I first visited Disneyland in the summer of 1989. It was the summer I turned 10. I only remember a few things from this trip.
- We walked to the park from an offsite hotel. I believe I ran into a light pole on the way.
- My mom left the room early one morning to take a walk and was caught in the middle of a cop chase, complete with helicopters overhead and people screaming “alto, alto!!” She was very shaken as I, my dad and sister watched her return from the balcony outside our room.
- We rode Space Mountain, and it terrified me. I was small and I guess the bar didn’t hold me tight enough.
- My sister and I waited in line for 2+ hours to ride the JUST OPENED Splash Mountain!
My next several visits to Disney parks happened darn near every 1-3 years after the first. My dad was also clearly hooked on the Disney Magic! The next trip to Disneyland was over winter break when I was 11 or 12. My parents invited 2 of my best friends and we drove from CO. Not long after that there was a spring break trip to WDW, back when there were only 3 parks! Then after a bit longer break, we went back to Disneyland with our foreign exchange student during my junior year of high school. My 5-year-old niece was also with us on that trip. And because I have the most awesome parents on the planet, they took me and one of my best friends back to WDW when I graduated from high school.
It’s no wonder that my desire to work with Disney started before college. With 5 trips to the parks under my belt in the previous 8 years, I had a dream!! When I started at UNC, my goal was a degree in Business Management with the outcome being a career as a Manager of a Disney Resort. At some point during my college career, my focus in degree moved to Administration, and my dream changed to planning Disney vacations as a travel agent. I had an assignment in one of my classes to interview someone in the field I hoped to work in. I interviewed the manager at Cottonwood Travel. To be honest, I don’t remember anything about the interview, but I continued wanting to be a travel agent. I suppose my real passion is travel and seeing new places. I feel that a career in the travel industry, in connection with Disney, would be an amazing fit given how diverse and worldwide Disney has become.
During my junior year of college, my roommate Deb and I welcomed a 3rd roommate, Wendy, to our place in the basement of a house close to campus. Wendy was fresh back from an experience with Disney’s College Program. Here it was! My in with the company; my chance to start my life with Disney!! As soon as I learned when the campus recruiters would be around, I made sure to get an interview. I was overjoyed when I received my acceptance post card for a job with Quick Service Dining during the summer of 1999. I worked at Pop’s Place in the now abandoned River Country water park. I had 5 amazing roommates, took Disney Traditions classes, and soaked in as much Disney as I could for the 3 months I was there. I had the time of my life that summer; the summer I turned 20, a short 10 years after my first experience with a Disney Park! It was at the end of that summer, when I returned to school in CO, that I realized I’d made a giant mistake. The whole summer I was there, I mentioned to only one person in Disney management my dream to continue a career in connection with Disney. AND THEN I LEFT!!!
Ugh… I don’t know if I was unaware of the possibility of extending my program, or if I was just so on track to graduate by a certain time that I didn’t want to get distracted from that. But I left. And that was that. My short career with Disney was over, and I didn’t even really have a foot in for when I graduated because I’d made no lasting connections with people who “mattered” in the hiring realm. I tried to gain some experience by seeking a job in a hotel near my college. I accepted a night job at the front desk of an old, shabby, motel in a not-so-great area of town. It lasted one night.
Now in December of 2000, before the rise of social media and contacts at your fingertips, I graduated from UNC with my bachelor’s in business administration. And I was in a relationship. I felt this was “the one” and was distracted. Even though my still super awesome parents took me to Walt Disney World again for my college graduation, I still was not any closer to working with the company of my dreams. I moved to Denver with a friend in my graduating class. I sought a career as a travel agent, and quickly realized I wouldn’t be able to make ends meet on the salary that kind of job offered, at least in the beginning. And so, my career in Administration began. Luckily, I still liked the kind of work I was doing, which was probably how my dream of working with Disney got buried in the day to day of being an adult and making a living.
My next visit to Walt Disney World didn’t come until November of 2006. By this time, the relationship I was sure would be the last had ended, I was back in my college town, and after having worked in the records department at the hospital (among other jobs) for several years, I was now living in one place and commuting to a job in the construction business an hour away. Again, this was work that I did enjoy doing, with people I really grew to love. Though my trip to Walt Disney World with my dad and sister in ’06 was amazing, my dream was buried a little more. I had bought a home, was in a new relationship, and was comfortable with where I was.
I don’t like to believe that I have huge regrets, or that I am resentful of things in my life for leading me to where I am now. So, when I say that having my first son in April of 2009 and getting married in December of 2010 buried my dream even further, I’m not sorry for either of those events in my life. Did my husband and I honeymoon at Walt Disney World? You betchya! Did I join the Disney Movie Club so that my son could also grow up loving Disney? Of course! Did I now find that my priorities revolved around caring for my son and being a good wife and mother? Absolutely. My life path had shifted pretty far from my dream of working for, or at least in connection with, the Disney Company. Life was about making ends meet and keeping a roof over our heads. By 2010, I had been with my company for 5 years and was comfortable again.
Somehow not even the beyond incredible Disney Alaskan Cruise on the Wonder, that my super awesome, amazing, fabulous parents planned as a family vacation in July of 2014, reignited my Disney dream. Two sons, a husband, a home, and a “comfortable” job, finally with a short commute, was just too much to dig through.
It wasn’t until nine years later, when my Disney loving parents yet again planned a vacation for just them, my sister and me to Walt Disney World, that a ton of “dirt” was removed from the mound that had developed on top of my dream. I was able to visit with my roommate from Denver and a roommate from my Disney College Program summer. Perhaps it was these visits that made my dream start its journey back to the surface of my mind? My Denver roommate’s husband was working for Disney in his dream job, and my Disney roommate was also still working for Disney! Here were two people in my not so giant circle who had managed to make it “in” with Disney.
Upon my arrival back to normal life, which now includes a daughter, a different new home and 2 cats, I started digging into Disney like I hadn’t done for so many years! I watched countless YouTube videos of walk throughs, how to and what’s best. I read articles about the history of the company as well as upcoming changes. I joined an email notification for administrative job openings within Disney. I reached out to the Disney parallel websites for which I have been receiving newsletters for years, requesting information on how to become a part of their teams. I even looked for job openings in FL within my current company, with the idea that if I were to transfer and gain resident status in FL, I could get an annual pass and work on REALLY familiarizing myself with the company. All of this, much to the dismay of my 2 boys who are now 14 and 10, and beyond my reasonable comprehension, not nearly as interested in Disney as I am.
So I decided to put fingers to keyboard and relay my decades long story of a dream to work with one of the most influential, and yes often controversial, companies of all time, in the hopes of one – preserving my memory and keeping it from being buried again and two – possibly inspiring others who have let their dreams be buried in the day to day of survival, to revive them and jump in feet first, no matter where they are in life currently. Is it ever too late to go after what you want?? I don’t think so. And maybe, just maybe, my real calling lies in writing about the places I’ll go…with Disney.
