Amber Earns Her Ears: My Secret Walt Disney World Cast Member Diary (14 page)

“Why are you crying?” Betty asked as she walked in at some point during the night. “Why? Que pasa?” Emily and I just exchanged glances and hiccups of laughter, not even attempting to articulate what was going on.

We stayed at work much longer than needed. When the entire kitchen was clean and emptied of people, we stood around and took pictures while posed in our favorite positions, like anchor or back of Nieco, and other completely random ones, like our closing sign covered with the names of everyone we’d worked with over the last six months. We finally ventured downstairs to say goodbye to our final closing leader and coordinator, Sharon, who gave Emily and I bouncy balls in exchange for our promise to stop crying.

My last night in Florida was spent in Ann’s Vacation Club villa. A group of us got together, and I brought my program poster from graduation for everyone to sign. Betty made dinner, and we all sat around and chatted about our time together. I handed out letters that I had written to everyone, sitting on the floor of my apartment, telling them what kind of an impact they had made on me and how much I would miss them — which I refused to let them read in front of me.

At around three in the morning, though, Ann needed to get some sleep, and we slowly moved out into the parking lot, where we all once again started crying. This was it; it was our official last time seeing our family all together.

After much hugging and many false starts toward our cars, I finally got into mine with Mikael, Emily, and Mike, and headed home. I dropped Mike and Emily off at Mike’s car, and Mikael and I went back to Chatham, where our buildings were directly across from each other — we could even wave from our bedroom windows. I only had time to change into my pajamas when there was a knock on my door, and in came Mikael, likewise clad, carrying his stuffed animal. I quickly ran into my bedroom, grabbed my Hogwarts Snuggie and stuffed Donald Duck that I’d bought just that morning when Emily and I went to spend our last day at a park, and within the hour we had both passed out on the couch in the living room.

All too soon, my alarm went off, and Mikael helped me move all of my crap (which really wasn’t in any kind of order, or even completely packed) into Dinosaur, and after one last hug, went back to his apartment across the parking lot to sleep.

I wandered around the empty apartment in a kind of stupor. Paige and I hadn’t spent as much time together during these last few days — her family had come down, and I spent a lot of time with my EU co-workers. Eventually, though, I had to say goodbye to her, and I wandered downstairs and into Dinosaur. My car was already stuffy from the Florida heat and the massive amounts of crap that Mikael and I had packed into it earlier. I put the key in the ignition. I was already late for breakfast with my parents at Boma. But as soon as I started the car, the finality of it all washed over me, and I only made it to the opposite side of the parking lot where, with shaking fingers, I texted Mikael to get his butt to the front door immediately.

I clambered out of my car and hopped across a little shrub, waiting in front of the door when Mikael opened it. He took one look at my face and hugged me.

“Aw, it just hit you, didn’t it, dear?”

I chuckled a little through my sobs. I was still overwhelmed with the concept of actually having made friends, and now I was having to leave them (trust me, Grainger High School brought me nowhere close to any such sentiments). After a few minutes, one of Mikael’s roommates came down to see what the commotion was, and Mikael reminded me that I had to leave to meet my parents. As much as I hated to, I knew that it was time to go. With a last sniffle and a hug, I got into my car and drove to Boma, stopping by the Clubhouse to drop off my ID and key.

I stayed awake for the entire ten, eleven hour drive home. I didn’t want to stop to let my father take over for me, because while driving I didn’t have to think about anything except driving. I played the radio loudly, rolled the windows down, and occasionally glanced over at the passenger seat, where Donald was sitting. But as purple clouds laced with lightning colored the sky ahead of us, Dad commandeered my car, and I spent a few hours curled up in the front seat of my mother’s car.

An hour or so away from my parents’ house, I took Dinosaur back. After a scant two hours of sleep, I was up again, transferring my stuff from my car to Dad’s truck. By noon, I was moved into my college dorm, surrounded by pictures of my time in Florida, and already experiencing what one Facebook group calls Post-Disney Depression.

