My Disney Past

As I sit here watching some tv show about Walt Disney World, I find myself wanting nothing more than to get on a plane tomorrow morning and make my way to Orlando.  My heart is completely torn between my home in Michigan, and my home at WDW.  I realized that I haven't really explained to all of you my connection to Walt Disney World, and why I chose the Princess Half Marathon to be my goal race. 

I have always been a big Disney fan, and up until 2003, I had only been there once with my family, back when I was 15 years old.  My Senior year of high school, I met a girl named Amber who became one of my mentors.  As I got to know her more, I found out that she had once spent some time living in Orlando, and working for Disney.  She encouraged me to find out more information about the WDW College Program, and she thought that it would be something that I would be interested in doing.  I looked up as much information as I could, and decided that I absolutely had to get into this program.  My mom was sure that there would be some waiting list, or hidden cost for this experience, but told me that if it was something I wanted to do, that her and my dad would support me.  The WDWCP recruiting team was going to be coming to a local college, I made sure I was there.  My interview went well and I was feeling very confident.  A few weeks later, I got a packet saying that I was accepted into the College Program, and I would be working Attractions!  It was a dream come true! I would be living and working at Disney from January 2003 until May 2003.  Since I was accepted in October, I had to wait quite a while before going, and it was the longest few months ever.  I had been going to every single website about the college program that I could, and I found a message board of other people who would be doing the Spring 2003 program.  This is where I met my roommates, my best friends, and my (at the time) boyfriend. 

Moving away from home was a bit sad, but I honestly had never been more excited.  I was living with 5 other great girls (2 of which I still stay in contact with, and one of those girls is my best friend and was in my wedding), I found out I'd be working at Pirates of the Caribbean at Magic Kingdom, and life couldn't be better.  I had the BEST time down in Florida.  I made so many amazing friends, and memories down there during my 5 months. 

I came back home for about a year, and was miserable.  I missed it so much.  I made a plan (on the way home) to work for about a year, and save as much as I could, and move back down and work Full Time at Disney.  Luckily, one of my best friends, Acacia, wanted to move down there to go to school.  We moved back down to Florida in August 2004.  We moved to a town called Winter Park, which is where Acacia's school was, but it was about 45 minutes away from Disney.  I started out working Part Time at DisneyQuest in Downtown Disney, and I was also working part time for David's Bridal.  Even though I was making more hourly at DB, I signed up to become Full Time as soon as there was a position available at DisneyQuest.  I only worked at DB for about 2 months, because I finally got Full Time at DQ! I was sooooo happy.  I made so many friends at DQ, and once again, made some of the greatest memories.  Unfortunately, I wasn't making enough working attractions at DQ to afford all my bills, and after 13 months, I decided that I needed to go home and finish college, and then I would come back down to Florida. 

And I haven't moved back since.

I ended creating a life here, met and married the man of my dreams, and we bought a house.  But even through all of that, I still think that part of my heart lives at Walt Disney World.  I have been back there quite a few times, even a couple of times with my husband (including our Honeymoon).  If my husband told me today that he would move down to Florida, I wouldn't even think twice about it, I'd be back there in a heartbeat.  Sure, I would miss my family.  But I have a constant hole in my heart that yearns for my life back at Disney.  I loved being able to be a part of a families dream vacation.  I loved having the opportunity to help create life long memories for people all over the world.  I was given the tools to create magic for children.  I absolutely loved working there.

When I decided that I wanted to run the Princess Half Marathon, I decided that I wanted to make it into a family vacation, not just a long weekend where I go to the park, run a bit, and go home.  So, in February, my husband and I, my mom and dad, and my sister (and probably one of her friends)  are going to be spending 10 days down there. I can't wait to make another memory down there, one of where I achieve something that I would have never even imagined doing, like running 13.1 miles.  There's something about Disney Magic that pushes me to train for this race, so that I am able to run with the Princesses.