Disney character underwear

[snopes]

Comment: Yesterday, I had a teacher tell us that about 4 years ago,
several employees (union) of Disney sued because they had to wear the
Disney issued underwear underneath the costumes they wore as characters.
The teacher went on to say as the shifts changed, the employees had to
wear the same underwear worn by the previous shift employee.

[musicgeek]

This was discussed on the old boards:

http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/u...0;t=000362;p=0

Apparently, the story dates back to 2001:

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jun...siness/fi-7876

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1376479.stm

(Essentially the same article from both sources.)

[Mickey is a gyrl]

Um, no. I've worked there for six years, and we've never had to share underwear. Now, if you included "undergarments" to mean the cotton gym shorts and t-shirts, then yes, they are worn by others. And cleaned before being able to be reissued. There's a distinct crispness to the clean shorts and t-shirts that there definitely wouldn't be if they were reused.

[ElectricBarbarella]

Originally Posted by Mickey is a gyrl

Um, no. I've worked there for six years, and we've never had to share underwear. Now, if you included "undergarments" to mean the cotton gym shorts and t-shirts, then yes, they are worn by others. And cleaned before being able to be reissued. There's a distinct crispness to the clean shorts and t-shirts that there definitely wouldn't be if they were reused.

I knew about the undergarments (shorts, shirt); but do they really assign you underwear or are you allowed to wear your own panties/bra, or boxers? Iknow Disney has their own launderer and that they assign you your stuff (per a travel channel special at least), but are they really that anal about it?

[Mickey is a gyrl]

Originally Posted by ElectricBarbarella

I knew about the undergarments (shorts, shirt); but do they really assign you underwear or are you allowed to wear your own panties/bra, or boxers? Iknow Disney has their own launderer and that they assign you your stuff (per a travel channel special at least), but are they really that anal about it?

No, we wear our own undies. But there are bar codes on the costume pieces (including the shorts and t-shirts). It's to keep track of the costume pieces (for instance, when one cast member was stealing parts of costumes to sell on eBay, they were able to track the costume piece back to the cast member and he was terminated).

[Dropbear]

Originally Posted by Mickey is a gyrl

(for instance, when one cast member was stealing parts of costumes to sell on eBay, they were able to track the costume piece back to the cast member and he was terminated).

So I immediately get a mental image of Goofy, with half his face torn away to reveal the robot underneath, gunning down the employee saying "Hasta la vista baby, hyuck hyuck hyuck"

Dropbear

[Amigone201]

Originally Posted by Mickey is a gyrl

Um, no. I've worked there for six years, and we've never had to share underwear. Now, if you included "undergarments" to mean the cotton gym shorts and t-shirts, then yes, they are worn by others. And cleaned before being able to be reissued. There's a distinct crispness to the clean shorts and t-shirts that there definitely wouldn't be if they were reused.

Why does it matter what you wear under your costume?

[Mickey is a gyrl]

Originally Posted by Dropbear

So I immediately get a mental image of Goofy, with half his face torn away to reveal the robot underneath, gunning down the employee saying "Hasta la vista baby, hyuck hyuck hyuck"

Dropbear

sorry, should I have said "fired"? Except that then, I'd be picturing Goofy ripping off his face to reveal Donald Trump.

[Dropbear]

Originally Posted by Mickey is a gyrl

sorry, should I have said "fired"? Except that then, I'd be picturing Goofy ripping off his face to reveal Donald Trump.

Actually it makes Goofy, who I have never, ever found amusing or likable, a least a little bit interesting. So, all in all, its a good thing.

Dropbear

[Dr. Winston O'Boogie]

Originally Posted by Amigone201

Why does it matter what you wear under your costume?

Two ideas:

1. To maintain internal cleanliness of the costume. If the workers could wear whatever they wanted, some would wear tank tops or bikini tops, or nothing at all. Now you have additional sweat in the costume that would have to be cleaned more often, etc.

2. To maintain workplace appropriateness. Again, if left to their own devices, some would wear as little as possible when having to go into a character suit. Even in the back areas, they may want to maintain a certain dress code.

[Brad from Georgia]

Our daughter, who performed as Pluto, Rafiki, and a few others at Disney World, confirms that she wore her own undies inside the costumes. She also worked at Universal Studios as a costumer, and she says she once disqualified a Spider-Man performer from getting suited up because of inadequate underwear....

[Ravenhull]

I'll have y'all know, ever since reading this thread this morning, I've had the image of 'The Goofinator' stuck in my head... complete with Terminator musical motif.....

[Dropbear]

Originally Posted by Ravenhull

I'll have y'all know, ever since reading this thread this morning, I've had the image of 'The Goofinator' stuck in my head... complete with Terminator musical motif.....

There's a Terminator musical?

Which would mean that we'd then inevitably see Disney's Goofinator on Ice! With guest appearances by the cast of High School Musical!

Dropbear

[Artemis]

I read "Goofinator" as "Godfather" at first and got that music stuck in my head. If Goofy's Vito, does that make Max Michael Corleone?

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Amigone201

Why does it matter what you wear under your costume?

According to the BBC article that musicgeek linked, they're essentially trying to prevent "VPL":

Many of the characters have to wear Disney-issued jock-straps, tights or cycling shorts underneath their costumes because normal underwear bunches up and can be seen.

I must admit, from my vague idea of what Disney costumes look like, VPL must be an issue in very few of them, though. You could be wearing whatever you wanted under most, surely?

Mickey is a gyrl, do your knickers show when you're at work? What underwear do you wear at work? What are you wearing now? Can you describe it in some detail? This is all legitimate research, as you can see.

[MapleLeaf]

Originally Posted by Artemis

I read "Goofinator" as "Godfather" at first and got that music stuck in my head. If Goofy's Vito, does that make Max Michael Corleone?

"I'm gonna Mickey an offer you can't refuse"

[Phantom]

I keep thinking this thread is about buying underwear with Disney characters on them. DS1 and DS2 love Mickey Mouse, and a few years ago we couldn't find Mickey underwear anywhere. They came out with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse underwear a short time later, so everyone was happy. DS2 is now getting to the potty-training phase, so I bought him Mickey underwear as inspiration.

[rangerdog]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: Yesterday, I had a teacher tell us that about 4 years ago, several employees (union) of Disney sued because they had to wear the Disney issued underwear underneath the costumes they wore as characters. The teacher went on to say as the shifts changed, the employees had to wear the same underwear worn by the previous shift employee.

Bolding mine, MIAG can validate, but I don't think Disney is a union shop.

[Mickey is a gyrl]

Originally Posted by rangerdog

Bolding mine, MIAG can validate, but I don't think Disney is a union shop.

Different departments in Disney have unions. Yes, there is a union for character performers.