Disneyland Worker Shares The Way Celebrities Really Behave At The Park

Disneyland calls itself “the happiest place on Earth” — and even major celebrities can't resist passing through its gates. Yet while we, the public, only ever get to see the PR pictures from these star visits, the workers in the parks witness how the rich and famous really behave around Mickey Mouse. And an ex-employee of Disneyland has allegedly exposed the star turns she saw in a series of TikTok posts.

Behind the magic

A TikTok user named Nicole Smith posted three videos on the platform. The woman revealed that she had once been an employee at Disneyland in California and claimed that she’d met a slew of celebrities while working there. Smith then gave a rundown of her alleged experiences with the stars — and they of course made for fascinating stories.

Will Ferrell

Smith started her posts where it's best to start every story: the beginning. She said, “Will Ferrell was the very first celebrity I met at my very first shift at Disneyland when I worked at the Haunted Mansion, and he is very cool. A very nice man.” That's good to know! Now we can carry on watching Elf at Christmas every year.

Mark Wahlberg

Ferrell’s co-star in Daddy’s Home, Mark Wahlberg, also allegedly crossed paths with Smith at the park, and she was equally complimentary about him. In fact, she claimed that the Hollywood hunk lived up to his big screen image. She said, “Can confirm that Mark Wahlberg is just as handsome in person as he is in photographs, and he is also a very nice man.”

Kobe Bryant

Smith then paid an emotional tribute to the late basketball legend Kobe Bryant, who tragically died along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and several others in a helicopter crash in January 2020. The former Disneyland employee said, “He was so sweet, and his family was so sweet. They were beautiful, and I’m really sad that he’s gone.”

Mary J. Blige and Demi Lovato

During her time at Disneyland, Smith said she witnessed several musical performances from the park’s celebrity guests. She gushed that Mary J. Blige is “talented. Brilliant. Amazing. Show-stopping. Queen. She was the nicest person ever, and she sings amazing live.” She also praised Demi Lovato, saying, “She was also a great singer live. Loved her.”

Nic Cage and Jason Derulo

Some other celebs didn’t fare so well in Smith’s estimation, though. Yet it appears she didn’t outright dislike many celebs. The ex-staffer claimed that eccentric movie star Nicolas Cage was “creepy” and “looks like a vampire.” Rapper Jason Derulo, on the other hand, “Does not know the lyrics to Christmas songs and he had to write the lyrics on his hand. It was kind of embarrassing.”

Jason Earles

Smith’s alleged encounter with actor Jason Earles had a hint of awkwardness, too, but she was ultimately positive about him. For reference, the actor began playing a 16-year-old on Hannah Montana when he was 29. Smith quipped, “No joke, I thought he was a teenage boy and I was kind of embarrassed when I found out it was him. He was actually a really nice guy.”

Ross Lynch

Teen idol Ross Lynch of the Disney Channel series Austin & Alley was criticized by Smith for his alleged behavior at the park, though. Smith claimed, “He was fresh off of Teen Beach Movie when he came into the park and, uh, he was lovin’ all the attention. He was all over it! And he was very annoying. I’m sorry.”

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon

The famous faces who truly came off badly in Smith’s videos, however, were Mariah Carey and her then-husband Nick Cannon. The ex-worker said on TikTok, “These people are awful. I had to deal with both of them separately. She is an absolute diva, and he is an absolute diva, and I hope that no cast member has to deal with these monsters ever again.” Ouch.

A disappointed fan

Smith claimed that she had been a fan of Carey and that her negative encounter with the star was upsetting. She said, “She’s a diva, we all know it… I heard it from many cast members, it’s not just me. She’s just rude. She’s not very friendly. And I love her, and I was really sad about that.”

Cannon fodder

Smith’s opinion on Cannon was even more scathing, however. She went on, “Nick Cannon, on the other hand, has zero excuse to be a diva.” Smith then alleged that he had been rude to her when she’d encountered him backstage at a Christmas parade. The ex-worker said, “He was basically like, ‘Don’t look at me, don’t talk to me, don’t even breath in my direction.’”

Bradley Steven Perry and Leigh-Allyn Baker

Another star who came in for criticism was Bradley Steven Perry — a young actor in Disney Channel’s Good Luck Charlie. Smith claimed, "This kid was a little [*unprintable word*]. I did not like him at all.” The former staff member also apparently crossed paths with Leigh-Allyn Baker — another star of the show — but she didn’t share any opinions about her.

