A look at Disney cast member canoe races at Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom has hosted Disney cast member canoe races around the Rivers of America every year since Disney World opened.

You probably haven’t heard of C.R.O.W., or even realized it exists, but almost every year since Walt Disney World Resort first opened in Florida in 1971, hundreds of cast members have raced around the Rivers of America at Magic Kingdom Park — all before the first guests step foot into the park. They call it the Canoe Races Around the World, aka C.R.O.W.!

Disney Canoe Tradition

The Disney cast members canoe racing tradition started in 1963 at Disneyland Park in California as a way to boost morale and build teamwork between cast members. Of course, it’s also just cool to be able to paddle around the Rivers of America, around Tom Sawyer Island, and past all the iconic attractions such as The Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Seeing as Disneyland guests can (to this day) experience this for themselves onboard Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes, the cast member canoe races are less unique on the west coast. Here at Walt Disney World, though, the only way anyone can get around the Rivers of America is by riding the huge Liberty Square Riverboat. To be down on river-level with an oar in the water is something special.

The cast members don’t actively race against each other side-by-side; they race for time. There are women’s teams, men’s teams, and coed teams, and those categories compete within their groups for the best times. All together, 80 teams competed in the 2024 races

There are qualifying races, which lead to the day Disney invited us out last week to see the finals, when the best of the best compete once again. They also break the teams down as professionals and recreational teams, with pros being those with the fastest times. (The women teams are allowed to have a man in the steering position.)

The Cast Member Teams

Any Disney World cast member can sign up for the canoe races. Some teams are made up of people who work in the same department, and others are a mix of those who work in all different departments. Each group gets to name their team and come up with matching attire. Some are just fun names they thought up, and some mix in the acronym of their work location and a play on words.

We witnessed this year’s C.R.O.W. finals in the early morning hours of April 25, 2024 before Magic Kingdom opened for the day.

Here are some of the fun names we saw race in the finals:

A team races out with The Haunted Mansion in the background. — *This year, the races started and ended near The Haunted Mansion.*

Beauties & the Beast (an all-women’s team with a man steering)
WISHES King Lake cROW Crew
WET Enterprises: Walt’s 10 Old Men
Disney SpOARts
The TomoRowers
WISHES We Could Swim
King Cake on the Lake
Princesses and the Frog
(With Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opening this year, many of the teams were aptly named.)

This year’s event was not only the 50th at Walt Disney World, but a bit bittersweet for some cast members who have been doing the races for many years. Disney has been using the same four canoes since the program began, but 2025’s event will introduce new boats. This was the final year for the originals.

Disney Cast Member Events

Besides Disneyland and Disney World, versions of the Disney cast member canoe races also happen at Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. Some use Dragonboats instead of canoes. Elsewhere in Disney World, cast members can participate in the annual canoe sprints (racing side by side in a straight line) on the waters of Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. The next canoe sprints event will take place this fall.

WET Enterprises: The W stands for Women team — *The WET Enterprises: The “W” stands for Women.*

C.R.O.W. is just one of many internal Disney programs cast members can take part in. Others include previews of new attractions, after-hours celebrations to recognize work milestone anniversaries, scavenger hunt puzzle games (like Goofy’s Mystery Tour), and yoga inside the parks.

Sorry, we didn’t find out which team won the 2024 Disney cast member canoe races. That’s not what it’s really all about. Of course it’s fun to win, or beat your personal team best, but everyone here, whether they were rowing, volunteering, or just cheering the teams on, left having had a fun, unique team-building experience.

C.R.O.W. VIDEO

Here’s a video we put together of our visit to the C.R.O.W. races on the Attractions Magazine YouTube channel. You’ll see Magic Kingdom go from daybreak at the start time of 6:30 a.m., to the bright daylight when cast members finished an hour and a half later.