Magic Kingdom shuts down for a night to honor longtime employees
The guests were ushered out as Magic Kingdom — the world’s busiest theme park — shut down at the unusually early hour of 4:30 p.m.
No weddings or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party or any other late-night moneymakers were happening. Instead, some Disney employees had the amusement park all to themselves Monday. “Closing the parks early is kind of amazing,” said Dar Stewart, a Disney vice president in human resources.
The company invited about 4,500 longtime employees to a night out at the park with their plus-ones.
“It’s really about celebrating our cast,” said Stewart, who helps plan the annual event honoring veteran staffers. “They’re the heart of everything we do.”
The employees, some of whom have worked for the company for their entire adult lives, walked down 400 feet of red carpet laid on Main Street USA leading up to the iconic Cinderella Castle. One woman blew kisses as she strode past on the ruby fabric.
Several wore long sparkly dresses and high heels. At least one man wore a tuxedo.
About 150 other Disney em-
ployees cheered them on like it was the finish line at a race.
Ervin “E.B.” Bracy felt like a star, saying he couldn’t believe this was just for him.
“I feel like I am the guest,” said Bracy, 65, of Gotha in Orange County. “The role has changed.”
Since 1973, he worked the same job at the same place: A bellman at the Polynesian Village Resort.
During those 45 years, he has met celebrities — although he kept their names secret like a gentleman, refusing to identify any when a reporter asked.
He has greeted families, watched their children grow up and then return with little ones of their own. Some remembered him, he said.
He met his future wife there.
She was the one sitting alone in the employee break room, her head in the books. At the time, she juggled Valencia College with her job at Disney.
“She had these beautiful brown eyes. She had these tortoise-shell glasses on,” Bracy said. “When she looked up and she smiled the world just glowed at the moment.”
Roxanne and E.B. Bracy, now married for 29 years, walked the red carpet together before they ate dinner inside Cinderella Castle.
The rides were open that night with no tourists clogging the lines. Shrimp and dessert buffets were set up in Frontierland. Elsewhere around the park, a DJ played and there was country line and Latin dancing. A special fireworks show, different from the other nights, lit up the sky.
“It makes a big difference when you like what you’re doing,” Bracy said. “Time goes by really fast.”
He’s not thinking of retiring anytime soon.
“I hear more of it from my wife and daughter than anybody else,” Bracy said. “What am I going to do sitting around?”
The annual tradition of honoring employees’ hire milestones dates as far back to Disneyland in 1965, Stewart said.
The attendees at Monday’s event in Orlando included nearly 200 people who have worked for Walt Disney Company for 40 or 45 years. One has stayed for 55 years.
All invited guests had at least 10 years under their belts. Others were celebrating their hiring anniversaries in five-year increments after that.
Charlie Joiner, 58, of Oakland, hit his 40th year at Walt Disney World.
He is a custodial manager at the Magic Kingdom, the same place where he also met his wife when he cooked hamburgers near where she scooped ice cream on Main Street USA when they were both shy teenagers in 1978.
Being back at Disney with all the other veteran employees sort of felt like a big high school reunion, Joiner said.
“We might take in a ride or two,” Joiner said before he arrived with his wife, Theresa. “We may just relax and take our time and walk around and feel the moment.”