Another Father’s Day has come upon us and I’d like to continue a new tradition of finding a random picture of Dad and giving you dear readers a glimpse into the story behind the photo.
This one comes from our visit to Florida during Thanksgiving in 2008.
The picture seems innocuous enough…two of the kid’s three living grandparents at the time and two of the kids beating on the drums outside the Harambe Wildlife Preserve at Animal Kingdom.
What you would see if you took a closer look at what was hanging off Dad’s lanyard would contain his Florida resident’s annual pass and the assistance card that allowed him “fast pass” privileges at every attraction that covered him and up to five “assistants”.
Those were the essential tools of the best tour guide Disney could never hope to afford to have on their payroll.
When you came to Florida and your itinerary included anything having to do with Disney, he would move heaven and earth to make sure you would have a first class time at any of the parks, especially if you were a kid.
He knew where every attraction was in all of the parks and the best way to get there. If that attraction happened to be a show, he knew every performer by name and if the show called for volunteers in the audience, kids who were sitting next to him were picked to participate much more often than not! All it took was a subtle hand signal and the fix was in!
As many times as he’d visit the parks in a given year, it didn’t matter if the kids were related to him or not. If you were in the Lion King show toward the front of the Warthog section and he was in attendance that day, Timon and Pumbaa were about to rock that kid’s world.
And if you were related to him…he would take *IMMENSE* pleasure in spoiling your kids rotten and then handing them back to the parents at the end of the day!
There really wasn’t anything that he couldn’t make happen…full-on princess makeovers for the young ladies, reservations at the restaurants that normally take 3-4 months advance notice to get a table (if not more…good luck getting Cinderella’s Castle in less than six months!), and more souvenirs than you’d know what to do with.
Truth be told, being able to make the day magical in the Magic Kingdom and it’s surrounding lands really tended to make his day.
Very few people who experienced his tour guiding prowess truly understood just how much of a monumental undertaking it was for him and the physical toll because he’d rarely let anyone see his pain, particularly in the later years as his health was starting to decline.
I remember when he wrote that he had to finally let his annual pass lapse and I have no doubt it was one of the hardest decisions he ever had to make.
He truly loved going to Disney to hang out, particularly after he’d had an appointment with the VA clinic in Orlando. Those appointments were rarely pleasant and the parks were his way to get back to some measure of balance and put whatever depressing news he got at the clinic out of his mind.
He also liked watching the people in the parks. It wasn’t unusual for him to pick a spot and just watch the people for a hour or so and see what secrets he could divine from what he could observe from that spot. That was a hobby he and I shared when I was at UCF and I also had the Florida resident’s annual pass (back then it was only $200 per year which was a *STEAL OF A DEAL*!).
He made an off-hand remark one evening at the teppan restaurant in EPCOT’s Japan pavilion asking me if I’d noticed anything interesting earlier in the afternoon. When I told him nothing in particular came to mind, he suggested that I keep an eye on my watch and to really pay attention at 1400 hours.
So the next few times I was in the parks, I decided to see what he was on about. OK, “next few times” would be the 200 times I was over in the parks that year and it took a while to finally figure out what he was talking about.
You see, there’s a phenomenon that does occur in the parks at 1400 hours exactly every day and it’s so reliable that you can set your watch by it. It does not matter the season, the ambient weather conditions, which park you are in, where in the park you happen to be sitting…nothing stops it from happening.
Try it the next time you’re in the parks…find a spot at 1350 hours and then pay real close attention to what’s happening around you.
I guarantee you that at 1400 hours exactly, a woman will spank her child within eyesight and earshot.
If you think about it, it makes sense…she’s been dragged by her kid(s) through the park, she’s tired as all get-out, it’s just after lunch and it’s probably not settling all that well, and that’s the time that the kiddo says something at the exact instant Mommy has had enough! And that’s when it’s on like Donkey Kong.
You will have at least one right at the stroke of 1400 hours. On a good day, you’ll get more than one and an epic win is when it starts cascading and the first kid sets off the chain reaction. My personal record in a somewhat unscientific survey was ten spankings within a couple of minutes of each other starting at 1400 hours.
Let’s just say that one of the biggest smiles I ever saw on my Dad’s face was when I shared that revelation with him.
But most of all, going to Disney was his bit of freedom to let loose the inner kid that rarely ever had a chance to come out to play when he was growing up on the farm. It was for many years his happy place, indeed the Happiest Place on Earth.
Even at 1400 hours! 🙂