Now to talk about one of my favorite parts of the entire
program- Going to the parks! When you’re not working or you’re lucky and get
off work at a decent time, you do get to go to the parks for free as a Disney
employee. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Disney World, this is kind
of a big deal. Normally, going to one park would be over 100 dollars for an all-day
ticket and 20 dollars for parking. That’s just for one park. If you wanted a
park hopper, that’s also going to be over 100 dollars. I got into any park on
Disney property for free and got parking for free. That first time that I got
to go to the parks to play with my roommates our first week was something I
will never forget. We got there right as the fireworks show was going off and
watching them around thousands of happy guests, knowing that we were about to
work for this amazing company was something so special. We quickly realized
that we only had about an hour to play in the park, so we went on our first
ride together, which was Pirates of the Caribbean.
Balancing work and play is something that you have to get
used to. Being on your feet all day in the Florida heat and then going to a
theme park right after isn’t something that everyone could do, but it’s almost
like you have to do it when you’re on the college program. You’re on a time
crunch from the moment you get your blue IDs (the card that got you into the
parks until you got your main gate passes) because you may think you have all
this time, but in a blink of an eye it’s over and you can’t go into the parks
for free anymore. I tried to take advantage of this as much as I could. Any
free time I had, I tried going to the parks, even it was by myself. I actually
learned to love going to the parks by myself. It was something I felt awkward
about at first, but the more I did it, the more I fell in love with doing it.
There was something really awesome about going to Magic Kingdom (or any of the
parks) and doing whatever you wanted to do. There were so many times I would go
to MK just to watch fireworks and then leave. There were also SOOOOO many times
I would go to watch my favorite show in the whole entire world, The Country
Bear Jamboree. (I will probably talk about this in another post…)
One of my all-time favorite memories is the first time Molly
and I went to Magic Kingdom for the first time together. It was the end of
February before me and Molly got to hang out, this was because we actually didn’t
talk to each other until we went to Magic Kingdom (lol it was interesting to
say the least). But anyways, our friendship bloomed that night when we rode all
three mountains in one hour. Space, Big Thunder, and Splash Mountain. This was
actually pretty crazy because all of these rides always have a long wait and
Space Mountain is far away from Splash and Big Thunder, but with the power of
fast passes and fighting crowds by running as fast as we could, we did it. And
it was awesome and I knew that Molly was going to be one of my closest friends
and the person who got me through my hard days at work. I didn’t know that
along with her, I would meet other people who would become close to me and who
I would love and still talk to all the time. Samm, Briana and Marina, I love
you all so much.
We all ended up going to the parks all the time with each
other. Our favorite ride to go on together was Splash Mountain, but we also
loved Tower of Terror, Rock and Roller Coaster, Expedition Everest, Space
Mountain, and so many others. I had so many laughs with these people and we
even went to Universal together which was so much fun.
Something else that I loved about going to the parks was
watching the Festival of Fantasy parade. This parade features almost every
Disney princess there is, as well as classic Disney characters. It has amazing
music and beautiful floats and it’s something that every age can enjoy. I also
loved watching Once Upon a Time, Wishes, and Happily Ever After, which were the
nighttime shows.
If you’re thinking about doing the Disney College Program,
know that most of your time will be dedicated to work. When you’re working
forty to fifty hours a week, it’s hard to find time to go to the park, but make
sure you go as much as you can because you will regret it if you don’t. There
are so many things that I wanted to do on the program that I didn’t get to do.
This isn’t even at the parks, but it’s exploring Disney property. Going to all
of the resorts, going to Disney Springs, checking out new restaurants… All of
it is something you should really take advantage of. Yes, you’re going to have
days where all you want to do is lay in bed and binge watch Netflix, but just
try to remember that you can do that when you’re at home. Right now I’m sitting
in my bed writing this blog, when just two months ago I had the opportunity to
go play in the parks and I miss it like crazy. I also realize that there are
days where the parks are too crowded or the lines are too long. I totally get
that, but again, you’re there for such a short and sweet time. Make the most of
it. Make magic while you work, and be a part of the magic outside of work. Because
yes, you feel the magic outside of work. Running through Magic Kingdom when
there’s hardly anyone in the park is magic. Taking crazy pictures in front of
the castle at night is magic. Seeing a child on the monorail light up when they
see Cinderella’s castle is magic. It makes you realize why you are there to
work and it makes the hard days so much better when you know that there is fun
and happiness right after you clock out. If I could go back in time to January
before I left, would I have done my program again? In a heartbeat. I would tell
myself that work would be hard but worth it and that I would make some of the
closest friends I will ever have and that this was going to be the best five
months of my life. 
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