FEELINGS
This adventure has brought me more happiness than I could ever imagine. Getting to know the Pit Crew members has been an added bonus. They have treated me like family and have entouraged and supported me along the way.
I’m also getting support from the various Facebook Disney groups. Drama Free Disney, Mouse Lovers1313, Disneyland, It’s a Big Family, House of Mouse, Disneyland Dreamers Club, and Disney Dorks. They also want me to reach 5000 laps at Racers.
The only thing that has been negative, is seeing how some “guests” treat my cast member friends. It maybe less than 10%, that are unruly. But those 10% can wreck things for everyone. These people tend to think they are “entitled” to do certain things since they paid a lot of money to visit the parks. Some of them include: stuffing their kids shoes to reach the height limit, not lining up for the ride the way they told the cast member they would, single riders being told at least twice they will be separated, then still thinking they can sit together, and trying to make rider switch passes include more people than allowed. The biggest gripe is thinking the cast members having anything to do with the ride breaking down. If it was up to them, the ride would never stop down.
These are some of the issues that have caused cast members to transfer out of racers by going back to working at Disneyland, learning new attractions to break up the stress, transfer all the way to Florida, or to even take jobs outside of Disney. I can sometimes see the looks of frustration on their faces. It truly makes me sad to see my Racer family treated this way.
I think this is why they all seem to light up when I come to Racers. I treat everyone of them with respect and act like a “guest” when I’m at their ride. I try to be an example of how they should be treated. Some of the comments the Pit Crew have made to me or on Facebook include, ” we love Jon at Racers”, “we like nice people and you are the nicest”, ” everything is good now, Jon is here”.when the ABC news story first came out. A few people had negative reactions and The Pit Crew backed me up and shot them down. I can never thank them enough for all they have done for me. They even seem to like all the photos I take with them. Even the new Pit Crew members. I try to bring them bake goods every month or so. I’m baking them peanut butter cookies as I write this blog.
As I try to reach 5000 total laps this year, I’m going to need everyone’s support. Pit Crew and Facebook Disney friends. Without you , I would of stopped at 1000. This year seems harder as I go along.
I have a tentative date that I want to reach 5000. I first need to reach 4000 by mid July. If this happens, I’ll reveal when I want lap 5000 to occur.
Thanks again to everyone that has encouraged me along the way. I love you all.