The Dream Begins Part 2: Earning My Ears

"If you can dream it, you can do it." -Walt Disney

These past two weeks have been PACKED with emotions. Fear, wonder, excitement, embarrassment and stress to name a few, but mostly thankfulness and awe. The name Walter Elias Disney means so much more to me now than ever before. I have always felt as if Walt was my grandfather, but now, along with those feelings, I feel such a greater sense of respect and admiration.

The evening before I was to become an official Disney Cast Member, I was resort hopping with my roommates, about to enjoy a delectable Dole Whip from Disney’s Polynesian Resort, when I received a phone call from Casting. I was told not to attend my Traditions class (basically Disney CM orientation) because my background check had not been completed yet. As optimistic as I tried to be, I was a little bummed because now I had no idea when I would be called to attend another session of Traditions and thus was unable to plan a schedule to visit the parks with my roommates.

The next day, I made a trip to Wal-Mart. I packed my bag with a change of clothes, just in case I got called in for Traditions. However, it wasn’t very smart of me to go to Wal-Mart at all, because as soon as I began shopping, Disney called. I needed to board the bus for Traditions in an hour. I immediately ran back to the Wal-mart bus stop, where a kind CP helped me change into my dress without having to go into the bathroom and risk missing the only bus that could possibly get me where I needed to be on time.

The CP bus system (Transtar) isn’t exactly the fastest way of traveling. There are so many stops and so many people getting on and off at every stop, not to mention that every time one of the buses gets to the Vista Way apartment complex, the bus waits for about 15 minutes before continuing on its way. It takes about an hour to get anywhere you need to go. A brief trip to Wal-Mart takes at least three hours. I have never really minded, because I just take the time to relax and listen to music. BUT on this particular day I had no time to waste!! I had an hour until I HAD to catch the bus for Traditions, otherwise I’d miss it!! That would NOT be a good way to start my program…

I said a thousand prayers as I sat there on the bus. My anxiety heightened with every minute that we fell behind schedule. Suddenly, I had an epiphany: I had said a prayer. I knew that God could get me there on time. I realized that my fear and worry showed a lack of faith. I took a deep breath, and put my trust completely in Him. I knew it would work out. I knew I would get to Traditions in time. It was at that moment that the same girl that had helped me change into my dress (I believe her name was Jaycee) recommended a shortcut to me. The Wal-Mart bus also makes a stop at a market called Publix, which is apparently only about a 10-15 minute walk from the Chatham Square bus stop (where I needed to catch my Traditions bus). She got off at Publix with me and showed me the way. After she had walked with me to a certain point, she turned to me and said, “It’s straight ahead now. Go.”

Thanking her unceasingly, I ran. The shortcut had cut off about half an hour from my trip, and I caught the bus with plenty of time to spare. My incredible roommate Allison brought a change of shoes and my makeup to me at the bus stop, because for whatever reason, I had brought a dress to Wal-mart just in case, but had failed to bring shoes and didn’t think to actually get ready for the day, you know, just in case. Oh well. Bus rides are for doing makeup, I guess.

The experience was an incredible testimony builder for me. I wondered how many times in my life had I still worried after praying to my Father in Heaven. I learned that if we show Heavenly Father our faith, astonishing things can happen. I was now on a bus headed for Disney University. I was on my way to becoming a Disney Cast Member, something I had dreamed of for my entire life but never actually imagined could happen.

Traditions was absolutely incredible. I was an emotional wreck the entire time. Pretty sure I was the only one there that was crying as much as I was. Traditions makes you feel SO wonderful about being a Cast Member, and makes you feel so special for having been chosen to be a part of Walt Disney’s incredible legacy. There seriously aren’t enough words to describe how I felt, and how I still feel about being here. Incredible is the strongest word I can come up with. Fascinating, astonishing, wonderful, unbelievable, no word compares to how I feel about Walt Disney and his legacy! I still can’t believe that I was selected to have a hand in continuing Walt’s dream, and in making dreams come true for millions of others.

I am now an official Disney Cast Member.

The weirdest feeling is seeing all of the doors in the parks and resorts marked “Cast Members Only,” and knowing that I can go beyond them. I still feel a little sense of guilt, as if I’m somewhere that I’m not supposed to be, just because I’ve grown up staring at those doors and wondering what lies behind them.

