This essay as told is based on a conversation with Michael Bowen, a 51-year-old Walt Disney World bus driver and Disney Content Creator behind the YouTube channel “Incognito Mouse”. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Most of my adult life I have worked in the church. I went to college and Bible school to become a pastor. I went into this business thinking it would make someone else happy, and I wasn’t really thinking about what would make me happy.
At one point, I ended up working at a smaller church that couldn’t pay a full-time salary, so to support myself, I found a part-time job as a school bus driver.
In 2017, I took a vacation to Florida and visited Disney World. I remember sitting there on the last day of my vacation, in the beautiful, warm sun, by the pool, with palm trees beside me, and dreading going back to the stormy New Jersey weather.
I felt like I had to make some sort of change, otherwise I was going to condemn myself to a miserable life.
I Realized I Could Work as a Bus Driver for Disney
I visited Disney World for the first time in 2013. I found it strange: a group of adults, not children, going to Disney. Yet even on that first trip, I thought to myself: Man, what could I do to work here? There is no Disney church.
The second time I went in 2017, I had followed Disney a lot more and saw that it wasn’t just for kids. Now, as a school bus driver, I thought, “Oh, they have bus drivers, and it’s a legitimate career.” I could actually do it. »
Michael is a huge Disney fan. Courtesy of Michael Bowen
I love Disney, and so does my ex-wife. As big Disney fans, we thought: why not go live and work in the most magical place on Earth?
In 2020, at age 44, I first moved to Florida
I was living overseas when I applied to become a bus driver for Disney. It’s very difficult to get in there. It took me several months to get to the interview and I needed a Florida driver’s license before I could get the offer.
I moved to Florida in January 2020. After getting my license, I was put on a waiting list until a bus driver position became available. It wasn’t until February 15 that I finally got the call to play the role.
For the first time in my life, I had a really stable job with all the benefits that some small churches aren’t necessarily able to offer: paid vacation, pensions, retirement, things like that.
In particular, I had health insurance for the first time in a long time and I was really happy.
Michael driving a bus at Disney World. Courtesy of Michael Bowen
I was convinced I was going to drive for Disney for the rest of my life and retire there. But in May 2022, I chose to leave after going through a difficult separation and divorce. I remember as I was leaving, I received the departure email, and it was the most heartbreaking feeling I have ever felt.
I moved to Oregon, but always wanted to come back
I decided to move to Oregon. I was driving a city bus and things like that, but I wasn’t happy.
During this time, I met another woman, now my wife, who was a huge Disney fan like me. I rebranded my YouTube channel from Church to Disney content around 2019 and started posting about my status as a Disney cast member in 2020. We met through the YouTube channel and decided to move to Florida together in 2025.
Like before, I had to wait almost a year to get a job at Disney. In the meantime, I worked for another company hired to drive Universal Studios buses.
Finally, in April 2026, at age 50, I return to Disney as a bus driver.
It’s not considered the most prestigious profession, but I love it
For me, being a Disney bus driver is wonderful, but I feel like it’s not the most prestigious job. Often when people take the bus it is seen as just a way to get to the park.
However, there are its special moments. One day there was a little boy who was visiting his parents and as he was getting on the bus he showed me two little toy buses. His mother told me that he loved buses so much and was very happy to show them to me. Little things like this make my day, seeing people so excited.
Michael on a Disney World bus. Courtesy of Michael Bowen
I can enjoy all the magic of Disney and go to the park whenever I want. So it’s the best of both worlds.
Walt Disney said, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” If you had told me I was going to do something like this several years ago, I would have said, “It’s not possible, it’s not possible. I’m too old. I don’t have the financial means. I don’t know what I would do.”
But life is too short. If you’re not happy or want to do something else, you have to make it happen.
Gn entert
