150102: Goodbye, Disneyland!
The fateful day finally arrived and I can honestly say, I’ve never been happier to be done. I’m gonna keep this post as a run down of what happened during the day and give a full reflection(s?) later on because I actually have a ton of stuff to say about my 6 six months.
I was scheduled for one more shift at the parking structure where it all started. It’s not “home” per say, but it’s definitely the place that I feel the most comfortable. At any point in time while working at that location I know what’s going on and how to do basically everything.
The leads that work the structure all know me and I’ve become one of the go-to people when there are higher-responsibility tasks that need to be done. That alone is enough to make me feel really proud about my time at Disneyland.
Anyway, the day was basically like any other, but was heavily punctuated by saying goodbye to everyone and explaining my post-program plans to everyone that asked (aka everyone).
It was a pretty slow day so there wasn’t much to do. I spent much of the second half of my shift standing around doing nothing, which was a nice reprieve from the craziness that was the whole holiday season.
It was also really awesome that the morning lead who favors me a lot, let me do basically everything I wanted (including avoiding working the area I hated lol). The way she regards me is one of the highlights of the program to be honest. Especially because I didn’t think she liked me at first and maybe she didn’t, but because of my hard work, ability to learn quickly, and my willingness to do whatever that was asked of me she ended up really liking me and if that’s not good character on my part, I don’t know what is!
At the end of the day, I changed out of my costume for the last time, turned them into the drop box, picked up my check from the managers, and returned my ID and Main Entrance Pass. It was super anticlimactic, but the finality of it was so satisfying, especially when I tossed out my costume (lemme tell you, that was not a cute costume).
I drove home feeling the most free I’ve ever been! Since I was a local participant, I started in June rather than the regular program people that started in August. I got out of school at the end of May so I’ve basically been working without breaks/vacations for almost a year. It’s pretty crazy to think about it. I definitely felt burnt out, especially during the middle of the program. That’s why when it finally came to a close, all the weight on my shoulders just went away.
Lemme tell you, it feels great to be on vacation again!