Brushes with "greatness":Who have you spotted visiting WDW?

[Mouse House Mama]

We saw The Rock on our last trip. He was there with his family. His dd and ours were at the BBB at the same time too.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Met Vincent D'Onofrio (Law & Order CI) in MK at Pirates and then my husband and oldest daughter rode Big Thunder Mountain right behind him and his son at MVMCP 2005. Love him .

Heather

Me, too. This is the only sighting I am envious of! You met him? What is he like?

 

[madge]

I just happened to see Jason Earles who plays "Jackson" on Hannah Montana while visiting AK last week. He was just visiting the park with his family and had a cast member with him. A few years back my husband spotted Chuck Liddell of Ultimate Fighting Challenge fame at MK.

Got me wondering--who else has seen someone "famous" while at WDW who was visiting the park--NOT performing or making a special appearance???

we saw Matt Lauer with his family last October. They were at the Magic Kingdom.

 

[OK!]

We saw Michael Jackson waaaaaaay back in the day (in the midst of the biggest entourage I've ever seen); I can't remember which park. It was sometime soon after Epcot opened, so I'm thinking it was there, but I could be wrong.

This past December, we saw Gary Sinise while watching an Off Kilter show. He took the time after the show to approach the band to tell them how much he'd always enjoyed their music and how, when he was at Epcot for the Candlelight Processional every year (except last year), he'd sneak off to the side of the stage between performances so he could hear OK from across the pond, as it were.

And I didn't see him, but while my mom and I were at Le Cellier in Aug. 2006, our server told us that he had just seen or heard that Shaquille O'Neal had just been turned away when he tried to do a walk-up. I guess his people weren't up on the whole ADR thing.

 

[OK!]

I only know his name because he won the Heisman Trophy when I was a kid, and there was skit on SNL about it. I would never have known who he was if my mom hadn't. I wouldn't recognize him if he came to my front door.

One of my favorite SNL skits ever, with Eddie Murphy playing Bishop Desmond Tutu!

 

[DisneyBlonde]

We ran into Danny Glover at Planet Hollywood probably about 10 years ago, maybe longer. And my DS got an autograph from that kid who played Annakin in SW1..probably around 1999, during a Star Wars weekend.

 

[XOoOoVEEoOoOX]

I saw Joey Fatone singing in Jellyrolls one night (he was called up on stage to sing one song). Also saw Gary Sinise at an Off Kilter show a few Christmases ago. I'm with the majority; I wouldn't recognize a celebrity if he/she approached me directly. I wouldn't have recognized Joey or Gary had someone else not pointed them out to me (or the piano man introducing him at Jellyrolls).

I've seen him at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios the last 2 years in a row! lol

 

[OK!]

Re. the Sinise sighting--I actually didn't notice him myself at first, either. My mom kind of nudged me and said, "Hey, who's that guy up by the stage?" and I was like, "How the hell should I know who that is?" thinking it was just a random guest. She said, "I think that's Gary Sinise," and I said, "Nah, no way......hey, wait a sec--that IS Gary Sinise!" All he had to do was turn his head and that profile...

 

[Mickeyistheman]

We were very fortunate to see Princess Di and her boys. It was very quick but we knew something was going on for all of this security. We thought it was either Michael Jackson or her because we had heard other people saying Princess Di was in the parks.

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

I saw Kathryn Erbe from Law and Order CI a few years ago. She was getting off a car at Test Track. She is tiny in real life.

My family and I also rode in Monorail car with Wendy Williams -- from the Wendy Williams Show. At the time I knew she looked familar, but I had no idea who she was. She was with a large man and I thought he was a football player and a young boy. She was wearing a princess tiara. She was very nice.

 

[DisneyMim]

Years ago we saw Princess Diana and her sons. There was tons of security but we were able to catch a glimpse. Very very sad that a few years later we learned of her death while we were at DisneyWorld.

 

[jenlynn0808]

DH and DD were standing in line to ride Big Thunder Mountain and Paul Davis (Michigan State Basketball and briefly with the Clippers) were a few people in front of him. DH recognized him, but didn't say anything-he has a right to not be attacked and enjoy WDW like the rest of us. At one point Paul was facing DH (as they were going through the rope part of the line), Paul saw that DH was wearing a MSU t-shirt (we are alum ) and they nodded at each other. He knew DH recognized him.

 

[jlima]

We saw Larry King with his wife (Shawn?) & kids at DL; they were riding the fire engine & had an escort & photographer with them.

 

[Spacemonkaay]

...

 

[lnh'smom]

We saw Geena Davis while waiting for mvmcp parade to start in 2010. She was being escorted somewhere by a cm. I said "I think that was Geena Davis!" dh said "yea ok whatever." Then everyone around was asking what I said and dh said oh she THINKS she saw Geena Davis. Everyone laughed. Then a few minutes later, they walked back by. This time everyone saw her. I said "see, you all thought I was crazy!"
We also saw Regis and Kelly taping their show in the MK in 2005. It was our kids first trip and they were trying to see everything and take everything in and security was yelling at everyone to keep moving if they didn't have tickets for Regis and Kelly. I wanted to say my kids aren't trying to watch the taping without tickets, they just want to see MK! We stopped and let them look around on the way out!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Didn't see him there, but Jim Gaffigan was recently on Letterman talking about a recent trip to Disney. Said it was pretty much exactly like a trip to the DMV........if the DMV were located on the surface of the sun

 

[shell8558]

John Elway, the very first time we went to Disneyworld. He was coming off TOT. I was to chicken to get on the ride, and as I was sitting there waiting for my family, he walked off the ride. Pretty cool!

 

[usd2bmd]

My story isn't so much about a brush with greatness. It's a story of a total miss that my daughter still reminds me of.

My daughter is a competitive swimmer and loves Michael Phelps. We were in WDW on vacation and were at EPCOT for the day and when we got back to the room, my husband flipped on the TV just in time to see a story of how Michael Phelps had been at MK that day and was Grand Marshall of the parade.

We still hear about how we missed him.

 

[JessicaR]

Steven Tyler Boardwalk.

 

[AllisonK]

My story isn't so much about a brush with greatness. It's a story of a total miss that my daughter still reminds me of.

My daughter is a competitive swimmer and loves Michael Phelps. We were in WDW on vacation and were at EPCOT for the day and when we got back to the room, my husband flipped on the TV just in time to see a story of how Michael Phelps had been at MK that day and was Grand Marshall of the parade.

We still hear about how we missed him.

Back in 2000 my whole family (parents, aunt, cousins, grandparents) was in Disney for a week. One night we were supposed to go to Planet Hollywood for dinner but at the last minute my mom and aunt decided they didn't want to eat there, so I think we wound up at Rainforest Cafe. Turns out the night we were supposed to eat at Planet Hollywood, NSYNC was there. I was 11 so naturally I was a HUGE NSYNC fan.

My mother still hears about it occasionally and I'm 23...