The next two weeks consisted of orientations, training, training, and more training. Sorry everyone, Entertainment is definitely the best department! I am SO fortunate to be a part of it! I’ve gotten to witness and experience some incredible things so far. My training group (shoutout to y’all) included Claudia, Emily, Onuté, Audrey, Victoria, Maria, Marina, and Lexie! We also had Meg for a day (whom I miss a lot!!!!!! I feel so awful because I forgot to find her on Facebook and now have no idea of how to contact her!!). I was amazed at how quickly we all bonded. We have a group text going that each of us still regularly texts to, and we still hang out with each other on our days off! We also really bonded with our trainers, which consisted of Peggy and Ashley for Attendant Core day 1, Michelle and Ben for day 2, Michelle and Jacey for day 3, Ben and Jacey for day 4, and Ben, Dylan, and Peggy for Core+ days 1 and 2 (a moment of silence for the Fantasmic Five and Team Awesome Sauce. Thank you. If my training group is reading this, I miss and love you guys. Can’t wait to see you again!) I am beyond fortunate to have had such a wonderful training group and such helpful trainers. I wish I could see my trainers all the time, too! I miss them!! We also bonded so quickly with our friends that perform in parades and shows as we worked with them. My trainers weren’t kidding when they said, “Welcome to the Entertainment family.” I was amazed that I could feel such a connection with and love for these people in such a short amount of time.

On my first day of on-the-job training, I got to work with Eeyore in EPCOT for my very first set ever (I worked with Chip and Dale and Lexie for like five minutes, but that was just while Eeyore was on his way). This meant SO much to me, because those of you that know me know how much I ADORE Winnie the Pooh and his friends (shoutout to my soul mate, Tigger!!)!! What better way to start my program than by working with one of my favorite characters?? I had so much fun thanking guests for noticing Eeyore (how could you NOT? He’s adorable!) and helping to bring magic to life. Later that day, I got to work with the wonderful Mickey (my BOSS) and Rafiki, and then I chose to challenge myself by working with none other than the amazing Bolt the Superdog!!

I was really worried about working with Bolt, because he very rarely ever leaves his film set to meet friends. I knew that he had to get back to filming, so I would have to turn a lot of people away after his brief time of being out and about. I was very worried that Guests would be rude or try to get me to let them in the line after I had closed it, but fortunately everyone I met was very polite! They understood that Bolt had to leave and were happy with the other suggestions that I gave them. I only came across two problems: a group that didn’t speak English that didn’t understand when I was trying to tell them that the line was closed, and a child that was crying because she wanted to meet Bolt. I tried so hard to gesture and do everything that I could to help the foreign family to understand, but it wasn’t until they started seeing other families being turned away that they got the message and left. As for the child, I tried my best to explain why Bolt had to leave, gave her a sticker, and told her that she could go meet Snow White in Germany or Jasmine in Morocco. She seemed to feel better with this news. I was very glad that her father wasn’t mad at me!

On my next day of training, I got to work with the darling Minnie Mouse, Rafiki, Mickey, and Donald Duck! Working with Mickey was definitely my favorite part of the day because there were two attendants present (I was with Audrey!), so our duties were cut in half. This meant that I got a lot more time to interact with Guests! I remember having some really good conversations with Guests young and old, and I remember there being a lot of laughter.

In-between my Core and Core+ training days, I worked my first official shift—at Pete’s Silly Sideshow in Storybook Circus. I got to work with Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, and Donald! Attendant Core teaches you what you need to know to be a global Character Attendant. Core+ teaches you what you need to know to be a Character Attendant in your designated park. I’m stationed in the Magic Kingdom, and since I hadn’t yet had Core+ when I worked at Pete’s, I had no idea how the location worked, or even how to get there. Fortunately I ran into another attendant, Alicia from Germany, who was on her way to the same location. I followed her, and the captain (Jeseka) gave her permission to show me the ropes.

Although I was having a wonderful day and was having so much fun, I couldn’t help but get a little down on myself about halfway through the workday. I was frustrated because I kept making little mistakes here and there. Things just weren’t running as smoothly as I had hoped. The location was a little confusing and terrifying for me because not only were the attendants rotating throughout the day, but I also had to basically be a bodyguard for two characters at once while still performing all of my other duties. It was difficult, and I definitely missed a few things. But it wasn’t until I changed my perspective that I felt better. It was my first day, after all, so I shouldn’t expect so much of myself. Fortunately I had a captain and manager (Steve—Ben’s husband!!) that were super helpful and encouraging.

Core+ was another wonderful adventure in itself. After going through Magic Kingdom orientation, we split into two groups for meet-and-greet location tours (Ben’s team, the Fantasmic 5 was now only the Fantasmic 3 [except on Core+ day two, because we picked up a stray Attendant…], since our EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom Attendant friends had left us…). I toured with Dylan, Marina, and Claudia. It seemed that whenever we stopped at a location, Guests held us up for about ten minutes with questions! It was kind of funny.

Thanks to Core+, I finally felt ready to begin working in the Magic Kingdom, the most popular park at Walt Disney World, with by far the most character meet-and-greets. I am very excited that I get to experience so many different locations in my six more months of being here!