by Aidan Wayne
“You need three hours to get ready?”
“I’m sorry I woke you up,” Ashlee said again, testily. It figured that Dana was a light sleeper. Ashlee was probably well on her way to making Dana hate her. But Dana could certainly stand to be a little friendlier too.
Whatever. Maybe things would be different today. She doubted it, though, if this was how it all started out. And she still had to apologize for yesterday.
She wondered if Dana would even let her apologize.
Ashlee hesitated before going into the bathroom to change. Normally she wouldn’t care about getting changed in front of another girl, but Dana….
She knew she was being stupid, but she still couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable. Besides, Dana had changed in the bathroom last night. So Ashlee was just following her example.
Once dressed, she went into the living room, pulling up her warm-up playlist on her phone before plugging in her headphones and getting started.
Ashlee tried to be as quiet as she could, but there were only so many ways to get in a cardio workout, and you needed to be warm before you could start stretching. And then it was her strength training, and she was pretty sweaty by the time she was done an hour later.
She could hear the shower running when she took out her headphones and tried to squash her disappointment. She’d sort of wanted to take a shower right away. But if Dana got there first, Ashlee guessed that was her right.
Instead she went back into their room and started pulling out clothes, trying to decide what to wear today. She obviously wanted to look nice. Impressions were important. Every opportunity she had to be around someone on the big-deal Disney team was basically an audition. It was still early to be thinking about it, but she wanted to play every card in order to get the best chance to stay.
She’d flown down with an outfit in mind: a fitted pink top and a nice black skirt, but looking at it now, well, that was one of the reasons she’d gotten up early. Not to mention she still needed to shower and straighten her hair and do her makeup. Hopefully Dana wouldn’t take too long.
DANA HAD not been happy about being woken up at six in the morning. She had sleeping trouble as it was, and she’d been up kind of late, hiding out in the living room. But she also had the unfortunate problem of being up once she was up. So after trying and failing to be a blanket burrito, she pulled herself out of bed at six thirty and, groaning, stumbled into the bathroom.
She felt a little more awake after brushing her teeth and washing her face, but she was definitely planning on a shower too, even though she’d taken one last night.
With that plan in mind, Dana went back to the bedroom and to the closet, pulling out the outfit she and her mother had bought special for the “dress nice” day. They’d looked a long time for a nice blouse that fit and wasn’t too tight in the shoulders and too loose in the stomach area. They’d finally found a green and gold top made of a crinkly, stretchy material that was just clingy enough to fit in all the right places. And it actually had sleeves, three-quarter ones, which was perfect. Dana liked anything that hid her arms. Bottoms had been easy, because skirts only really had to fit in the waist or on the hips. She’d found one that came to her knees—it had probably been calf-length, but knee-length looked way better on her anyway—and stockings were also easy, as long as she made sure she got the large size instead of the regular one-size-fits-all. All that paired with her nice shoes and some nice gold earrings and she was all set.
She grabbed the entire outfit and took it into the bathroom with her, turned on the water to warm it up, and then stripped out of her pajamas and stepped into the shower.
Dana thought a little more about her current living arrangements while under the spray. Thinking over it, she hadn’t exactly been all that friendly. Ashlee was a little… overwhelming, but Dana was supposed to be keeping an open mind. Ashlee had tried to start conversations yesterday, and Dana had pretty much shut her down.
Then again, Ashlee had made it pretty damned clear that she had no idea how to get over the “trans” part of Dana to focus on the “woman” part of her.
But Dana could probably stand to be a little bit friendlier too. If she was going to be Ashlee’s first experience with a trans person, it was a good idea not to completely alienate her.
All right. She’d be better today.
Decision made, Dana got out of the shower and toweled off, pressing as much water out of her hair as she could before dressing. Then she ran some gel through her hair to bump up her curls and wiped off the mirror so she could put on her makeup.
A knocking on the door startled her in the middle of applying eyeliner, and she only just managed to not poke herself in the eyeball.
“What?” she called through the door.
“Are you almost done?” Ashlee asked. “I need to shower too, and I have to dry and straighten my hair.”
My time in the bathroom is just as important as your time in the bathroom, Dana thought before she grit her teeth. She was supposed to be making an effort to be nice. “I’ll be out in a second,” she said. “I’m just finishing up.”
“Okay, good.”
“BATHROOM’S ALL yours,” Dana said when she came out a little bit later. Ashlee was impatient and ready to shower and change, so she just muttered a thanks before blowing inside. She wasn’t able to take a lot of time with her shower, since doing her hair took precedence and she had a lot of it to deal with. When she jumped out a little bit later, she grabbed a towel and dried off as quickly as she could, before pulling out her hair dryer and getting to work.
She’d just finished french-braiding her hair and had started putting on her makeup when Dana knocked on the door.
“Hey, I’m going down to the buses now. It’s almost nine, so you know.”
Ashlee wasn’t surprised that Dana wasn’t going to wait for her, but she appreciated at least being told she had to go soon. “Okay, thanks for letting me know. Have a good day.”
