JUNE

June has always been a great month for me. It is my birthday month. This mood changed last year. My Father passed away from skin cancer. June will forever be a little bittersweet.  I was trying to reach 1000 laps at Racers (for the year) before he passed. It was not to be. He was not a big fan of what I'm doing at Racers. But he always taught me to set goals and work hard to achieve those goals. He also taught me to treat people with respect. 

I want to make this month a memorable one at Radiator Springs Racers. I'm currently 291 laps away from 4000 all time at Racers. That is a lot of laps. Last June I only got 168. The one thing in my favor is the fact there are 5 Monday's and 5 Tuesday's in the month. Those are the days I do not work. I'll put in the time at the ride. And as always the support and encouragement from my Pit Crew family, will keep me on track. Also the support from the Disney Facebook groups. 

Let's see if we can get some Disney Magic and reach 4000 laps at Racers by the end of the month. Ka Chow!!!

My dad and I when I was recovering from double knee replacement surgery.

3700

Started today 13 laps shy of 3700 all time at Radiator Springs Racers. Should not be too much of a struggle.

Arrived at Mickey and Friends parking structure at 6:15am. Parking opened at 6:30am. Saw the trams were not moving, so I walked over to the DCA entrance. I usually do this anyway. Got to entrance at 6:45am. Trying to see if I can get in with the Extra Magic Morning guests at 7:00am.  As I was waiting at the only normal entrance gate, one of the gate attendants gave me an extra magic morning pass for today. SCORE. It always is worth a chance to see if I can get in early. This has happened about 85% of the time.

Today I used this advantage to go on Soarin. Wanted to ride at least once since they updated the show. Movie was crisper but looks like the screen was not updated. Could see outlines in fabric. Got out at 7:18am. Now headed to Racers.Got there at 7:24am. Was able to ride 3 times before regular crowd was let in at 8am. All wins by the way.

Left ride at 8:10am to get World of Color Fastpass. The line for a Fastpass was about 10 minutes. Now headed back to Racers.

Got back to Racers at 8:30am. 10 laps to 3700. 

From 8:30am until 9:50am turned 5 more laps. 4 losses and 1 win. 5 laps to 3700. Lap 3696 at 10:01am. Lap 3697 at 10:18am. At 10:43am, lap 3698. Lap 3699 at 11:18am. Getting back in line for the milestone.

And at 11:49am we hit 3700. I was even in my car Purple 1 and won the race. Now only 1300 more laps to 5000. Of course 4000 is the next big number.

Shou, Mel, and Mikey

Catalina

Adam

Martin

14 in a row and Goofy photos

This year is turning out to be more magical than last year. Yesterday started with win after win after win. The cars I was in won the first 14 races. That is a first for me. I've lost 9 in a row and won maybe 7 or 8 in a row. But nothing like that.

I also got to meet the creator of Drama Free Disney Facebook page. Lisa Love Miaorana. She got to see first hand the connection with The Pit Crew. She also was able to get in a car with me. And we won the race. It is great meeting people following my adventure.

And then there is the photos with my Pit Crew family. They keep getting better and more creative. I can tell when they know photos will be taken. They get photo ready and look forward to the shots. They also try to top each other with the goofy shots. They really help the hours fly by as laps are being turned. Some of the crew somehow sneak in photos on my phone when I'm setting up a shot. Which is really cool. I hope I don't take them away from their jobs too much.

Last year was great with the 1000 and then 2000 stories, but this year seems really special. Maybe because I'm getting to know the cast members better. They are perfect in my eyes. They really treat me as one of their own. When I reach 5000 laps I think the emotions will flow. It has really been a awesome adventure with my brothers and sisters.

Catalina and Carlene

Andrew

Miley and April

Lisa

Stephanie 

Jeri

Greg, Carlene, and Marc

Jimmy

Alessa

Catalina and Carlene sneak photo

Carol

Nadine

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. 

3500

I usually write a post on the day a milestone occurs.  But I did not think I could get 28 laps yesterday. I was able to get 29 on Monday to put me within 28 of 3500. I got some motivation at the beginning of the day and again with 8 laps to go from Carlene B. She knows what to say to get my competitive nature to kick in. The rest of the Pit Crew also helped me count down to 3500. 

I also got a surprise visit from some TVG friends. Dave C., Eddie and Damian. They saw how the crew makes fun of me from time to time.

I started the day at 10:10am. I got 8 laps before my first break from 12:10pm to 12:23pm.

Got 15 more laps before my last break from 5:35pm to 5:40pm. Then got the last 5 laps and 3500 at 7:20pm. I went around and got the first round of Pit Crew photos before leaving for the day. 

In the first 4 months last year, I had a total of 505 laps. This year I'm at 728. I've been to the park 55 times for an average of 13.2 laps per visit.

If I can reach 4000 by mid July, I think I'll have a good shot to reach 5000 by the end of year.

Carlene and Catalina early in the day

Damian and Eddie from TVG

Kimmy

Frances 

Raymundo 

Paul

Jared 

Heyse 

Emily

Alejandra 

Allison

Shelly 

Alea 

Greg 

Jenny 

Oliver 

Star Wars Celebration

ITook a few days off from Racers to attend the Star Wars Celebration at the Anaheim Convention Center. Celebration takes place every 2 years and when it was announced it would be in Anaheim, I knew I had to attend. Some of my close friends showed up. Ken and Sandra White, Heather H. And her boyfriend Jon. Mike Garcia. And some of my Racer family. Ruth C, Phil P, Cian, the 2 Yesenias, Bryan, Chris, And Amos. Saw some great panels with Carrie Fisher, Billy D Williams, the new creative team of the upcoming Star Wars movie, Rogue One, and Anthony Daniels. Also took lots of photos. 

I saw that my 2 favorite Star Wars characters were signing autographs. Did not think much about a signature. But then I saw a chance to get a photo with Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill. Leia and Luke. This was a once in a lifetime chance I could not pass. I thought I could bring anyone with me for the photo. So I invited my Racer friends to join in. When we all showed up, I found out only 4 people per photo ticket. I did not want to let anyone down, so I bought another one. It was the least I could do for my friends that have given me so much in my Racer journey. I even wore my Racer jacket and the hat the crew all signed.

The shot turned out great and Carrie and Mark shook all our hands and thanked us. 

It was 3 days I will never forget. 

So back to Racers tomorrow to continue my race to 5000 laps.

Photo with the Skywalker twins