Exclusive: Walt Disney World Cast Members Express Support But Concern Over the Evil Queen Situation

The Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Walt Disney Productions

The following article makes no claim as to gender identities, gender claims, sex claims, as well as spends considerable effort to protect the identities of vulnerable Disney World cast members who could lose their jobs by speaking out.

In the past week, That Park Place covered the situation in which a family reached out to say they had encountered an unexpected surprise at a character dining experience at Walt Disney World. According to the family, when they went to meet the Evil Queen, the father had the strong suspicion the biologically female character was being played by a biological male. This was due to the father’s perception that the character was not traditionally accurate in either height or vocal tone. According to resources and contacts we reached out to, The Evil Queen role has a typical maximum height of only 5’10”.

A family has reached out to That Park Place claiming they spent over $300 on a character meet and greet dinner at Walt Disney World… only to discover the Evil Queen character was almost certainly a biological male. This represents the first time we've heard of Disney using a… pic.twitter.com/jHRt64wl4O

— wdwpro (@wdwpro1) April 23, 2024

As of publication, the video post on X has received more than five million views and thousands of replies. A significant portion of those replies seems to be very similar, which gives us some pause as to the organic nature of the response. While the responses have been overwhelmingly positive towards a biological male playing The Evil Queen, a huge number of replies talk about Shakespeare or a false story about men playing Tinkerbell. It could be that this is a concerted effort given the hundreds of individuals who suddenly seem to have been inspired to write almost the exact same response over and over and over. That said, it’s still a tremendously well-viewed post… even if it doesn’t seem to have been discovered yet by the widest spectrum of demographics.

As a part of our coverage, we discovered someone who seemed to have knowledge of the situation at Walt Disney World, as well as a history of being a cast member per their post history on X / Twitter… even going back years.

Over the weekend, we received information from a cast member at Walt Disney World who claimed that the performer playing the evil queen at Walt Disney World’s Artist Point located in Wilderness Lodge was a trans icon. Following this statement, along with some implication that the cast member might know the person who plays the evil queen, we reached out publicly for comment:

Hello, @Somewhat_Nerdy … apologies in this late response. It takes awhile to go through all the comments.

I'm glad to hear your coworker is an amazing person. Please let this person know we wish the best. You seem to think this is groundbreaking… and thus newsworthy. Would… https://t.co/kECYCcTQZJ

— wdwpro (@wdwpro1) April 28, 2024

Pleasantly, the Walt DIsney World cast member agreed to our request. The following is the full, unedited conversation:

Pro: Hello there! We were wondering if you’d be interested in providing a comment or interview on the Evil queen situation? We’d love to present your viewpoint in a fair way. Let me know if you’d be willing.

Cast Member: Hi. I appreciate you reaching out. I would be willing to comment and answer as long as the questions are ones I am actually allowed to answer, as we all know how airtight Disney is with confidential information. I don’t want to risk the safety or privacy of my coworker, nor do I want to risk either of us potentially losing our careers over people throwing a fuss over their identity.

Pro: Do you want to fashion your own statement that you think is a safe as possible? Then I could ask you questions and you let me know if they’re okay. We will give your comments in full without censorship.

Cast Member: The only thing I personally feel safe saying as a statement is that Inclusion is a Key for a reason. It’s the newest Key the company has introduced. Inclusion means Everyone Belongs. Guests and Cast Members alike. No matter who you are, no matter how you identify, if you’re cisgendered, trans or non-binary, you can be a performer. Especially a look-alike one.

Pro: We’ll definitely be happy to include that statement. Follow up question: At Disney Parks, cast members who are “friends” of the face characters are supposed to look like the characters. In addition, those who interact with guests should have matching mannerisms and vocal likeness. Your coworker in the video appears to be quite tall and has a voice that some might feel is different than the character. Do you feel these differences should be allowed for trans persons playing Disney character roles in an effort to be more inclusive?

Cast Member: So…that was really baiting. So I’m going to keep this short and this will be the end of the conversation. Casting liked them enough to give them the role. That’s what matters the most. I’m not going to be comfortable answering anything else. The initial post you did felt like it’s targeting hate toward them and they just love doing their job in making guests happy and performing. Just let people live their life and work their job, man. I hope you find it in your heart to be accepting of people no matter who they are or how they identify. Have a good night.

Perhaps even more intriguing than this cast member’s response to the Evil Queen situation, however, were the responses of two young women who work at Walt Disney World and play the roles of face characters that interact with guests in meet-and-greet situations. We’re very carefully protecting their identities and details of their jobs as revealing details of playing a princess can quickly end your job at a Disney Park. Their thoughts were conveyed by an intermediary.

Here is a summary of their thoughts on the situation:

___

One of the young women reiterated that they have a very strict set of guidelines that have to be followed. She was careful that i not name the character she plays even though I guessed it. Another young woman was less visibly concerned and confirmed she portrays other characters in the park beyond her main role.

Each performer has to be able to fit the specific costume so the physical guidelines are quite important. Each costume has a range of height and weight specifications. Altering a costume in a major way is not possible. Guests expect the characters to have a uniform look. Cast members who play main characters like Snow White or Cinderella can lose the ability to play that character if they don’t keep a certain set of parameters. Even those playing a character like Mickey or Goofy or Pluto have to maintain a certain build but those parameters have more flexibility because of the nature of the costume.

I asked both of them about the Evil Queen situation in Walt Disney World and there were definite signs of being conflicted. Both are happy for the performer because it takes an enormous amount of work. The competition for the main characters is intense. There is more than just fitting into the costumes and showing up for work on time. After a few more minutes of conversation it was clear that what happened in Walt Disney World will happen in Disneyland. There are cast members pushing for it right now. I asked if they could bring their concerns to human resources in private. Both confirmed they can but it’s not advisable.

You know when there is more going on. I would equate their feelings to Riley Gaines. I believe both are sincere in their support of a fellow cast member, however it is clear that losing a female main character to a male performer hurts and creates additional barriers.

____

There aren’t that many roles for taller women at the Disney Parks. Losing a role as a biological woman is tough when biological men are more likely to be taller judging by global height averages. While I take no position other than suggesting Disney be transparent with their polities for better customer decisions, it’s hard for me not see that even a “trans icon” (in the words of the cast member from earlier) is still an individual reducing one opportunity for a biological woman who proclaims to also be feminine-presenting. Given that many of the roles at Disney Parks are almost exclusively tall biological men (Goofy, Baloo, Sully, Big Bad Pete, Ralph, etc), it’s yet another situation where biological women are stuck in a tough situation.

For all the latest news that should be fun, keep reading That Park Place. As always, drop a comment down below!

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TimP

20 days ago

I definitely remembered my encounter with the Evil Queen at a meet and greet at Disneyland was with a female character actress. Another encounter was at the Oogie Boogie Bash. If it is so hard to find a tall female to play the role, Disney isn’t looking hard enough. These roles are competitive because there’s more performers auditioning. DEI will kill the Golden Goose.

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PavelH

19 days ago

If he can put out a female voice and do a convincing performance as a woman, people won’t care all that much. But if he’s just a dude in a dress where you can tell he’s a man by his voice, I don’t think children would be fooled. To the virtue signallers on X, if you have to convince yourself something is normal, then it isn’t normal. Also people pay money for the attraction, not an empty pat on back on X by other like-minded folks which costs nothing and they expect a quality product. If we had a longer version of the clip and it’s a heavily male voiced individual, parents may have to explain to their children why they didn’t meet the queen but a drag-queen which is not what they were promised or had paid for.

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