35 Years of Friendships & A Story as Unbelievable as any Movie

Today was a beautiful gift of reuniting with my friend Scott and meeting his husband August who are in town from Orlando. We met 35 years ago when I was a young, 20 year old college student who was recruited as a Disney Cast Member from Indiana University Bloomington. We both worked at the BEST attraction at the Disney MGM Studios called the Great Movie Ride. Scott is in his 36th year as a Disney Cast Member and he has been at Fort Wilderness for decades. He happens to be from “The Region” and is visiting family so we took advantage of stealing an hour for breakfast.

Our Disney Cast Member Reunion - April 25, 2025:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/aWwVkrbfFFwLmSeY6

Last year, I flew home from the 36 year reunion of the Great Movie Ride cast members as I was asked to participate in the 2025 production of “Listen to Your Mother”. In front of a live audience I told the unlikely story of my mom and estranged father being in the same hospital at the same time on the same floor and admitted right next to each other. They died less than a year apart, my mom in late March 2024 and my father in early 2025 just a few months before this “performance”.

Here is me at the Art Theatre in Hobart telling the story.

https://youtu.be/mgHafeX0Bg0?t=4571&is=QUyfRBpYEtTU90z9

Like a movie, it is still truly an unbelievable story.

Finally, I’d like to formally acknowledge and honor Steven Kittendorf from our GMR family. He recently passed way too soon. May he rest in heavenly peace and my deepest prayers for continued strength for his wife Marlene.