When Does a Dream Really Come True?

I had a dream.

As any young aspiring teenager does.

And that dream was to work at Walt Disney World.

I thought I had to wait until I graduated and was out of college and I knew the wait would be unbearable. I wanted to be a princess! (But sadly I’m too short but I’m tall enough to be Chip and Dale!)

Then the answer fell on my lap.

Well it was more like explained to me over the phone by my beloved friend John who is a current cast member at Walt Disney World.

And it was simple.

The Disney college program.

I now had a new dream.

Oh but that dream was crushed by covid-19, but we will get to that.

I was a little middle school child not having a care in the world when I first heard about the DCP. At first it amazed me that I could go to college at Walt Disney World! But soon, years later I understood it was an internship. I actually had to study it in a chapter at my college! (I can go more in depth on what the DCP is in a later post). At the end of my senior year of high school I realized my dream might just come true. One of my good friends John called me up from Disney World to explain the program more to me and said I would be so happy there. Which is true, I wanted to experience life by myself. I desperately needed an uplifting couple of months to find myself and Disney would have definitely helped with that. I was on board right away, it did not take much convincing. Yes, it was intimidating thinking about moving 18 hours from home, but I knew John would be there helping and guiding me. And what could go wrong in Disney World? All summer I watched Youtube videos and studied how the interview process would go. I waited all summer for the applications to drop during my first semester of college and when they did I pounced at it.

And sadly, a month later I was denied.

I did not let that dull my magic for long.

In January of 2020, I visited John in Florida (I miss him dearly). Luckily when I was with him, the applications for the Fall Program dropped so he was able to help me. He gave me great tips, advice, and made sure I felt confident with my responses.

A day after the first part of the application I received an email. I was beyond scared to click on it as we were waiting in line for the Kilimanjaro Safari, expecting to be denied once again without moving to the second phase of the application.

John took my phone and opened it, smiled, and handed it back to me. I almost screamed before realizing I was surrounded by people. I had made it to the second stage of the application. Later that night, we completed the second stage of the process. Within a week I received an email to schedule my phone interview. The day after my birthday, I talked to the recruiter before waiting THREE days to find out the answer to my dream.

On February 11th 2020, I was accepted into the Disney College Program. I was on my break at work eating vegan nuggets when I found out. I cried. Alot. I was hoping my boss would let me go home early to celebrate… in my dreams.

Fast forward a week or two, I found the most amazing roommate who I couldn’t wait to share the journey with.

Fast forward a month, hello Corona Virus. Goodbye toilet paper. Oh boy was I nervous when school was online starting March 13th. The Spring DCP was sent home. And Fall Advantage was cancelled. Boy oh boy. Once again I was in the waiting game, scared, worried, and not knowing what to do.

Fast forward to June 13th. I made a ballsy move, this was my last day at work not knowing what the next several weeks would bring. My move in date was in less than a month, August 10th. But I was not happy at my old place of work, it was a very toxic environment with some of my co-workers. I was better off to leave and work on myself and pray I was moving to Disney in a month.

July 2nd. 2:04 Pm.

It was cancelled.

And this is when I cried. For days. I felt lost. I was not signed up for classes. I did not make a backup plan. I wanted out of my current life, to find myself and now I did not know how.

But I knew it was the right thing to do. Covid is a serious thing that people are worried about. It is better to be safe rather than sorry.

I just have to keep my head up. Dreams do come true. But when they are meant too. If Cinderella tried escaping earlier in life and did not stay optimistic she would have never met the prince at the ball.

No matter how hard it is, I know I have to keep pushing. Keep striving. I can still chase my dreams, I know I will end up at Disney one day. Today, sadly just is not that day. But when the time is right Disney will let me back in so I can make magic, find myself, and live my life.

As life keeps changing everyday try and keep your head up. You never know what opportunity will come up. Keep dreaming. Keep pushing. We may not really know when a dream will come true, but when it does it sure will be magical.

We got this.