A Short Trip

I had planned on attempting to get housing in Florida without actually driving to Florida, which I will admit was a lofty goal. I figured I could maneuver it through online photographs and possibly sending over a friend to look at the place if I needed to, which I understand is completely naive and potentially dangerous. Also, that whole not driving to Florida thing fell apart pretty fast when I thought I found the perfect apartment.

I knew the second I was offered my position, and even before I was offered my position, that I wanted to live in Celebration. I had fallen in love with the little town and how you can walk anywhere and everything, how there’s a sense of community the second you step downtown, how there’s always something to do in town and if there’s not you’re 10 minutes away from the parks. Celebration was my one requirement, and I was dead-set on finding someone to live with me there.

Which led to several conversations with other accepted interns of “Oh, but have you thought about Winter Garden?” Yes, I have. And no, I don’t want to live there. Yes, I’m sure. No, you can’t convince me.

Celebration is closer to my office; it will take my roughly 10-15 minutes to get to work when it would take me 20-25 from Winter Garden. Celebration is actually relatively cheaper; if you actively look at all the listings and if you talk to realtors, you can find apartments at the price of Winter Garden apartments or cheaper than Winter Garden apartments. You can actually walk around and do things with your community, a thing you can’t really do in Winter Garden.

The apartment we ended up settling for isn’t the idyllic one I saw on the apartment search websites, the one that I originally drove down for. I won’t be living above the Celebration Town Tavern with a view of the lake and the fireworks and that’s okay. I’m starting a new job in a new town, and at this point in my life I value the affordability and added amenities of the larger complex we chose that’s further out from downtown. There will be a time for closer apartments, for ones with bigger windows and better views, and that time is not now.

On my impromptu trip to Florida, in which I left mid-day on a Friday to arrive a few hours before sundown, my first stop was of course WaWa. After eating and checking into my hotel, I made a point to go explore Celebration some more, focusing on where parking lots were and what the flow of traffic and living was like in the area (since I was looking at an apartment in downtown at that point). I tried to contact a few places to book additional viewings the next day and didn’t immediately hear back, but I wasn’t concerned.

The next morning I went to WaWa again (because I have a problem) and then went over to Celebration at 8:30 in the morning, wanting to get a feel of the town on weekend mornings. Due to a very large car show, downtown was busier than I had ever seen it, but it was still enjoyable. The crowds weren’t overwhelming, and I still enjoyed walking around downtown occasionally petting dogs and peeking up at buildings to see if there were apartments up there. I ended up viewing four places with an old roommate (thank you, roommate!), and immediately left from the last one to drive back to Georgia. What was supposed to be a six hour drive turned into a nine hour drive with the end of spring break travel, but I eventually got back home, entirely weary from a ridiculous amount of travel in just two days.

The moral is that even though I won’t be living in the most ideal apartment, that I still have time to work up to that. I am at a good place for my current season in life, for adjusting to a new place and a new job, and that’s okay.

Dreams Come True

Last spring semester I was able to schedule everything to be in two days, having continual classes from 9AM until 5PM. I considered this schedule ideal, despite the fact that I had to commute in rush hour both ways. It made me get up early and go straight to school, it didn’t allow me large gaps between classes in which I would be able to consider skipping my afternoon classes, and it saved me from spending multiple days driving two hours to and from campus. This spring, however, I was forced to take classes three days a week, with a long break between two of my classes that I figured I would spend doing homework or studying. In reality I spent this time eating food I couldn’t really afford to order and staring at my jobs dashboard willing one of the positions to move. It’s amazing that while I had 18 credit hours I still spent a large amount of time obsessing over whether my applications with Disney (and with other companies) were advancing, but that’s what happened.

Honestly, I never thought I would get a Professional Internship, let alone one of my top two roles. I had applied in the past, receiving a phone screen only to never hear from a recruiter after. I approached this season with a heavy dose of realism, fully prepared to come away empty handed again.

