride and had made his own jokes for them. They were not nasty or inappropriate, but they were topical, ironic, and downright hilarious. I mean, calling the elephant bathing pool the "Republican National Convention?" That's damn funny! (A little birdie named Wikipedia tells me the Republican Party was formed in 1854 and first used the elephant symbol in 1874, but hey, apparently that doesn't work in the 1930s.) Chad was not the only one to use such unique jokes; in fact, many skippers had a set of jokes that were their own. With the exception of Grad Nite jokes, they were off the script but were not inappropriate.
However, there was a man named Bruce Kimbrell to consider. Bruce was the head of the Narrations department, which was the group of attractions that had spiels, such as Jungle Cruise and Storybook. Bruce had a very "my way or the highway" method of running things. He was not so fond of deviations from the script or any form of SOP. He wanted to rule the Jungle Cruise with an iron fist and had certain skippers in place that could keep him informed of the things that were going on when he wasn't there. Unfortunately, Chad is not a skipper who is up for being anyone's puppet. Chad knew he had nothing to lose because he was a skipper for the fun of it and was not afraid of management at all. Most of us who were still teenagers didn't have the same mindset, so it was easier for Bruce to instill some fear in us.
Bruce and Chad were oil and water. There was nothing Bruce could do to control Chad, and that drove him nuts. He had other managers telling Chad that guests were complaining, but everyone knew that was BS. Chad was one of the most complimented skippers on the crew. People waited for his boat. It wasn't that Chad was defiant for the purpose of being a pain in the ass; he just knew the difference between being coached and being bullied by someone on a power trip, and he knew it was all about the latter.
The biggest card Bruce had to play was Chad's status. As a CT, Chad had no seniority and no union protection. As an at-will employee with no union support, Chad really had no leg to stand on. Bruce finally played that card and fired Chad. Chad did not go down lightly and went to the media. Before I came to work that day I knew Chad was fired. This was before we had cell phones, text messages, and Facebook, so word had to travel quickly for me to know before my shift. This was one of the most shocking bits of news I had ever heard because it made me realize that Bruce was not a manager, he was a bully. He wanted to chop the head off the dragon, and he did it. I knew I would never be able to trust him if he was willing to let go of his best skipper because it bruised his own ego.
Unfortunately, it didn't end there. We all met at TGI Friday's over the next few nights, as we usually did after closing. The first night a letter started to circulate from an anonymous source named "Trader Sam" (the nickname for the figure at the end of the ride before approaching the dock) that spelled out everything that was going wrong at the Jungle Cruise. It chronicled Bruce's antics, including sending another manager to hide out in the jungle and spy on skippers giving their spiels. (Too bad that idiot wore a bright pink shirt while he was hiding.) Bruce found out about "Trader Sam" and started harrassing the CT skippers about his identity. Unfortunately, no one was talking. Even if people knew for a fact what was going on, the damage had been done because we could not trust Bruce. Eventually, someone did squeal, and shock of shocks, became a trainer and lead shortly after that. As the next few days bore on and we continued to hang at Friday's, we watched the massacre continue. Anyone who was a CT and was friends with Chad (AKA ALL CT's) were also fired. I remember calling my friend Sarah to confirm something, and she told me she was fired that day too. Her then-boyfriend walked away after that. I think the next day or the day after, I ran into scheduling and asked them to put me on Light Magic Guest Control for the rest of the summer. I was afraid to stay there. Even though I was CR (regular yearly) and subject to union protection, I was only 19 at the time, and if he had fired me I would have taken it. In fact, a couple of months later, someone told Bruce I had shared the story of the summer, and he looked me dead in the eyes and said, "If you were a CT, I would have fired you too." I stayed at Disneyland until 2005 and ran into Bruce periodically, and he never really could look me in the eyes after that. I don't know where Bruce is today (and really don't care), but I don't think he ever got over the threat to his ego that Chad was. He actually thought it was all of us against him, and it wasn't until he made it that way.
Looking back on the different memories of that summer, and from sharing stories, I see that that experience has bonded us for life. When we got together, it was like nothing had changed. Chad still stays in touch with some of them and has now reconnected with more. We can look back on it now and laugh, but that summer helped to shape my understanding of the very bright line that can exist between management and front line employees. And you know what? Fire us, write us up, do whatever you want to us. We are family forever now, and I am so greatful for it.
The reunion not only made me realize that we will be friends forever, but it also made me realize much of how I view myself is in my head. I knew I was an immature brat when I was working there, but I felt like everyone else thought the same thing too. Some did, I'm sure, but others didn't really remember me for that. Debi, one of my favorite people from that time, said, "Amy, I remember your smile." That helped me to relax. If I was young and immature, then we were all young and immature. I always feel like people remember each other from the last time we saw them, but in reality, we remember people the way we want to. If Debi remembers me for my smile, then chances are, others remember me the same way too. Thank you, Debi! You seriously made my day with that one comment.
The reunion was a blast. We all realized we need to do it more often, maybe once a year if possible. Time will only stand in our way if we allow it to. Too many people weren't there that should have been. High schools and fraternities/sororities have reunions; we can too.
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