Now I have a ton of Disney stories about working there, but lately one has come to mind that I still can't believe happened. When you're a ride operator (like I was), often times you get to load celebrities on the ride you are working on. I've met everyone from Blink 182, to Kelsey Grammar, Pierce Brosnan, Dakota Fanning, and even some royalty. But there is one who rose above the others.
I was working the Winnie The Pooh ride and it broke down, and it was going to be down for a loooong time, so I was sent to stand by an open part of the queue. An older couple in matching bright yellow Chitty Chitty Bang Bang jackets approached me and asked where the entrance to the line was. I told them the ride was down because there was a "honey spill." "A honey spill?" The man asked. "How did that happen?" So I continued by letting him know that Winnie the Pooh fell asleep while eating some honey and it spilled all over the place and the beehicles got stuck in it. So now we had to gather up Heffalumps and Woozles to steal all the honey so we can clean it up. The guy was more confused than ever and his wife just started laughing and told him it was a joke. He sighed with relief and said, "I was gonna say... I worked on the ride and I don't remember there ever being real honey." "You worked on the ride?" I asked, "What did you do?" "I wrote all the music," he said. Now I was confused. My mind was reeling trying to figure out who this guy was, and the more I looked at him, the more familiar he seemed.
We talked for a while about how their day was going and what was REALLY wrong with the ride. It was a Phase C Disagreement at Zone 1A. Not as fun as a honey spill. At one point the woman introduced them as Richard and Elizabeth Sherman. It still didn't register with me. They joked around about calling Bruce Gordan and when they did, I figured it out. Richard Sherman and his brother Robert wrote all the famous Disney songs that we know today. They wrote all the music for Mary Poppins, It's A Small World, Jungle Book, The Sword in the Stone, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, of course, Winnie the Pooh, and countless others.
As Richard stood there talking the Bruce Gordan (who was the Imagineer who worked on Winnie the Pooh) my heart started racing. My mind flashed back to all the Disney special's I've watched and all the books I've read that feature the Sherman Brothers. And now, there he is on the phone in front of me telling a top guy at Disney how funny I was telling him about a honey spill. When he got off the phone I shook his hand again and told him it was truly an honor meeting him and the ride was open again and he was free to go through the exit and get right on.
It was a moment I had with a Disney Legend that I will never forget.
The Sherman Brothers with Walt Disney, (Richard is sitting at the piano.)
Richard Sherman just days after I met him. He was in town for s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang event.
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