My friend Dana over at Magic for Magic Makers has turned her attention to helping my friend Trevor. I already told you guys a little bit about Trevor when I announced the Twiga Trevor shirt design. He was one of my first friends in Florida and he always has the biggest hugs waiting for me whenever I see him. Magic for Magic Makers is starting $2 Tuesday, with the idea that anyone who can donate $2 every Tuesday. The cool part about this is Magic for Magic Makers is gathering all the donations through so you don’t even have to worry about the GoFundMe fees! I’m actually doing all the funds raised through the Twiga Trevor sales this way so I can donate them as soon as the sale hits rather than having to wait until I have the minimum amount required by GoFundMe.
So, to help kick off $2 Tuesdays, rather than post a normal article today, I’m going to share a memory from my College Program. Trevor isn’t in this story because it was before I met him, but it does take place at Animal Kingdom, which is where we usually hang out.
The other night, Jay convinced me to watch Secondhand Lions. It is a great movie, but neither of us were prepared for the absolute mess I turned into when (SPOILER WARNING) the lion died. I was ugly crying and then I was ugly sobbing. Jay, desperately trying to get me to calm down, kept going on and on about how the lion is actually fine and probably living a long and happy life somewhere. This led to me wondering if she was now living at Hollywild. (For the record, I checked their website and Secondhand Lions isn’t listed, so maybe she hasn’t retired yet!)
Hollywild is an animal park in South Carolina that I went to several times while I was growing up. I was playing in soccer tournaments nearby, and Mom has always been great about finding adventures where ever we go. It’s called Hollywild because it is home to retired animal actors. The last time I was there was in the summer of 2012. It happens to be home to Tank, who is the only working rhino in the United States. They used to have a bus tour kind of like Kilimanjaro Safaris where they drove you through the animal exhibits and a guide talked to you about the animals.
The story that stuck with me was about Tank. Land Rover wanted to use him for a Super Bowl commercial. They parked ten or twelve Land Rovers out in the paddock and told Hollywild to let Tank just roam out there with them, and they would get the footage they needed. Well, Tank decided these Land Rovers were big toys, and he figured out he could flip them by sticking his horn underneath the front bumper.
Tank totaled every single Land Rover and had a great time.
When I first moved to Orlando, I spent basically every second I wasn’t working going to the parks, like most kids on the College Program. One of the best parts of going to Disney so much is you get to see some strange and different things happen.
So, one afternoon I head over to Animal Kingdom by myself and get on Kilimanjaro Safaris. It was a pretty average ride until we got to the area with the White Rhinos.
If you have been on Kilimanjaro Safaris, you know the White Rhinos are loose. There is no fence between them and the truck, they can wander right up. This also means they can stand in the path of the trucks, and that means you are sitting still until this 5,000 lb. animal decides it wants to move.
I don’t know what had gotten into the White Rhinos that day, but they were on edge. They would not move off the truck path for anything, and they were pacing and staring at us. We were sitting there for several minutes, to the point that the lions behind us had stood up to watch what was going on, and the cheetahs over to the left were getting curious too. They were pacing and staring at us.
Sure enough, the other guests were starting to get nervous.
I wasn’t remotely concerned about either of the big cats. There was no way they were getting out of their exhibits. We were safe from them. Instead, I was staring at these uneasy rhinos thinking, “This truck really isn’t that much bigger than a Land Rover…”
The Safari Driver was amazing and handled it fabulously, even when a family in the back started getting really loud about how close the cheetahs were to the truck. It was probably close to ten minutes, no exaggeration, before those rhinos moved, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
I stopped at Guest Relations on my way to fill out a Four Keys Card for the driver, which is what we used to do before #CastCompliment really became a thing.
So, that’s one of my favorite Animal Kingdom memories. I don’t even think I had been in Florida a full two months when it happened, and now I’ve been here eight years. If you enjoyed my story, or you enjoy anything I write on Twenty Something in Orlando, and you can spare $2, please head over to Magic for Magic Maker’s PayPal setup and send $2 Trevor’s way!
