Amber Earns Her Ears: My Secret Walt Disney World Cast Member Diary Read Online Free PDF Page A

excitement. My playlist of favorite Disney songs filled Dino with an appropriate, optimistic Disney vibe. My sister, Hayley, was awake, the stars were out, and I was on my way.
    I have always loved driving at night. There’s a silence to the landscape that the sun manages to burnish away, and it seemed fitting to start my journey in such an anticipatory manner. It was this peaceful atmosphere, however, that lulled my assistant driver to sleep.
    The entire purpose of Hayley coming with us (my brothers were staying with relatives) was to keep me awake on the drive. As the early morning progressed, and as I turned up the volume of the radio higher and higher (my strategy was to sing the entire way down — who can fall asleep when singing?), she lay back in the seat, mouth half open, utterly useless.
    I think I listened to every type of music on the way to Florida. I started with Disney music, then moved to Norah Jones and Michael Bublé. After that came Paramore and Coldplay, the soundtrack from Spring Awakening and The Last Five Years . Whatever I thought had the potential to keep me awake, I played.
    On our many previous trips to Disney World, I was always the one most likely to be awake at any given moment. What I hadn’t counted on, however, was my inability to change positions. I envied Hayley in the seat beside me — not only because she was asleep but because she was able to curl up, stretch out, and contort her body to relieve the discomfort of being in a small space for an extended period of time. I didn’t have that luxury.
    I don’t remember if we stopped for breakfast. No one in my family really considers it a meal — a cup of coffee is usually enough at such an early hour. Besides, we had stocked each car with a few snacks to munch on throughout the day. The less stops we made, the quicker we would get to Disney World.
    I am not the best of drivers even under good circumstances; I get incredibly nervous when driving somewhere new. And cities? Well, let’s just say I had little to no experience driving through those.
    When we reached Atlanta, a massive thunderstorm was underway. I love the rain. I’m usually not opposed to driving in it. But that dark morning, I would have given anything for it to stop. I remember reaching over to punch Hayley awake, because there was no way I was going to be the only one in that car panicking. Mom was driving the car in front of us, which I thought was a good thing. Of my parents, she is the more…cautious driver, I suppose.
    I was wrong.
    Seventy miles an hour. In the rain. I hydroplaned at least thirty-five times; I kept count. It was the one time in the trip when the music was barely audible — my nerves were frayed enough, and I didn’t need any extraneous noise to snap them.
    Any time an exit ramp came up, I panicked. Atlanta was the one place on previous trips where I’d usually take a nap, and so I didn’t know the route. I was lucky just to be able to see my mother’s car in front of me. Maybe that’s everyone’s experience driving through Atlanta. Maybe hydroplaning really isn’t that big a deal. But for a nervous, stressed-out 18 year old whose urban driving experience was limited to much smaller Knoxville? I was not enjoying it.
    Eventually, we made it out.
    The music came back on, Hayley fell asleep once more, and drained of energy, I struggled to stay awake. We stopped to get some caffeine — which doesn’t really help my mother or me stay awake, but just seems like a good idea — and then drove on.
    Around Perry, Georgia, we stopped at Chick-fil-A for lunch, a respite for which I was desperately grateful. I love my Dinosaur, but I really did not want to climb back in for another few hours.
    But I did. The closer we got to Florida, the more exhausted I became. We ran into patches of rain, and other times the sun would shine down on us, filling the air with a smothering, sticky heat. Finally, we crossed the Florida state line,