The happiest place on Earth!

So this summer, I was lucky enough to have worked in the happiest place on earth: Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. This was through the international college program (ICP) and was the best experience I have ever done in my life.

I worked in the food and beverage sector in an area known as 'Stands West' which conists of Frontierland, Adventureland and Liberty Square. My home land and the only land I was actually trained in was Frontierland. You could be working upwards of 12/13 hour shifts in 30 degree heats and it was definately the hardest work I have ever done and possibly will ever do. (Please enjoy this photo of me in the most unflattering costume)

It wasn't all work no play though. It was definately a lot of play. My favourite of the four parks is, without doubt, Magic Kingdom. Having waited 22 years to get to Walt Disney World, the first time I saw Cinderella's Castle on my walk down Main Street USA during Traditions, I did get overly emotional and a tear did slip out. The Castle had been a huge symbol of my hopes and my dreams for so many years and on this day, I knew I had made it. My dreams had come true. I was working for The Walt Disney Company. I would spend most of my days off in Magic Kingdom. Its not that I didn't enjoy the rest of the parks as I definately did, especially Hollywood Studios. Magic Kingdom just seemed to have the most magic of all of the parks and it is where i made most of my memories.

I remember my first Wishes, the time I met my childhood hero, Ariel, the time me and Peter Pan sat on the floor together around our campfire. All these memories may seem weird to a non-Disney lover but to me, they are some of my most treasured memories.

The best part of my college program was making friends. I lived with a girl called Jessica, who lives in a town 20 minutes away from me. We had spoke before our program but until we lived together, I never realised how much of a good friend she would be. The nights we stayed up late playing Million Pound Drop and trying to figure out if George Bush had a chicken shack or whether it was Putin who did Judo. Having her Tower Of Terror photo stolen whilst watching the Frozen Firewors. Singing duets to Frozen and watching a million hours of Catfish. We would be constantly late to everything together as we love to walk slowly and our late night bitching sessions about work. When we went to walmart at 11pm at night as we had no food and wanted Mcdonalds and buying paints and doing crafts in our apartment. Patterson Court was bearable due to you and I thank you for being an amazing roommate. 3305 will always hold special memories to me.



Alys, was my nerdy proud-to-be Welsh friend. We would bond over our love of baking and supernatural and Marvel and Once Upon a Time. She is a true Disney Junkie and we would spend our d
ays drinking starbucks and eating yummy Disney foods. She would have a habit of trying to make me and Jessica eat/drink things we didn't like like Green tea fraps. Yuck! I will always cherish the memory of going to Florida Mall and a woman curling my hair with these 'worlds best hair straightners' and then asking her to straighen the curl out as i wasnt just having one odd curl in my hair and her telling me it wouldn't be perfectly straight. Logic? And also Alys spending all her money in Hot Topic but it all being totally worth it.


Finally, two of the best people I met are my lovely, amazing American friends Kennedy and Lauren. Theres always something
scary about moving over to a new country, meeting new people and working somewhere new but if I hadn't of stuck it out, I'd of never met these two amazing girls. I loved our late night trips to Steak n Shake (aka my favourite food place ever), when we went the beach, when we should of just gone to Lake Helen. It would of been a much better day. Getting drunk together, staying in hotels together, having sleepovers and bitching about people and just laughing. I can't tell you how excited I am to be reunited with these girls in Febuary, although sometimes I feel like a massive creeper like 'I MISS YOU. BE MY FRIEND'. I will always hold the memories of one of my final days in Florida and leaving messages in the Pinocchio wishes book and Kennedy writing one of the truely beautiful things I've read in it. I miss staying up late at Lauren's apartment and watching Tangled together.

I'm counting down the hours until I am reunited with Walt Disney World again and until I am able to make myself some new magical memories. I'll see ya real soon.

kel! x