Four months ago I thought four months would go by so slowly. I’ve changed my mind. Four months is a very short amount of time. Four months. One huge adventure.
When I first heard about the Disney College Program I day dreamed about getting to go to Disney World and make people smile. As long as I didn’t have to do the same kind of job I did at KFC I would have done just about anything. After thinking about it though I just didn’t think me going to Florida all by myself was a good idea for two reasons. 1. I was worried that I’d lose my testimony of the religion I love because I wouldn’t be able to attend church every Sunday. 2. I didn’t think I could do it. ‘It’s too big. This kind of thing only happens in movies’ I thought.
In the biggest semester of my life I put in my application and got chosen to be part of the College Program. Even after being accepted I had fears and doubts about going. In the end I decided that if for nothing else I needed it to keep me busy during an 8 month engagement and anyway it’d be fun.
I am so glad I was given the opportunity to work for Disney. I’ve learned so much. Here’s some of what I’ve learned.
- My testimony of the church is strong. It’s something I can rely on. How I learned it: I’ve never really been in a situation where it was entirely up to me to attend church. There have always been roommates or parents or friends helping me to make the decision to go. Out here I worked on Saturday and Sunday nights. Usually I didn’t get off Saturday night until 1am or 2am. For church I had to be up at 8am. There were a lot of days I just couldn’t do it, and I saw the difference in my life. It’s been a long time, and by a long time I mean probably since high school which only ended three years ago for me, since I’ve been around people who are not of the same faith as me, and I’ve never been around college kids who aren’t members – the joys of attending an LDS college. I’ve never been around drinking or drugs or anything like that. On my program people were so nice to me and so respectful of my beliefs. It was wonderful to see.
- Magic doesn’t have to be big. How I learned it: Most days the tiniest of things could make or break my day. It’s something I want to apply in other aspects of my life. Before coming on this program I felt like I didn’t really know what it meant to serve others. On this program, even though I was being paid, I was able to learn about service. Not huge things like building houses for people or giving them money, but the little things that are hardly noticed sometimes. A Guest with a crying child is grateful to the Cast Member who shows they care. The Guest asked to move down the queue line would hardly think twice, but the one at the very end of a very long line gets to move twenty feet closer to the attraction. It’s the little things. There’s a scripture that says that the Lord creates miracles by small and simple means. I feel like I understand that much better now. Disney is made up of thousands of little moments that turn into memories that people remember for the rest of their lives.
- I can do big things. How I learned it: I got to live in a fairytale for four months. It didn’t always feel like a fairytale. There were hard moments, but how often will I ever get to go into Disney World whenever I want? When will I ever have a job where I talk to thousands of people every day again? When will I be given a job where I’m paid to go out of my way to make children smile? It was a fairytale even when it was difficult.
- It’s hard to be happy with anything if you only look for the things that are hard. How I learned it: Even on a fairytale job when your job is to make people smile it is possible to find the bad things. I have to stand for a couple hours at a time. I have to work with people who don’t understand I’m trying to help. I have to tell people no. All I’m doing is pressing a little flashing green light. The job is a lot better when you look at all the good things. Anything in life has some bad things, but it’s the good things that make it worthwhile.
- - I learned to appreciate the people who do the behind the scenes work. How I learned it: I did it. I’ve been behind the scenes before. I’ve been behind the scenes many times in the theater, but never like this. There are a lot of things that are done at Disney that Guests will never see. It’s all part of the magic. Every place is like that. There are things we’ll just never see.
I’m just amazed at how my perspectives have changed. I hope I can take the magic making skills I’ve learned and apply them to
more areas of my life. I would recommend the program for
anyone. It’s not a cake walk, but it’s incredible.
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