Saturday, May 18, 2024
Of course, if you ask him now, at age 26, he might say there's a part of him that still hasn't grown up - and he highly recommends it for others.
Medlin is in his second year of working for Walt Disney World in Orlando. He recently moved into his new role in entertainment in July, that of character performer. It consists of daily operational meet and greets as well as shows and parades.
"I truly enjoy having that opportunity to create magic every single day for our guests," Medlin said. "There are so many of our friends that save money for years for their families to maybe enjoy one day at Disney World, and we, as cast members, have the opportunity to make their day absolutely incredible. It is truly an honor."
Medlin has been performing since he was around 5 years old. And while he enjoyed doing so, he admits he began to take his craft more seriously once he got into high school.
Following graduation from Granbury High School in 2015, his acting, singing and dancing skills led him to Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theatre.
He started his Disney journey as a college program participant, which is an internship offered at Disney that allows college students to work for the company. His work there has also included being a custodial cast member (like the name says, doing custodial work) as well as an attraction cast member (again, like the name says, working with attractions).
His work with the latter included being part of the extremely popular World-Famous Jungle Cruise.
Medlin said it has been a while since he has made a visit back to Granbury. Since his family moved from Granbury back to Midland last year, he's not sure when his next trip to town will be, but he has had some friends come see him at Disney World.
"I do have some friends that I keep in touch with on Facebook. I also had some family friends that were able to ride my boat at the Jungle Cruise when I was a skipper," he said.
Medlin also still has dreams of performing professionally onstage, be it the likes of Broadway or a touring company.
"The pandemic definitely shifted things for a lot of people and made it very difficult for performers. Now that most things are coming back, after my journey with Disney, I would love to be cast in a national tour and tour the country," he said. "I have an opportunity with Disney and Universal to be performing onstage, but I am hoping some touring shows will be having auditions in the next few years so I can live out my dream of performing across the country.
"At the moment, I am only focusing on this new role with Disney. Once I feel grounded in the department, I am open to the idea of other projects in the area."
