The First Night in Magic Kingdom

 After finishing our “on the job” training, the room mates and I decided it was time to go out and celebrate, despite our exhaustion. So we all went to Magic Kingdom together, for the first time. We missed a couple of buses and even took the wrong one for a bit, but we were set on seeing the fireworks show together and finally using our employee passes to walk through the gates. Nothing could stop us or bring us down. There are some things to remember when visiting the park as a guest that is also a cast member. First, if you are not a cast member in that particular park, you are technically not allowed in the backstage areas. Now everyone gets the privilege of seeing the underground world or Magic Kingdom because it is the site of your initial training, but once you have been trained in your other location, you can only enter the park as regular guests would, you just use your employee ID card to get through the turn stiles instead of a guest park pass. Getting to Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot is pretty easy by bus. They drop you off by the employee entrance, but you are outside and can easily walk a few paces to the regular entrance. However, because Magic Kingdom’s backstage is underground (actually it is at ground level, the entire park is raised above ground) getting inside the park is a little trickier. If you take the employee bus you are taken right up to the underground entrance and there is no way to get the regular entrance from there because it is roped off for guests.
We found the easiest way was either to take the bus to the Contemporary Resort and walk over, or the most popular choice, take the bus to the Ticket and Transportation Center and ride the monorail over. Personally, I am quite frightened of monorail rides, so I did a lot of walking from the Contemporary. It’s a fairly short distance. We arrived in Magic Kingdom ecstatic. We saw multiple groups of College Program students doing the same thing as we were (CP’s are easy to spot because what group of college kids can afford to go to Disney alone, and we always have on lanyards) This trip to Magic Kingdom was especially exciting for my roommate Marta, because it was her first time inside Disney at all. This was her childhood dream come true. Marta and I had quickly become best friends and I knew how special this moment was for her. When we entered the park, tears immediately sprung to her eyes and I had an idea. “Marta! Cover your eyes.” I said, and I grabbed her hand. It was nighttime at Magic Kingdom, the prettiest time. I pulled her to the center of the flag pole garden and positioned her where she could see all the way up Main Street. I wanted her to be able to see it all at once, Main Street in lights and the Castle in all it’s perfection waiting to greet her at the end. “Okay, open them.” I yelled beaming and I watched her face fill with an utter joy that I remember feeling so many times at this magical place. I was so happy to be there, and I was so happy it was home.