“Yeah. You too.”
She heard Dana leave and got back to finishing her makeup, a little relieved that Dana was gone. Ashlee hadn’t taken her outfit into the shower with her, so Dana being out of the apartment meant she could just change in her room.
She was going to be able to change around Dana eventually. She was. She just needed a little time to get used to the idea.
Now, though, it was nice to be able to go into the bedroom and pull on her clothes. She’d decided on a pretty blue blouse that matched her eyes, the original black skirt, and a cute pair of flats. When she checked the time, it was eight fifty, so she had to rush to get down to the bus site.
It was ridiculously busy when she got there, with a line of buses all waiting to take everyone to their respective parks. Her main location was the Magic Kingdom, so she managed to get on one of those buses just in the nick of time.
“Hi,” she said brightly to the person sitting next to her, a pretty black girl with her hair done up in puffs. “I’m Ashlee. What’s your name?”
“I’m Maya.” She smiled. “I like your accent. Where are you from?”
“Georgia. What about you?”
“Maine. I’m super excited to be working down here. I love pretty much all things Disney.”
“Me too!” And this was more like it, talking to people and having a nice conversation. “What role did you get? I’m a character performer.”
“So am I!”
“Really? That’s so cool!” Ashlee did not think she could get more excited. “We’re probably going to be on the same tour today, then.”
“I hope so. It’d be nice to go in with a friend. Did you read any of the DCP forums to see what to expect?”
“Sort of? I mostly paid attention to the character performers. There were a lot of great stories to read. Some sort of awful ones too, but I’m hoping for, you know, a good experience.”
“Same.”
They both laughed and got to talking about their favorite Disney movies. Ashlee told Maya how much s
he wanted to be a face character.
“Oh, I hope you get it. You’d really be perfect. Maybe for Tinkerbell?”
Ashlee shook her head. “I’m too tall to be Tinkerbell. She’s got to be five two and under. But I’m five five, which is right in the range for all the princesses.”
“Awesome. I don’t think I could be a princess. I’m not really a good actor. I’m a great mover, but give me, like, a part to play and I’m terrible if I’ve got to speak.”
“No, you don’t think you have a shot at Tiana?”
Maya shook her head. “No thank you! I want to be a parade performer. I even have a leg up on the competition—literally. I can stilt walk.”
Ashlee’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding?”
Maya grinned. “Nope. It was my dad’s hobby, back in Nigeria, and he kept at it when he came to the US. I basically forced him to teach me.”
“Oh my god, that’s so cool.”
“Yeah, thanks. Actually, can I tell you something?”
Ashlee nodded. “Of course.”
Maya leaned in and said, “I’m really hoping I get to be a parade performer. I want to stay in Florida and go to school here while working at Disney. My parents want me to be something, you know, successful. So a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer, basically. But I’m more interested in working for a company like Disney, you know? Even just in corporate or something. I want to be part of the magic.” She giggled. “And I know how sappy that sounds.”
Ashlee shook her head. “It doesn’t—I know exactly what you mean. I mean, I’ve been dancing literally my whole life. Dancing and performing for Disney would be my dream come true. I do want to go to college and experience it and everything, but I feel like I could do that in Florida just as well as in Georgia. And if I had to choose between school and dance, I’d definitely pick dance. I’m only going to be able to dance for so long, you know? So I want to do it for as long as I can. I can figure everything else out later.”
“I feel that,” Maya said.
The bus slowed to a stop, right in front of a big building labeled Disney University.
Ashlee felt like her smile was going to split her face in two. “I guess we’re here.”
Chapter Four
WHEN DANA’S bus pulled up to a big building with a huge Disney University sign at the top, she frowned, confused. She’d thought that they were going to the parks. But it looked like they were stopping here first.
It looked like all the buses were stopping here first, as far as she could tell. The place was packed.
“Please stay in your group!” someone called over the loudspeaker. “Your group will then be taken to its designated area.”
Mentally shrugging, Dana followed, along with everyone else, into the building and down a long hall—decorated with Disney art and memorabilia—until her entire bus ended up in a large room filled with chairs, as well as a long table covered in iconic castle nametags.
“Welcome, everyone,” the woman who’d led them into the room said. “My name is Lydia, and I’m one of the people who will be showing you around. If everyone could take a seat, I’m going to take roll call. Once you hear your name, please come up to the front and get your nametag. These tags are very important. They show Guests who you are and what college you’re from, and it’s one of the first things they see! So take care of it.”
Thankfully roll call didn’t take too long, and soon enough, Dana was holding a little name badge that said Dana, Ohio State University. She smiled and pinned it to her blouse.
Then there was a short movie about the history of Disney, a bunch of talk about the Disney Difference and Guest Service, followed by a question-and-answer session, and they were getting back into the bus—this time headed for Hollywood Studios.
It was interesting to see all the purple Disney signs pass by as they drove. Pulling up at the park and being led to a “backstage” entrance was more exciting than Dana expected it to be.
