Disney Redesigns Uniforms for Park Staff

ANAHEIM, Calif. (UPI) – It may be a small world after all, as the Disneyland song goes, but costumes worn by "cast members" at Disney theme parks are getting larger. A mass redesign is under way for uniforms worn by the theme park's ride operators, shop clerks, waitresses and other staff, the Orlando Sentinel reported Thursday. The strict and conservative weight rules set down 50 years ago governing Disney staff just don't hold water any more, the newspaper noted. A clause in employee contracts that requires medical leave for those "unable to maintain their physical proportions" is no longer enforced. Low wages and job demands have forced Disney to lower its standards considerably, experts said. "Disneyland can't be as picky as it used to be," said Jamie O'Boyle, a theme-park scholar at the Center for Cultural Studies & Analysis in Philadelphia. "Obesity is the issue du jour," Bill O'Brien, a Minneapolis-based employment attorney, told the newspaper. "It's everywhere you turn." So, come this summer, look for longer skirts and looser jackets, the Sentinel said.