If you’ve been following my articles, or if you know me in real life, then you already know how much I love Disney. I love the catchy music, the memory-triggering short films, and the feature films with their important messages for children. When I first began writing for the Odyssey Online, I had just returned home from my Disney College Program in Orlando. As I begin to write this article, I have just scheduled my phone interview for my second Disney College Program. As I prepare for this interview, I’d like to gather a few thoughts here about why I want to go back and do it again.

I am a storyteller, and I have always wanted to tell stories with Disney. Though I’d love to use writing as my mode of storytelling (and I am currently applying to Disney Professional Internships that could make that part of my dream come true), during my College Program I learned a different kind of storytelling, a more ongoing, atmospheric one. At Disney World, the story is all around you, and it’s up to Disney Cast Members to create it for the Guests. Every part of a Disney park has a story, and I learned to tell the stories of Animal Kingdom. I chatted with Guests about the mysterious Yeti in Mount Everest, the perils of traveling back in time to see dinosaurs, and the incredible animals they could see on the safari. Before the Festival of the Lion Show began, I often had to explain to Guests that the show would start as soon as Simba thought that everything was ready, but the monkeys were causing trouble backstage. I would tell children that the scary bugs from the Tree of Life didn’t dare come anywhere near this theatre, because Timon and Pumbaa would eat them. I told one girl, the only person to ever ask me why Nala was not in the show, that while Simba was here, Nala was back at Pride Rock handling the actual royal duties. It’s all a part of the story that Disney invites its Guests to live in while they are at Disney World, and it was a pleasure to have a hand in creating it.

Sometimes people doubt me when I say that my job was a pleasure, because at the Festival of the Lion King, I was on my feet for eight hours a day in the hot Orlando sun. But it was a pleasure, because the job of a College Programmer is to create happiness. My days were full of interacting with people, doing whatever I could to make an already great day even better. I was there to welcome Guests into the theatre and arrange the queue lines for the most efficient entry. I was there to learn in Disney classrooms and meet people from all over the world. I was there to talk to children about their favorite animals and Disney characters. I was there to give directions through the park and suggest attractions for Guests to see. I was there to be a part of a team, and to learn from other Cast Members about their Disney stories and how I could do my job even better. I was there to wish Guests a happy birthday, a happy anniversary, and a safe adventure. I was even there for the Guests to more often than not make my day. “A pleasure” is the best way I can put it.

At Disney, I was a part of something magical, and I would love the chance to be a part of it again, in any role.