My Week on the Train | Disney Happiness Project

I have been a little absent from my blog lately, and this post has been delayed because I spent 10 days on a train. You read that right… I was ON a train for 10 days. It was actually a train tour of the Midwest (ooh exciting, I know), and let me just say, it was something else.

Because of my recent job working at an event venue, my manager, who has worked these train trips for years, recruited me to work on this one! These were private rail cars with about 35 passengers that travelled on a circular route of some of the Midwest’s finest cities. Personally, I probably wouldn’t fork out the cash to be a passenger on this particular tour because the cities don’t strike me as the most interesting, but our passengers were a group of older train enthusiasts who live for this sort of a thing.

I knew what I was getting into, but I didn’t really know what I was getting into until I stepped aboard in St. Louis. I actually became really anxious the morning I was leaving, and then when I reached the train and walked into my room, it sunk in again… what am I doing? What did I just get myself into?

(L-R) Me, Megan, and Melisa, right after washing the train's outside windows in the cold! 

Long story short, it was very physically exhausting. I worked all day, with little downtime. From serving breakfast, lunch, and dinners, to cleaning rooms and bathrooms, serving other snacks, and drinks, and such, my schedule was quite busy. It took me a little bit of time to adjust to doing these activities on a moving vehicle, and oftentimes not on the smoothest of tracks. Watching me trying to maintain balance while vacuuming was probably fun, but the most comical had to have been when we served dinner the second night. The meal included a soup course. The soup was served in a bowl that sat atop a plate. Simple enough, right? Wrong! You are carrying these from the kitchen, across one train car, into the next car, and up stairs to the dining area. Walking around in general made anyone look either drunk or like they were a young child learning how to walk, so add the task of carrying soup and desperately trying not to spill it, and you can imagine how comical we must have looked!

I tweeted for a few days on the trip some random thoughts, and I logged the journey with #laurenonatrain. I stopped tweeting at some point, and my phone broke while on the trip so some people were concerned for me, but all was well! It was quite a random job, that confused a lot of people when I tried to explain it, but it was an experience that I decided to take advantage of. My reasoning was, well one, it’s a job, but also, when will I ever do this again? (Probably never.) I learned a lot from the trip though. It was definitely the case where when you step out of your comfort zone, you are stretched, and can actually grow as a person, and for that bit, I’m thankful.

If you are reading this post, and wondering how this ties into my Disney Happiness Project, let me now explain! The work environment was not the most positive, and it made it easy to sort of slip into that negativity if you weren’t careful or being mindful of it.

The night we gained the majority of our passengers who boarded in Chicago, I met Christine and Jeffrey. They were passing me in one of the lounge cars, and I noticed the shirt Jeffrey was wearing. It was a Disney’s Wilderness Lodge shirt! Up until that point, I hadn’t encountered any Disney on the trip other than what Disney things I had with me. This was so fun to see! We briefly chatted then about some of the other resorts they had stayed at, and how I was a cast member, and how their daughter was a cast member too, and their family is all Disney freaks.

YES! I found my people!! Haha! We had many more conversations throughout the trip, and it was so encouraging! They were lovely people, and wished me well when they left the train! I am so glad he decided to wear that specific shirt the first night, because just seeing that little bit of Disney created a connection between us that added light to my days confined to this train.

Walt Disney loved trains; they truly fascinated him. Railroading had a big influence on his life and work. It is safe to say that I don’t love trains the way he did, in fact I’ll be okay if I don’t go on another train for awhile :) Still, it was satisfying to know that I was partaking in something that the man and legacy I greatly admire took much joy in.

One of his earliest jobs was selling snacks and magazines on trains that covered similar ground as the one I just spent some time on. Although, we didn’t directly travel through Marceline, MO, to my knowledge, I know that we had to have been pretty darn close to it. Marceline was Walt’s childhood hometown, and what inspired his vision of Disneyland, and led him to create Main Street, U.S.A..

I clearly have a great love for the Disney parks, and I personally LOVE Main Street, U.S.A., it feels like a large hug. The small-town charm that welcomes you into Magic Kingdom is what gives me feelings of nostalgia for a childhood I didn’t really have. Disney in general gives me the warmth and joy of growing up that I felt robbed of. I’ve gone on a slight tangent here, but what I am saying is, I am thankful for Walt’s love of the railroad town, and trains in general because of what it ultimately led to, which I have had the great privilege of participating in.

My train career has been a brief one, but it taught me to slow down, and appreciate the small things in life. Those 10 days removed from everything else, created a feeling of much simpler times.

In the end, I am glad I did the trip, and I walk away with many interesting stories that make me laugh looking back on them now!

It is good to unplug every now and then, and try something new! That’s what I did here! I said yes to this experience I knew little about beforehand, dove in, and came out stronger because of it.

What did you do while I was gone? Now that I am back, I feel like I need to play catch-up! What’s been going on? Fill me in!

x Lauren

Here are a few pictures of the train that I took on my phone! Take a gander, why don't you?

Quick non-Disney related train moment to share: There were 3 women that were like grandmothers to me on the trip! One, very sassy, reminded me of Betty White, and I hope that I am like her when I grow up! The other two, were very quiet, gentle, and kind British women that I wanted to take home with me! They were all great to chat with and get to know a bit, and I am very grateful for their presence on the trip! They made me smile each and every day, and I love that.