A Day In The Life

Hi friends!

What I'm picking up on is that y'all love the posts about Disney, and I've gotten a lot of questions about what it's like to be a professional intern... so here's a post sharing what my experience has been like so far!

THE JOB.

The official internship title is Casting Employment Coordinator. So what does that mean? I spend my days Monday through Friday at the Casting building across from Disney Springs. My day can start as early as 7:30am, but will usually always end by 5:00pm. For those of my readers with park experience, the coordinator title is not the same as in the parks meaning I have no leadership authority like the coordinators you may be familiar with.

Casting is where candidates come in for interviews or to do paperwork once they've been hired. There is this beautiful ramp that leads up to the lobby area where I spend most of my time.

I mostly serve as support to the recruiters. Sometimes I am working the front desk to check people in for their interviews and answer any and all questions related to working for Disney. I also get to be the first person candidates talk to once they've received an offer because I get to schedule them for all their new hire appointments! I usually have a couple of office days to work on projects, send emails, or make phone calls. Disney is always hiring, so I've been working a lot of job fairs lately. Sometimes they are in building, and sometimes they are off-site, but they are always pretty exciting + exhausting.

I have miscellaneous other tasks and projects, but that's generally what I do each week for work.

ON THE SIDE.

Sometimes I get to the end of the week and realize I spent every single day on Disney property. 

A lot of my days consist of getting home from work and going to bed by 9:00, but it's also not uncommon to swing by a park straight from work or spend my off days pretending like I'm on vacation. Because I live here, I don't have to do everything in one trip like guests who pay hundreds of dollars to get in do. Honestly I can't last more than a few hours in a park before I get tired and go home. This lifestyle is spoiling me, and I love it.

I share a lot on my Instagram stories, but maybe I'll do more blog posts highlighting my park days and experiences. Not exactly sure yet. What do y'all like to read here? Let me know, and we'll make it happen!

HOW DID I GET HERE?

So the thing I will never stop talking about until the end of time is my Disney College Program. I participated in both Spring 2016 and Summer Alumni 2017. Literally changed my life, and I wouldn't be here without it. I am eternally indebted to my friend Chandler, who I met my freshman year of college, had a majority of my classes with, and convinced me kind of on a whim to apply.

The college program is what started it all. It got my foot in the door with the company, although to be honest I didn't do any networking throughout my program... (that would be my one piece of advice if you desire a career with Disney - network your life away!!!). It gave me the experience of working in the parks and knowing exactly what our cast goes through each and every day. It also gave me a spirit of adventure I didn't have before. It pushed me beyond my comfort zone and into friendships that have carried across the world. God used Disney to teach me a lot about myself, about Him, and about other people. Without the CP, I would honestly be a different person. 

Both times I worked for Disney under the college program, I left thinking I would never be back. Working for Disney was never my dream. So much so that I even got my nose pierced the last day of summer alumni 2017, thinking I would never have another job with Disney that would require me to take it out every day. Ha, joke's on me.

So my senior year at LSU, as graduation creeps closer and closer, I start panicking and desperately applying to anything and everything I might be remotely interested in. I threw in some applications to the Disney professional internships that I felt fairly qualified for while trying not to get my hopes up because of how wildly competitive they are. I received a couple of phone screens and started to feel like this was someplace I knew I could serve God and live passionately. I prayed a lot and cried a lot, and the depth of the story of how I got here is none other than straight Jesus. Basically I banked on getting a job with Disney, waited and waited and eventually had to lay down the dream of moving to Orlando, made other beautiful plans, even signed a new lease in Baton Rouge... and then got the call that I was receiving an offer. I had a week and a half to move my whole life. The things that were going on in my heart and the wildness of my circumstances could not have been anything other than God, which I am happy to share with anyone who might want to know the details of these events.

So when people ask what I did to get this internship, I truly don't know what to say. The short answer is experience, college program, and a shining resumé. I held an on-campus job for four years that gave me the office experience I needed. I also know every person starts from the bottom, so I wouldn't be here had I not started out selling strollers in Disney's Hollywood Studios on my college program. I had my resumé reviewed by a career coach at school and prepared well for my interviews; but beyond that I truly have no idea. 

The long answer of how I got this internship is Jesus. 

I AM LEARNING...

So much. I am learning so much.

On the professional side, I am learning so much about Disney's hiring process, and it's fascinating. I've never had a job that challenges me to grow and improve so much. I've gotten to be a part of processes and projects that I get to see directly impact the lives of our cast. I've gotten to hug and celebrate with brand new hires who are literally crying because they've dreamed their whole lives of working for Disney. I'll be honest there are some days I go home feeling under-qualified and invaluable. I'm not always sure I'm in a place that's using my gifts and strengths to their greatest potential.

But I am learning. And realizing that I don't have it all figured out yet as much as I wish I did. There are some parts of my life that feel very adult-y, like having a 401k plan and worrying about benefits. But there are some parts when I cry for no reason and scream in the car questioning what the heck am I doing with my life? I'm starting to think that question will never die. Change and the unknown make me uneasy, and I'm here to tell ya folks that the feeling won't go away as you shift through life. Thank you Jesus that He is constant.

I miss my family and my friends and being known more than anything. I love the sweet friends I have here and the church community I've joined, but I also can't help but miss the seasons of my life that felt like they would last forever. That's what makes my heart ache the most. I like to think I'm pretty good at vulnerability, but it's truly put to the test when you move far away. Gosh it would be easy to pull away, to compare and mourn and cling to the people you spent years cultivating friendship with. It is hard, but I have to believe it will be worth it to push through.

I am learning how to bend lower. How to become less, so that He might become greater. It has been the most humbling experience, especially relating to work and church, to walk into a room unknown. To leave behind a place that knew your story and was confident in who you were. And I'll be honest, it's hard to lay down that desire to be known in exchange for Jesus to be at the center. I'm aware of how prideful that sounds, because it is. But I'm thankful because even though it's hard, it's worth it to get to the end of the day and be a little bit more like Jesus.

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So welcome to my life right now. I know none of that was very specific, but I'm always happy to answer questions or messages! I love that my life revolves around work and Disney, and I'm thankful to have a job that I enjoy. I'm just trying to trust that this is the space God wants me in for now.