Florida Man Rides Star Tours for the 10,000th Time
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA — Going to Walt Disney World may be a special once-in-a-lifetime experience for some, but for 65 year-old Vietnam War veteran SrA Luther Scott Walkman-Jones, it’s a daily occurrence. Since the original Star Wars-themed motion simulator ride opened in December 1989 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, then known as Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park, SrA Walkman-Jones has ridden the ride exactly 10,000 times.
Walkman-Jones, known by his old Air Force buddies as “Skywalker”, has been obsessed with Star Wars since he returned home from Vietnam and saw the original film in 1977. And when he heard the new Disney park, down the road from his childhood home in Windermere, was opening a Star Wars ride he was beyond excited to experience the Galaxy Far, Far Away himself.
Tommy Smith Jr, a supervisor of Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s Echo Lake area, was happy to present Walkman-Jones a key to the ride, which has never been done before for any other Walt Disney World season pass holder.
“Ol’ Skywalker is a regular here at Star Tours and I’ve known him since I started here 5 years ago. He knows all [the employees’] names and everyone knows him. He really is a joy and brightens up our day when we see him in line.”
Walkman-Jones accepted this honor and has placed the key, pictured above, in the den of his childhood home which he currently lives in with his Beagles, Wicket and Paploo.
How many times have you ridden Star Tours? Would you ride it roughly 357 times in a single year like Walkman-Jones? Are you up to beating his record and taking his key? Let us know in the comments below!
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– Link “Voxx” Voximilian
