Senior citizens love Disney
THE VILLAGES FAN CLUBS DEVOTED TO HOUSE OF MOUSE
Out to have some fun at Walt Disney World, the senior citizens fastened their seat belts for the 13-story plummet on the Tower of Terror.
“We’re all going to die sometime,” joked Dick Winters, 6l, before the shriekish laughter began.
These are the thrill seekers from The Villages, the 55-and-up community in Sumter County that has built up a devoted Disney following over the years. Coincidentally enough, The Villages is often known as the Disney World for retirees.
“I think they’re stereotyping us sitting in The Villages in our rocking chairs, waiting to croak,” said Debbie Winters, who started a fan club called Mickey’s Fanatics in 2011. “Disney means a lot to everybody. There is no age limit.”
Winters’ club grew to 850 members with a 200-person-long waiting list. It has become so popular — and exclusive — a second group,
the Goofy Villagers, formed last year with a 350-person roster.
The clubs regularly organize trips to the theme parks, host elaborate costume parties and invite speakers with ties to Disney to meetings.
Winters realized her club’s impact when an 83-year-old who died mentioned Mickey’s Fanatics in her obituary.
On a recent November afternoon, two charter buses filled with 80 people wearing mouse ears and Mickey T-shirts pulled up at Hollywood Studios. They ranged in age from their mid-50s up into their 70s and 80s while the oldest, a woman celebrating her 91st birthday, wore a princess tiara in a wheelchair.
A small group of roller coaster fans broke off for the Tower of Terror.
Marie Gipple, 67, reluctantly joined them, nervously wringing her hands in line. Nancy Powierza, a 70-year-old grandmother of three, reminded her to keep her hands up in the air.
A Disney employee ushered them into the elevator shaft.
“Here we go!” someone shouted before a jolt and the fall.
Linda Araujo’s Santa hat fell off, although her reading glasses strapped to her shirt stayed fastened.
Gipple gripped her seat with both hands. She wasn’t smiling.
Everything was over in a matter of seconds, and their bodies were still again, no longer weightless in the air. They broke into a round of applause.
Afterward, the Mickey’s Fanatics members giddily admired their photographs snapped during the ride.
“I was frightened,” Gipple said, but she was smiling again. “I held on, I’m telling you, with both sides.”
Araujo, 68, was ready for more.
Later that afternoon, Araujo, who was also a Uni-
“Disney means a lot to everybody. There is no age limit.” Debbie Winters, started a Mickey’s Fanatics fan club
versal Studios Orlando season pass holder, locked down a Fast Pass for Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith.
“It’s like being a kid,” Araujo said. “We just have a grand old time.”
The Villages residents laughed about being free of strollers and children throwing tantrums on their theme-park outings. They moved at their own pace, stopping to eat at a restaurant or admire the details of this fantasy world.
“We’ve been all been to the park many, many, many times. We don’t have to rush for anything,” said Rich Leopold, 63, who kicked off a meeting this summer at his Goofy Villagers group with the “Pledge of Allegiance” and then “Zip-a-Dee-DooDah.”
For some, they were reminded of their youth or family vacations when they raised their children.
“It’s more about reliving the memories,” Winters said. “Watching families. Watching children. Watching people experience Disney for the first time.”
Jeff and Anni Albert, who went on their first date to Disneyland, shared their first kiss on Peter Pan’s Flight.
They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at Disney World.
Now in their mid-70s, they threw their hands in the air and screamed on the roller coasters on the Disney World excursions with the Goofy Villagers.
“As long as we’re able to do things,” said Jeff Albert. “Why not?”