Doris Eiler and Disneyland share a birthday. On the day the iconic California theme park opened on July 17, 1955, Eiler was celebrating her 21st birthday. Little did she know that she would one day become one of the park’s oldest employees.
The Laguna Woods resident (who until recently used the surname Helwig) retired from the Disney world on July 11, a few days shy of her 91st birthday. And she has the Mickey Mouse ears to prove it.
Eiler was feted with a send-off party and a special illustration by a Disney artist known as West.
“He asked me who my favorite Disney character was and I said Tinkerbell,” she recalled.
The colorful drawing is bathed in a frame of blue lights and adorned with sparkly paint that looks an awful lot like pixie dust.
In earlier years, Eiler was twice widowed and raised five children mostly on her own. She held down jobs as a forms administrator at Hughes Aircraft in San Diego and a switchboard operator at St. Jude’s Hospital. She and her first husband had relocated from Pittsburgh to San Diego in 1959.
“I just carried on because what else could I do?” she said of the loss of her first and second husbands. “It helped me become stronger and more independent.”
Driving by Disneyland one day, one of her daughters encouraged her to apply for a job.
“In the 1980s, you could walk in and fill out a job application on paper,” she said.
She was immediately offered a position as a switchboard operator, which she happily took.
Six months later, she was forced to leave California to care for her aging mother, but when she eventually returned to the state, she applied at Disneyland again and was rehired at age 81.
“Not too many places will hire you when you’re in your 80s,” Eiler said.
Answering the switchboard at the time meant connecting callers with a recording, then patching them through to the proper extension.
“Cast members (as employees were called) would call us for directions or to be connected with each other because no one had radios at the time,” Eiler said.
The switchboard office was located over the Opera House, so when she worked nights, she could see the colorful parades and hear all the festive music
Working into the wee hours with a colleague, she fielded a variety of late-night calls. One woman would ring the switchboard every night to ask, “What time are the fireworks?” Eiler recalled with a laugh. “The same time as last night,” she would answer.
A male caller, who seemed lonely, wanted to talk about his horses. Another would call each night and ask Eiler to say goodnight to Tinkerbell for him
Park tour guides would ring the switchboard for information or advice.
“We were like their mothers,” Eiler said of the much younger employees.
Managers of Eiler’s guest relations department would come by the switchboard office to ask how she and her colleague were doing. Eiler said she was appreciative of their care and kindness.
“Disneyland was a lovely place to work,” she said. “It had a different mode of operation than other places as they really cared about the cast members.”
The pandemic shut down Disneyland for the duration, and when it reopened, the switchboard was permanently eliminated.
Eiler was laid off with no provisions made for another job, but when she pressed her former employer for any kind of work, she landed in Disney’s trio of gift shops as a salesperson.
“I got to meet people from all over the world,” she said.
She enjoyed seeing so many costumed children and found her co-workers to be pleasant and helpful. She believes she was the oldest employee in the Downtown Disney complex.
“One of the managers at Downtown Disney visited the gift shop just to see what a 90-year-old cast member looked like,” Eiler said. “His amazed reaction made my day.”
The most popular items she sold were clothing with the Disney logo along with Mickey Mouse ears. She recalls one guest running up a bill of $893 as his children kept adding items they wanted to his pile at the cash register.
As a salesperson, Eiler was required to wear a specific uniform in each of the gift shops. One featured khaki pants, a striped shirt and green sweater, while another focused on maroon colors and the third on blue tones. Eiler was not able to keep any of the outfits, but she does have a collection of mouse ears, either awarded to her or purchased by her.
Footwear with all of the costumes needed to be black socks and shoes.
“Once I came to work with black walking shoes that had a white stripe on them,” she recalled.
To avoid going home to change, she obtained a black marker and hastily colored in the white stripe so that her supervisor would allow her into the shop.
On Eiler’s 10th anniversary with Disney, she received an impressive plaque commemorating her service at a special awards ceremony in June. She was honored upon her retirement July 11 with a farewell party.
Eiler has been a Laguna Woods resident since 2013, though she lived here for six years in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Active in a number of clubs, Eiler also plays shuffleboard, bocce and pinochle.
“She is a force of nature. I want to be like her when I grow up,” her shuffleboard friend Lynn Murphy said with a smile. “Her energy puts people half her age to shame. Doris is a true treasure, and we are lucky to know her.”
Eiler, citing the many strong friendships she has made in the Village, said: “Living in Laguna Woods has made me more independent. It was the best thing for me.”
Her memories of working at Disneyland are warm and enduring.
“It was a wonderful experience,” she said. “I loved working there and am so thankful that they actually hired an ‘aged’ person.
“Not many women in my age category get the opportunities that I had with Disneyland,” she added.
At least for the employees, the park seems to be “the happiest place on Earth.”
“People there are a different breed,” Eiler said. “Working there makes them happy.”