Disney lets employees sport beards

(CS) Unlike their clean-shaven Prince Charming counterparts, employees at Disney's US theme-parks are now allowed to wear beards.

While moustaches have been seen in the Magic Kingdom since 2000, the male employees will now also be allowed to sport goatees and beards.

But don't think that you will see any beards like those of Snow White's dwarf companions! Employees will have to keep their beards well groomed at all times and the facial hair isn't allowed to be any longer than a quarter of an inch.

To mix things up even more, employees who are not in costume and don't interact with theme-park visitors on their job, will be allowed casual Fridays.

Still taboo are soul patches, colourful hair styles, visible tattoos and piercings.

A strict dress code is in operation at Disney theme parks since the first opened in 1955. Only in 2010 women were allowed to go without pantyhose when wearing skirts.

In Paris' Disneyland the code sparked outrage when the theme-park opened in the 1990s and unions mounted protests, saying the strict guidelines contradicted French law on individual liberties. While employees are encouraged to look the part of someone working at a place where dreams come true and you wish upon a star, the regulations remain voluntary.