A Florida woman spent seven years bringing Disney princesses to life at Walt Disney World — playing Ariel, Rapunzel, and Mary Poppins from ages 18 to 25. She loved the job. She also says she left it with permanent neck damage, a union grievance, and a final day she still isn't sure how to feel about.
In a viral TikTok that has since sparked a follow-up, the 28-year-old is finally telling her story three years later.
"Anyone will tell you — and there are people I used to work with that are on TikTok and they will tell you too — I should have quit way before I actually did," Katherine Randle (katherinejrandle) said.
The beginning of the end, Katherine explains, was a confluence of three things happening at once: she was disapproved out of Ariel (the character she was originally hired for and played for two years), the Mary Poppins meet-and-greet location was going down for refurbishment, and her body was breaking down from playing Rapunzel.
The Rapunzel costume requires performers to wear a long, heavy braid. Over time, she says the weight and positioning of that braid gave Katherine severe arthritis in her neck. She reports that she went to the company's athletic trainers, health services, workers' comp, temporary disapprovals, and physical therapy. All of it on the company's dime, she says. According to Katherine, nothing worked.