Shannon’s Disney World “Shag” Adventure

Whenever I go to Disneyland with my family or when I went to Disney World recently I always end up buying prints done by SHAG. Disney has asked this awesome artist from Southern California to create prints based on their popular attractions. I have been collecting Shag prints ever since and I love ALL OF THEM! Josh (Shag’s real name) does a lot of signings at the parks but I don’t exactly live close to either property and so I have read blogs and articles talking about his appearances but I have never been able to meet him. My luck changed one morning when I was reading the Disney Parks blog and they announced Josh Agle’s visit to Disney World this upcoming weekend. AND it will take place in Downtown Disney which is FREE! I had to go and meet him. So I did something completely crazy….I bought a ticket to fly into Gainesville Florida where I would borrow my awesome friend Dawn’s car and spend the entire Saturday in Orlando waiting for my turn, and then drive home with my uncle David on Sunday. I was getting ready to leave Thursday night when Aaron’s sister Sarah called me with the sad news that Grandma Dorothy had passed away a little while ago and I needed to tell Aaron. I felt so guilty about leaving that I strongly thought about not going anywhere and be there for Aaron and his family. He insisted that everything was fine and so I got on a plane early Friday morning and left to meet Shag. I spent Friday with Dawn and her family and mapped out my route down to Orlando. I got up early the next morning because I couldn’t sleep due to anxiety of missing out on meeting Josh so I left the house early and
 
arrived in Orlando around 11:00am. Shag wasn’t supposed to come until 4 so I had a long wait ahead of me. It was alright because I came prepared. I walked straight to the Art of Disney shop and found out that I was the first in line (shocker). The castmembers asked me where I was from and I told them I was from Nashville and I travelled over ten hours just to meet Shag. Naturally they thought I was crazy but were also impressed. They offered to hold my place in line so I can go eat something and look around for a little bit. I returned to the line around 1:30 and another girl was already waiting. When I walked up to her she looked at me and said “Miss Nashville right? Here, I saved you a spot and you are definitely the first in line.” She was so nice as well as her father and the next woman who came about a half hour later. We enjoyed talking for the next two and a half hours and the time actually went pretty quickly.

The castmembers gave us some free samples of slushies' and fudge from some stores nearby and they gave us buttons with our position in line written on them. It decided to start raining and our line was outside under the eaves so we sat and watched as people got caught in the downpour. The castmembers finally decided to take us inside and that was when the jitters started to kick in.

Shag walked into the room and I felt like Ralphie on “A Christmas Story” walking up to Santa Claus. I could feel the whole room staring at me and secretly cursing me to hurry up so they can have a turn.

But I didn’t care, I made sure I had a nice conversation with him (which I did) and kept telling myself what Aaron told me-(“he’s just another person”) He was genuinely flattered when a castmember walked up beside me and told him how far I travelled just to meet him so that also made my trip worth it.

This was a great experience and I’m proud of myself for not letting fear get in the way of something that I really wanted to do.