Disney Story: Part Three (Final Part)

March 23, 2009

It started today. That building excitement until the mail comes. It comes at 3:30pm every day, by the way. More and more excitement. Until I get home. And see a letter for my roommate on the counter. I ask my other roommate if she got the mail. Yes. Did anything come for me? No. And then that great feeling of let down. I know this process will continue tomorrow, and the next day and the next. But, I’m hoping for Friday to be the magic day. That’s purely me guessing. I have no idea. Knowing my luck I won’t get a letter for another month and then I’ll get one saying, “Sorry, but you’ve been rejected.” Why must they make me wait SO LONG!?!

March 24, 2009

Today’s been an amazing day! I guess you can tell what happened right off, huh? Yes. I received my acceptance letter. But let me back up a little.

To start off in making this the greatest day ever (okay, slight exaggeration), my only Tuesday class was canceled, so I had ZERO classes today. I slept in as late as I wanted, studied and took and exam, and then slacked off. We had a devotional at two and after that I decided I needed to go to the store for bread and cheese. Only two items, but two very important items, nonetheless. Oh, and I needed cereal.

Well, the mail here comes around 3:30. It was about 3:10 that I decided I needed to go to the store to distract myself. I considered waiting for the mail to come, but as my roommate Kaylee brought up, sometimes the mail doesn’t come until 5 and I didn’t want to wait that long for potentially nothing. But on my way out the door my other roommate Kimmy came to me and asked if I could proofread a paper for her, and since it was due in three hours, I should do it before going to the store. So I sat down and proofread the paper and was finished around 3:45. I decided the mail could possibly have come by now, so I chose to run out to the mailbox right before going to the store, just in case.

I opened the mailbox and there was only one item—one, big, white envelope with my name on it. I actually didn’t even read my name on it. I just saw the envelope and happened to notice the Disney symbol up in the corner. I snatched it out of the box and ran into the apartment squealing. Kassie and Kaylee were home and I’m pretty sure it was obvious to them immediately what had happened considering Disney is about the only thing I’ve spoken to them about for the past three weeks.

I tore it open and found the beloved purple folder everyone talks about. It was amazing. I flipped it open just to read the words “Dear Dianna, Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in the Disney College Program” and I read that I was selected for the Merchandise role and my pay rate.

But I really had to get my energy out and I figured there was no better way than going to the store. So I did. And as most shopping trips go, I didn’t get out of there with just cheese and bread. I also had to buy a thing or two for roomies as well as cereal and another thing or two for myself. I bagged it all, double bagged some, and then headed home carrying it all, and it was actually pretty heavy. It wasn’t until after I got home and put all my bags down and went into my room that I realized what I’d done. I wore my empty backpack all the way to the store so that I could wear it all the way back home, totally empty. I had completely forgotten my backpack was on my back.

I realized this after taking it off and throwing it on my bed without thinking. So I squealed again… but this time a more dejected, “Oh NO!” kind of squeal and then went into the living room and flopped down on the couch laughing uncontrollably. My roommates thought I was delirious. It was amazing. I told them what happened and they just laughed at me.

I promised my roommates pizza when I heard back from Disney World, so I went ahead and ordered it. Unfortunately, the coupons we had didn’t participate at this Pizza Hut, but they had a different special going on now anyway, so it was okay. I got two Specialty large pizzas. Supreme deep dish for me and Pepperoni Lovers hand tossed by popular request. And then I made brownies. And then I borrowed the movie “The Lion King” from the neighbors so we could watch it, eat pizza, and party!

Except my roommates didn’t like The Lion King. Okay, no that’s wrong. They like it, but one or two mentioned the fact I should get a Disney princess movie. Ah well. I didn’t care. The Lion King is, and always has been, my very favorite Disney movie.

After the movie I called my parents and told them. I was going to wait until April Fool’s Day (actually, I had several ideas on how to tell them going through my head) but I couldn’t for several reasons. The main one being that I had had enough trouble keeping from them for three weeks! Haha, but also I needed to accept the job offer soon and I wanted to talk to them about when to accept and stuff like that. They were definitely not as excited as I’d hoped. In fact, they listened a little too much and didn’t squeal as much as I’d imagined. However, I guess old people don’t squeal and if they had it would have creeped me out, so it’s okay.

I’m reporting for duty on August 19th. I’m (hopefully) bringing the car down because my parents are awesome enough to let me. I pay for housing and food. But I’m paid better than at the bookstore and I’ll get at LEAST ten hours a week more, possibly fifteen or twenty even!

I don’t know what apartment I’m in until I get there. I also won’t know exactly where I work or my costume until I get there. All I know right now is that I’ll be in an apartment complex called Chatham with a bunch of other BYU kids, from all three BYUs (I’ll explain later) and I’ll be in merchandise so I’ll be selling stuff somewhere.

I am slightly worried about burnout. I’m hoping to work a lot so I can get more money! But I’m not sure where my breaking point is so I’ll have to learn that. I’m also a little worried about me financially. But I’m thinking/hoping I’ll be okay. I just hope I’ve remembered to budget everything into my plan. I think I’ll be okay for my entire Junior year, though. Now Senior year is a different story.

I’m hoping to get into the Internship program next year. I think I could have applied for the internship this year, technically, but I don’t fully understand it and I think the pay is the same and I don’t know what the differences in applying to the Internship vs. Job programs are. So we’ll see more about that next year. Then, after I graduate I might be able to get a job on one of the cruise ships at Disney. And/or maybe be able to take side classes, get my Paramedic license, and then be able to work as an Emergency Worker at Disney World!!! Oh, the possibilities are endless! I love this part of my life!!!

Okay. I can’t think of much else to say. I need to start working harder on remembering my schoolwork and not getting too distracted. I still have two and a half weeks of school left. And then another whole semester.

Oh, speaking of next semester. Yeah, I’m going to Europe. EUROPE! For four weeks! So be prepared to hear about that as well! For now I’m just so stinkin’ excited. Ska-WOW!

This explains why I’ve been having trouble lately. It explains why my mind has been everywhere. It explains why I’ve had so much energy, but my sleep schedule’s been totally screwed up. It explains a lot. But now that I’ve gotten it all off my chest… now that I KNOW I’m accepted and the fear is no longer there… now that I’m sure of what will happen and all, I’m going to try to get back to my studies. To ignore this huge part of my life for the next four months. I’m going to go back to being a normal person. Or at least, as normal as I can be.

I’m going to DISNEY WORLD!!!!