March 18, 2015…

I had just gotten out of class for the day when I got an email. I was spent from another day of learning stuff, so I decided to check my phone as soon as I enter my car. Leaving the warmth of my school’s building I walked outside into the chilling mid March air. Feeling the cold winds breeze past me, I put my headphones in and started to play No Surprise by Doughtry. Kinda meta if you ask me. Once I got into my car, I rested my head in the seat, feeling myself relax ever so slightly. That’s when I decided to read my email. It was from Disney.

Dear, Sarah. Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in the Disney College Program at the Walt Disney World Resort! This is a valuable resume-enhancing experience for all students and we are proud to offer this opportunity to you.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I done gave the guy passing by my car a fright with all the screaming I did. I just couldn’t believe that I got into the Disney College Program. Disney wanted me out of so many people. I treated myself to Chipotle that night. With chips. I guess you can say it was No Surprise I got in.

Anyone? Anyone? No one? Alrighty then…

The rest of the week I told my family and friends. Then general reaction was excitement and joy. I was the first in my family to do any type of internship for a well known company.

I had an August 31st check in date, which I found out was the second to last group to check in. No matter. I was just excited to go.

Back in my day, we just knew our general role was in our acceptance letter. We didn’t know what our specific role or location. We found that out on check in day. So in my acceptance letter it said my role was Main Entrance Operations. My initial thought was, “Oh, I’ll be a park greeter. Maybe I’ll be one of the people who are at the turnstiles, or maybe I’ll be handing out celebration buttons as soon as people walk into the parks.”

Oh, how I naive 20 year old me was. So young. So naive. So clueless.

August 31st, 2015…Check In Day.

My day started at the butt crack of dawn…with my sound of my alarm going off at 4:30 am. It was a struggle to get out of bed. I, like any normal human being, am not a morning person. Getting at this time was no exception since I had a 7:30 am check in time.

But Sarah, if your check in time was 7:30, why did you get up at 4:30? Well I’m glad you asked Karen!

Back in my day (I can see you rolling your eyes already…sorry not sorry), everyone had to check in at Vista Way (Vista Waaaaaaaay. Points to you if you get the reference). You had a check in time. But everyone lined up outside the gates at least half an hour beforehand. The reason why I got up so early is because I like taking my time while getting ready. Plus I have a buffer just in case for whatever reason.

At 7 I met up with a friend who was also doing the program and we walked over to check in. She parked her car at my hotel since it was right across from check in. Since we were there early, we were third in line. By the time it was 7:15 the line was stretched way beyond the corner. It was so worth getting there a half hour early.

7:30 rolled around and we were let in. Everyone walked towards the welcome center. I went into my respective line to get my work location.

Remember how I said 20 year old me was very naive and clueless? Here’s why: Main Entrance Operations is very misleading. It’s not straight forward. At the time, Main Entrance Operations had three roles: parking attendant, auto plaza, and park greeter/ticket taker/turnstiles. Naive, clueless 20 year old me only thought the last one was only the job.

I was wrong. I was so wrong.

You can imagine the look on my face when I heard, “Your role is parking attendant at Hollywood Studios.”

After picking my jaw off the floor, I went through the rest of check in, casting (the place where you take care of your work documents and such) and drug testing. That took hours to do.

Now it was time to move in to my apartment.

During the whole summer I spent a lot of time talking to these group of girls who I thought were going to be my roommates. But with life, things change and that plan fell through. So I was walking into an apartment with people already living in it. But I will go into the whole logistics of housing in depth a different post.

I said goodbye to my parents, which was harder on my mom than it was for me. Give her a break! I’m the youngest and I was living on my own.

That, my friends, was check in day. Be sure to be on the look out for my next post. I have some ideas on what to write and I can’t wait to share them with you all! I’ll be sure to write more on at a later time. But it’s currently 1:16 am and I’m sitting on my couch watching Degrassi on YouTube. What is my life?