MY POST DISNEY DEPRESSION didn’t last long. On the drive back from Disney World at the end of the CareerStart Program, I was thinking about two things: how much I had enjoyed the past several months, and how much I wanted to do them all over again.

It wouldn’t be as easy as calling Disney, telling them I wanted to come back, and then driving down. Even though I was now an experienced Cast Member with positive reviews from my supervisors, I would have to apply to the Disney College Program just like everyone else.

Fortunately, the application process was the same — in fact, almost everything about the CareerStart and College Programs is the same — and I felt much more confident now that I knew what to expect.

Of course, they might still reject me. Disney does reject people who have participated in a program and then apply for a new semester. That didn’t happen to me. But it was always a possibility.

Returning to Disney World as a “veteran” should have meant an uptick in my responsibilities and perhaps more interesting work assignments. Is that how Disney saw it?

Well, no.

And that was part of the reason why the College Program didn’t quite work out the way I had expected. What I didn’t completely realize then — but do realize now — was that I was returning to Disney World with my “guest blinders” off. Inevitably, the experience would be different — in some ways better, in other ways worse.

As I would soon find out…

I BEGAN TO MISS Disney World before I had even left.

The long drive home, the drastic shift back to school life — all of it left me longing for the independence and fun that I had experienced in the Disney CareerStart Program.

I began talking immediately about returning for the College Program. Rather than discourage me from taking a semester off from school to return to Florida, my parents already began checking the calendar to see whether their next trip to Disney World would coincide with the start of the College Program in May.

During high school, I had taken enough classes through a local community college to build up a semester’s worth of credits, so I wouldn’t really be falling behind by returning to Disney. All I had to do was apply — and be accepted!

By the time applications rolled around, I was a little anxious about missing an entire semester of school. But I had good reasons: not only did I miss Disney, but the College Program would give me yet another internship for my resume, it would be another inch gained toward a possible Disney career, and I would be able to put aside some money for a future study abroad program.

But the thought of how many general education courses I could knock off if I stayed in college and gave up on Disney began to worry me a bit, though obviously not enough to prevent me from applying as soon as the application became available.

Sitting on my bed in my dorm, I waited for five o’clock with my laptop open. I had read on several discussion groups that 5:00 p.m. was the time when College Program applications usually became available. By the time six o’clock rolled around, I had filled out the application, passed the web-based interview, and had a phone interview scheduled in two days.

I didn’t do nearly as much planning for this phone interview as I had done for my CareerStart phone interview. Rather, I scribbled down a few ideas — my top three roles and the top three areas where I would want to work within those roles — on an index card before locking myself in my boss’ office at the animal clinic and waiting for the phone to ring.

When the phone rang, there was no mishap like last time. The interview went incredibly well. My interviewer was cheerful and friendly, and I felt totally at ease, slipping immediately into my Cast Member mindset — if I ever left it behind.

We chatted for a bit, both along the lines of the interview and on related tangents. I stressed that I wanted to stay busy — while I gave my top three roles as concierge, merchandise, and hospitality, I really just wanted a job that would keep me moving. We hung up, and I went back to work feeling very good about it.

A few hours later, when I walked out of the clinic, I saw that I had missed a call.

It was from the interviewer! She wanted to ask me another question, and said she would call back. Despite my moment of panic, wondering what in the world she could be calling about, I managed to fall asleep and her call woke me from a nap.

She had forgotten to ask what areas I wanted to work in. I gave her my list — hospitality, attractions, and merchandise — and hung up to begin my wait.

No matter how much confidence you have, the waiting is always miserable. Eventually, enough time passes that you start to rehash the interview, and pick out where you might have messed up. I waited for two and a half weeks, checking my e-mail constantly. My roommate warned me that the e-mail would come when I least expected it, but though that made sense, there was no way I was going to close my browser.

I wanted in.

