Amber Earns Her Ears: My Secret Walt Disney World Cast Member Diary (4 page)

And that was something to be excited about.

“I HOPE YOU’RE GONNA be able to stay awake for the entire drive down,” Dad told me smugly, staring at the bulky cardboard box containing my bedding shoved behind the driver’s seat. “Because there is no way that I’m going to be able to fit in your car.”

It was true. Dinosaur had been crammed full of supplies (quite literally — I was lucky any of the doors shut), and it was time to get some rest before starting the lovely eleven-hour drive to Florida.

Despite my excitement, I knew I’d need some sleep to prepare for that drive. So we all went to bed early, alarms set for the ungodly hour of 1:30 a.m.

All too soon, the alarms went off.

In a stupor, we stumbled about the house, changing into our comfortable driving clothes and triple-checking that we had everything we needed before stepping out into the chilly East Tennessee morning, pairing up into our cars, and starting down the driveway.

That first hour was full of tense excitement. My playlist of favorite Disney songs filled Dino with an appropriate, optimistic Disney vibe. My sister, Hayley, was awake, the stars were out, and I was on my way.

I have always loved driving at night. There’s a silence to the landscape that the sun manages to burnish away, and it seemed fitting to start my journey in such an anticipatory manner. It was this peaceful atmosphere, however, that lulled my assistant driver to sleep.

The entire purpose of Hayley coming with us (my brothers were staying with relatives) was to keep me awake on the drive. As the early morning progressed, and as I turned up the volume of the radio higher and higher (my strategy was to sing the entire way down — who can fall asleep when singing?), she lay back in the seat, mouth half open, utterly useless.

I think I listened to every type of music on the way to Florida. I started with Disney music, then moved to Norah Jones and Michael Bublé. After that came Paramore and Coldplay, the soundtrack from
Spring Awakening
and
The Last Five Years
. Whatever I thought had the potential to keep me awake, I played.

On our many previous trips to Disney World, I was always the one most likely to be awake at any given moment. What I hadn’t counted on, however, was my inability to change positions. I envied Hayley in the seat beside me — not only because she was asleep but because she was able to curl up, stretch out, and contort her body to relieve the discomfort of being in a small space for an extended period of time. I didn’t have that luxury.

I don’t remember if we stopped for breakfast. No one in my family really considers it a meal — a cup of coffee is usually enough at such an early hour. Besides, we had stocked each car with a few snacks to munch on throughout the day. The less stops we made, the quicker we would get to Disney World.

I am not the best of drivers even under good circumstances; I get incredibly nervous when driving somewhere new. And cities? Well, let’s just say I had little to no experience driving through those.

When we reached Atlanta, a massive thunderstorm was underway. I love the rain. I’m usually not opposed to driving in it. But that dark morning, I would have given anything for it to stop. I remember reaching over to punch Hayley awake, because there was no way I was going to be the only one in that car panicking. Mom was driving the car in front of us, which I thought was a good thing. Of my parents, she is the more…cautious driver, I suppose.

I was wrong.

Seventy miles an hour. In the rain. I hydroplaned at least thirty-five times; I kept count. It was the one time in the trip when the music was barely audible — my nerves were frayed enough, and I didn’t need any extraneous noise to snap them.

Any time an exit ramp came up, I panicked. Atlanta was the one place on previous trips where I’d usually take a nap, and so I didn’t know the route. I was lucky just to be able to see my mother’s car in front of me. Maybe that’s everyone’s experience driving through Atlanta. Maybe hydroplaning really isn’t that big a deal. But for a nervous, stressed-out 18 year old whose urban driving experience was limited to much smaller Knoxville? I was not enjoying it.

Eventually, we made it out.

The music came back on, Hayley fell asleep once more, and drained of energy, I struggled to stay awake. We stopped to get some caffeine — which doesn’t really help my mother or me stay awake, but just seems like a good idea — and then drove on.

Around Perry, Georgia, we stopped at Chick-fil-A for lunch, a respite for which I was desperately grateful. I love my Dinosaur, but I really did not want to climb back in for another few hours.

