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Well I'll be, it's the Blue Fairy!

Close to a year ago as I spent another afternoon in my house, I thought about where my life was going and where I wished it was going instead. As a 19 year old still living at home, I realized that I needed some adventure in my life. Somehow I stumbled across the Disney College Program website and thought to myself "That would be so cool." I spent the remainder of the day finding blogs and youtube channels of current or past participants. The more I researched the program, the more appealing the idea became to me. 

In the coming days, I thought more about the program and couldn't help but notice an overwhelming feeling that I would someday find myself in Florida, working for the Walt Disney company. It was a strange concept, but it felt that my heart had already been set on being accepted into the program. 

During the following summer, I would find myself frequently bringing up the idea of me "moving to Florida in January" and found it to come across as more of a fact rather than a dream. School began, and within the first few weeks of the semester, the Disney College Program Spring 2013 applications dropped. As I worked my way through the 3-stage application process, I kept it to myself, telling only a few close friends that I had been applying. 

I will never forget the day that I got my acceptance email. It was truthfully one of the happiest and most emotional days that I have ever had. I felt that I had set my heart on something, and made it happen for myself. I knew that coming to Florida would be a huge step for me, and was excited to take on the challenge of starting a life where I knew no one and nothing. 

The fall months were spent counting down the days, putting away as much money as I could, and wrapping up loose ends in Michigan, all with the date of January 22nd in the front of my mind. Once school had finished and the holidays had come to an end, it was time to pack my bags, say goodbye to my coworkers and family, and purchase a one way ticket to Orlando, Florida. 

As I walked away from my family that snowy afternoon in January, I knew that my life was about to change forever. That I was completely on my own and that when I came back in the spring, I would be a new person with so many experiences to share. 

The beginning of the program brought challenges that I never had to face before in my life. I met my roommates and began to form friendships with them that I am confident will last a life time. We attended housing events, taco tuesdays at our neighbors, and had late nights talking in one bedroom or another. We befriended the boys across the court yard and spent many nights falling asleep on their couch in front of a movie. 

At work, I began on the Magic Kingdom turnstiles. The long days were spent welcoming guests into the parks and listening to the same instrumental versions of classic Disney songs for hours on end. I was given just a taste of the beauty of the Magic Kingdom and looked forward to the nightly fireworks, even though I had to watch them from outside the gates. 

The early spring brought visits with family and friends from Michigan, trips to Cocoa Beach and paint parties. Some of us braved Falafal and Buffalo Wild Wings week after week or the occasional party bus. The beginning of March also brought my official training and change in job to Parade Audience Control. This meant working with a larger group of fellow CP's night after night. It meant learning the Magic Kingdom inside and out, and being able to answer any question a guest may have to ask. It brought me incredibly close with an amazing family of Main Street cast members and a million memories that I constantly cherish. 

With April brought my birthday as well as a relationship that has brought me so many sweet memories and has reminded me what it is to care so deeply about someone else. A visit home opened my eyes to what I truly wanted to do once my program was over and made me realize how special my time was that I had left. 

As the final month of my program came and went, I had so much time to reflect on what an amazing experience I've been blessed to have. From my incredible roommates, to my amazing job and coworkers, to all of the wonderful people I've been fortunate to meet.  

I look back on that afternoon last May, and realize how lucky I was to have stumbled across that website. In the past year, I've been able to grow so much as a person and in life. I truly feel that fate brought me to this opportunity because I couldn't imagine my life without any of the amazing people I've met in the past 4 months. I've found friends that I've spent a lifetime searching for. I've made memories that I only thought were possible in dreams. I've found myself in so many ways and I only have this program to thank. 

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I can honestly say that when I began my program, I had no intention of becoming involved with anyone. From reading other blogs and seeing comments of Facebook pages, it's no secret that some girls come to the program in search of their "Prince Charming". In my mind, I was coming to the program to work hard and make friends with people from all over the world. While I feel truly satisfied by my experience with both of those things, I was also very surprised to find myself spending quite a bit of time with one boy in particular. What started as a really great friendship with Vince has since become something very special to me. If you asked me exactly what we were, I don't think I would be able to give you an answer, we're still trying to figure that out ourselves. However I know that I have been blessed to spend my time with someone so sweet who has taught me so much in the past few months. 

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A quick beach photo shoot with these four. 

In the middle picture it goes from left to right: Hayley, Billy, Kieran, and Courtney. Each of them mean so much to me and we've had so many fun memories together. We took these photos after a dinner at Ohana's together. Ohana means family, and I would certainly consider the 4 of them to be my family. They are the kind of friends that I hope to keep for the rest of my life. 

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As a way to get a chance to say goodbye to our friends, a bunch of the PAC cast got together at Buffalo Wild Wings for a big dinner. Everyone came and hung out for a few hours. After dinner, the restaurant turns into a club with karaoke and dancing. Most of us stayed and had a great night together before everyone started going their separate ways as they finished their programs. 

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I graduated my program!

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Last week I was lucky enough to see Olly Murs perform at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney! I've listened to his music for over a year now and I was so excited to see him play live. He has such a great voice and was such a fun entertainer. 

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My family came to visit! 

