
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 24, 1994                   TAG: 9404240094
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ANNANDALE                                LENGTH: Medium

AT DISNEY, ONLY HAPPY NEED APPLY

The Walt Disney Co., which will hire 2,700 "cast members" for its planned theme park in Northern Virginia, recently gave local college students an idea of what's required to work for Mickey Mouse.

And while Dopey, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, Grumpy and Doc are on retainer at Disney's other parks, apparently only Happy need apply to work at Disney's America in Prince William County.

Disney officials on Friday outlined the company's personnel policies for business students at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale: lots of smiles, only one ring on each hand, no facial hair, no "visible tattoos" and something else - "pixie dust."

"It's simple, but it's not easy," said Kaye Bundey, Disney's seminar leader. "The mechanical part of the job [such as ticket-taking] is not a brain trust. . . . We are not high-tech, but we are high-touch."

The "pixie dust formula" is Disney's term for its famous, upbeat management techniques that have been attracting good, loyal employees for decades.

The two-hour seminar, "Management, Disney Style," was aimed at the community college's hospitality, tourism and business management students. Disney plans to train its Disney's America employees at Northern Virginia Community College's campuses, said Mary Anne Reynolds, a Disney spokeswoman.

The seminar was a mini-version of a "Disney University" training course called "People Management" that the company uses with its employees and markets to other businesses.

"Do you speak Disney?" Bundey asked the students.

She passed out key chains with Mickey, Minnie and Donald Duck figurines to students who answered her questions about Disney's image.

"So what do you think of when you think of Disney?" she asked. Clean, friendly, fun, said the students.

"People who always have a smile pasted across their faces," said Phillipe Farneti.

But smiles are an important part of the Disney approach, Bundey said, especially when answering the top three questions asked by Disney "guests": "Where is the bathroom?"; "When is the 3 o'clock parade?"; and "Where is Mickey?"

by CNB