{"id":569,"date":"2010-10-18T00:43:33","date_gmt":"2010-10-18T04:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raysofdisneyland.com\/?p=569"},"modified":"2010-10-18T00:46:19","modified_gmt":"2010-10-18T04:46:19","slug":"one-big-disney-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raysofdisneyland.com\/?p=569","title":{"rendered":"One Big Disney Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>My Disney family took quite a hit this week, and it sent shock waves through all of us. \u00c2\u00a0I’ve never mentioned it before on Rays of Disneyland due to social media rules, etc. but I worked at the Disney Store, here in Denver, off and on, for nine years. \u00c2\u00a0I worked at three different stores and had roles ranging from seasonal part-time, to Lead, and everything in between. \u00c2\u00a0I met so many great people and built an amazing Disney family. \u00c2\u00a0Unfortunately, in February of this year, Disney made the decision to close the store I was working at, without an opportunity to transfer. \u00c2\u00a0Our entire Disney family got together and sat in our now empty store after the last guest came through the door. \u00c2\u00a0We laughed and cried and enjoyed being together.<\/p>\n

Now, eight months later, we are gathering again – digitally at least – to support two of our family members. \u00c2\u00a0I found out last week that two wonderful ladies, that I have worked with for years, have been diagnosed with some pretty serious illnesses. \u00c2\u00a0In deference to their\u00c2\u00a0situations, I won’t go into too much detail, but if you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably seen that one of them had massive surgery for a large brain tumor, and the other has a type of autoimmune disorder. \u00c2\u00a0Both were struck suddenly and unexpectedly and took us all by surprise.<\/p>\n

\"Good-bye\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve been reminiscing a lot this week about my time with my Disney family at my second home, the Disney Store. \u00c2\u00a0Our store opened about 17 years ago. \u00c2\u00a0It wasn’t the first store in Colorado but, for me, it was the most special. \u00c2\u00a0The store was just a few minutes from my house in a mall that my mom and I frequented. \u00c2\u00a0If I haven’t said it before, this store was special. \u00c2\u00a0As I got older, even when I was working there, my Disney Store became my escape, my retreat. \u00c2\u00a0When I had a bad day, no matter how big or how small, my mom and I would pile in the car after work and head to the 1.5 miles to the mall and into the pink and green Store. \u00c2\u00a0It was our family seeking peace in our Disney family.<\/p>\n

I made such good<\/strong> friends there. \u00c2\u00a0Not only was it cozy and magical – in all of its mid-90s splendor – but the people were unlike any others. \u00c2\u00a0We all shared a love for Disney… more than any other Disney Store I’ve been in, these folks worked there simply because they loved and believed in the company. \u00c2\u00a0Many of us were working second jobs at the Store less because we needed the money and more because we needed the Store. \u00c2\u00a0I was perfectly willing to work somewhere between 45 and 60 hours a week at my regular job and spend nights and weekends working at the Disney Store. \u00c2\u00a0It was just that good. \u00c2\u00a0I firmly believe that when Disney closed store 505 they lost many of their most devoted and dedicated employees.<\/p>\n

I can’t adequately explain the feeling that being in that store gave me… but if I could bottle it and sell it, I think it would be the answer to world peace.<\/p>\n

So, if you are reading this right now, I consider you to be part of my extended Disney family. \ud83d\ude42 \u00c2\u00a0And, I need your help. \u00c2\u00a0Please send all of your thoughts, prayers, and pixie dust to the former Cast of Store 505… we need a little extra these days. \u00c2\u00a0I think this one’s going to take a lot, so it may take all of our faith, trust, and pixie dust to get this Disney family back on track, but trust me when I say that we all will appreciate it more than you know!<\/p>\n

Photos Courtesy of Rebecca Bohmann<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Disney family took quite a hit this week, and it sent shock waves through all of us. \u00c2\u00a0I’ve never mentioned it before on Rays of Disneyland due to social media rules, etc. but I worked at the Disney Store, here in Denver, off and on, for nine years. \u00c2\u00a0I worked at three different stores […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[180,530],"class_list":["post-569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nablowrimo","tag-disney-store","tag-nablowrimo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raysofdisneyland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raysofdisneyland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raysofdisneyland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raysofdisneyland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raysofdisneyland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=569"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/raysofdisneyland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":579,"href":"https:\/\/raysofdisneyland.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions\/579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raysofdisneyland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raysofdisneyland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raysofdisneyland.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}