Disney Hotel Crew Gets the Word: No Beards and No Glitz

It may be a job beyond even the abilities of Tinkerbell and her magic wand.

How to transform about 1,600 employees of Anaheim’s Disneyland Hotel into a crew of well-scrubbed workers who take to their tasks with the vigor of the Seven Dwarfs?

Whoops, maybe not the Seven Dwarfs. Six of those little fellows had long white beards.

OK, how about like Walt Disney himself?

Nope, dapper Uncle Walt sported a mustache.

There will be none of that, thank you, for workers at the 1,174-room Disneyland Hotel, just a monorail ride away from the Magic Kingdom.

It seems that when the Wrather Corp. sold the hotel in January to the Walt Disney Co. and Industrial Equity (Pacific) Ltd. of Hong Kong, it left hotel employees vulnerable to Disney’s strict dress and grooming code.

And if they do not conform, they are out.

“Yes, they can be fired,” said Disneyland spokesman Bob Roth. “We want to give people every opportunity to conform. First they will be given an oral warning, then a written one, then a suspension. If they still fail to comply, they will be terminated.”

So, the law of the Magic Kingdom is now becoming the law on the 36 acres of land housing the Disneyland Hotel. No exceptions.

“The reason that we are doing this is because the Disneyland Hotel is becoming part of Disneyland Attractions, and we have an appearance standard for Walt Disney Attractions,” Roth said. “We have had this policy since 1957. It is associated with Disney and is expected by our guests.

“Just to give you an idea, a worker on the graveyard shift in a warehouse must meet the same standard. We need to be uniform. We can’t make exceptions without changing the rules.”

And the rules are very strict.

Out, for both sexes, are long fingernails, eyeshadow, beards and mustaches. Pants, for the most part, are out for women. They are required for men.

Men’s hair must not come below ears or collars. No gold chains or earrings. Tattoos must be kept from public view.

The natural look is de rigeur for women, a touch of mascara, maybe just a hint of blush. No big earrings. Just one ring per hand and no more than two necklaces--delicate little necklaces.

If there is any doubt in an individual case, the appearance coordinator can advise.

According to Roth, “anything that (attracts) attention to that individual” is out.

“They are part of the team here, and this is the way the team looks,” he said.

This news has not gone over well with hotel employees.

Even before being officially advised of the new dress and grooming codes, some were already talking about ignoring them.

“We’re going back to ‘57, and this is the ‘80s,” said Bill Argyle, 40, an engineer who has worked at the hotel for five years.

Argyle, sporting not just a mustache but a gold chain displayed against a backdrop of curly chest hairs, was anticipating problems. He said he might give a little on the chain, but giving up the mustache, which has graced his upper lip since 1970, is out of the question.

“We’re going to take the write-up,” he said of himself and some fellow engineers willing to face losing their jobs rather than their facial hair.

“It’s mostly their attitude about the thing,” added bearded fellow engineer Eddie Renteria, 26. “It’s shave it or leave it. I’ve been here six years, and it was never a problem. This isn’t the only job in L.A. or Orange County.”

Donald Mear, the business representative of Operating Engineers Local 501 for about 40 employees now in contract negotiations with the hotel, said the union was already planning to file grievances over the new code.

“What you have is this Aryan attitude that the Disneyland people have taken with regard to dress code,” he said. “We will be filing grievances on the issue . . . on the basis that it violated their rights as an individual.”

Throughout this week, employees at the hotel are scheduled to attend “orientation sessions” with their new employers across the street. Union officials are also being contacted.

The dress code--already in force for about 26,000 Disney employees, according to Roth--will be explained, and the company then expects it to be followed.

But several employees interviewed at the hotel Monday said that, although they understood Disney’s right to require the dress code for its new employees, they were annoyed that the rules governing their employment had been suddenly changed.

“We are very unhappy,” said telephone operator Francie Milligan, 38, who has worked at the hotel almost 10 years. “They came in, and they bought us. It’s not like we went looking to them for work.”

Milligan, too, said that she plans to protest the new rules by ignoring them.

“I answer a phone,” she said. “What does it matter if I have two earrings on? What does it matter if I have colored stockings on? And this thing about no slacks. It gets very cold and drafty in the office. We work in a basement. I work with operators who don’t own a skirt. They would have to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe.”

Roth said he can understand such complaints but won’t be moved by them.

“What it comes down to is that they are going to have to make that choice,” he said. “We hope that they will see that being part of the Disney company is in their long-range interest, that the benefits will outweigh the difficulties.”

Sunny Roskie, for one, has seen it that way. Rather than be told by the appearance coordinator what she can and cannot wear, Roskie said she decided to acton her own.

“I didn’t want to be forced into it at my orientation on Wednesday,” she said.

Roskie looked wholesome. Her button earrings were restrained, but even she conceded that the nail polish would probably have to go.

“Yeah, I know,” she said. “This is not the right nail polish. It’s frosted.”

But there wasn’t that much of it. Roskie said she had just cut her nails to the required quarter-inch beyond the fingertip.

“And I’m not wearing eyeshadow,” she said. “I haven’t been without eyeshadow for 10 years. I tried it out yesterday on my husband. He said it looked fine, so if he likes it, I guess it’s OK with me.”

Randy Dearborn, 29, caught driving his little maintenance cart around the hotel grounds, hadn’t yet gone cold turkey, but he was adjusting to the clean-cut look.

“I had a beard two days ago,” he said, touching his mustache. “I’m cutting down slowly. I’ve got a family to feed. . . .

“But it’s the whole thing that bugs me. I’m afraid that this is only the beginning. They can do whatever they want to do.”

Roth said that if Walt Disney were alive today, he would have backed up the company on the grooming code.

Yes, he conceded, Disney did wear a mustache.

“But Walt never worked for Walt Disney Attractions,” he said, “He worked for Walt Disney Studios, and they never had those same standards.”

Oh, and the Seven Dwarfs?

“They live in a world of make-believe,” Roth said.