Free The Ride Delegate: Memoir of a Walt Disney World VIP Tour Guide by Annie Salisbury

services much more desirable. These other parks treated their guests like real royalty, and would literally cut every single line and jump right to the front to expedite all wait times. I tried to explain to Mrs. Grey why other parks can get away with doing that, but she cut me right off to inform me that, “We’re only using you for the transportation to and from the park.”
    Oh. Okay.
    Mrs. Grey then explained that she had one of our “assistant passes”, the now-retired GAC (Guest Assistant Card), for guests with disabilities, that would help her navigate the lines without me, anyway. Mrs. Grey then told me she had cancer. We still weren’t even in the park yet .
The Family Refused to Get Off Some of the Rides.
    Knowing their daughter’s age, I decided that “small world” would be the first attraction. It didn’t have a FastPass, and if we were going to ride it, it needed to happen as early in the day as possible. We arrived at the park just after 9:30am, before there were too many other guests trying to fight their way onto “small world”.
    It took us a half-hour to walk from where we had parked the car to “small world”. It took us this long because we had three strollers for three different kids, and every kid wanted to go in a different direction and buy something else. They must have dropped over $100 before we even made it to Fantasyland. And by the time we reached “small world” there was already a fifteen-minute wait. It didn’t look like it would be that long, and I didn’t even mention to the guests that it might take a few extra seconds. I ushered them into line. We managed to get through the queue in less than five minutes.
    I rode “small world” with them because I always like to ride the first ride of the day with the guests, whatever that may be. That sets up for them that I’m a fun tour guide, and I don’t mind riding rides if I have to. I foolishly rode “small world” with the Greys.
    By the time we got all the way around “small world”, the queue line was a little bit backed up. I was sitting in the last row of the boat, behind the family, and Mrs. Grey from the front row turned to look at me.
    “Can we ride again?” she asked.
    “Yeah, we’ll just jump right out of the boat and get back into line…”
    Mrs. Grey cut me off. “I’m not getting out of the boat.”
    I was so taken aback by the comment I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. My mouth moved, but I formed no actual words. It took me a solid five seconds to formulate dialogue. “We can’t ride again without exiting. The line isn’t that long, we’ll just jump right out and get back…”
    “You are going to make a woman dying of cancer get out of this boat and wait in line again ?” Mrs. Grey roared. She was a large woman and her voice bellowed through the open atrium. We were close enough to the unload dock that the Cast Members loading the boats turned to look at us. The guests waiting in line to get into the next boat looked at us. The guests who had just exited the ride looked at us. The only thing that could have made this moment better was if the boat started sinking.
    “Unfortunately, Mrs. Grey, we have to exit out of this boat to get into another boat…”
    “I am not leaving this boat.”
    “…they’ve already loaded this boat for the next ride and I don’t want to hinder other guests.”
    “I don’t care about the other guests. If I want to ride “small world” again, I am going to ride it again.”
    Our boat reached the loading dock. The unload Cast Member looked at me with such pity and sadness in her eyes I thought I might cry. I stood up to exit.
    “Anne, sit down. We are riding again,” Mrs. Grey barked at me. I got out of the boat. Every single person in the “small world” vicinity was looking at me. I believe time stopped for a second in Fantasyland. I stood on the unload side of the dock and looked down at my guests. Mrs. Grey clenched her