Kimmi and the Themed Holiday Greetings -- Remembering Kimmi

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Date Posted: 02:33:46 01/31/06 Tue
Author: Troy C. Porter
Subject: Kimmi and the Themed Holiday Greetings

Okay, I've got another one, just because this is so damn therapeutic.

In the late 1990's WDI started publishing these booklets of "Themed Holiday Greetings" we were theoretically supposed to say to the guests at Christmastime. I found them to be hilariously funny, and I would have the wonderful Marion Dean print me out a few extra copies to share with friends like Kim and Elaine and Brad Lee. Each land in Disneyland had dozens and dozens of "greetings" and "suggested guest interactions" drafted for area hosts and hostesses to engage our guests with, and they were pure comedy.

About the second year WDI did this, the "suggested" greetings and sayings became ridiculous to the point where no one who was sane and sober could ever in a million years utter these sayings with a straight face. This was the year that people working in Frontierland were supposed to greet people by saying "Ho-Ho-Howdy!" for example. There was also a "guest interaction" that had a CM going up to a person and saying "You look familiar, have you spent the Holidays at Disneyland before?" Hopefully the guest would say yes, because you were then supposed to respond by saying "I thought you looked familiar, welcome home!". Amazing, but true.

Every November I would share these suggested Holiday greetings and interactions with Kim, and she always looked forward to them as a sure sign that Christmas was coming. She masterfully distilled the entire "have you spent the Holidays at Disneyland before" gag into one simple statement. Standing at Group, whenever an obnoxious guest would answer her "How many?" question with "We want the front!", she would smile broadly at them and say "Welcome Home!" while sweeping her hand towards row one.

That was also the year where the greetings for New Orleans Square Cast Members were playing up the food offerings in the NOS restaurants, and one of the suggested ways to interact with guests was to ask them "Have you tried our holiday popcorn balls?".

Kim loved that popcorn balls one a little too much. And one afternoon I was at Unload, while Kim was in the Tower dispatching (back in the days when we dispatched from the Tower). A big group of about 30 Korean tourists all piled into the boat designed to seat 22, and they were very patiently and politely sitting there like sardines ready to set sail in that plastic boat.

I pressed my enable button and the green light came on, but for some reason the boat didn't move. Kim was in the Tower, so I knew that the boats would be moving the second the enable was given, unlike some coworkers who used the Tower position to space out and would forget to dispatch on time. But 5 seconds went by, and still the boats weren't moving. I finally glanced up at the Tower, trying not to make it obvious that I was looking at Kim to see what was going on since I didn't want her to think I didn't trust her. And to my amazement Kim was staring down at me with a grin on her face, just watching me. I looked around, the Unload dock was empty, the horseshoe was backing up, and all of those Koreans were politely sitting there waiting and looking at me.

After a few more uncomfortable moments, I finally looked right at Kim with a quizical face, and she started nodding her head back and forth. She finally leaned out of the Tower and said loudly "You didn't ask them yet!". My heart sank. I shook my head in fear and mouthed to her "Oh God, no!" She wouldn't take that for an answer, and she yelled back at me again, this time more loudly, "You didn't ask them yet!". She started laughing and shrugged her shoulders, making it very clear that the boat wasn't going to move until I engaged the Korean tourists in a WDI approved Holiday greeting. The Koreans looked up at Kim, back at me, then back up at Kim trying to figure out what was going on.

I took a deep breath, and Kim leaned out of the Tower with her hand cupped to her ear, and I said as loudly as possible to the tourists sitting in the boat "HAVE YOU TRIED OUR HOLIDAY POPCORN BALLS?!". The Koreans all looked at me like I was a crazy American, one man in row two snapped my picture, and Kim laughed hysterically as she punched the dispatch button and the boat thankfully launched out of the station.

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Replies:

Re: Kimmi and the Themed Holiday Greetings -- Heidi Steelmon, 10:09:02 01/31/06 Tue