Under that white beard and red suit is a Kinston man
Santa makes temporary home at Disney's Magic Kingdom
By Lee Raynor
Editor
Posted: 11:15 PM EST Tuesday December 20, 2005 |
How does Santa get away with saying “Ho, ho, ho” in a Southern accent? Very nicely, thank you.
His sparkling blue eyes, natural white beard and snowy hair lend Jimmy Capps an authentic air when he dons his Santa Claus suit and sits on his throne at Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Fla.
If you've been to the Kingdom since Thanksgiving, and caught a peek at the jolly ole elf surrounded by children, that was Capps you saw making a list of kids' Christmas wishes. It's a role he played often in Kinston, attending Christmas parties and making appearances as Santa, his alter ego.
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“This is my 25th year doing Santa Claus, and doing other things for corporate and private parties,” Capps said. “I'm down here, we came in October. I decided I'd go look out and figure out how you do this. I came up with the right contacts and interviewed with Walt Disney International Casting.”
Capps' interview was so successful that Disney casting agents asked him if he'd like to go overseas and represent Santa in Paris. Disney has resorts in France, Japan and Hong Kong. He was willing, but he was tapped instead for the top job in Orlando.
Santa, Capps-style, is on duty from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., seven days a week, through Christmas Eve. In between appearances, he prowls toy and electronics stores, familiarizing himself with the hottest items so he can have knowledgeable conversations with children and adults.
People who believe Christmas has become too commercial might be reassured by listening to some of the wishes children deliver to Santa.
“A lot of them just want happiness and peace,” Capps said. “They say they just want to be home with my daddy or have my daddy come home.” Others ask Santa to “make their moms be happy” or “bring me a surprise,” not specifying any particular gift.
The Magic Kingdom has a connection with the U.S. government and the military to set up a special complex, Shades of Green, for military children and families. Capps said families who might not otherwise be able to afford a visit to the Disney theme park are able to attend Shades of Green.
“Those children want their daddies to come home from overseas,” he said.
Almost every parent remembers their child's first encounter with Santa. It often was heralded by unremitting screams and rivers of tears. Appropriately enough, Capps has discovered a way to inject a little magic into a child's first visit with Santa at the Magic Kingdom.
“Some children, maybe those about 6 months to a year old, really don't want to come up and see me,” he said. “I work with them in such a way that the parent sits beside me with the child on the farthest shoulder.” Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the parent will inch the child toward Santa.
“Sometimes, we're able to slide the child onto my lap and get a picture,” he said. “I have a lot of children in their first Christmas. The youngest child was 4 weeks old.”
And there's always the handful who say they don't believe in the legendary figure. By the time they pull Capps' beard a couple of times, they usually look at their moms and dads and say, “Oh, yes.” And Mom or Dad inevitably will say, “I told you so!”
“It gives them another year of enjoyment of having the special thing of 'I believe in Santa Claus,'” Capps said.
His day begins at 9 a.m. when he spends a few minutes in the Magic Kingdom's makeup department.
“I get a tiny bit of coloring – flesh tone, a little white on my cheeks and forehead, a spot on my nose,” Capps said. “That's it. And a tad of coloring in the back of my hair. I use my own hair. I let it grow. It's 1970s-style.”
Capps has been surprised by how many children visit him from far-flung places. His list sounds like a grade-school geography book.
“We have a lot of international visitors,” he said.
He sees visitors from Germany, Spain, Australia, Pakistan, India, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Thailand, Japan, France, Denmark – “From all over Europe,” he said. “(Tuesday), we had a bunch from South Africa.”
No one from Kinston has caught Capps' eye yet, but he's talked with families from Williamston, Carey, Apex, Winston Salem and Wilson. Often, some visitors will be wearing something that declares their home state. Others, Capps said, have that tell-tale Tar Heel accent that he homes in on.
Capps for many years ran a frame shop on Vernon Avenue in Kinston. He retired about a year ago and he and his wife Geri took their first RV trip in October. They're staying in a camper park about seven miles from Orlando, where they're both enjoying the warm weather, and plan to return to Kinston briefly around the end of January.
The couple is on Epcot Center's call list to fill in during the evening as Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus if Epcot's regular Claus couple has a problem. In the meantime, Geri Capps is helping out at Tomorrow Land, still another area of the Magic Kingdom.
The Santa Claus appearance brings at least as much joy to Capps as he gives to children who visit him.
“It's a joy to go to work each day and to see the smiling faces of young children wanting to go see a Santa,” he said. “That brings love, joy and peace to the families. It is a very magical experience. I'm bringing a a magical experience to people who come in to Walt Disney World.”
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