I suffered through several false alarms before finally my acceptance e-mail arrived. I get e-mails from several Disney representatives, and so whenever I saw a capitalized “D”, my stomach jumped a little. It was with great relief that I opened my e-mail with the purple banner, letting me know that I had made it — again!

I didn’t exactly clear any of this with my university beforehand, an approach I don’t recommend that you take with yours.

I have an incredibly stubborn streak, and I figured that the College Program clearly was such a good opportunity that they would be crazy not to let me participate. When I passed my first week of waiting, I called our Career Services, who handle similar programs, and got the number of a woman I needed to call if I were accepted. The meeting went well, and it was agreed that my program would be treated simply as a co-op: an internship for which I was merely pausing my formal education.

Everything — housing, financial aid, etc. — was put on hold until next semester. Other meetings, such as with my educational advisor, went just as well.

Packing started, but with less fervor than before. Being the typical poor college student, I wasn’t able to stock up months in advance. My birthday in January brought toasters, silverware, dishwands, a small crock pot, and other assorted items that I would need.

I didn’t put things in tubs until I moved back home from school. I had a two week interim before heading down to Florida, and those two weeks were filled with work, naps, and packing (which occurred much later than my mother would have liked). My parents and I were leaving on Saturday morning. That Friday, Mom and I ran around buying the last few items I needed, loading up my car (Dinosaur) and the truck my parents were driving, and dropping off my siblings at my aunt’s house.

I spent my last night at home eating junk food and watching movies.

On Saturday morning, my mom graciously let me sleep in a bit before waking me to finish our to-do list. We dropped the dogs off at the clinic to board while we were gone, finished packing, and got ready to leave. I said good-bye to my cat, Lily, feeling like a horrible mother as I left her yet again, and then we hit the road.

The drive was better than it had been last year. We left at three in the morning last time, it was raining and cold the entire way down, and I even nodded off a bit as we passed through that final stretch of Georgia into Florida. But the weather was great this year, and eleven was a much preferable hour to head out on the road.

I spent the trip with the windows down, radio probably way too loud, and my stuffed Donald Duck (which I’d gotten on my last day in the parks during my CareerStart Program) sitting in the passenger seat propped up in the laundry basket containing my bubble-wrapped Harry Potter books. I didn’t nod off this time, but I did clamber out of the car with a sunburn matching my father’s: our left arms were a bright red, with a paler strip around our wrists from our watches. The sunblock I applied when we stopped for dinner did absolutely nothing.

We arrived at our resort, Port Orleans French Quarter, around 10:45 that night, and it wasn’t long until I was asleep. We were awake early Sunday to hit EPCOT, and after Soarin' and a breakfast at Sunshine Seasons, we hit the World Showcase before making our way to Downtown Disney to finally ride Characters in Flight. After a nap at our resort, we headed back to EPCOT for a dinner at Via Napoli (it was brilliant; I highly recommend it).

Long before I left for Disney World, I met a girl (Lindsey) on Facebook and we decided to become roommates. A group of us had planned to meet the morning of check-in at 7:00 a.m., but my future roommate texted me with a change in plans: we were now meeting at 5:30 a.m. Despite having to awaken at such an ungodly hour, I couldn’t help but be excited by the prospect of starting a new program.

It already feels completely different, though I couldn’t tell you how. Maybe it’s the confidence that I gained from CareerStart rubbing off on me; maybe it’s that I still haven’t quite recovered from finals week. Whatever it is, in a few hours I will be standing in line at Vista Way, probably chuntering under my breath about how obnoxious it is to be quite so loudly happy so early in the morning.

“OR MAYBE ONE DAY you saw a kid drop his Mickey bar and went to get him another one, because that’s how we roll here at Disney.”

No one ever gave presenters props for having good jokes. Disney, with all of its pixie dust, is no exception. My senses — including sense of humor — deadened by a lack of sleep which not even massive amounts of coffee could revive, I sat through the plethora of meetings required of everyone during the first week of the College Program. Actually, I sat through them
again
, because they were the same programs that I had sat through during the first week of the CareerStart Program.