My start date at Disneyland was March 13, 2005, even though I started working on November 13, 2004. It took me six months to get full time. I was 34 years old when I started working at Disney. Today is one day before my 21-year celebration, but I’m celebrating my 20-year anniversary with Disney. The pandemic caused them to postpone all the anniversary celebrations.
I have talked little about my work at Disney. If you know me, you know what I do. Celebrating 20 years at Disney is special. They have a celebration in the park for employees reaching 10 years and every 5 years after that. As a 20-year cast member, I got into the park with Patti half an hour before 10 and 15-year people. It’s just enough time to get in some rides before the youngsters were let into the park.
As we walked into the park, fellow employees were there to congratulate us for our years of working. In previous years of going to the celebrations, I felt young compared to other employees. Now I feel older than most of the other employees. When we reached the end of the main street of California Adventure, all the employees with over 20 years of service had gathered. While we waited for them to open the park completely, we took a picture with the statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. It was an excellent picture of Patti and me. No one had a goofy look on their face. Although that would have been appropriate.
The first thing we did when they unleashed us into the park was ride Radiator Springs Racers. We walked right on the ride. The ride was so empty, we raced an empty car. You might think that would allow us to win, but we came in second. In case you don’t know, there are only two cars in every race. It was still fun to have the ride to ourselves. We rode it again immediately. This time we won against actually people. We walked back through the park. Now the larger group of employees were making their way into the park. Our time of riding alone was over.
One perk during the anniversary celebrations was unlimited food and drinks throughout the park. The only thing stopping you is your own self-control. For me, that also includes my new dietary restrictions. I didn’t go too far overboard, but I didn’t stick to my usual restrictive diet. Alcohol was consumed by Patti and me. I was still driving, so I didn’t push it too far. Both of us only like sweet drinks. We saw people getting beer and wondered why anyone would choose it over things that taste so much better. Beer drinkers are weird.
I saw all the people from my department that I knew were going to be there. We gave each other tips on where the best drinks and food was. I could introduce people to Patti she had only heard about until that point. If she remembered a few of the names of the people she was meeting for the first time, it would have been more than I could remember while meeting new people. We even met some musicians from the park, including the singer who clued me into avoiding menthol cough drops. I introduced her to Patti. Later, I reminded Patti of who she was. Some people complained it was better in past years. My 10-year celebration will always stand out as the best because they held it in Disneyland Park. We still have light up ice cubes from that night.
Believe it or not, I have not finished talking about this magical night. The night was celebrating my 20 years at Disney, but Patti was about to have her own celebration in the form of seeing her favorite fur person. What does that mean? You’ll just have to wait until Part 2 to hear what I’m talking about. The excitement level is about to be raised from one to a basket full of ten kittens. For now, just live with the anticipation until next week. Good luck!
Leave a Reply