"That's L.A. you know..."

Last Friday I went to a Q&A session for the Disney College Program. Only about four other participants showed up. It was conducted by the Mesa Community College Campus Rep. Team. They are all alumni of the program. It was very informative and it got me very excited to go. The only problem I had with the whole experience is there are no reps from the College Program at Disneyland. All of them attended the College Program at Disney World. This is due to the fact that the College Program at Disneyland is much newer than the program at Disney World, so there are less alumni.

Friends and family were invited and even encouraged to come. Of the five people there, only one person brought their parents, ofr maybe their parents forced their child to invite them to come. This person is going to the Disneyland College Program in Anaheim and will work in costuming. She is very excited. Her parents are not as excited. Now keep in mind that this girl is twenty years old.

They came late and asked a lot of questions. So many in fact that the meeting would have only lasted about ten minutes. Instead is lasted forty-five minutes. They asked questions like, "Will there be other people working with her after the late night parades at one or two in the morning?" and, "Are there stores and things to buy your food?" I wanted to answer them for her:

"No there aren't any stores there. Anaheim is kind of a recent development, so you should come prepared for the entire eight months. Also, your daughter will be working all by herself at Disneyland at two in the morning. Absolutely no one else will be working there."

They asked a bunch of questions, most of which can be answered in the pages of information that came with the acceptance letter or that can be found online.

They were upset that none of the reps had done their Program at Disneyland, so they couldn't answer every question with 100% certainty, to which they asked their daughter why she hadn't applied at Walt Disney World? Sure it's 2200 miles away, but at least some of these people could answer our questions.

Really, it didn't bother me all that much. They are just very concerned parents who care about their twenty year old daughter.

I did find one thing pretty funny. They asked about the transportation and if their daughter would be safe traveling home if she had to work late. The campus reps told her that she would be there with many other people and most likely she would makes friends who have cars, but worst comes to worst, she would have to use the Public Transportation. After the reps finished their explanation, the parents offered this entertaining piece of dialogue:

Mother: I've been to Orlando and Downtown Disney at midnight or one o' clock and it is very safe. I've also been to Downtown Disney in Anaheim and well... (trails off)

Father: That's L.A. you know... (said with a 'no-nonsense' disposition and an informative tone)

Unfortunately, I thought that he was being sarcastic, or maybe he was poking fun at his wife, so I laughed. I received a prompt stare from the Father. At once, I morphed my laughter in a fit of coughs.

Honestly, though. Those are some seriously protective parents. This girl is twenty years old, and they will be going to Anaheim a week early to make sure that she knows where to go for food, how to get to Disneyland, and who to talk to when she has problems with her roommates. The poor girl was quite embarrassed.

Before the parents showed up, the girl said she could not wait to move out. She told us that her parents would not let her see rated R movies and she was twenty years old. I thought, "Wow...controlling, but how bad can it be?" Then the parents showed up and then I understood.

I just thought it was funny.