Every Neurotic Disney Person has something that makes him or her a unique personality, but May’s Neurotic Disney Person of the Month stands out because he has a talent that makes him several unique personalities–Disney personalities. Meet Justin Poe, Neurotic Disney Individual #33.
Justin’s first trip to Walt Disney World took place when he was four years old. The memories of that trip are very limited, and Justin readily confesses it was not that trip that cemented him as a Disneyphile. The transition to fanatic didn’t happen until many years later during Justin’s second trip in 2007 as an adult. He connected with the playful and carefree emphasis of Walt Disney World at this point. In fact, that second trip inspired a temporary move to Orlando and spurred over 100 WDW visits.
His Disney neurosis has manifested throughout his Disney Driven Life since then. This becomes evident if you visit Justin at work. His position as a DJ for proms, corporate events, weddings and kids’ parties gives him quite a bit of room to express his Mouseketeer ways in his career. “I probably play Rascal Flats’ ‘Life Is A Highway’ more than any other DJ,” Justin jokes while referring to the song from the Pixar film, “Cars”. He also slips in blatant Disney classics such as the Mickey Mouse Club good-bye tune and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse “hot diggity dog” ditty when he wraps up the events he does. He has actually found favor with a few clients as a result, and his employer gets specific requests for “the Disney guy” multiple times a year.
There is another manifestation of his neurosis, however, that brings him to our attention this month. It is a talent that he channels primarily to entertain Disney fans like himself. Justin has a unique ability to manipulate his voice in order to sound like a vast array of Disney characters.
When Justin was fifteen years old, he noticed that he was able to imitate Goofy’s laugh better than his classmates. This intrigued him. He began to develop and refine this skill, becoming more proficient and–eventually–fluent in “Goofy-ease.” A few years later, Justin added a Winnie the Pooh impersonation to his Goofy act. After that Justin continued to expand his repertoire, finding many more characters that he was able to mimic.
To date, Justin is able to fluently speak and stay in character as eight Disney personalities (Mickey, Goofy, Kermit, Winnie the Pooh, Jiminy Cricket, Miss Piggy, the Cheshire Cat, and Gopher). But as far being able to imitate characters in short stints, Justin can imitate somewhere between 30 or 40 (including ones like Pete and the Mad Hatter). He personally favors impersonating Pooh Bear above all the others because Pooh is so lovable. “Pooh is like the dumb blonde of the animal world,” Justin remarks, “His cluelessness makes him so funny. He is genuine, nice, and sincere. He may get run over sometimes, but he still stays nice. Everyone loves him for it.”
One of Justin’s favorite performances happened on his most recent trip last December. In a noisy, pitch-black, crowded, Disney bus on the way back to his resort, Justin loudly inserted his Goofy laugh into the cacophony of the vehicle. The bus went dead silent while everyone tried to look for the source of the voice. Once Justin was discovered he was asked to “do more.” The entire bus continued to petition Justin to perform his entire repertoire of voices. Even the bus driver chimed in over his intercom system, asking Justin to perform. He was happy to oblige the crowd for the full duration of the bus ride. When Justin finally got off at his resort stop, the bus erupted into loud applause. It was something he will never forget.
Justin just recently launched a website called Disney Voice Guy where he has put up some videos of himself impersonating his best character voices. His dream is to be invited to officially participate as a voice with the Disney company one day, but until that time he intends to use his gift to entertain Disney fans across the web.
Justin, we admire you for having such lofty dreams. It shows that your heart is in sync with Walt’s. And for that, we are giving you the honor of Neurotic Disney Person of the Month for May.
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*The NDP of the Month will receive a free premium subscription to TouringPlans.com for comprehensive assistance in vacation planning . If you or someone you know does something noteworthy within the Disney fan community, we hope you will take time to nominate him or her by contacting NDM#1 (putting NDP of the Month in the subject line) for consideration.*