In ways I was a star candidate for the positions I was applying for. I had experience with the company gained from two separate Disney College Programs. I spent my time in the trenches of Quick Service Food & Beverage, selling Mickey pretzels and turkey legs in Magic Kingdom for what felt like years but in reality was only about 3 months. I had the honor of returning and learning to be a PhotoPass Photographer, a time of my life I would title “Photos With Trees” for the millions of photographs I took of guests in front of the Tree of Life and various Christmas trees. I could boast that I had the opportunity to work in all four parks (and Disney Springs!). I knew my way around property and knew how each park worked and what their goal was. I had a deep appreciation for Disney, for the happiness it created, for the magic that I was part of.

I also had what I truly believe was a ridiculous amount of internship and professional experience. I had been doing internships since my sophomore year of college (well, my first internship was actually during high school, but my serious work wasn’t done until university), completing at least one (and sometimes more than one) internship a semester. I had done creative work as a Photography Intern for Atlanta Magazine and as a Video Intern for Spoon University, as well as my time as Associate Photo Editor at my university’s paper and as an Associate Producer for Georgia Public Broadcasting. I had marketing experience, having worked as a consultant for a local restaurant chain as well as a Marketing and PR Intern for the Zoo. I had international experience working with people from all over the world from my study abroad in Seoul, South Korea.

I don’t pretend to understand the mysterious ways of Disney recruiting. I have been told a lot of the process is luck, which I truly do believe. The amount of qualified applicants that go for each role is overwhelming, and I’m sure there were people that had done more internships than me, that had worked with the company longer than me, that had charmed the interviewer more than me. It was luck that I could be noticed out of the leaning pile of resumes, that I could be noticed out of the countless people that received phone screens, that I was chosen out of the dozens of people interviewed for the role in which I was placed. Don’t get me wrong; this luck was backed with a lot of hard work, with a lot of research, and with a lot of discussions with friends, family, and cast members, but it was luck nonetheless.

To put my process into perspective, I applied for this particular internship on January 25, went In Progress (meaning they viewed my application) on January 27, had my phone screen for all marketing internships on February 1, and then didn’t hear for another interview until March 14. I scheduled my second interview with the team for March 21, and received a request for a transcript on March 23 followed shortly by a request to schedule “a short phone call.” I was then offered my position on March 24 and accepted the same day.

I’m going to be honest; my dashboard was a thing of nightmares and I was 100% one of the people they warn against saying “you’ve applied for too many things!” My dashboard scrolled because it was full of so many applications. Because I had such a diverse background of experience I qualified for a diverse array of positions. I would categorize the jobs I applied for into four departments: Marketing, Photography, Video and Miscellaneous. And yes, I am aware the fourth category is a cheat, but it included roles such as leader positions within the parks as well as teaching and education positions with Disney English in China, and only totaled roughly 5 positions. I’m not going to list all of the positions in the other categories because 1) that would be embarrassing and 2) that would be ridiculously long. I will say that I also interviewed for a position with Marketing in Disney Photographic Imaging (which fell under the Marketing Internships umbrella if you’re interested, and yes is marketing the role I had previously been in) which had the same phone screen as my accepted position, but required two additional interviews and a submission of writing and social media examples.

My point is that applying for a lot of positions isn’t the mark of death because hey! I got one! I would recommend keeping them related and not applying for things you aren’t qualified for, but don’t feel that you’re not going to get anything just because you applied for a lot of positions.

The role I accepted is Social Media & Character Strategy Intern, a role that is in the Creative Entertainment department. I truly am overjoyed to be able to take on this role, to be able to work on the team helping to make magical moments for guests. I naturally gravitate toward the entertainment in the park, toward the shows and the meet and greets, so to be able to help create a strategy that allows more guests to enjoy and experience the magic is a dream come true. Some of the most rewarding parts of my PhotoPass program were being able to see children (and adults!) light up when they met their favorite character, and I can’t count the amount of times I started to cry while photographing a meet and greet. From the little boy meeting Mickey and Minnie for the first time who was able to tell Minnie that he dressed up as her for Halloween and that his entire bedroom is Minnie Mouse themed, to the little girl dressed as Pocahontas getting to meet the princess herself alongside Meeko, to the teenager with hair that rivaled Merida that started to cry when she finally got to hug her favorite princess, to watching a little girl dressed as Elena waving to the princess on the stage of the castle in her royal welcome, my experience with characters is nothing short of magical. To be able to work on a team dedicated to making these memories for guests is more than I could ever hope for, and I hope that this journey is just the start of my time making magic with the company.