During the first week of May, my mom, older brother and Aunt Lori came down to see me. 

On their first day, it was pouring rain and didn't seem like it would let up for the entire weekend. We walked around Downtown Disney, ate dinner at Planet Hollywood, and went to see La Nouba, the Cirque de soliel show. 

On Friday, we had a busy day starting at Hollywood Studios. We rode some rides and had a late lunch/early dinner at the Prime Time Cafe. Afterwards, we went over to Epcot to explore the World Showcase and watch the fireworks. Thankfully, the rain held off all day until just before the fireworks. 

On Saturday, we headed over to Cocoa Beach for the afternoon and then went to my aunt's house who lives in Florida. She made us a delicious dinner and we visited for a while. 

Sunday we spent the entire day at the Magic Kingdom. Since it's where I work, I was able to show them around and have them in the best places for all of the shows and parades. Vince came to hang out for the evening to see the fireworks and night parade. Him and my brother got along so well that I had to find other things to do since they would not stop talking amongst themselves. 

On Monday, they did some shopping in Downtown Disney and I met up with them to have some lunch and say goodbye. 

It was so good to see them and I miss them all very much. It was fun to have our own little "family vacation" down here in my new little world. 

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Character breakfast! 

As sort of a last minute idea, my roommates decided to go to a character breakfast at the Yacht and Beach club resort! We had an early reservation (7:30 am) so we were up earlier than most of us have been since check-in day and rode over to the hotel. 

It was an all you can eat buffet and it was amazing. The food was incredible and our waitress was constantly refilling our juice and coffee. While we ate, Donald, Minnie, and Goofy came around to the tables to sign autographs, take pictures, and make us smile. 

It was so wonderful to be there with all 5 of my roommates since we haven't had many chances to all be together at the same time. 

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Photo shoot on the beach with my roommates!

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There are so many gorgeous places here in Disney World. This is a beach outside the Yacht and Beach club resort that we hung out on after we attended a character breakfast at the hotel. 

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Took over the top row of the Tower of Terror with Vince, Kristen, Courtney and Jay. 

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Epcot with Courtney and Kristen!

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Woody's my hero :)

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Have a Magical Day: 

Every day has been amazing down here. Weather it's been spent laying on the couches with my roommates, working a really fun shift with all of my friends, or spending an entire day playing at a park, they have all been memorable. However, certain days seem so perfect that when reflecting on them, it almost seems like they're a story. Like someone dreamnt up the perfect day and then told it to me. Wednesday, April 24th was one of those days. 

A very good friend of mine, Vince, was spending his day hanging out with Woody at his meeting place by Splash Mountain. Since he doesn't hang out with Woody very much anymore, and since I had the day off of work, I thought it would be a good time to go and see Woody as well. A lot of my friends were working or busy for the day, but a very good friend of mine, Marliz, agreed to go with me to the Magic Kingdom to see Woody and Vince. We got to the park around 1 but timing didn't work out so it was a good opportunity to visit Woody until after 3:30. We got something to eat at Sleepy Hollow (Nutella and fresh fruit waffle sandwich. It was great, by the way.) Then we headed over to the Hall of Presidents (everyone has to do it once, right?) By the time that was over, Vince was on his lunch break and we had an opportunity to say hello to him. Afterwards, we had some ice-cream and said hello to PAC friends who were on the parade route. 

After the 3:00 parade had gone through, it was finally time to go say hello to Woody. The character attendant knew that I was a friend of Vince's so that when we got to the front of the line, she said "Hey Woody! Look who I found!" And Woody was very excited to see me. It's nice to know people ;). 

Afterwards, Marliz and I rode some rides, saw more of our PAC and Park Greeter friends and said goodbye. It was then time for Vince to get off of work and spend the rest of the evening in park with me. It was an odd day because there weren't any night parades and the park closed at 9 instead of 11. Since no one would want to waste a park day at MK with it closing early, the park was pretty empty which made it a lot of fun. 

We went and talked to Ariel, went to Enchanted Tales with Belle, rode the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and the Winnie the Pooh ride before it was time for Celebrate the Magic and Wishes. 

The day was spent with two of my favorite people, in an uncrowded park, with gorgeous weather. It will be one that I'll never forgot and always remember fondly. 

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Visiting friends on Main Street!

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I love that on my days and nights off I can go to the Magic Kingdom and see familiar faces on Main Street and over to Frontierland. On this particular night, I had gone to the park alone to meet a friend after he was done with the parades. SInce I was alone, I took time to watch the fireworks from Fantasyland instead of in front of the castle. It was so interesting to see them from a new perspective. 

I then watched a basically private parade with one of my friends who was working by Country Bears. Since I was dressed as a guest, all of the characters acknowledged me and gave me attention. Even though I was alone, the night was so much fun. 

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A collection of PAC appreciation. I love my suit and bow tie. The friends that I've made on PAC are some of the best. Everyone is usually in good spirits and do their best to make the people around them laugh when things get a little rough. We survived spring break week together and I'm pretty sure that means we can do anything. 

We've started going out after work to restaurants. Since we get off at the same time and it's usually after 12 we go to Applebee's for 1/2 price appetizers. They sometimes have a DJ who plays music while we eat. It's so much fun being out with the family.