Open letter to Mickey Mouse

Salut Mickey !

Today, twenty seven beautiful years ago, you have built a team of fantastic people who happened to open one of your houses, yes, the Parisian one : Euro Disney !
​You may not realise but, back then, you have changed the life of over 19,000 young people; us, the Cast Members.

On April 12, 1992 - we were the happy few to open Euro Disney Resort. Some of us on stage, some of us backstage, but all of us very proud to be part of the Grand Opening of your new kingdom.

We were a team, a group of eagle in formation,
​You have teach us to keep smiling, regardless of how many time guests would ask "where are the rest rooms",
We learned to never say "No", and we learned to be the very best, and much much more.

​In such a short period of time, we all became part of a very united family, an international family, a wonderful family where origin, culture, language, religion etc… was completely irrelevant - what mattered was how we could help one another to make our work and life easier, and more than anything else, to please every guest equally by going above and beyond expectations. 

You gave us the opportunity to experiment various type of professional positions, in various departments, and to learn several disciplines on a fast and efficient pace. You gave the ones with less educated background, fantastic opportunities to grow and become leaders, managers and sometimes even much higher positions. You gave the ones in leadership roles, the opportunity to work on the floor with various operational disciplines in order to stay aware with what is happening on the floor and thus understand what a "typical cast member's life" was.

Some of us, the opening crew, are still part of your current team, some of us have left several years ago to pursue new professional adventures around the world, but, every single day of our life, the words  "… at Disney..." comes out of our mouth. Spending many months or many years at Euro Disney / Disneyland Paris, has transformed every real Cast Member and you have become a point of reference in our day to day - whether it to be personal or professional.

You also gave us an amazing opportunity to built an international network of "friends" and "ex-colleagues"; more than a network: a community; more than a community: a family ! And every where we go, there is a big chance that we know and meet one of our opening crew peers !

Our approach to issues, constraints, challenges has been transformed into a unique one, one that makes a huge difference compared to workers in other industries, one that makes every former Cast Member stand out when we meet with other groups of people. Our Disney experience fascinates others, firstly because it is a unique one, a once in a lifetime experience, and second because we are and always will speak about it with profound emotion and proudness. 

The fact that multiple communities of former Euro Disney Cast Members were recently created, clearly demonstrates the solid and unbreakable link that was created among us 27 years ago.

You have made us different thinkers, different than the large crowd and very unique personalities and ambassador of your brand around the globe and I want to thank you for that.

Thank you Euro Disney for such a wonderful time and for making us what and who we are today.
…and for all of you who are still at Disney, keep performing, and we'll keep watching and D.R.E.A.M.ING,

And last, some of us, Grand Opening Crew members are no longer there. They left this earth for various reasons, but we keep them all in our prayers and in our forever good memories …  

Allez, Salut Mickey and Happy 27th Birthday to Euro Disney and to all of us - that amazing group Eagles !

See you soon.

Gérald Lampaert
Fellow Opening Crew Cast Member
12 Avril 2019

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