Tales From the Turntable: Namaste

Senior photo!

When we last visited my Disney life it was January 3, 1998 and I was leaving the Walt Disney World College Program and heading back to Corvallis, Oregon to resume life as a business major at Oregon State University. Things change. I ended up discovering I love and am really good at all things Psychology, so I graduated from OSU with a Bachelors degree from the College of Liberal Arts. What was my plan with that degree? Well, I still don't know... but the first goal was to get back to Orlando, Florida. After graduation I actually enrolled at Linn-Benton Community College so I would technically be a college student and able to apply for the College Program again. This plan worked, and I pretty much got to pick what internship I wanted. Attractions it was!

In August of 2001 my family helped load up an enormous moving truck with my car on a trailer, and I headed off across the country, much to my family's dismay. (I have learned the error of my ways, as I am happily back in Oregon where I belong!) I had accepted the internship position again, and was able to get permission to live in my own apartment and not stay in the Disney apartments. Once the internship came to an end I would then switch to full time status and work my way up the corporate ladder, right?!? Needless to say, this internship was nothing like the first. The only similarity was that I got paid virtually nothing. This time I was going to be working in Disney's Animal Kingdom. I admit I was initially disappointed, but then realized that park closes at 5pm, which means I would have my nights free. Score!! My apartment ended up being within walking distance, too. I only had to do that walk one time, thank goodness, and I was absolutely terrified the entire time I was on Highway 192!

Moving across the country was an adventure. We had cell phones, but they were the old school kind - not even fancy enough to be a flip phone yet! The maps I had were printed from the internet, and old school maps, which saved me when I was temporarily lost in Iowa. I thought my cat died on my lap at one point, that was terrifying. In Kansas City we had a motel that people basically lived at, and it was right by a porn shop. I hardly slept. We had to go to the main office to ask for towels because we didn't have any in the room. We left before sunrise. Tinker Bell, my cat, escaped in Nashville next to Hooters and ran all the way around the hotel. I caught her because she ran into the stairs and bonked her head. I can still hear the sound of that and her poor meow afterward. Nashville is also where we had Waffle House for breakfast (NEVER AGAIN!) and it was in Atlanta that the moving truck broke down at Home Depot and I realized I had food poisoning. Once in Florida we ended up on toll roads, which is not something we Oregonians are familiar with. We used all the cash we had at the first toll spot, so we had to immediately get off that road and find our way toward Disney without having to pay for it.

Pretty much the view from my door.

It was a relief to get to the apartment complex, which was actually pretty nice. What I did notice was that everyone stared at us. Aside from the little Russian boy that was nice and helped us unload some boxes, we were the token blond, white folks moving in. The novelty of us wore off soon and we just blended right in. My apartment was right by the Club House, overlooking the pool and sand volleyball court. I used the pool a couple of times during my years there. We had two master bedrooms and baths, plus our own laundry room. Nothing to complain about, at least not with the layout. I'll probably have stories to share about living there. Ugh, I don't miss it, okay!?!

Soon enough I was all moved in and ready to begin my next round of life as a Disney Cast Member. I was an Expedition Guide at Kali River Rapids in Anandapur. To everyone else that means I worked at Disney's Animal Kingdom at that water ride in Asia. Again I was the token white girl - or the blondie with the dimples as some called me. For a while I was THE American. My new friends were all from India, Nepal, Indonesia and Thailand. I would sure end up learning a lot from them - and they are still my friends to this day!

During my time at Disney I often found myself making notes of my experiences, wanting to write them down. Would I ever put them together as a collection of stories in a book? I even created the name of the book, which I'm sure would be offensive to the sensitive types, so I won't put it here. Since I obviously never wrote the book, I'll share some of my stories here. I'll cover things from Kali, Caravan Stage, the Labor Office, celebrities, parties, holidays, theme parks, apartments, bars... a whole spectrum of things that make up life as a twenty-something in central Florida. So come along with me as I share some Tales from the Turntable!

See ya real soon! °o°