My passion for Disney started at a very young age. Thanks to the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., I have been able to turn my dream into reality. I’m Kristina Kiser and I work at the happiest place on earth.I began my internship Feb. 3, 2014, and will finish Jan. 5, 2015. I work as a PhotoPass photographer in Disney’s EPCOT theme park. As a PhotoPass photographer it is my job to capture special moments for guests in front of the park icons and with our characters.
There are hundreds of magical moments I have experienced, created and photographed during my time working for the Walt Disney Company, but there are two moments in particular I will never forget.
The first moment occurred during a shift I picked up at Magic Kingdom. The entire day was magical in itself: getting to photograph Cinderella’s castle for the first time, watching the show “Dream Along With Mickey” four different times, meeting Samantha Brown — one of my Travel Channel idols — and closing the park while working on Main Street, U.S.A.
Right after Magic Kingdom’s fireworks show, a man, a woman and two young boys approached me for a photo in front of Cinderella’s castle. After taking the usual shots, there was a moment of hesitation and the man pulled a ring out of his pocket and dropped to his knee. I could hardly digest what was happening right in front of me as I continued to take shot after shot. The man grabbed the woman’s hand and asked her if she would be his wife. After she said yes, he pulled out two Ring Pops and asked the two small boys if he could be their daddy. The entire family embraced, laughed and cried together and then proceeded to bring me in on the hug. Knowing the photos I took of this moment are going to be with this family forever is extremely special to me.
Another moment that stood out to me occurred at the entrance of EPCOT on what seemed like a typical day. A large family with Make-A-Wish shirts approached me and assembled near the flowers in front of Spaceship Earth. There was a young princess in a wheelchair whose wish had come true to go to Walt Disney World with her entire family. She couldn’t speak due to her condition but it was impossible not to feel her joy through her ear-to-ear smile.
I took several pictures of their family, starting with standard poses and then taking pictures of hugs, funny faces and superhero and princess poses. I then turned to the little girl and asked if she wanted to take some magical pictures, to which she smiled even bigger and nodded. I told her Tinkerbell was flying around and would join us. After we took some pictures with the little girl holding Tinkerbell in her hand, the mother thanked me for making the beginning of their vacation so great and explained it had been a long time since she had seen her daughter smile like that. Make-A-Wish is an organization that has a special place in my heart and I cherish every opportunity that I have to work with these families at Walt Disney World.
Working at Walt Disney World, especially at EPCOT, I am constantly surrounded by people from different cultures and places. I have hundreds of opportunities every day to not only make and capture magical moments for guests, but to also be a light of Christ’s love to all people that I interact with.
This internship has helped me grow and develop as a professional while providing me with great work experience within one of my favorite companies. Creating so many relationships with my co-cast members, managers, coordinators and guests has been a tremendous blessing. This experience truly has been one of the most rewarding, difficult and magical things I have ever done.
