DreamLikeWalt
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2011
Hello Everyone 
and welcome to my new, crazy, and exciting life! (And first ever trip report...eh.. life report? 
)
You read correctly! I did it! I did what I've always dreamed of doing!!! Okay well.. I'm only 21 years old.... but I've still thought of it every day since I stepped my foot in the magical land of WDW!
Well then... Lets start with my past so we can move on to the present!
Hi!!!! My name is Khalee and I am 21 years old. If you can't tell, I'm silly and I love vibrant hair! The perfect way to describe me is "Metalhead meets Disney Princess." haha. I am from a suburb right outside Boston, Massachusetts. I have been going to WDW since I was 8 years old. My mother and I were on a big family vacation, and we decided to go off on our own since we were with younger children who didn't want to do everything. I remember it like yesterday. My mother and I ran off into tomorrow land, and walked right on to Space Mountain not knowing what it was. We walked off that attraction as different people. We were crying so hard we were laughing! We had such an exhilarating time exploring magic kingdom and not knowing what was next! It was truly a land full of adventure and magic! We got the Disney bug, and within a week of being home my mom had booked our first of many many mother daughter trips. From then on, as you all can relate... if we weren't in Disney, we were planning our next trip, on the dis, or listening to the dis unplugged to get our Disney fix. Here is my mom and I back in the day! (2008ish)
Fast forward to 2013, where I lasted one week in college before applying for the Disney College Program. I has an amazing time working in Disney's Animal Kingdom as a photopass photographer for Feb-Aug 2013. As much as I wanted to stay with Disney, I was signed up to start another passion of mine that I did not want to let go of - cosmetology school.
I went through hairdressing school and loved the company I was with so much I was hired to work for them and eventually teach for them! Which FINALLY brings us to the present! Don't get me wrong - I LOVE teaching hairdressing. It fits my personally so well. I LOVED being able to watch others grow as artists and become inspired by the world around them... but there was something in my life missing. As happy as I was with my current life, I still missed the magic. Here is a photo of me as a student in hairdressing school! This photo was on the day of the fundraiser I organized for Give Kids The World!
Ever since my college program, I often found myself logging on to disneycareers.com just to dream and see what was available. It was the end of April this year, and I was laying in bed at around 2am on my Iphone and decided to see what jobs where available.....and there it was... "Disney Photopass - Seasonal" My heart dropped. OH MY GOD. Without even thinking I applied. I instantly got an email to take the online quiz, and after that I was booking an appointment to go in for an interview. I couldn't speak. All I could think is "WHAT DID I JUST DO AND IS THIS REAL LIFE!?!"
Luckily I had a mother daughter trip planned to go to WDW in the first week of May. This would be the first mother daughter trip we were able to afford to go on after a 2 year hiatus! What are the chances I found this opportunity with a trip just around the corner?!
My interview was booked for May 6, 2015. I was so nervous. I knew that having done photopass before, I had a good chance of getting this role... but what did "seasonal" mean? I thought that meant working 150/hrs a year in WDW. Would this even be a possibility with my (good paying) full time teaching job? I didn't think so. Would it be worth leaving my amazing job at home to work for Disney seasonally? Would it be worth working an okay job at home to be able to make magic at WDW a few weeks a year? I went into this interview, excited but also an emotional wreck. If I got the job I would be depressed about having to leave my fulfilling job of teaching hairdressing.
On the other hand, if I didn't get the job with Disney my hopes and dreams would be crushed, and it's back to day dreaming for me! I wasn't sure what to expect or what to set myself up for emotionally. I went into this interview just to see what my options where. Little did I know that the "seasonal" job was for the summer.... (You'd think that idea would of crossed my mind?! rotfl)
It was May 6th. I was at Disney casting. "Khalee?", I heard my name being called by a smiling face of a cast member named Matt! I walked into his office shaking, trying to maintain my cool. Twenty minutes later, I was shaking his hand accepting a role to work as a photopass photographer in the Magic Kingdom for the summer.... oh and I start in one week.
OH. MY. GOD.
I didn't give it a second thought. MAGIC KINGDOM IS MY HOME FOR REAL! I walked out of casting and decided to quit my life in Boston, take a suitcase, my old 2000 Toyota Corolla and the $300 I had saved up, and move to Orlando for the summer at least but hopefully for good!