Stars bite back

Interestingly, both Perry and Baker addressed Smith’s comments on Instagram. The former amusingly posted a video of himself watching the TikTok clip and laughing. He captioned it, “She must have meant Jason,” referring to co-star Jason Dolley, who played Perry’s older brother in the show. He concluded his post, “For the record, I don’t have TikTok.”

Don't mess with Baker

Baker, for her part, said on Instagram, “Okay. So, she didn’t like the two of us! Ummm… she’s no fun! Clearly.” The actress then went on to express a desire to communicate with Smith directly, adding, “Give me her [Instagram]! I wanna talk to her!” The actor also found the whole thing highly amusing.

More to say

“What can I say, the girl knows [a diva] when she sees one,” Baker added. “She is cracking me up. We should invite her to a cast Zoom.” Elsewhere, despite stirring up a bit of controversy among the Good Luck Charlie cast, none of the other celebrities who Smith mentioned have responded publicly to her claims. But there has been some fallout.

The backlash

Smith later posted an illuminating message on TikTok. She wrote in a statement, “This is the last [time] I’ll be posting about Disneyland and my experience there. I never wanted to be featured on the news nor did I expect so much backlash, especially from Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon fans, but my experience with them was unpleasant.”

Explaining herself

Smith continued, “My opinion and experiences are my own, and if some of you don’t believe [me] then that’s on you. I have nothing to hide nor anything to gain from posting those. I wanted to share my celebrity encounters while working there — like other TikToks I’ve seen before — because it’s an interesting job to have…”

No regrets

“For some reason, the media latched onto my particular story and decided to make that the news of the week,” Smith went on. “I regret nothing, and I hope you enjoyed watching the videos. I literally only made the video to share my experience working at Disneyland. I had zero followers so I thought no one would see it, but here I am.” And that same thinking led to another former employee also going viral when exposing celebrity behavior.

Beyoncé

Julia Carolan posted a two-part TikTok series called “Rating celebrities I met while working as a hostess in [Nobu].” And it was Beyoncé who earned a whopping 10,000,000 out of ten on Carolan’s rating scale. In spite of all of her success, Beyoncé has remained kind, according to Carolan’s interactions. She first referred to the singer as “the queen herself” before launching into her review. The former hostess began by admitting to viewers, “This is definitely the most starstruck I have ever been.”

Queen Bey

Carolan continued, “We didn’t speak too much, she and Jay-Z came in and I walked them to their table, but when she left she made sure to look at me and give me a big smile and say thank you.” That earned Beyoncé her more-than-perfect score as well as a final compliment from the hostess, who concluded, “She’s beautiful.”

Josh Peck

Another celeb to earn a perfect score was Josh Peck. Fans of Nickelodeon will recognize the actor from the shows that made him a star — The Amanda Show and Drake and Josh, which ran from 2004 to 2007. Carolan rated Peck – and wife Paige O’Brien by proxy – with a ten out of ten. The hostess explained in her second video, “[He] and his wife came in for a lunch reservation one day and he was so friendly. I honestly think he’s the nicest celebrity I’ve ever met. It fulfilled all of my childhood dreams.”

Gigi and Bella Hadid

The other perfect ranking came in Carolan’s first video and went to Gigi and Bella Hadid. The supermodel sisters, as it turns out, haven't let all of their fame go to their heads — at least according to the one-time Nobu hostess. The hostess explained, “These two are literally so nice, I cannot say enough things about them. They’re super polite and friendly with staff, which, unfortunately, is rare for celebrities.”

Nick Jonas

The last of Carolan’s favorable reviews was for singer and actor Nick Jonas. After meeting Jonas, Carolan had nothing bad to say about him. Instead, she said, “He came in with his friends one time and he was really normal and chilled. Not too much to report on this but he definitely seems like a nice guy. I’m going to give him an eight out of ten.”

Celebs strike back

But Jonas was the last of Carolan’s celebrity encounters to end positively. Indeed, the rest left her with a bad taste in her mouth, and she didn't hesitate to share their names in the same TikTok series. But little did she know that one of the negatively reviewed celebrities would fire back after seeing herself slated.

Cameron Dallas

First on Carolan’s bad list was Cameron Dallas, whose career began with funny videos on the video platform Vine. However, all of his credits didn’t make Dallas a good customer, according to Carolan. She recalled, “I had kind of a bad experience with him. [He] and his friend called after we were closed and insisted on a table and kind of pulled a ‘do you know who I am?’ moment. Four out of ten, he was rude.”

