A review by liralen
The Ride Delegate: Memoir of a Walt Disney World VIP Tour Guide by Annie Salisbury, Bob McLain
2.0
Salisbury loved Disney as a child, so when she graduated from university she couldn't think of anything better than to work at Disney. Before long, she was a ride delegate...that is, somebody who led tours (for lack of a better word) for those who could afford to drop a rather ridiculous amount of money on having a personal guide.
Note that I say 'on having a personal guide. One word, but a crucial difference, because Salisbury earned a small fraction of the hundreds of dollars an hour these groups spent. If there's any one takeaway from The Ride Delegate, it's this: Disney is running a fabulous scam. The tour groups pay a ton of money for the expertise of a tour guide who really doesn't give a shit what their experience is like (so long as said tour guide doesn't get in trouble and has plenty of opportunities to zip off to the bathroom or a concession stand), the tour guide gets paid something just north of minimum wage in exchange for very long days with demanding customers, and Disney...does a bit of background work in exchange for thousands of dollars.
Hmm.
But then there's this: A majority of my tours were actually awesome tours, says Salisbury, and I was always sad to leave a family at the end of the day (94). I think if I'd seen more of this, I wouldn't have been left with such a negative impression of these tours. Truly, for much of the book, Salisbury doesn't much seem to enjoy her job. There are the customers who yell and the ones who try to trick her giving them privileges that aren't part of the packages and the ones who ask stupid questions. There are the customers who view the tour as free babysitting and the ones who don't want to take a lunch break because they view that as paying the guide to do nothing and the ones who ask stupid questions. There are the customers who tip badly and the ones who try to sneak extra people into the group and the ones who ask stupid questions.
There are, occasionally, high points in this book: the amputee and his family, who have a blast; the cute British kid...there must be some others, but those were the only two that really stuck with me. It sounds like she did love her job, and was sorry to leave when the time came, but perhaps focused more on the negative things because they made for slightly funnier stories. Not the worst plan ever, but it means that the whole book is tinged with rather more negativity than I'd expected, and perhaps more negativity than she intended.
Note that I say 'on having a personal guide. One word, but a crucial difference, because Salisbury earned a small fraction of the hundreds of dollars an hour these groups spent. If there's any one takeaway from The Ride Delegate, it's this: Disney is running a fabulous scam. The tour groups pay a ton of money for the expertise of a tour guide who really doesn't give a shit what their experience is like (so long as said tour guide doesn't get in trouble and has plenty of opportunities to zip off to the bathroom or a concession stand), the tour guide gets paid something just north of minimum wage in exchange for very long days with demanding customers, and Disney...does a bit of background work in exchange for thousands of dollars.
Hmm.
But then there's this: A majority of my tours were actually awesome tours, says Salisbury, and I was always sad to leave a family at the end of the day (94). I think if I'd seen more of this, I wouldn't have been left with such a negative impression of these tours. Truly, for much of the book, Salisbury doesn't much seem to enjoy her job. There are the customers who yell and the ones who try to trick her giving them privileges that aren't part of the packages and the ones who ask stupid questions. There are the customers who view the tour as free babysitting and the ones who don't want to take a lunch break because they view that as paying the guide to do nothing and the ones who ask stupid questions. There are the customers who tip badly and the ones who try to sneak extra people into the group and the ones who ask stupid questions.
There are, occasionally, high points in this book: the amputee and his family, who have a blast; the cute British kid...there must be some others, but those were the only two that really stuck with me. It sounds like she did love her job, and was sorry to leave when the time came, but perhaps focused more on the negative things because they made for slightly funnier stories. Not the worst plan ever, but it means that the whole book is tinged with rather more negativity than I'd expected, and perhaps more negativity than she intended.