Disney College Program Update #1

It still hasn’t hit me that I’m actually here. I’ve been here for 3 weeks and it already feels like it's been months. There has been so much that has happened that I haven’t really been able to sit down and take it all in. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure if it will ever hit me. I’ve been waiting to do this program since I was a freshman in high school- that was 7 years ago. And here I am today having the time of my life and being completely blow away by God’s blessings. I can probably use this blog post to not only catch everyone else up to speed on my life lately, but I might be able to help myself catch up.

My mom and I drove down to Florida the Friday before I had to check in to my program. I think that this was the most nervous I had ever been when it came to driving. My mom was driving down with me, but she was taking her van and I was taking my car, so that meant that I would be driving by myself for 13 hours. Straight. The longest I’ve ever driven was 5 hours in an ice storm. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. Every time I found myself getting tired, I would eat a jellybean (Frozen themed, of course!).

Isn't my best friend such a babe?

Sunday was the best! My mom and I drove out to Sarasota to visit my best friend, Kristin. She showed us around her school and then she took us to this no-kill, cat shelter. We ended up staying there for almost 2 hours, petting and cuddling all of the cute cats. My mom treated us to dinner at this delicious Mexican place before we headed back to Orlando. That night, I met my potential roommates. I say potential because when we all were first accepted, Disney told us that we could pick who we wanted to live with along with which type of apartment we wanted (location and number of roommates) before we got our housing email a week before we were meant to arrive. I found 5 lovely girls, Kristen, Maddie, Julie, Madison, and Megan, on the DCP Facebook page and we talked for months. We even planned who was bringing what for the apartment including a TV, Keurig, even a Crock Pot! About a month before check-in, we all received an email saying that we could only request 3 people, and then a week later, we could only request 1. The six of us paired off and prayed for the best. On Sunday night, we finally met at Downtown Disney! We got to spend time together and get ice cream at the Ghirardelli store.

Epcot- my home for the next 6 months!

Monday was the day we were all waiting for- check-in day! Maddie had an earlier check-in and found out that she and Julie would we rooming together in a 6 person apartment in Patterson. The rest of us were hopeful because that’s the exact type of room and complex that we all wanted to live in. Maddie, Julie, Kristen, and I were put together with two new girls while Megan and Madison were put in another building in the same complex. We also found out where we would be working at. I got placed at (drumroll please…) Mouse Gear at Epcot! I was so excited when I got placed there! Epcot is one of my favorite parks and Mouse Gear is a huge gift shop (biggest in the park, third biggest on property).

My mom stayed in Florida for a couple of days while I settled into the apartment. We went grocery shopping, bought a few things I needed for my room, and got dinner with some of my cousins. It was

really hard saying goodbye to my mom. I’ve lived at home my entire life and my family is very close, so saying goodbye to everyone was really hard. As soon as my mom left, I walked into my apartment to find my roommates making popcorn and turning on a movie. They were very supportive and they helped me to feel better.

After a couple of days, we had Traditions. Traditions was our orientation to Disney where we learn about the safety, what Disney truly means, and take a small tour of Magic Kingdom. We were even visited by the boss, the one and only Mickey Mouse!

After Traditions, we were finally able to visit the parks! We visited Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios on our first weekend and then Epcot and Animal Kingdom on the second weekend. Visiting

My roommates. They da real MVPs.

the parks on my day off is just as fun as the place I work at. The leadership team at Mouse Gear is great! They want to know all of us personally and they want to do everything they can to help us. They are also extremely helpful when I have a problem while I’m working. The other day, I was getting a little overwhelmed (I was working floorstock in the busiest and smallest part of the store while it was pouring down rain) and needed to go into the stockroom for some water and to catch my breath. One of my coordinators saw that I was struggling a little bit and he stopped what he was doing to see if I was okay and if I needed anything.

I’ve gotten to eat some amazing Disney food, visit with a few characters, and get sprinkled with pixie dust. But the things I do on my day off are nothing compared to the things I get to do at work. I get to interact with people of all ages, cultures, and experiences and I get to create magical moments with them. Nothing is better than calling a little girl “princess” and watching her be blown away at the thought of her being a real princess. Or wearing an R2D2 ear hat while a little boy wears C3PO ears and we act out scenes from the movie. Or playing with a child while their mom and dad buy them the Stitch plus they have wanted their entire 5 year old life. I get to make magic, and I never knew it would make me this happy.