Kendall Jenner

Another A-list star who didn’t impress Carolan was Kendall Jenner. In Carolan’s experience, Jenner wasn’t particularly nice. Instead, she admitted, “This is another one where I, unfortunately, did not have the best experience with them. She used to come in all the time and was pretty cold towards staff. She also usually has someone speak for her and doesn’t speak directly to staff.”

Jenner's POV

Even so, Carolan tried to see it from Jenner’s perspective before slapping her with a less-than-perfect rating. She said, “I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt and say she’s just shy. From my experiences of her, I’m going to give her a four out of ten.” That was still better than what the former hostess said about the supermodel’s sister.

Kylie Jenner

Kylie Jenner has found huge success in life outside of the family’s reality show. But Kylie didn’t open her padded wallet as widely as Carolan expected. She gave the multi-millionaire a two-out-of-ten rating — the lowest any celebrity would receive — and succinctly explained why. The former hostess said, “She was fine, but she tipped $20 on a $500 dinner bill. Do with that information what you will.”

Hailey Bieber

Finally, Carolan exposed Hailey Bieber — neé Baldwin — as a subpar customer. Carolan’s review began, “Next up, we have Mrs. Bieber.” Then, she warned her viewers, “This is going to be controversial.” But the former hostess had built her review on more than just one encounter. She said, “I’ve met her a handful of times, and every time she was not nice.” How so?

Bad ratings

Well, Carolan explained that she “really want[ed] to like” the supermodel, but she simply didn’t. Instead, she awarded Bieber “3.5 stars out of ten,” adding, “Sorry.” And, with that, she concluded her celebrity reviews — but the story didn’t end there. Instead, TikTokers began to weigh in and share their own stories about the celebrities mentioned.

Gigi Hadid x2

For example, one viewer corroborated Carolan’s take on Gigi Hadid. They commented, “I saw Gigi once in Miami and my friend, like, waved to her awkwardly, and she said, ‘You can come say hi, crazy! Come here!’ It was so nice.” Another agreed, writing, “I can see Gigi and Bella being great customers, they give me peaceful vibes.”

Nicest dude ever

Fans weren’t surprised to hear positive reviews of Drake & Josh star Peck, either. One wrote, “Let’s be honest, we all knew Josh was gonna be a ten.” Another wrote in, seemingly having met the actor himself. He wrote, “Confirmed – Josh is actually one of the nicest dudes ever.” They agreed with other notes, too.

Starstruck by Beyoncé

Many people said they would have reacted similarly to Carolan when meeting Beyoncé. One wrote, “I would literally die if Beyoncé walked into the same room.” And another corroborated the hostess’s claim that the A-lister was beautiful. They commented, “Let me tell you… Beyoncé is more beautiful than you could ever imagine. My jaw dropped.”

Sticking up for the stars

Of course, there was plenty of commentary on the celebrities who received negative reviews from Carolan. Some fans stood up for their poorly reviewed favorites, especially Kendall Jenner. One wrote, “If I’m not mistaken Kendall said on the show she’s struggled with social anxiety her whole life. Maybe that’s why she has someone speak for her.”

No tip, no excuse

Another person with supposed insider knowledge concurred, writing, “Kendall is EXTREMELY shy. I worked for the family for two years. She’s very sweet.” Commenters weren’t as kind to her sister, though. Most called her out for being a near-billionaire and not tipping. As one person put it, “How do I tip more than Kylie and I’m poor?”

Is it too late now to say sorry?

But perhaps the most surprising comment on Carolan’s video came from Bieber herself. The viral TikTok video had somehow ended up on the supermodel’s screen, so she decided to weigh in on her less-than-stellar rating. However, rather than jumping to her own defense, the model simply apologized to her former hostess.

Trying to do better

Bieber wrote, “Just came across this video and wanted to say sorry if I’ve ever given you bad vibes or a bad attitude. That’s not ever my intention!” Then, in a second comment, she added, “Hate hearing that was your experience with me but glad [you] called me out so I can do better!”

Reconciliation

And Bieber concluded her message by writing, “Hopefully we meet again so I can apologize in person.” This move impressed Carolan and plenty of TikTokers, too. You see, the former hostess, for one, replied, “Hi Hailey! We love an accountability queen thanks [so much] for taking the time to apologize – I hope we can meet again one day and start over.”

Zendaya

Later on, Carolan shared another video titled “Random NYC Stories Part 2.” In it, she told another tale involving a celebrity. This time, though, it was a sweet memory of singer and actress Zendaya — and how the TikToker once accidentally sat in her seat at the movie theater. She only had nice things to say as well!