Replacing the urge to smack someone with a maniacal smile! :)

I’ve been in the library for about 75% of my day. Amount of work accomplished: None. But I did discover that the author of the Bridget Jones series (the brilliant Helen Fielding) has been tweeting in Bridget’s voice. That let me to finding out that there is currently a third book and movie in production. Then I was watching videos of Collin Firth as Mr. Darcy (both Fitzwilliam and Mark) on YouTube for a couple of hours. So, obviously we know where all of my free time has been going.

I did manage to get to my advising appointment this morning which was, conveniently, all about the WDWCP. I made the appointment at the beginning of the month after my advisor referred me to this other dude who apparently knew all there was to know about the college program. Great! Woo! We’re getting somewhere!

So this morning, I sit down in his office and tell Advisor Dude what I want to talk to him about and he looks at me as if I have forty heads. Then he goes and grabs his WDWCP file, blows off the dust, and shows me that the last entry in it was FROM 2002. SERIOUSLY?!

“Our students just don’t… do this much.” He was all scrutinizing and judgmental, as if wanting to get an internship with the freaking Walt Disney Company was some kind of academic suicide. UM, WHAT?

But then he was all, “Yes, yes, yes… this can probably be done… you might have to do it through the community college,” Again, nose upturned, “But we’ll work something out.” And then he looked a little further in his magic folder and found some instructions for exactly what he was supposed to be telling me. Then he made me leave, and told me to e-mail him with the link to the website I was getting “all this information” from – AKA, the WDWCP website – because apparently, he is incapable of doing a Google search.

In classic future CP fashion, I plastered a smile on my face, thanked him politely and held back any eye-rolling or snide remarks that I would normally be tempted to erupt with. I AM SUCH A NATURAL CAST MEMBER!

Just hoping to have the whole bureaucratic side of this done by the time I go home for winter break, just in case – by some miraculous act of God – applications open before next semester. I’d like to know if I’m getting credit/if I’ll need to pay tuition, etc. But that would require a few more people than me having their acts together, so…

Whatever. Have a magical day and stuff.

Instead of studying for our finals...

... my roommate decided to turn me into a Disney Princess.
(And it's all very, very accurate.)

Cranberry Sauce and Cryogenics

Happy Thanksgiving, world! I hope everyone ate themselves into oblivion and thought about what they’re thankful for and whatever.

This month has been absolutely ridiculous. Actually, this entire semester’s been ridiculous. But since the month of November began, I’ve worked relentlessly on the crews of two separate plays (and auditioned for one… eek. Later, comfort zone.), read about six books (not for fun), wrote an unknown number of papers, and got far too little sleep. So, I’m pretty thankful for these few precious days off from school.

It occurred to me today that if all goes as I’ve planned (fingers crossed!), I’ll be spending next Thanksgiving in Disney World as a CP. I approached the subject with my family today and they’re more excited than I am, if that’s even possible. They plan to fly down for Thanksgiving and Christmas next year if I’m accepted to the program. My mother says it’s because she couldn’t possibly imagine leaving me alone on a holiday, but I’m pretty sure they just want to hang out in WDW. But either way, on the subject, I’m extremely thankful for having a family that is so supportive.

So on the Disney theme of the day, tonight, I was sitting, petting my favorite cousin as he sat in my lap ( he’s my aunt’s precious cat, for the record… we’re not that kinda family), and I saw that The Man Behind the Myth was on TV and I obviously had to watch it. For those who don’t know, it’s a biographical special produced by… CNBC, I think… about the life of Walt Disney. I’d never caught the whole thing before, and in doing it now, it solidified every reason why I want to work for this company. To think that one man with a dream and a pencil, someone who just wanted to please his family and bring people together, started everything that the Walt Disney Company was and is and has become on a whim and with an idea… well, it’s mind-blowing. It’s heartwarming. It is pure magic, and I believe in it. You can achieve everything you’d ever dreamed possible if you work for what you want.

It got my mother and me talking. First we got into an argument over what happened to Walt after his death. My mother swore backward and forward that his body was frozen. I said no, he was cremated. When the documentary finally revealed that he was, in fact, cremated the topic of conversation turned to: “Well, if he was frozen and then they unfroze him and woke him up, what do you think he’d think of what his company turned into?”

First of all, we’re obviously very twisted people. Second, this was interesting to me. My mother says he’d totally freak out; his tiny little family-oriented company turned into this massive empire that was extremely capitalist and money-driven and not really family-oriented anymore.

So then I sat there with my mouth opened for a little while, and instead of yelling at her about not knowing what she was talking about, I politely and civilly begged to differ. While the Walt Disney Company owns half of the entertainment industry and is a huge financial empire (which is amazing in itself), I personally think that the company has never diverted from its path. I think it’s more in tune with Disney’s vision than ever. I think he’d be proud. The new industry that they’ve uncovered, the films that have reached out to every walk of life, the fact that multiple generations can bond over the same stories and places, setting the social standard in hospitality and service, having theme parks on three continents… I think… and I hope… that this is exactly what he would have wanted. At its roots, the Walt Disney Company is still bringing people together. And yeah, I’m thankful for that.

