Hey you guys! I'm Dawn...Fun fact: I thought about starting this podcast for about a year before I actually recorded the first episode. I kept thinking there are already so many podcasts, but I just kept feeling this little tug.
My Disney fandom started early when I was a little kid in the mid 80's up in Michigan. Since we have family in Florida, when we visited them we were able to make day trips over to the parks. I was a tween during the Walt Disney animation renaissance that brought us The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King, and that put Disney more front and center in our lives as each year we couldn't wait to see what story would come next. Over the years as WDW grew with the addition of the Disney-MGM Studios park, the waterparks and multiple resort hotels, my parents started to think about taking a Disney centered vacation and in 1996 we did. For the first time ever they bought a Disney vacation package. We stayed at the Port Orleans Resort and had park hoppers and a character breakfast and the whole Disney experience. IT. WAS. AWESOME. And it changed the way we do Disney forever. |
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A few years later in late 2000 I applied to the Disney College Program and was accepted. So in February 2001 I packed my car and moved to Florida! I was assigned to Disney-MGM Studios as a Role Hopper which meant I would be cross trained in at least two roles. I first landed in what is called Merchantainment where I worked in the stores in Animation Courtyard. Halfway through my program as part of my designation as a "Role Hopper" I was relocated to quick service food and beverage mostly working at the Sunset Ranch Market selling turkey legs but I did also get to work at Peevy's Polar Pipeline and Gerties.
After my program ended I decided to stick around for another year as a regular Cast Member. It was during this time that I met my best friend and fellow Disney theme park superfan, Katie. |
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Later, in 2003 I made the decision to take a chance and apply for a Professional Internship at Disney's Animal Kingdom. After the multi-interview process I was offered the position and gleefully accepted! This was a big step up in my Disney career. My role as an Education Presenter put me out in the park entertaining and educating hundreds of guests daily about the wonders of nature.
During my entire time as a Cast Member and all the time since, I have loved reading, researching and discovering new stories, new history and all the little details that make Disney Parks so special and so magical. Even though I'm not a Cast Member anymore, I really wanted a way to be able to share my knowledge and excitement for Disney. So I thought, what the hay, I'll start a podcast! And the rest, as they say, is history! |
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Main...For as long as I can remember Main Street USA was a magical, exciting, comforting, joyful street that unfolded before me to untold adventures. It has lived rent free as a happy place in my mind since I was a child. On those very special trips down to Walt Disney World (and eventually to Disneyland too) it was always the first and last place I wanted to be. The sweetest bookend to every Disney trip. But Main Street is a feeling we take home with us to our own real Main Streets in the cities and towns we call home, across the world, because the Disney magic can reach to infinity and beyond.
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...and MagicMagic is real if you can steal yourself long enough to be overcome by stories and music and adventures. Magic is what lets children SEE Mickey Mouse and BELIEVE in fairies, or hitchhiking ghosts. Magic happens when adults (who are really just tall kids) gear up and join the rebellion, throw their hands up on the wildest ride in the wilderness, and tear up watching Happily Ever After or World of Color because it makes them feel immense gratitude for a place and stories that have shaped some of their happiest memories.
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