“IDs out, everyone,” Lydia said, nodding to a man in a guard uniform sitting next to the door.
He checked each of their IDs as they entered the building, and while she waited, Dana took it all in. She couldn’t see much; mostly there were a lot of lockers, a room completely stuffed with clothes—their uniforms? Everyone’s uniforms?—and, at the end of a short hallway, an open door that connected their building to the backstage of the park itself.
Dana didn’t even care about Disney all that much, but the excitement was infectious, and she couldn’t help smiling as they were herded into yet another room.
“Welcome to Hollywood Studios,” Lydia said. “Formerly MGM Studios. This park is going to be where you perform your regular role, be it merchandise, ride control, costumes, greeters—anything. This is your park. We strive to go above and beyond what is asked of us and to do so with a smile. We want all of our Guests to have a magical time here, and we hope that you will all have a magical time as well.”
Their group was then divided up into slightly smaller groups, based on their “home base” location. Dana went with about fifteen other people in the Hollywood Hills group, and they were given a tour of the entire backstage. They started in the costume room (“Here you will find what costumes you will need to wear for the week. You can check out five outfits at a time, and they must be returned for cleaning before you can check out more.”) and were also shown a booklet that had all the costumes all the roles wore.
Dana’s merchandise role in Hollywood Hills covered three different areas in the park: Tower of Terror, Rockin’ Roller Coaster, and Fantasmic/Outdoor merch. There was a different costume for each, but she felt lucky she only had three costumes to deal with. There were other locations that had as many as six to keep straight.
The costumes themselves weren’t too bad either. They probably wouldn’t look too great on her, but after looking at the giant room of costumes, she was a lot less worried about finding things that fit.
It was cool to see the behind-the-scenes of the park too. Their little tour group passed other cast members riding on bicycles (provided specifically for moving around backstage) or walking to and from set to set, in and out of costume. Now that she was here, she was really looking forward to getting started.
The tour ended at the backstage cafeteria for lunch, after which they would be given the go-ahead to wander around the parks by themselves for a few hours and get a feel for the location. Actual training would start tomorrow, once they’d all gotten their training costumes and were given their assignments.
Dana got the feeling that, at least for the first week or so, a lot of her Disney experience would be being shuffled from bus to bus and location to location.
Now, though, it was lunchtime, and she was ravenous from all the activity. The backstage cafeteria had a Subway, so she got a tuna sub.
“Any requests?” the guy at the counter asked. His nametag read Jerry.
“Just stuff in as much lettuce as you can possibly manage,” she said.
Jerry grinned. “Will do.” He grabbed two fistfuls of the shredded lettuce. “This enough?”
She laughed. “Yeah, thanks.”
“Sure thing.”
After she paid, she looked around the seating area, trying to decide where to go. She’d never been fond of this part: feeling awkward and out of place while trying to figure out where to sit. Usually she’d be fine sitting by herself and reading on her phone or something, but she’d come in with a group. She should probably at least try to make a friend or two.
She wanted to try to make a friend or two. Friends were just… hard.
In the end she told herself to suck it up and went over to a table where a girl from her group was sitting by herself.
“Um, hi,” Dana said, holding her tray. “Do you mind if I sit with you?”
The girl shook her head. “Take a seat.”
Smiling, Dana did. “Hi,” she said again, once she was sitting down. “I’m Dana.”
The girl giggled. “I know,” she
said, pointing to Dana’s nametag. “I’m Isabella. Probably I should put my own nametag on, huh?”
“That might help, yeah,” Dana said, grinning. “So you’re part of the college program too?”
“Yup,” Isabella replied as she fished her nametag out of her pocket and pinned it to her shirt. “Attractions at your service.”
“Oh yeah? Which ride?”
“Tower of Terror.”
“Hey, that’s one of my locations,” Dana said. “I’m in merchandise, and I’m working the Hollywood Hills circuit.”
“Neat. You want to walk around together after we’re done eating?”
“Definitely.”
Isabella smiled at her and dug into her salad, and Dana couldn’t help feeling cautiously optimistic about the rest of the day. Isabella seemed nice, and now Dana had a buddy to explore the parks with. Not a bad way to start her first official day at Disney.
“—SO AFTER that, we were given a tour of the whole Magic Kingdom backstage. And there’s a whole floor. Like, the Magic Kingdom is on the second level. The first level is the underground backstage part.”
“Sounds impressive.”
“Oh my god, Brandon, it was so amazing. It’s not just lockers and stuff. There’s a cafeteria and library and a hair salon, and it was just the coolest thing. And! In the cafeteria, there was a group of just face characters. They weren’t in full costume or anything, but from the neck up they had the makeup and the hair and I can’t wait to start training tomorrow. It was such an amazing day. We also got homework! We got divided up into groups based on height, because all the characters are height based, and then each group got a bunch of signatures to practice. Everyone has to be able to sign character autographs the exact same way. I’ve got a bajillion to work on.”