Most people would hate this job but I love it. Standing around in a costume for hours while kids climb on you and their sweaty, sunscreened parents shout for them to be still and smile isn't exactly glamorous.
But it is magic. Watching the face of a little girl light up as she meets the fairy tale princess she dreams of being when she grows up or the hundreds of children smile when you wave at them from your float on the parade still brightens my day.
Not that many girls are interested in Belle when they could be Cinderella, Snow White, or Arial but my followers are more quiet and shy like me.
They always look back at their parents for reassurance when they stumble up to get my autograph. They always talk quietly almost whispering. They always have the biggest smiles when they get what they want; they had to fight for it just like Belle fought for her prince charming.
Of course Belle's soul mate isn't really a prince but a cursed man turned into a beast by an evil spell. In her story it isn't the princess who is magic but the prince. My story is the same.
I'm just an average girl who moved to Florida when her mom got remarried. I was interested in acting and loved kids so I got involved at Disney. I earn my living dressed as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Nothing special.
No one from my high school would have expected it. But I didn't really make myself known there; I stayed out of the way of everyone until I graduated.
Then there's Edward.
His life started with tragedy and pain but now he's the most beautiful person I know.
I met Edward in college he's my prince charming or at least it's his job to be. In reality he's my best friend and I'm his handler at the park. He was in my acting classes and my roommate's adopted brother.
We got paired together in class because we were different. We got shoved together by Alice on her outings. She claimed we were perfect for each other and I guess we were.
We both grew up taking care of ourselves. My mom wasn't really the nurturing type. I spent more time taking care of her and holding her hand than she spent on me. Edward's parents were murdered when he was five.
He was adopted by Alice's family. They were a good family but Edward wasn't good.
He was in a dark place after his parents' deaths, a place so dark he was angry like the beast from the fairy tale. His parents were killed after they got in the way of the robbery of his house. Edward was five; he saw the whole thing happen from a closet. If the thief had seen him, Disney World would've needed someone else to be the beast.
Their deaths traumatized him past what any normal person can believe.
He didn't talk to anyone.
He didn't smile.
He didn't like himself or his story and that's how he got involved with acting. He could be whoever he wanted, whenever he wanted. It's how he got through life.
Alice thinks that meeting me got him out of this funk. She says he never opened up to anyone over years of knowing him or her the way he opened up to me in days. Alice thinks we're meant for each other.
And I guess this chemistry imagined by Alice helps us at work. We have no problem pretending to be in love.
Maybe Alice is right. Jasmine and Aladdin can't stand each other in the real world.
Maybe the reason we're so good at this is because we are not pretending.
Maybe… maybe we are in love.