Another Installment of BUPIX

It's time for more Bupix™, courtesy of GDB friend Bu. He was a Tour Guide back in the 1980s, and he has lots of stories of his days in the thick of it. As usual, Bu has provided detailed commentary for each photo, which makes them more fun. LET'S GO!

All of these photos were taken in City Hall on the first floor.  I’m not sure what is here now, and everyone has told me “offices”…right…  The phone room and lead desk were behind the reception desk up front.  The lead desk was also in this room: the other lead had their own office down the way….that lead was the “desk” lead: meaning the one who assigned tours and was stationed at the desk in the Tour Garden.  When you are not giving tours, you are answering the phone: the information line: not the PBX... that is for the ladies above Mr. Lincoln: and I think PDX is STILL there.   I’m not sure Dottie is still around, but when you hear “Disneyland, this is Dottie….it sounds EXACTLY like Dottie should sound.

Pic #1 - This is Kellie and you would have met her in a few other installations of BuPix™.   From Coke Terrace to bomb shell TG’s.  Stay tuned for more of Kelly.  At her phone carol (this is what it was called, but the spelling may be off: someone help…) there is the medium size Park Operating Calendar: complete with attendance projections….there was another large wall size version that was plastic coated, and also a wallet version as well.   Not all of these had attendance projections as those were “secret”.  We could say “this will be a light day in the park” or “that will be very busy, it’s best if you choose another”….saying 14,000 people FREAKS people out….and 14K is a super duper über light day.   Guests have no context, and supplying numbers lengthens phone calls just trying to explain attendance.   Phone should be answered in two rings or less.  People are “calling long distance” and should not be on hold.   Note to all: EVERYONE is calling long distance: this is the 80’s.  Even calling from Newport Beach would be “long distance”…maybe not from like London or something, but still costing more than Lemon St, Anaheim 92801.  You can see a small snippet of the white erase board behind Kellie. The information latest and greatest.   It’s my handwriting, so I must have been lead that day.  We updated this every morning, every day.   If I remember correctly, it was a chalk board when I started.  Beyond Kellie is the supervisor office: used for many things including crying, writing people up, numerous disciplinary action, guest complaints, VIP Disneyland Official Guest Book/Photo…and meetings…maybe meetings….another one of these photos shows another use…I got my reviews in this office, and certainly written up, but no tears.

Next photo is Rosemary .  Some interesting things about this photo: the drapes: I remember they were old and dusty and we were NOT allowed to open them for any circumstance.  This is actually the back side of City Hall and those windows went to the little alley behind, with the Jungle Cruise “shotgun” scene right there.  I think they didn’t want the windows in view because they didn’t want the ladies to be flirting with the Main St. Vehicle guys or something: Generally there was a horse or two back there, and where the street car “garage” was.  Horsies went back to the ranch after work, but hung out here during parades and such, and during their shift change.  They only worked 4 hours and day.  They got some snacks back here as well, and it was nice to go back there and do some petting now and again.  The pony farm guys were kind of gruff, but one married a TG.  [On the shelf is one of] the “new” phones (the old ones were the ones with “hold please” buttons) and although I liked the “click click click” of those, the new phones rang in order (so not the same person was answering the phone: some were lazy and would let it ring….and also there was a recording switch in case of bomb threats that were put in after some disturbance that no one spoke of, but was “water cooler” talk.   I used the switch once for something: I don’t remember if it was a bomb or just a general threat.  But it did involve some investigation of sorts…will have to do a memory deep dive on that.   That plastic Rolodex thing is what we would look up frequently asked questions: numbers to Grey Line, The Disneyland hotel, etc etc etc.  People called us for EVERYTHING…even things that had nothing to do with Disneyland or anything else.  That phone room could have been a TV show.  Also on that shelf if you look closely is some sort of doodling…Goofy…I think.  This was not the artist in the bunch…so perhaps the person that sat before.  Another odd thing is the paper under the Rolodex thing.   It’s a “Statement” form.  Something to document something that happened.  Very odd, but I recognize the paper.  Appearance guidelines dictated no eyeliner, and no french manicures….yup….as long as you could pull it off, we all turned away.  One TG wore way too much rouge and she looked like “Mrs. Candy Apple Face” one day, so we had to take her aside.  The boys got away with NOTHING.

Pic 3 is Kellie again, with Michele: who was Jim Cora’s daughter and a buddy of mine.  Alas: she is no longer with us: gone way too soon: what a fun gal she was.  Her mom was also a Tour Guide decades prior.  Kellie seems to be modeling some sticker or something that says “California”.   This may be from State Fair days…hmmmm….don’t know…but we were always subjected to do these tasks: like organizing stickers and whatnot….and other things that promotions/PR/et al would give us to do.  We were non union, so we did it all and more.  This was a guest facing office, hence the wood grain walls (all painted: not real grain) and Victorian style decor.  This is now part of the bigger lobby of City Hall where God knows what happens any more.

The last photo is of me holding another TG’s sweet baby.  Yes: babysitting duties ensued whilst reciting "$12 for an adult and 9 for children ages 3 through 11.”   I don’t remember why we have defiled Walt’s picture so…some stickers or something.  I’d like to say “it wasn’t me!” but….I would probably be the first in line for any controlled shenanigans.  It seems with the number of execs that would stroll through this room every day, that we should be so rebellious….perhaps it’s a shadow?   That was a new piece of artwork.  Things tended to show up over night on the wall.  If there wasn’t any room for art/a proclamation/et.al.  it would end up in the phone room or the TG lounge.  Behind me you can see the Walt Disney Co phone book in white, and the binders were Lead things.   Perhaps my desk was being used by someone else and they forwarded me the lead line here (?)   You can see the “bomb switch” there on the left of the phone.  My vest is unbuttoned: more craziness.  This HAD to have been past operating hours when no guests were in the Park.  That is a giant diamond ring on my finger.  Later, I hocked it because I needed tires.  I must have just come from vacation or time off or something as i am slightly burnt.  The guy behind me: I forgot his name, but he went on to a long career as a flight attendant.  He didn’t want photo’s of himself taken.  Unlike the rest of the ego crew who would push you over to get into the frame.  40 years later, we all still smile on cue.

I was instrumental in getting new chairs for the phone room.  The old orange ones were in super bad shape: they were from the 70’s, and I developed a bad back as a result.  I was put in charge of picking out new: they were $2500 each.  This was in the 80’s….so they were EXPENSIVE, but had great lower back support.  FIGHTING FOR THE PEOPLE!!!  The old ones are probably in someone’s garage.  Nothing at Disneyland was thrown away.

I hope you all had fun with this latest batch of Bupix! Many thanks to Bu for sharing these and for his wonderful commentary.