What made a Disneyland mascot break character?

I worked the parade route from time to time, making sure kids didn't dart out in front of floats and such.

People like me would often be playful with cast members along the parade route, winking and making silly faces.

There was one day where Ballou came up to me mid-dance and proceeded to bow to me.

Ballou also happened to be wearing some sort of crown or hat thing with a star on top.

Baloo probably wasn't aware of how tall that actually made them.

Ballou managed to smack me right in the mouth with that star, cutting it open and giving me a fat lip.

Fairly certain I heard Baloo audibly gasp when they stood upright again.

Poor to mouth! He immediately stopped dancing, just stared at me as I bled.

They tried to grab my hands and pull me to them, but their handler came and ushered them along.

Whoops!

I auditioned to be a face character, and Disneyland made it to the stage where they

run through scenarios of unruly guests, rude comments, etc. And you have to respond and come up with

responses in character. My dance teacher was also a face more than 20 years ago and she had all kinds

of stories of people trying to reach up her skirt. She was Pocahontas, mainly.

In the end, I'm glad I didn't make it through. At the time, it was barely above minimum wage,

which was like $6.75 an hour, or something like that. I chaperoned a gentleman with special

needs to Disneyland as part of a group tour. When our group of special needs individuals met

the characters,

they were all absolutely incredible with our people. Minnie flirted with my friend I took,

Merida flirted with me, but the best of all was Cruella Deville. Normally, she insults who she

takes pictures with. With us, she managed to stay in character, but not say anything actually mean.

...