But I did. The closer we got to Florida, the more exhausted I became. We ran into patches of rain, and other times the sun would shine down on us, filling the air with a smothering, sticky heat. Finally, we crossed the Florida state line, rolled down the windows, and opened the sunroof.

Dad was driving the lead car, and he wasn’t fond that I tended to get distracted, sometimes not maintaining a steady distance between his car and mine. My state of exhaustion probably didn’t help, either.

About an hour or two from Disney, I began to nod. I tried every trick in the book to stay awake — loud music, windows down, constantly shifting positions. Hayley, as she had done the entire trip, slept. Eventually, after a few close calls, the bouts of drowsiness passed, the last of the rain clouds evaporated, and signs for Orlando began to appear.

A few minutes from Disney World, Hayley finally woke up. She broke out the camera to document the last few miles of the journey, taking photos of the Orlando exit ramp and the sign telling us the short distance to Disney World.

And finally, the gates.

I followed Mom and Dad to Disney’s Old Key West Resort, where we would be staying for a few nights before my CareerStart check-in. As we pulled up to the security gate and the guard welcomed us home, an enormous smile broke out on my face. I was here. (And there was a bed in the room!)

A nap was the first order of the day. Afterward, we got up and hit the parks. It was just like any other vacation, minus my brothers.

On February 7, I got texts from a few people who had also just arrived. The meet-n-greet dinner was still on at Downtown Disney: was I coming?

The idea of going to Downtown Disney by myself to meet a bunch of strangers held scant appeal. I’m not a social person; I prefer the company of a good book over a large group of strangers. True, one of my goals in participating in this program was to improve my social skills, but technically the program hadn’t started yet. So, rather than meet my potential roommates, friends, and co-workers, I stayed in the hotel room and double-checked that I had everything ready for the morning.

I had the address of Vista Way (where I would be checking in), my folder, my car insurance information, passport, and driver’s license. I ironed my clothes for the next day, and then fell into the bed to read myself to sleep.

FLORIDA IS NOT SUPPOSED to be cold.

On the morning of check-in, my parents, sister, and I were some of the first people to gather inside the security tent in front of Vista Way. Luckily, as early arrivals, we were able to commandeer the space next to the heater.

Rather than socialize, my timidity and I stayed near the heater, observing people from a safe distance. I pointed out Rebecca, one of my roommates: “That girl with the Mickey Mouse jacket is one of them,” I told my mother. Except that it wasn’t Rebecca; obviously, I hadn’t spent much time studying my future roommates online. I recognized a few online acquaintances from their profile pictures, including Alex, a guy who had a huge interest in theatre, and who stood a head above everyone else in the tent.

Paige and I had been texting throughout the morning. She was running a little late, and wouldn’t show up until it was almost time to check in. It appeared that a lot of people had made connections at the introductory dinner the previous night, and I felt the smallest twinge of regret over my decision not to go. Not a lot, though, as I was still a little intimidated by the mass of people around me. Little clusters of future Cast Members formed, despite the rather cramped space. I began to get anxious about my socializing ability; shouldn’t I be over there, with the other participants? But my concern wasn’t enough to cause me to leave the heater and join a conversation.

Eventually, another girl noticed that I was standing in the warm, orange glow and came to join me. We struck up a conversation, discussing our roles and where we hoped to live. She was a “friend of Tigger”, and neither of us really knew or cared which complex we lived in, as long as it wasn’t Vista Way.

After a while, as the sun began to shine more brightly and the tent had filled to bursting, it was time to head toward the check-in building at the back of the complex. I waved goodbye to my parents and sister as they went to the parents’ tent to wait for me and drink some hot chocolate.

