We spent a couple days with our youngest daughter Chloe who’s been in Florida for an internship with Disney’s College Program. She’s been working as a PhotoPass photographer at Epcot.
While we were there she took two days off and showed us around the park. Even though we’ve been here lots of times with our kids, this time we got to see Disney World in a whole new way.
Chloe lives in Disney housing with thousands of other cast members and getting to her actual apartment was a wild adventure for the eyes. There is a constant stream of kids coming in and out of the entrance all headed home or to work in their cast costumes. Chloe didn’t seem to bat an eye as she checked us in at the guard station and walked us to her room passing people who looked like space explorers, guys in lederhosen, a few pirates, and some kids in safari clothes.
We met her roommates and learned all about the different jobs interns get assigned. Her roommate Becca joined us on the first day playing at the park, she works with Mickey and Minnie and also Goofy helping them get all spiffed up for showtime. Becca’s sister Macie lives with them too and she’s a cast member working in one of the restaurants.
Watching them over a few days we realized how hard these kids work to make magic for all the visitors. We also discovered that if you visit the park and a cast member is super helpful or nice—or even just happy and patient, you can get on your Disney app and give them a “cast compliment”. You just need their name and the name of the city or college on their name tag. These compliments help them make some points with Disney. They also can’t accept tips but we learned you can give them tiny trinkets like cool key chains or pins, a wrapped piece of candy, or even a small note of appreciation. This usually makes their day since they often work long exhausting hours with magic perma-smiles.
We had a TOTAL BLAST hanging out with Chloe for a week. It was great to see her. We pretty much think she’s MAGIC.
