I want to go HOOOOOOOOOME!

I miss Disney so much its not even funny. It is so weird to me how 7 months has changed so much for me. How it happened I don't know but somehow over the 7 months I spent at Disney and in Orlando I made myself a home. I came to the realization last night that Orlando and Disney is my home. and I really want to go home.

Its hard for me to pin-point what it is exactly I miss so much. I definitely miss the friends I made, especially my twin. I miss the people I saw everyday (or almost everyday) at work. I think one of the things I miss the most is the magic. As cheesy as that sounds its true. There is just a feel to Disney that even when your day is going shitty because you had some asshole guests, its hotter than hell, and something in your work location goes all wrong, its still Disney and that means that its so much better than if all the same things had happened someplace totally different.

The magic is something I didn't realize was a part of my daily life until I moved back to Austin and school. I took it for granted. And I miss it so much. I truly worked at the Happiest Place on Earth. Working there made me really happy. Thinking about it brings a happy little bubble to my chest and a pressure to my face which usually means I am about to cry.

Austin just doesn't hold the same feelings for me that Orlando does. Its just not the same and I am very aware of it. If I truly let myself gush about Disney and the magic and all that that means, people would probably think I am a werido. One of those crazy Disney fanatics.

The other day in my Media and Professional Presentations class we were looking at past student presentations for an assignment where you have to act like you are the CEO of a company and are giving the annual report presentation to your stock holders. Some of the slides we looked at were from a presentation about Disney. We looked at the opening and closing slides, what my professor calls the "bookends." Slides that are just a picture that gives your presentation a professional look. I didn't know that we were going to see slides about Disney but up pops a slide that is of Cinderella Castle nestled in the clouds. The image was close to this one except without backwards "dreaming" text.

Immediately I said "awwwww" out loud. Then I started to get sappy smile. My professor also happens to be my academic adviser so he knew that I had been working at Disney the last 7 months. He asked me some random question about the dinsey logo and I just answered Uh-huh because I hadn't actually heard the question. I was lost in my own world. And then he flipped to the closing slide. This was the picture that made me tear up (minus the words).

I will say in my defense there were several other people in the class that all said "awwwww". However, none of them started to tear up. I honestly couldn't help it. I have such an affection for Woody that developed as a result of working with him while on my program. I think that the picture is particularly heart warming but when added to the fact that Woody is one of the characters I had the closest working relationship with and I am super Disney homesick, I think it is easy to see why I was so affected.

I commented on my tumblr that I wondered if I would spend the next 10 months (now a bit closer to 9!) feeling magnetically pulled to Orlando and Disney. If I would just feel like I am biding my time till I can return. I really hate for that to be the way I spend my senior year, but at the end of my first week of school, that is kinda the way it looks like it will be. I guess we will just have to see how I feel about that in a few months.

Thats all for now (folks!.. wrong company lol)

-M

Disney... its like a bad addiction

So its official. I'm definitely addicted to Disney. I feel like that is probably one of those statements that are going to make people say "Duh!" but I have officially decided it is official. So...ya.

Over the last week I have become increasingly involved in the Fall 2011 CP Facebook group. I made a google map for the Fall 2011 group. I started one for the Spring 2010 group where people could post their locations on the map so that we (the collective group) could see where everyone was from. It was really cool to watch it grow. I wish I had taken pictures while it grew... but I didn't. I am going to do take screen shots this time around.

Humm... other Disney obsession news....

I have already started thinking about auditioning again. I have always known that I was going to audition again but I have actually started thinking about the process. Honestly my dream is to be a performer. Working with Characters for 7.5 months only made the desire to be a performer that much stronger. Perhaps by hanging out with Characters so much some of the necessary magic has rubbed off on me. I really hope so. And if nothing else after 7.5 months living and playing at Disney I should have the necessary knowledge of characters to come up with a convincing animation of meeting one of them. I am planing on taking Modern Dance (for credit whoop whoop) again in the spring so that I can brush up on my dance skillz. And by dance skillz I mean the ability to learn choreography at something other than a snails pace. First audition (which happened to coincide with the first time I took Modern Dance) I actually learned the auditioned dance. Second time... not so much. lol

That is really all of the Disney obsession things I can think about at the moment. I know there are more signs... but like I said, I can't think of them. So that is all for now. I will be good and post again later! :D

-M

I have decided to combine my Disney Livejournal with this blog. So I am going to copy and back post all of the posts from my lj to here. Which means this blog is about to get a lot more full. In case anyone who is following cares to know why their dashboard is going to blow up. :D

-M

The end is near... oh wait it already ended...

"My 7 month season with the mouse is coming to a close. My days are numbered... 9 to be exact. The fact that I am leaving just makes my heart heavy. I don't want to leave this magical place yet. I don't want to leave the wonderful people I have met. I just dont know how I am going to survive the next couple of weeks."

So that was the beginning of a post I never finished. Per usual. lol And I can say that leaving Disney is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Now that may sound a bit melodramatic but I am serious. I didn't have a hard time going off to college and I didn't have a hard time leaving college (and friends and fam) to go to Orlando. But leaving Orlando was incredibly difficult, painful, and sad. I'm not one of those crazy Disney people whose life revolves around the Mouse Man and all that his company entails. I simply loved my job, the people I worked with, the friends I collected, and the life that I made in Orlando.

I have left a part of myself in Orlando and already have plans to reunite myself with it in a little over a year. Thats right folks. If I haven't already said it to you or written it in this blog somewhere (I'm far to lazy to go back through and read to see if I have) I am going to apply for the Fall 2011 program. I might perhaps do a Fall Advantage. It just kind of depends if I can manage to graduate on time in May or if I have to take an extra class or two in the summer.

So as I predicted when I started this blog (way back in November of 09. That is like 9 months ago!) I am not just going to have one season with the Mouse. But at least 2. Go me for having the foresight to put that 's' at the end of season. I obviously wont be able to do another college program after this next one but who knows if I will stay with the Mouse for a few years and try to make a real job out of something I love. Then that 's' might really come in handy.

Because I am so Disney obsessed I have already joined the Fall/Fall Advantage 2011 group. I actually joined it back in June. I am already posting like a fiend in that group and have also joined the chats. I love that anticipation feeling. I love talking to people who are just as excited about the program, Disney, and the thought of working at the happiest place on earth.

The only difference this time around is that I know exactly what I am getting myself into. I know how wonderful the program can be if you put the effort in. I also know what I am going to do different this time. I am going to take the time to do non-Disney things. I am going to not be a bum and turn down offers to hang out with people after work. I am also going to take advantage of the fact that some Spring 2010 people who I should have hung out with more are going to do Fall 2011. I'm going to actually hang out with those people! (That means you Marina, Lauren, Joey, and Karen!)

Maybe for my next post (which will of course come like 2 months from now.) I will make a list of the things I am going to do that I didn't do the first time around. Because honestly looking forward to going back is about the only thing keeping me from the black pit of despair that leaving opened up.

That is all for now. I am hoping posting in this blog will help fill my Disney void. I guess we shall see.
:)
-M