Welcome back, foolish mortals! I’m back with more tales from my days as a mourning maid of Master Gracey’s.
Welcome back, mortals!
Yes, that’s right. If you’re new around here, my name is Kayleigh, and I used to work at the Haunted Mansion at Disney World. I always tell people that writing for the iconic Disney Food Blog is the best job I’ve ever had, but let’s be honest. It’s a tie between this job and my time at the Mansion. I was a Disney College Program participant in the fall of 2022, so I spend a LOT of my time missing Disney World and haunting the halls of the Spooky Haus. That being said, I LOVE to yap about my Cast Member days. If you haven’t read my first post about working at Mansion, go read that now. If you’re ready to continue the saga, read on!
Here are FIVE really fun confessions of a former Haunted Mansion maid.
I became WAY too emotionally attached to my bat.
I you’re familiar with Haunted Mansion lore, then you likely already know about the bats that the maids wear atop their heads! It’s a rite of passage to name your bat once you’ve gotten your costume and worked your first shift. I decided to name my bat BEVERLY! When people asked me for her name, I always responded, “Her name is Beverly — after the vile, bitter, and disgusting Italian Coke product.” IYKYK.
Me and Beverly Bat on HALLOWEEN!
Anyway, I became WAY too attached to Beverly. I became so attached that she currently resides with me and my husband. 😬 Don’t worry! I am not a thief! Disney charges Cast Members for missing costume pieces, so I’ve answered for Beverly’s kidnapping. (She likes living with me better, though.) Something you might not know about our bats is that they’re basically a big bow attached to a flat cardboard piece, much like you might find in a men’s dress shirt collar. Many maids fixated their bats to their noggins with bobby pins, but I opted to slide it onto a headband so that I could easily take it on and off.
I wore the butler costume to stay warm.
Our costumes are a wool blend if what I’ve been told is correct, so believe me when I say that learning to work in the maid costume without sweating to death was an adjustment. However, once I was adjusted, that was THAT. Once the temperature dropped below 80 degrees, my friends and I were freezing in the maid costume! We all then chose to either wear an overcoat or the butler costume.
Me in the butler costume! And a dusty mirror!
My coat was way too big for me, but boy was this costume comfy. I found it much easier to move around in the pants, and I was much warmer in this outfit as well. I always had to have a coordinator tie my tie for me once I got to work, so that’s why I’m not wearing it here.
Mansion Cast Members get a TOMBSTONE on their last day of work!
On your last day of work at the Haunted Mansion, your co-workers will draw you a tombstone on a dry erase board to bid you farewell. I was known throughout the mansion as “Kaywee” rather than Kayleigh. I’m not sure how that started, but it stuck, and that’s why it is written that way here.
My tombstone
My tombstone mentions that I was “going back home to work remote.” Yep, I had just accepted a job with DFB!
I got into lots of Mansion Mischief.
Working at the Mansion was TONS of fun, and I loved to be silly and get into some mischief. I would silently walk around the stretch rooms to silently pop up beside unsuspecting guests, tease the Disney dads by telling them they looked a little too scared to ride, and I made all sorts of death jokes.
Mansion Mischief during Extended Evening Hours and it was *dead*
One of my favorite memories is from when the ride was 101 (closed). In some cases, an extended 101 was like an extended break. If you were working outside when the ride went 101, you had to remain outside and explain to guests that the ride was closed. If you were lucky enough to be inside or already on break, you got to have a little bit of fun. My friends and I (for some reason) decided that a game of “Ring Around the Rosie” would be fun to play in the empty foyer. Imagine a bunch of 20-something Mansion Maids and Butlers playing “Ring Around the Rosie.” I still laugh whenever I think about it!
When you screamed in the stretch room, it scared me most of all.
Okay, I’m here to share with you one of my BIGGEST pet peeves from my time working at the Haunted Mansion. When people screamed in the stretch room. I don’t mean the people who are genuinely terrified and accidentally let out a yelp. I’m not talking about the little tykes who got a bit too scared and started crying. No. I’m talking about the grown people who screamed bloody murder as a joke.
Please don’t purposefully scream in the stretch room!
Not only did this very often startle other visitors, but it startled ME. Another thing that a lot of visitors find funny is sneaking up on the Mansion Cast Members and yelling. I once had a lady come up to me, give me a c’mere motion like she was going to tell me a secret, and then proceed to scream as loud as she could in my face. Please, please, PLEASE don’t be that person!
Well, mortals, that brings us to the end of this tour. Stick around though, there are more Cast Member tales where that came from. If you’re looking for more posts from me and my time there, you can take a look through the links below.
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I Was a Disney World Cast Member. I Broke the Rules. Here’s What Happened.
- I Was a Disney World Cast Member, and I’m Letting You in On a Sidewalk SECRET
Until next time, goblins and ghouls! Catch ya later. Stay tuned to DFB for MORE!
Join me and my colleague Sara while we argue about the BEST way to spend a Disney morning!
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Boy people can sure be annoying can’t they? I am so sorry for all of the unwanted screams but I sure do enjoy your tidbits! This is my favorite attraction and I can’t get enough of the details!
Fantastic article! Please keep posting!! I have HEAVILY themed my house to the HM. Currently making a Doom Buggy for my puggies!
A few years ago I had developed a cataract due to diabetic retinopathy. I guess I didn’t realize how poorly I was seeing I. The dark. While in the stretching room I put my Arm around my youngest daughters shoulder and started reciting the narration into her ear. My other daughter grabbed me, pulled me away and said “Dad Stop!” I said, “I’m just bugging Morgan.” To which my daughter responded. “That’s not Morgan.”
Wonder to the day what that woman told her friends and family