After that was over, the special on The Wizarding World of Harry Potter came on, and I realized that I am – hopefully -- roughly nine months away from getting a day off and going to Universal and hanging out in Hogsmeade. So, thankful for Orlando.

Then I turned on A Very Gaga Thanksgiving… and I cannot even begin to decipher my opinions on that one. Now The Big Bang Theory is on. I watch way too much TV. I’m really thankful for TV.

So anyway, go back into your tryptophan comas. 

“I don’t know if I’m the new Picasso, but I’m certainly twisted like many of his paintings.” – Lady Gaga

Please Stand Clear of the Doors...

Hello world! Welcome to the magically bumpy, dramatic, and probably quite eccentric ride I am about to take you on through my Walt Disney World College Program application process (and hopefully, if the world works in all the ways that I want it to, my program). My name is Emily and I will be your tour guide. Please let it be known right now that I am completely ridiculous. I tend to ramble on and write too much and provide far too much detail for the human imagination to comprehend. Click ‘back’ on your browser now if this intimidates you. You’ve been warned.

So, anyway, about me? I’m nineteen years old; I’m sophomore at a decently large, relatively prestigious university in Bumblefuck Upstate New York. I’m from the suburbs of New York City, and I don’t care what anyone says; it is the most fantastic place on the planet Earth and if you do not live there, you are very much missing out, my friend. This WDWCP thing? I’m doing it on a total whim. I’m the kind of [totally neurotic] person who has her life completely planned out in an Excel spreadsheet. The college program most definitely was not on the grid. I didn’t think it fit into the road of academia I had laid out before me. But then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And then one day I just said, “Well, why not?” So here I am now.  By the way, this is supposed to be a WDWCP blog. If you’ve somehow stumbled upon this looking for something else, have no fear. I’m going to be spewing anecdotes about the rest of my life here too eventually… just because I have no filter and I don’t know when to stop… ever.

I’m an English/Creative Writing/Global Culture major with a minor in Theatre. I like television far too much for the average person, and I want to work in television production someday. Ideally as a writer, but we’ll see how that goes. Anyway, I figured that this could be incredibly beneficial to my career aspirations. I’m also obsessed with Disney, but that’s another story entirely.

Actually, no it’s not. I love Disney. I’m a princess. No really, I am. So it’s only natural for me to be obsessive about this sort of stuff. I believe in fairytales and magic and true love and pixie dust, and I think everyone should because it just makes life better. And I believe in following your dreams to ensure that they really do come true. And I also believe in entertainment monopolies, so… yeah. Everyone is obsessive about Disney and the Disney brand though, so I’m not exactly special. My I do have one relatively unique attribute going for me: my childhood wasn’t peppered with yearly trips to Disney World (although, trips to WDW did exist!), but yearly Disney Cruises. The Disney Magic is my second home. My ultimate Disney career ambition – before deciding on the CP – was doing a contract on DCL in cruise staff or youth activities after graduation. I’m still holding to that.

More than just fun memories, lifelong friendships, and family bonding time… DCL has essentially taken me to everywhere I’ve been in the world. Most vacations I’ve been on, most cultural experiences I have… they all have a black, red, and yellow ship in the background somewhere. The Disney Magic has delivered me to Italy, France, Monaco, Spain, England, Germany, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and let’s not forget all of the pretty places in the Caribbean. I think that speaks volumes about my attachment.

So, on top of being a place of joy and wonder and amusement, a bonding point for my family, a source of cultural stimulation, a fountain of childhood (and… okay, adolescent) memories, and an inspiration to go after what I want in life and what I believe in, Disney has been a way of life. And that, finally, leads me back to the CP.

I’m applying for Fall 2012! Yay! Not Fall Advantage because I’m hoping to spend my summer doing an internship at home, but more on that later. I want to go for fall because of the holidays and the Fantasyland expansion and just… the general awesomeness of WDW in the fall. Role choices? I’ll apply for BBB (because, let’s face it… DREAM JOB), Character Attendant, Attractions, Merchandise, and… something else that I haven’t quite decided on yet. If I had a little more grace, I would totally go out for character performer auditions. But I don’t, so let’s just leave it at that.

I am really, really excited about the prospect of going down to Orlando next August. I’m really excited for this whole application process, and I’m REALLY excited to start getting to know fellow (hopefully) future CPs! If I haven’t scared you off, go ahead and introduce yourself! I promise that I don’t bite!

I’ll post more when I’m not delirious and it’s not 1 a.m. and I don’t have a paper due tomorrow.

Until next time…

Emily