On the Other Side of the Wall...

Anytime you begin a new phase in your career there's an adjustment period. At first you find it difficult to escape those funky "What am I doing here?" moments, particularly when it's a place that has a long-standing public profile, always out of sight but never out of mind. I wouldn't go so far as to say you feel like you don't belong, but there are places that carry a certain, 'Pinch me, is this really happening?' vibe.

That was certainly the case when I started at Parks & Resorts. Then again, how could it not be? In the blink of an eye I was suddenly on the other side of the wall. You know what I mean. You visit attractions at Disneyland, or at Epcot in Florida, and you pass through an area that's labeled "Cast Members Only" - usually this gets gussied up in theming, i.e. at Space Mountain it's "Astronauts Only Beyond This Point", or in the Disney-MGM Studios they put up a lot of "CLOSED SET!" signs. The point is the same - this is the line you do not cross. Ever.

Then one day you find yourself dumped on the opposite side of that line and it's like you've just wandered backstage at the circus. I remember one of the first times I got to go into the backstage area of Disneyland. I was sitting at the cast cafe and, no joke, two seats down from me was Aladdin and the Genie. Eating lunch as if it were the most normal thing in the world. To describe it as a surreal moment would be dramatically underselling it.

Now despite what the commercials would have you believe, you don't walk down the hallways and see LeBron James trying to fix the copier, or Dale Earnhardt Jr. offering free tech support, or the Milwaukee Brewer Brats in the cafeteria at ESPN (though it would be sweet if you did). But much as was the case at Disneyland, you instantly feel like you've crossed over to the other side of the line. Suddenly a place that didn't really exist - it was always "that place" on the other side of the line - is not only there but has now let you become a part of it. People who were previously just a face on TV or a voice on the radio are now your colleagues. You've become part of a global brand that's consumed every day by people who speak every language and crosses every barrier. That's pretty cool when you stop to think about it. Just for a moment though, because the biggest line you crossed is the one that separates consumer from producer. Now you're not just a fanboy - you've got a job to do.