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So, several weeks ago I got an email from Len Testa saying he was going to be in the park on December 3rd and would we be willing to meet him? Don't know who Len Testa i? Go grab your copy of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (you do have a copy, right?) and turn to the title page. Yeah, that guy. So anyway, he had heard about Ben's Snow White fixation, and wanted to meet him. I was thinking it would be cool to meet someone behind the book that made our first visits to WDW survivable, so of course I agreed.
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom bright and early at 9am, and Sara met us at the Ticket and Transportation Center. From there we took the monorail around to the Magic Kingdom, and walked right into the filming of the Christmas Day Parade for ABC (they film for several days early in the month and then edit it together for the broadcast). We had to stop by City Hall to fix Ben's guest assistance pass, and then worked our way through the crowd. Ben was a little chagrinned at not being able to cross over to the other side of the street because of the filming, but he was pretty cool about it. We took a circuitous path to get to Fantasyland, and soon enough Ben was making his first run on Snow White's Scary Adventures. After getting off the first time we noticed a group of four people who looked like they were waiting for someone, so I went over and asked if one of them was Len. Sure enough it was him and three other people from the Guide.
They were all very excited to meet Ben, and came bearing gifts. They gave us an autographed copy of the new 2006 edition of the guide, a baseball cap, several collector's pins (including one that Len told me was the original prototype pin, the first test shot), and a Touring Plan t-shirt autographed by a whole bunch of people both from the guide and from the major unofficial Disney websites like Jim Hill Media, Mouse Planet, All Ears.net, MGMStudios.org, and a few others. Len came on a ride with us and I pointed out a few details that he had never noticed before, and also discussed some of the changes from the rehab last year. He was particularly interested to hear about how the unloading redisign causes cascading backups that effect the climax of the ride where the witch is pushing the rock over the ledge.
After the normal three laps, we went down to Cosmic Ray's for a bit to eat. To be honest, it was kinda nice to hang out with people who understand what it is like to do the same ride or hear the same audio queues over and over again. My favorite story I heard from them: this year they added two psychologists to the staff, in order to add some information to the guide about how to avoid meltdowns. To be able to do that they needed to witness several typical meltdowns in the park, so these two people had the simple job of just hanging around on Main Street watching for families that looked like ticking bombs. Then they would shadow them around the park and watch the progression throughout the day that would lead to the inevitable blow-up. What a job.
Eventually Len and the crew had to leave to get to a media event over at the Swan and Dolphin. Ben went back for three more laps on SWSA, and then we decided to try something new since he was being so agreeable. We took him over to Epcot and took him on Soarin'. That was huge. He was more than happy to take the monorail over to Epcot, and was even happy walking with us to the Land pavillion. Once we got inside he was a little anxious, but not too much. He still wasn't complaining when we got on the ride, he was mostly just confused and just a little bit scared. As it turns out, the ride malfunctioned so that the seats never lifted up into position. We spent the entire ride cycle on the ground with the movie playing above us. That turned out to be kinda cool, because he got to hear the entire audio track and see most of the film without any additional stress. Then the cast members apologized for the problem and reset the ride. The second time through the seats swung up like they were supposed to, and Ben got to experience flying over California. He never closed his eyes or covered his ears, and he never complained. I wouldn't say he loved the ride, but he surely didn't hate it. He seemed to be kinda taking it in, and wasn't sure what to think. Me, I call that a huge victory.
After that it was time for some lunch and then to go home and take a nap. All in all it was a very good day, and I am very proud of Ben for meeting new people and trying new things without ever complaining.
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom bright and early at 9am, and Sara met us at the Ticket and Transportation Center. From there we took the monorail around to the Magic Kingdom, and walked right into the filming of the Christmas Day Parade for ABC (they film for several days early in the month and then edit it together for the broadcast). We had to stop by City Hall to fix Ben's guest assistance pass, and then worked our way through the crowd. Ben was a little chagrinned at not being able to cross over to the other side of the street because of the filming, but he was pretty cool about it. We took a circuitous path to get to Fantasyland, and soon enough Ben was making his first run on Snow White's Scary Adventures. After getting off the first time we noticed a group of four people who looked like they were waiting for someone, so I went over and asked if one of them was Len. Sure enough it was him and three other people from the Guide.
They were all very excited to meet Ben, and came bearing gifts. They gave us an autographed copy of the new 2006 edition of the guide, a baseball cap, several collector's pins (including one that Len told me was the original prototype pin, the first test shot), and a Touring Plan t-shirt autographed by a whole bunch of people both from the guide and from the major unofficial Disney websites like Jim Hill Media, Mouse Planet, All Ears.net, MGMStudios.org, and a few others. Len came on a ride with us and I pointed out a few details that he had never noticed before, and also discussed some of the changes from the rehab last year. He was particularly interested to hear about how the unloading redisign causes cascading backups that effect the climax of the ride where the witch is pushing the rock over the ledge.
After the normal three laps, we went down to Cosmic Ray's for a bit to eat. To be honest, it was kinda nice to hang out with people who understand what it is like to do the same ride or hear the same audio queues over and over again. My favorite story I heard from them: this year they added two psychologists to the staff, in order to add some information to the guide about how to avoid meltdowns. To be able to do that they needed to witness several typical meltdowns in the park, so these two people had the simple job of just hanging around on Main Street watching for families that looked like ticking bombs. Then they would shadow them around the park and watch the progression throughout the day that would lead to the inevitable blow-up. What a job.
Eventually Len and the crew had to leave to get to a media event over at the Swan and Dolphin. Ben went back for three more laps on SWSA, and then we decided to try something new since he was being so agreeable. We took him over to Epcot and took him on Soarin'. That was huge. He was more than happy to take the monorail over to Epcot, and was even happy walking with us to the Land pavillion. Once we got inside he was a little anxious, but not too much. He still wasn't complaining when we got on the ride, he was mostly just confused and just a little bit scared. As it turns out, the ride malfunctioned so that the seats never lifted up into position. We spent the entire ride cycle on the ground with the movie playing above us. That turned out to be kinda cool, because he got to hear the entire audio track and see most of the film without any additional stress. Then the cast members apologized for the problem and reset the ride. The second time through the seats swung up like they were supposed to, and Ben got to experience flying over California. He never closed his eyes or covered his ears, and he never complained. I wouldn't say he loved the ride, but he surely didn't hate it. He seemed to be kinda taking it in, and wasn't sure what to think. Me, I call that a huge victory.
After that it was time for some lunch and then to go home and take a nap. All in all it was a very good day, and I am very proud of Ben for meeting new people and trying new things without ever complaining.
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Congratulations on the victory...
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