#futureimagineer

Hey everyone! Sorry I've been missing for so long. I've finally settled in and adjusted to my life. I'm not terribly busy anymore! I'll summarize what the past month and a half has been like.

So basically, I was originally hired as a merchandise CM at Downtown Disney on the day of my interview (June 27th). I got a phone call from my recruiter about ten minutes after the interview telling me she found an opening in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom and asked if I wanted it. Of course, I said yes!

About a month after that, I officially moved down to Florida, got a car, an apartment, and finished all of my school stuff. I am currently residing in Davenport, FL (about 20 minutes from Disney). 

On July 20th, I got to go to my Traditions class. It was the best day of my life. I, along with 64 other new CMs got to hang out all day with two of the coolest CMs; Bill, a former show performer and current bus driver, and oh my god why can't I remember his name? who works at the Wide World of Sports under the stage name "Tobias". Needless to say, they were two of the most awesome people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. On that same day, we got to do Disney activities and lessons all day, toured the utilidors and the Magic Kingdom, and I even got to shake hands with Mickey himself! I also got to meet Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Bear, and Br'er Fox. While all of that was fun, the best thing about that day was this girl I met. I won't get all into it, but let me just say...there was some sort of connection. As soon as she walked into the door, I just knew. It had to have been mutual too because we were both feeling something. I could tell. I'm going to try and see her sometime soon. ANYWAY, anyway, enough of that....but yes, it was the greatest day of my life so far.

After Traditions, I spent the whole week going to all the Disney parks...by myself   u_u   (Don't worry, I had a ton of fun).

Over the past few weeks, I've been completing my training in Tomorrowland merchandise and took a class called "Merchantaining". I've gotten to meet some awesome people (mainly trainers so far) such as Pat, Suny, and one of my area coordinators, Sam. I've actually managed to hang out with Sam outside of work a couple times, and he is an awesome dude. I'm hoping to meet more people throughout my time here, and I'm sure I will. Throughout my training, I've met some amazing CMs, and guests too! I've already made magic for a few people. For example, I helped a family look for Hidden Mickeys in Mickey's Star Traders. I've had a few hiccups using the registers, but I should be able to master it in no time. I seem to be okay at using the imaging machines (Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear SRS ride photos), but I could use a little more practice. The only real training left on my list is stock training, which I believe is this weekend. Other than that, my training is pretty much complete! I'm really looking forward to doing some more merchantaining. That's my favorite part about the job, along with pin trading.

So that's basically my life in the past month! I'm really enjoying being a P/T cast member at Tomorrowland. It's a blast. Within these couple of weeks alone, my leaders already love me, know about my Imagineer plans, and said if I keep up the good work, I could even be a trainer in six months! Looking forward to making some more friends and connections with people. And I'm gonna go try to visit the girl I met. She works at one of the resort hotels, but I won't say which one. I know it's pathetic, but I'm trying to plan this out so it doesn't seem weird. Something like, "Oh hey! What's up? Yeah my grandparents (or whatever) are staying here and I'm just waiting for them. I remembered you worked here and thought I'd say 'hi'."...

Is that weird? That's weird, isn't it? Whatever, I'll figure it out.

Anyway, I wanted to thank all of you so much for supporting me and following me on my journey. I'm actually doing it! Can you believe it?! Crazy! But since I'm down here and working now, I'd love to meet some of you guys. Right now, I'm working Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, but the times are always different. But if any of you decide you want to drop by and say hello, I'll be in Tomorrowland! Thanks again everyone. I'm glad to be back.

Tomorrow evening, I will be flying to Florida for my casting interview at Walt Disney World on Thursday! I have spent the past week mentally preparing for the interview, and physically preparing for the heat. For the week, I will be staying with my grandparents. During that time, I will be looking at apartments in the Orlando area. Of course, this all depends on whether or not I get the job.

Sidenote:

I had originally planned to move to Florida either in December of 2013 or January of 2014. It now appears that I will be moving earlier than this, most likely in July or August. I have begun the process of searching for jobs available at Walt Disney World, as well as a place to live. I found an apartment that is literally a walk away from one of the cast member parking lots, called Buena Vista Place. It seems to be a very nice complex. I have also invited my best friend from home to come with me, be my roommate, and possibly work at either Disney or Universal. This has yet to be officially confirmed, but it is something he really wants to do. 

Now that I am technically a Design, Art & Technology/Multimedia major and the semester is coming to an end, I had to pick my classes this past Thursday. All the classes I had picked would benefit me as an imagineer in some sort of way or another. However, being that my university is unbelievably unorganized, I came to discover that almost all of the classes I had chosen have been removed from the university...it would have been nice if they updated their course catalog when they decide to do things like that. As a DAT major, I am required to take two classes. These classes are back to back from 2pm-11pm on Fridays...I'm sorry, what time? Yeah I don't think so. What makes it even worse is that these classes are called "Human/Computer Interaction" and "Computer Programming"...that is not what I want to do at all. My other options were web design and game design, two more useless classes. Now we get to the fun part. When I had a meeting with the directors of the DAT/Multimedia department, they told me that everything I wanted to do in imagineering (design, artistic engineering, etc.) would all be involved in this major. Now, I have discovered that is a whopping lie and it is nothing more than art-related computer stuff. So what am I to do?

Although it is not set in stone and still requires A LOT of planning, what I am most likely going to do is transfer from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia to the University of Central Florida. After this semester, I will go back home and start working at my old job again. I will most likely work there through a normal Fall semester, but I will not be enrolled in any college. Then, for the Spring semester, I plan to attend Valencia College for two years in the UCF program, and then move onto UCF for another two years. It seems to be the most affordable and logical thing to do. During my enrollment in both colleges, I plan to work as a cast member at Disney. During either my second year at Valencia or my first year at UCF, I will enroll in the Disney College Program so I am eligible for a professional internship at Disney in the future.

This is one of the hardest decisions I have made to this day, but it seems to be the most logical. It would make sense to be living in Florida since I'd be moving down there anyway, and it would make sense to go to UCF, considering that is what most imagineers have done. While working my way in college to become an imagineer, I could also be working at the parks, making me that much more prepared and experienced for a Disney parks career. I will be getting a degree, while at the same time, working my way from bottom to top as a cast member/employee.