Ever Wonder Where Disney Cast Members Eat and What They Do on Their Breaks?

Have you ever noticed that you don’t see Disney Cast Members who are off duty? You don’t see them entering or leaving the parks, resting and taking breaks, or even eating a meal. Cast Members are another magical part of the Disney Parks. You either see them at their designated posts or you don’t see them at all.

How is this possible? With so many Cast Members that are needed to help the parks run smoothly, how is it that they are only seen during their shifts? Where do they go? How do they get around? Why do we not see them?

Of course, no one expects to see characters out and about when they aren’t on the clock. The magic would be a bit lost if we all saw Mickey walking around with his head in one hand and a churro in the other. However, the same thought process is applied to all Cast Members. To keep the magic alive, you won’t see Cast Members during their breaks. Just like seeing Mickey on break, it would also take away from the experience if you saw a usually glum Haunted Mansion Maid smiling and having a laugh with her friends while relaxing on a park bench.

In this article, I’m going to give you an inside look at the life of Disney Cast Members. Follow along to learn more about what it’s like for Cast Members when they aren’t on the clock and making magic happen for all of us.

The Reason You Won't See Off Duty Cast Members

To better understand, let’s first go over some Disney Parks terminology. Why are Disney employees referred to as Cast Members? The term Cast Member came into play because Walt wanted his parks to be an imaginative and cinematic experience for his Guests.

When you visit Disneyland or Disney World, as soon as you enter the parks, you are transported into another world and are now part of the show. You become an audience member and everything else around you is part of the production.

Every area that you are able to walk to, experience, and enjoy is considered “onstage”. The employees are considered part of the cast, thus the title “Cast Member”. All of the areas that you, the Guest, don’t have access to and can’t see are referred to as “backstage”.

It was important to Walt that a perfect performance was always on display for the Guests. If anything was out of place or simply not right, it would ruin the Guest experience. Walt seemingly had his own experience where an out of place Cast Member jarred the overall feel of a land.

As the story goes, Walt was in Tomorrowland when he saw a Cast Member dressed as a cowboy walk by. This cowboy was on his way to his shift in Frontierland, but was obviously a very obscure sight in Tomorrowland. Seeing a cowboy in a land that is seamlessly designed with a futuristic feel was a very simple way to distract Guests from the illusion that they were meant to be a part of. This experience is what led Walt to make the decision to incorporate a utilidor system in Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.

Utilidor System

The utilidor is a system of tunnels that runs below Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. These tunnels are used for things such as Cast Members commutes from one location to another, transportation of food and costumes, waste disposal, office spaces, break rooms, and more. Essentially, every backstage activity that Disney doesn’t want you to see, takes place underneath the Guests in the utilidors.

A common misconception is that these tunnels are underground. However, they are actually on ground level and Magic Kingdom was built on top of them as the 2nd story. Cast Members can make their way from one end of the park to the other without ever being seen by the Guests up above.

Magic Kingdom is the only Disney Park that has a full system of tunnels underneath it. However, there is one other park that also has a tunnel and that’s EPCOT. Unlike Magic Kingdom, EPCOT’s tunnel doesn’t spread across the entire park. Instead, the EPCOT tunnel only covers a portion of the park. It does however serve a similar purpose as the utilidors in Magic Kingdom.

How Do Cast Members Get In and Out of the Parks?

The separation of onstage and backstage areas comes into play again for Cast Members who are coming and going from work. Cast Members don’t simply park their cars with the Guests and walk through the front gate. Instead, they have specified Cast Member parking locations. However, once Cast Members are parked, they aren’t able to walk right into the parks. For the most part, the Cast Member parking lots are in areas that are located away from the parks.

When Magic Kingdom Cast Members arrive, they will park in the Cast Member parking lot and then board a bus. From the lot, they will be taken to the entrance of the utilidors. Once they are in the tunnels, they will be able to walk to whichever area of the park they are working at that day.

After EPCOT and Hollywood Studios Cast Members are parked, they will need to go into a Cast Services building. From here, they can take a bus around the perimeter of the park to their designated work locations. They can also walk or ride a bike if they’d rather.

Animal Kingdom Cast Members have it slightly easier. Their Cast Member parking lot is much closer than the lots at the other parks. After parking, some Cast Members may enter towards the front of the park if they work in the front. If not, there is a backstage entrance towards the back of the park that they can walk to.

👉🏼 For more information on Disney World parking, check out our FULL GUIDE here!

Disneyland Cast Members also have a designated parking area. After they arrive, they enter through a Cast Member entrance that is located on Harbor Boulevard.

