ONE. YEAR.

Well, it happened. Today officially marks one year since my hire date when I showed up in my fancy schmancy business casual and filed into an auditorium behind Toontown to learn all about what it means to be a Disneyland Cast Member. Which, incidentally, doesn't even begin to cover it.

My first time in Disneyland since I was 7, sharing it with two girls who I had no idea at the time just how important they would be in my life :)

My dorky self in my first pair of ears at Traditions!

Team Awesome going to build a playground!

Team Awesome graduating from the College Program *sniffle*

Team Also-Awesome-But-Different-Than-Team-Awesome-Because-Costuming

Pluto being super cute with my friend, Alex.

Quality time with some Incredible folks!

My favorite bug <3

My favorite kid <3

So much has changed in a year - my role, my apartment, my roommates (half of them at least), and ok, yeah, myself. I don't continually geek out about absolutely everything onstage and backstage, because I feel like I have a pretty good handle on things now. I don't get lost nearly as often (although it does still happen more than I'd like to admit). I don't freak out about the awesome plants as much as I did when I first got here. Things that I thought were the coolest thing ever when I first got here have now been reduced to second-nature and fallen into the ordinary. But, I notice so many more details and so many more little everyday things that make up the entire experience. Every time I go into the park I notice some tiny detail somewhere and go, "Huh. Someone took the time to think of this tiny thing, and it's really cool." 

So I guess there's that question - since I've seen behind the curtain, has it ruined the magic? I guess that in certain ways it has. I can get very frustrated with guests, I have bad days where I'm exhausted and feel terrible and the last thing I want to do is go to work in the blazing California hotness. Sometimes I don't get the hours I need and it's really stressful, and I wonder why I'm doing this crazy thing at all. But then I'll have those guests who I get to make a magical moment for. Sometimes it's something as small as getting an extra long hug from their favorite character, or just feeling the freedom to let loose and be silly, or sometimes it's watching the look on their face as they realize that it doesn't matter what kind of challenges they came in with because everyone can feel special at Disneyland. Magical moments are great because when you make one happen for a guest, they turn around and make that moment magical for you. I know it sounds incredibly cheesy, but I hope I never lose that feeling. 

And don't even get me started on the fireworks - those make me cry every freaking time, I think because I'm a cast member, because I work so hard every day to make that magic for people, and because I now have a history with Disney. 

In short, I think that the more you give Disney, the more it gives back to you. So Disney, thanks for a phenomenal year, and here's to hopefully many more to come!