FLORIST TURNS HOME INTO HER OWN MAGICAL KINGDOM
DAVENPORT — The guests arrived at the party in Lynn Privett’s unassuming cream-colored house on a quiet street on the edge of Polk County.
The running joke came out every time the doorbell rang again, and a new visitor walked inside: “Welcome to Walt Disney World.”
Her Disney co-workers noticed no room had been overlooked, no detail missing — there was Disney everywhere.
The bathroom had Mickey Mouse knobs on the drawers. The spare bedroom, dubbed the Princess Room, glowed pink and was packed with dozens of dolls. The walls in the living room were devoted to nostalgic signs of Disney attractions, including one for the Great Movie Ride that closed in 2017 at Hollywood Studios.
“It’s an obsession,” said Ronald Privett, Lynn’s husband, who isn’t an innocent observer. He helps feed it.
“It was just magical to her. She was smitten.”
Elizabeth Morris on her first trip to Disney World with friend Lynn Privett
On Christmases and birthdays and anniversaries, he never worries about what to buy his wife. He once kept a running list of Lynn’s inventory in his wallet so he wouldn’t buy a duplicate Disney item.
For the Privetts, life wasn’t always this way.
A florist living in smalltown Mississippi, Lynn hadn’t built up her outrageous Disney collection yet. She had loved Walt Disney World since she visited for the first time in high school with her friend, Elizabeth Morris.
“It was just magical to her,” said Morris, a homemaker in Purvis, Miss., where they grew up. “She was smitten.”
Many theme park fans connect emotionally with Disney because it helps them escape from the stresses of real life, said Jason Herman, a Maryland resident who started a Disney Facebook group that has more than 124,000 members.
Over the years, Lynn and Ronald vacationed at Disney, but there was always a yearning she couldn’t shake — to leave Mississippi and start a new life near the theme parks. To take a chance even if it meant leaving her family and shocking her close friends. To design bouquets for the elaborate Disney weddings.
“It was something I had to do,” said Lynn, who moved in 2013 — then landed her dream job as a Disney florist.
Her husband took a pay cut and demotion to follow her. He speaks matter-offactly about his sacrifice, transferring to a Walmart in Florida.
“I wanted her to live her dream,” said Ronald, 54, who regularly joins Lynn at the parks, hunting for hidden Mickeys and riding the roller coasters.
They bought a house in Davenport, then “It exploded,” said Lynn, who takes advantage of her employee discount and her friends’ generosity to decorate her home. “My collection just escalated big time,” she said.
The Privetts can no longer park their cars in the garage, which is storage for their Disney Christmas trees that twinkle in every room of the house during the holiday season.
Her collection of Mickey Mouse ears and hats has reached about 400.
“I don’t wear them all,” said Lynn, 53.
The couple eats Disneyshaped waffles on Disney plates and drinks tea from Epcot in Disney mugs. Photographs of their weekly Disney outings — like when Lynn’s 82-year-old mother rode the Aerosmith-themed Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster for the first time — are displayed in the living room.
She has proudly hung her first name tag — Lynn from Purvis, Miss. — in the hallway.
Her eye for detail and creativity has received primetime attention.
Four brides’ bouquets that Lynn created appeared on the “Disney Fairy Tale Weddings” series on Freeform and another was featured on “The Steve Harvey Show.”
“We’re all proud of Lynn,’’ said Morris, “She’s got a bunch of followers from Purvis.”
On a recent day, Lynn and about a dozen others worked at Disney’s floral shop, a room with long wooden tables and a freezer full of flowers in an office building not far from Port Orleans Riverside Resort.
She carefully pieced together a future bride’s cascading bouquet made of white roses and hydrangea. It smelled so sweet, but after most of her life working with flowers, her nose was nearly immune to the fragrance.
“I think I need just one more,” Lynn said slowly, piecing it together in less than an hour. She added one more piece of hydrangea. “There, that’s better.”
She finished her shift later that day and returned home, her Disney life complete.
“I wanted her to live her dream.” Ronald Privett on moving to Florida for his wife