Hopefully that wasn't TOO wordy?! I apologize! Wish me luck - and I hope you all enjoy following this new adventure I've embarked on!
and welcome to my new, crazy, and exciting life! (And first ever trip report...eh.. life report? )You read correctly! I did it! I did what I've always dreamed of doing!!! Okay well.. I'm only 21 years old.... but I've still thought of it every day since I stepped my foot in the magical land of WDW!
Well then... Lets start with my past so we can move on to the present!
Hi!!!! My name is Khalee and I am 21 years old. If you can't tell, I'm silly and I love vibrant hair! The perfect way to describe me is "Metalhead meets Disney Princess." haha. I am from a suburb right outside Boston, Massachusetts. I have been going to WDW since I was 8 years old. My mother and I were on a big family vacation, and we decided to go off on our own since we were with younger children who didn't want to do everything. I remember it like yesterday. My mother and I ran off into tomorrow land, and walked right on to Space Mountain not knowing what it was. We walked off that attraction as different people. We were crying so hard we were laughing! We had such an exhilarating time exploring magic kingdom and not knowing what was next! It was truly a land full of adventure and magic! We got the Disney bug, and within a week of being home my mom had booked our first of many many mother daughter trips. From then on, as you all can relate... if we weren't in Disney, we were planning our next trip, on the dis, or listening to the dis unplugged to get our Disney fix. Here is my mom and I back in the day! (2008ish)
Fast forward to 2013, where I lasted one week in college before applying for the Disney College Program. I has an amazing time working in Disney's Animal Kingdom as a photopass photographer for Feb-Aug 2013. As much as I wanted to stay with Disney, I was signed up to start another passion of mine that I did not want to let go of - cosmetology school.
I went through hairdressing school and loved the company I was with so much I was hired to work for them and eventually teach for them! Which FINALLY brings us to the present! Don't get me wrong - I LOVE teaching hairdressing. It fits my personally so well. I LOVED being able to watch others grow as artists and become inspired by the world around them... but there was something in my life missing. As happy as I was with my current life, I still missed the magic. Here is a photo of me as a student in hairdressing school! This photo was on the day of the fundraiser I organized for Give Kids The World!
Ever since my college program, I often found myself logging on to disneycareers.com just to dream and see what was available. It was the end of April this year, and I was laying in bed at around 2am on my Iphone and decided to see what jobs where available.....and there it was... "Disney Photopass - Seasonal" My heart dropped. OH MY GOD. Without even thinking I applied. I instantly got an email to take the online quiz, and after that I was booking an appointment to go in for an interview. I couldn't speak. All I could think is "WHAT DID I JUST DO AND IS THIS REAL LIFE!?!"
Luckily I had a mother daughter trip planned to go to WDW in the first week of May. This would be the first mother daughter trip we were able to afford to go on after a 2 year hiatus! What are the chances I found this opportunity with a trip just around the corner?!
My interview was booked for May 6, 2015. I was so nervous. I knew that having done photopass before, I had a good chance of getting this role... but what did "seasonal" mean? I thought that meant working 150/hrs a year in WDW. Would this even be a possibility with my (good paying) full time teaching job? I didn't think so. Would it be worth leaving my amazing job at home to work for Disney seasonally? Would it be worth working an okay job at home to be able to make magic at WDW a few weeks a year? I went into this interview, excited but also an emotional wreck. If I got the job I would be depressed about having to leave my fulfilling job of teaching hairdressing.
On the other hand, if I didn't get the job with Disney my hopes and dreams would be crushed, and it's back to day dreaming for me! I wasn't sure what to expect or what to set myself up for emotionally. I went into this interview just to see what my options where. Little did I know that the "seasonal" job was for the summer.... (You'd think that idea would of crossed my mind?! rotfl)
It was May 6th. I was at Disney casting. "Khalee?", I heard my name being called by a smiling face of a cast member named Matt! I walked into his office shaking, trying to maintain my cool. Twenty minutes later, I was shaking his hand accepting a role to work as a photopass photographer in the Magic Kingdom for the summer.... oh and I start in one week.
OH. MY. GOD.
I didn't give it a second thought. MAGIC KINGDOM IS MY HOME FOR REAL! I walked out of casting and decided to quit my life in Boston, take a suitcase, my old 2000 Toyota Corolla and the $300 I had saved up, and move to Orlando for the summer at least but hopefully for good!
Hopefully that wasn't TOO wordy?! I apologize! Wish me luck - and I hope you all enjoy following this new adventure I've embarked on!
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) since you could walk right out to the beach from my hotel.
