I miss Disneyland, my job, and all of my friends like crazy. Now that the program is over and I’m settled into what my day-to-day life will be like from now on, I realize it’s a lot different; it’s calm and blah and very predictable. I miss the exciting Disney days. The funny-heartwarming-wild-often ridiculous tourists, working in unpredictable weather, walking walking walking everywhere, my high-waisted cullottes… I work at PetSmart now…I literally stand at the cash register for only 16 hours a week schmoozing people and their dogs, offering tips on the care and keeping of fish, or just waiting and waiting for someone to check-out. Don’t get me wrong, I love animals and I’m grateful to even have a job, but I’m used to being busy and being responsible…I can’t seem to shake the Disney lifestyle and ethics. This compared is lacking and completely unfulfilling.
The sad news is I think I’ve ‘officially’ decided I WONT be coming back to Disneyland to work. If I came for spring I would have to come back for summer and winter, every year, forever. I can’t have two separate lives, back and forth… PetSmart would NOT like me continually asking for a month off and it would be hard on my family and myself. I will eventually have to either choose to move to Anaheim to work at Disneyland as my life-long career, or end it. I might as well end it now. Who am I kidding? I know I will never move there permanently. I miss my JOB to death but I can’t live that far away from my family and the valley. I still don’t know what I’m going to DO with my life but I do know that my elderly grandparents (all four of them) and my four-year-old little niece are more dear to me than any career (even my beloved Disney one). The good news is, during Spring break I’ll be in LA (going on a cruise!) and will hopefully (I don’t see why not) be able to come to Disneyland and see everyone. I could never bear to completely remove Disney from my life…I wish I could always work there but I’m just not willing to live so far away. I plan on visiting as often as I can. It won’t be the same, but it’s something.
Its going to kill me to say that in just three days, I won’t be a cast member anymore… I will most likely never work for Disney again. It’s so weird to think it’s over, that it was just ‘something I did when I was in college’. I’m going to miss it incredibly, but I’ll still come as often as I can to be one of those crazy tourists I miss. I’ll still hopefully get to see all my cast member friends and my much-loved roommates (404 forever!).
I hope I find something that makes me happy and fills the hole in me that yearns to do something worthwhile, something that HELPS people. I may be making a huge mistake but the choice is mine and I guess I’m choosing that family comes first. I love you Walt Disney and Disneyland. Thanks for the opportunity, the wonderful experience and all the wisdom and utter inspiration it has given me. Now I move on to ‘bigger and better things’ *she said jokingly* Just trying to cheer myself up….












