May 2007 – This month we finish the bulk of the Georgia fair and we revisit The Animal Kingdom and EPCOT for Ronn’s Birthday.

First, I'd like to talk about our extended family once again. I mention them from time to time in my journals. They're the close friends we've made at all the fairs we work across the country... both patrons of the fairs and workers alike. I'm closer to most of my friends than most of my family. Don't get me wrong; as I've said before, I love my family very much. I'm just not that close to them as far as constant contact.

One of the groups I've gotten so close to is the Hanlon-Lee jousters. Steve Cowen is one of the owners/partners in the group. His family is awesome! His girlfriend Tricia, kids; Jessica and Jack and all the other jousters under his command have become a huge part of my life. Especially since they work three different shows we do.

 

Capt Matt of the pirate ship

Capt Jack and pirate wench

Holly and Megan

The other group is the crew of the Pirate Ship in Georgia. We've gotten very close these last two years. Matt is the owner. We hit it off immediately the first year we did the Georgia fair but really started hanging out a lot last year. He's got a crew of mostly women. Hot women. (Smart guy) No wonder me and the boys do our share of drive bys throughout the day. (It all makes sense now.) His wife Nicole, beautiful Holly, southern belle Megan, sassy Ellen, and the rest (too many to name) are all so sweet. We've had some great dinners together. They've joined us for our weekly pot luck dinners, and invited us for a lot of their functions too. We're even going to "Super Secret Pirate Fun Day." (See next month) Anyway, we welcome them to our extended family and hope to spend more time with them. Thanks for all your generosity!

May also marks Ronn's birthday. Since only seven hours from home and Orlando, he decided to make a trip to Disney and Universal Studios. Mugsy (Ded Bob), his girl Colette, Dakota (Daughter of "Don Juan"), and her beau Jeremy that works vegetable justice, all tagged along. We had just been to the Animal Kingdom a couple weeks before to visit my cousin but still had a day left on our passes. So we figured we'd hang out with the gang and then leave to go to EPCOT for dinner. The flower and garden festival was going on and we thought it might be worth seeing. Since Animal Kingdom closed at 6pm the gang decided to join us for dinner. We headed over to EPCOT and as we passed the American Adventure we saw that Davy Jones of the Monkees was performing. Sharon and I almost died. Come on, how cool is that. We decided to hang out for the next show while everyone else wandered over to Future World.

 

Sharon and the Tink Topiary

Ronn's BDay crew in front of Everest

Davy Jones sings

The show started and Davy made his entrance. It was funny. He introduced himself as Davy's father and said Davy would be out shortly. That was kind of the tone for the show... lots of humor and Davy making jokes about how old he's gotten. He did all the Monkees greats and the song he did for the Brady Bunch episode. As the show went on I decided to get up close to get some good pictures and video. I was front and center when he started the Brady Bunch's "Girl, look what you've done to me." He came out into the crowd stopped in front of me and started singing directly to me for a moment. I realized "My God, Davy Jones is singing to me!" I started cracking up. (Which you can hear on this video.) His show was great fun. I wish him the best.   [Watch the vid in Windows Media]   [Watch the vid in RealMedia]

Earlier in the day when we were still in the Animal Kingdom, we were talking to our friend James who tagged along after helping to get some of the gang into the park for free. You see, he works for the Disney Institute. They do all kinds of seminars and tour for Disney. I told him that we'd always wanted to do the Backstage Magic Tour. It's the tour that gets you behind the scenes at all the parks including the fabled "underground" at the Magic Kingdom. He said he does that tour. I asked how soon we could go on it and he said as early as this week but he wasn't running the tour. I told him we didn't want to go unless he was the guide. Moments after I said that, his phone rang... it was another tour guide asking if he could take over her Backstage Magic tour tomorrow. He asked how I did it and I just grinned. He pulled some strings and got us in the next day with his discount. So after finishing dinner at EPCOT we said goodbye to the gang and headed to Deane and Liz's. Deane is Johnny Phoenix. I'm sure you all remember him. They live ten minutes from the park, so we crashed there and got an early start the next morning.

 

Jef and Sharon on the backstage tour bus

Going to the EPCOT kennel

The tour met at EPCOT, so we dropped off the dogs at the EPCOT kennel. We wandered over to the tour meeting spot and got started. I grappled with whether or not I should talk about the tour or not. Well... I decided not. If you want to find out all the cool backstage stuff, you're gonna have to do it on your own. Just so you know... they don't let you take any pictures backstage. So, I couldn't show you anything anyway. I did get one picture of us on the tour bus between MGM Studios and Epcot. The tour was wonderful, fun and informative. I highly recommend it. If you're in the area, call The Disney Institute and they'll give you all the info on all the different tours they have. (There are a lot of them.)

Anyway, we picked up the dogs and headed home for a couple of greatly needed days rest. I'll tell ya, I'm looking forward to staying in one state for a while all this commuting to and from Florida is killing me! Well... see ya' in Georgia! And after that, a bachelor party, a wedding and then ten weeks off. (ouch!) TTFN : )