Just before we started to move, I heard a squeal and was taken completely by surprise when I found myself on the receiving end of an enthusiastic hug. Paige had made it! Shorter than me, with dark frizzy hair and exuberant energy, Paige looked similar to the photo I had seen of her. We joined the throng of people slowly moving farther into the complex, and on the way struck up a conversation with two girls, Jenni and Leah, whom Paige had met at last night’s gathering at Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney. Both of these girls were also shorter than me, with short brown hair and broad grins. (Leah, in fact, was the girl in the Mickey Mouse jacket I had earlier mistaken for Rebecca!) The air of excitement was tangible. We didn’t know what we were about to do, we didn’t know where we were going, but we couldn’t wait to get started.

That cold February morning was a blur of paperwork, trivia questions, music, and loud chatter. I remember standing in line to go into a large building at the back of Vista when Jenni and I overheard someone talking about name tags. We immediately flew into a frenzy, wondering if we were about to receive our official Disney name tags already. It turned out the people we overheard were merely talking about temporary stick-ons, but we had no difficulty redirecting our enthusiasm.

After receiving our sticky name tags, we moved around the building to a side pavilion where a DJ was set up in the front, playing music and calling out trivia questions. People were constantly running up to receive prizes for their correct answers. After waiting in line, the four of us huddled around a table to fill out some paperwork, then we moved into the building where the main activity seemed to be taking place.

The first thing we did was tell the Disney Housing staff who we were going to room with, and in which complex we wanted to stay. Paige took control of our little group. The two girls, Rebecca and Violet, that we had agreed to room with beforehand were lost in the sea of people behind us in line. Since Leah and Jenni had no one else to room with, we made a spontaneous decision to room together.

It was quite possibly the best decision I made for the entire six months.

To further our luck, Vista Way wasn’t an option for the latest arrivals. Chatham or Patterson were left, both of which were wonderful choices. After a minute or two of “I don’t care,” and “me either”, Paige told the Cast Member with the clipboard that we would room in Chatham.

As we waited for confirmation, we chatted with a group of boys from our Facebook group behind us in line; they had decided to room at Patterson. We joked about the perks of our respective complexes, and then Paige waved us over to join another line where we were assigned a two-bedroom apartment in Chatham, received our keys, and sat down to take a photo for our housing ID, the small plastic cards responsible for getting past Chatham security and onto the College Program buses (both programs used the same buses). Good luck getting the bus driver to let you on if you accidentally leave your ID on the coffee table — or even getting security to let you back in to retrieve it.

Once outside, I spotted the table for car registrations. Jenni and Leah had forgotten their insurance information, so they headed back to their cars to get it. We all agreed to meet up at the apartment — 22301! — when we were done with check-in.

I stayed at the little desk and struggled to understand the significance of the different papers in my folder. There was some question as to whether my name was actually on the insurance, but after a moment’s digging, I unearthed a page with my name on it. I received a sticker to put on the lower left windshield of Dinosaur and two sheets of neon orange paper (one for Dinosaur, one for my parent’s car) that would enable us to get past security and move everything into my new apartment.

After I rejoined my parents and Hayley at the tent, we walked back to the parking lot, climbed into our cars, and followed the directions to Chatham Square.

I was the first of the roommates to arrive. Up on the third floor, in a building at the back of the complex, I wandered through the rooms and, at my mother’s encouragement, chose the one with the biggest closet. Then I began the many trips back and forth, up and down the stairs, carrying large plastic bins, paper bags, and an assortment of containers. For the most part, I just stacked everything up in the room to be put away later.

22301 was a nice little apartment — much more than I had been expecting from the pictures and videos. You walked in the door, and immediately to the left was Jenni and Leah’s bathroom, which then led to their bedroom. A step farther brought you to a desk where the internet cables were set up. The spacious kitchen, complete with a double sink, dishwasher, stove, oven, fridge, and pantry, was on the right, with a dinner table close by. Our sizeable living room was on the left, furnished with a couch and chairs, a coffee table, and a smaller table where we’d put someone’s TV. Part of the room behind the living room furniture looked as if the architects had thought about putting in a balcony, then changed their minds. We weren’t quite sure what to do with that space, and it came to be referred to as our useless nook. Then at the far end of the room was the bedroom, bathroom, and closet that I’d share with Paige.