Cast Member Breaks

Just like any other job, Disney Cast Members get breaks throughout their shift. The amount of time they get for a break depends on the length of their shift. If they’re working a short shift, they will generally receive a 30 minute break (sometimes split into two 15 minute breaks). As their shifts become longer, so does the amount of time they receive for breaks. They can progress to two 30 minute breaks, two 30 minute breaks with one 15 minute break, or three 30 minute breaks if they’re working a long shift. Besides their regular breaks, Cast Members are also allotted time for lunch.

Again, when they’re on their breaks or lunch, they aren’t able to just wander out into the crowd as a Disney Cast Member. So what do they do? Where do they go? On Reddit, many Disney Cast Members have given insight on how breaks work for them. When asked where they go and what they do on breaks, here’s what some Disney Cast Members had to say.

“Depends on your location. There are main cast cafeterias in every park, but usually only one big one with maybe 2-3 small ones. There are break rooms everywhere on property. Most attractions / restaurant / merchandise locations have them. Sometimes you only get 15 minute breaks though, and sometimes the 30 minutes isn’t enough to walk all the way across the park (if your location is far from the main cafeteria) to get food. In AK they have a backstage window for the canteen in pandora where you can get discounted food.

Most break rooms have vending machines or a little snack shop that has some frozen meal options but again this depends on location. I highly suggest bringing your own food though. Saves a lot of money!”

Jef Wheaton, another Disney Cast Member, also added,

“The Magic Kingdom Cafeteria was basically directly beneath Pinocchio Village Haus, but there were small break rooms scattered around that had vending machines and a microwave. You could bring your own food in.

I was in Frontierland Foods. Our break room was up the hall between the Country Bears and Pecos Bill. There was a set of stairs that led to the maintenance area for the Tiki Room chandelier. You could hear the music from the show all the time.

There was a break room under the castle. It had a framed map from very early in the park's history (possibly even opening year). It was neat to see all the stuff that was gone even then, like the Swan Boats in the castle moat.”

A third Cast Member said,

“Every park has a main cafeteria. Lots of places have their own break rooms. Some small snack stores back stage. You have to eat back stage. Lots of people bring their own food. Break rooms have a refrigerator and microwaves. Lunch breaks are based on hours worked. 8 hours you’d get an hour. 6-7 hours you get a 45. Less than that just a 15 min. Lots of people would ask to extend an hour or 2 to get that extra lunch break time.”

What Do Cast Members Eat?

As the previously quoted Cast Members shared, there’s not a lot of time to work with during their breaks. Oftentimes, Cast Members bring their own food to work. This gives them time to actually eat their food as opposed to using a good amount of time to simply retrieve their food.

While they aren’t allowed to go onstage in their costume during their break, they are allowed to go out if they aren’t costumed. However, this is not only tedious, but it can also become costly. Disney food isn’t cheap!

There are times though when Cast Members decide to venture out during their breaks to grab some Disney food. Who can blame them? I wouldn’t be able to resist those tasty meals and snacks!

🏰 Click here to find out our TOP 15 Favorite Disney World desserts. These are the best of the best!

Devin Melendly, a former Disney Cast Member and author of the book Devin Earns Her Ears: My Secret Walt Disney World Cast Member Diary, told Business Insider,

“I always loved the Mickey Pretzels. I love hot pretzels, and the Mickey ones were always so huge!”

When Jake Kleckner spoke to Business Insider, he mentioned how there isn’t much time to go out and grab Disney food.

“We don't really have enough time to get out of our costume, run up into the park, get something to eat, and eat it”

That didn’t always stop him though. Kleckner also said,

“A lot of my financial irresponsibility was due to me wanting to eat all the different food at Disney”

In regards to his favorite park food, his favorite dishes can be found at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe. Jake said,

“If someone told me, ‘You can only eat at one restaurant at Disney for the rest of forever,' I would say, ‘Okay. Pecos Bill it is, I guess,' I love being in there, eating the Tex-Mex food, and being in Frontierland. I am such a nerd for Frontierland now.”

Disney Cast Members

For Disney Cast Members, breaks are really just that – a break. They don’t particularly have enough time to do anything. They often don’t even have enough time to go out and get the food that they’d like. Luckily, there are other options provided to them!

Disney goes to great lengths to make sure that they provide their Guests with a superior experience. Cast Members are a big part of this! Their sacrifices and struggles are all made so the performance, show, and illusion of Disney can go on without being disrupted. Cast Members truly are a big part of the magic of Disney.

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