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Never gonna grow up

For Flattery, role at Walt Disney World was pure magic

-Submitted photo
Clare Flattery spent much of the past year working at Walt Disney World as a character attendant. Flattery, a graduate of St. Edmond, Iowa Central and Northern Iowa, worked closely with characters such as Goofy.

The magic of Walt Disney has always intrigued Clare Flattery.

Flattery, a graduate of St. Edmond, Iowa Central and the University of Northern Iowa, found a way to “never grow up” just like Peter Pan by diving head-first into the world of being a character attendant.

She first found the program through word-of-mouth before meeting a Disney liaison while in Cedar Falls.

“The thing I enjoyed the most was interpreting for the characters,” Flattery said. “I loved playing charades with them, dancing, making kids laugh and just trying to be as goofy as possible. I loved learning guests’ stories about why they came to visit characters, whether they were a 92-year-old from Brazil who dreamed about meeting Mickey Mouse one day and finally came to meet them, or a grown man crying in Chewbacca’s arms and telling him that he named his son Luke because he loves Star Wars so much.

“Those are the best.”

-Submitted photo
St. Edmond grad Clare Flattery and Buzz Lightyear from the “Toy Story” film series walk hand-in-hand to the next stop at Walt Disney World. Flattery spent time as a character attendant at the theme park.

Flattery worked from May 2019 through this past March, extending her time at the park twice.

“One particular moment that I will never forget was a little boy who came to visit Chewbacca,” she said. “This child was nonverbal and in a wheelchair, but the moment Chewie turned the corner his eyes lit up. And he couldn’t stop giggling the whole time and was making kissing sounds.

“His mom told us that when he makes kissing noises that means he’s saying I love you. So Chewbacca put his hand on his heart which I told them that was Chewie’s way of saying he loved you too. And both the mom and the boy started to tear up.

“She had been saving up for years to take her son to Disney and just that little moment of her son’s favorite character telling him he loved him was worth the whole trip.”

Flattery had previously visited Walt Disney World once and prepared for her role by reading the experiences of previous attendants. She also dug into her collection of films and shows while leaning on her “encyclopedia knowledge of Disney.”

-Submitted photo
Clare Flattery and Olaf from the “Frozen” film series pose for a picture. Flattery, a St. Edmond grad, spent 10 months as a character attendant at Walt Disney World.

“Disney holds a lot of trust in their cast members for keeping the magic alive everyday and there’s a lot of things that aren’t necessarily shared online,” she said. “My first day of work was this orientation called ‘Traditions,’ which every single cast member from Bob Iger to an intern like myself gets to go through when they first begin working for the Walt Disney Company. It’s an amazing day of learning about the history of Disney, their values and the future growth of the company.

“After that I had some general days of safety training and then I got to core training with my particular role as a character attendant. After performer, attendant is the most highly requested role to apply for in all of Walt Disney World. Other than our program, they don’t hire anyone externally to be an attendant; it’s all internal through the company, so we felt very honored to be a part of such an amazing opportunity.”

Her position allowed for global access around the park and resort, but was based at Hollywood Studios.

“I typically worked with Pixar characters like Woody and Mr. Incredible or Star Wars characters like Chewbacca and Darth Vader,” Flattery said. “Since I was an intern and didn’t have a consistent ‘work schedule’ like the full-time cast members, my typical day varied from week to week.

“One week my schedule could be mornings with Olaf, the next week I might be over in Magic Kingdom working exclusive evening party events with the Princesses. It all just depends.

“But my favorite place to be was in Toy Story Land with Buzz Lightyear. Typically my job would be to walk the character to and from his location, and I would make sure that the families in line had any autograph books, phones, or Disney Photopass cards out and ready for myself and my Photopass photographer up front. Then I would typically stay up with the character and interpret for them. So if a little boy had a birthday button on and Buzz points to it he’s wishing them a ‘Happy Birthday’ or wants to know how old they are or something like that. Every interaction was different but it was all so fun and special.”

With the park currently closed, Flattery is weighing her future options. However, there is definitely part of her that wants to return.

“Everything is up in the air, but I’m hoping my experience with Disney puts me in a good place for future opportunities,” she said. “If I had the opportunity to go back tomorrow, I would. Not because of the free entrance to the parks or the rides or the food. I truly loved creating the magic down at Disney.

“I loved my job and miss it every day. If they ever offered me a seasonal role to go down there and I could a few times a year and work with Mickey, I would do that until I retired.”

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