Isabella Evans was accepted into the Disney College Program when she was a senior at Eastern Oregon University in 2022. After the six-month program ended, she has stayed in Florida to pursue a job at Disney.

BAKER CITY — Isabella Evans fell in love with Disney around 2003.

“There was just something about it that I liked a lot. Everything was just so magical,” she said.

Despite her experience at Splash Mountain.

“Dad stuck me in the very front and said, ‘It’ll be fine — you won’t get that wet.’ I was completely soaked from head to toe,” she said with a laugh.

Evans, 24, grew up in Baker City and her family visited a Disney park about every other year.

They skipped 2011. That year Evans, a fifth-grader at South Baker Intermediate School, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia and flown to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland on Feb. 18. She spent six months in treatment, and in 2012 went on a Make-A-Wish trip to a Disney park.

Now Evans doesn’t have to catch a flight to visit a theme park.

She just walks out her door.

Evans lives and breathes Disney these days as she explores different careers in Florida, home to DisneyWorld’s four resorts — Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.

Her journey started when she applied for the Disney College Program during her senior year at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, where she studied computer science.

“I got it,” she said of the program.

She graduated from EOU in June 2022, and left in August for the six-month internship. She worked in quick service — the food court — at the All Star Sports Resort.

Although that wasn’t her dream job — “Not particularly,” she said — she had ample time to explore the extensive park system.

“I spent so much time going in and out of the park,” she said. “It was so much fun.”

Although the program ended in February 2023, she stayed and picked up shifts at various places, mainly Hollywood Studios.

Although her degree at EOU focused on computer animation, Evans isn’t sure she wants to pursue that career.

“I still like doing that, but I’m not sure that’s what I want to do,” she said.

She did, however, use her expertise as an IT tech at SeaWorld.

“I got to use more stuff from my degree,” she said.

Jobs at Disney are a bit hard to land.

“With Disney, you have to have specific training in everything,” she said.

One perk is the costumes she’s worn for work, and she said the best ones were when she worked in merchandising.

Choosing a favorite

As a kid, she said her favorite park was Animal Kingdom.

Now she prefers Epcot.

“There’s a lot more to look at,” she said. “Ninety-five percent of the year Epcot has some sort of festival going on and the food is so good.”

Her favorite is the Food and Wine Festival, which has stands featuring food from other countries.

“I think, personally, it has the best food,” she said. “You get a really accurate look at what the food is like from that country.”

The weather

Florida’s weather is a far cry from the high desert of Eastern Oregon.

“Florida is so humid it’s not even funny,” she said.

But, she admits, it’s “not terrible.”

And even though she knows more about the technical side of DisneyWorld, she said it hasn’t lost its appeal.

“I still think it’s pretty magical,” she said.