The Incredible Mr. Toad

I had a wonderful visit this past week with my old friend Jeremy Godwin, who was down in Florida on a vacation/business trip combo.  It was really great to get to spend time with him. I also got to spend an afternoon texting with Jennifer Wood Jones, another survivor of my years at Springfield Friends Meeting (1986-1994).  I couldn't help but think back to our Florida trips, and especially our Floridays 1990.  Here are a few of those memories in a vintage post from 2010...

Our visit to Walt Disney World in 1990 was a true "festival of fun!"  There were a large number of people with us who had never been to WDW before, and so we set out to do everything!  We watched all the parades, rode all the rides and "ohhhhhhed" and "ahhhhhhed" at all the fireworks.  The Disney/MGM Studios had just recently opened, so that was new to all of us.  As we had on our first trip in 1987, we spent every moment we could at the parks, never leaving until they closed.  One of my favorite Disney memories came around midnight on one of those nights at the Magic Kingdom.

Jeremy Godwin (that's him on the left, with Ken Hill front and center and me on the right- waiting in line at WDW.  Aren't we cool?) and his twin sister Shelley had come to the Springfield youth through our TNT program.  Their family attended another church, but we loved to have them around, and they were both on the Floridays 1990 trip.  Jeremy was a big, strong high school student who was a star lineman on the Trinity HS football team, and who a couple of years after this trip would win the state heavyweight wrestling championship (His final match is still the most exciting sporting event I have ever seen in person, but that is a story for another day).  I was 30 years old at the time, and I was taller, wider and not nearly as strong as Jeremy.  One night of the trip our group was to meet at midnight at Cinderella's Castle before heading back to the motel.  The 9 PM SpectroMagic Parade had ended, and the 11 PM fireworks were complete.  As we stood at the back of the castle waiting for our group to arrive, Jeremy and I noticed that there was no one riding Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  Mr. Toad was a kids ride, but we all loved it and had ridden it during the course of the day.  Now, with no line and nothing better to do, Jeremy and I (and some others) decided to ride.  And we did.  Over and over again.  With Jeremy and I packed into the same car.  We could have each had our own car, but that would have been way too normal for us!  The Disney cast members who were working the ride were cracking up.  We rode until it was time to shut down the park and meet our group.  Jeremy and I had a blast, and everyone who watched us was entertained.

They closed Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in 1998 to make way for a Pooh Bear ride, and I was crushed.  I will always have my memories of two giant guys crammed into the car of a kiddie ride, going over and over again while laughing hysterically.  Thanks, Jeremy, for a great night on a great trip with some great people!

Because of Jesus,