At 19, it’s easy to think of Gay Days Weekend as existing in that awkward stage between adolescence and adulthood. That would explain some of the drama surrounding the week-long event this year.
But it’s more useful to view the annual event, which attracts an estimated 150,000 LGBTs to Orlando each June, as a huge and ongoing construction project involving different contractors. Some are steady, focused and dependable; others less so. They’re all working on a foundation that has proved surprisingly sturdy.
That was never more evident than last weekend. GDW 2009 survived a closing, a blackout, a meltdown, a last-minute substitution and several thunderstorms and emerged with its irrepressible appeal intact.
Big buildup
Started in 1991 as an impromptu gathering of Internet friends, Gay Days Weekend is now the largest annual gathering of gays and lesbians in the nation. And as usual, this year the buzz started building long before doors to the first party opened.
Hard Rock Live booked superhot lesbian comic Wanda Sykes, and she sold out quickly. The Parliament House followed suit with their most star-studded lineup to date, including Tiffany, Deborah Cox, Jennifer Holiday and Varla Jean Merman. Promoter Alison Burgos announced that her Girls in Wonderland parties would return to popular major venues. And while their hotel rooms booked rapidly, centerpiece organizer GayDays.com trumpeted unprecedented sponsorships by Blue Man Group and Sea World. Their Kickoff Party at Saks Fifth Avenue at the Florida Mall would receive great press in the Orlando Sentinel.
But there were distant rumblings about Johnny Chisholm, the Pensacola-based promoter who had acquired a virtual monopoly on GDW nighttime theme-park parties. His Beach Ball at Typhoon Lagoon, One Mighty Party at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Sunday night spectacle at Universal Studios are a major draw for tens of thousands of mostly male enthusiasts from around the world.
Blogger Tony Hayden (TheCircuitDog.com) raised an early warning flag, alleging that Chisholm had financial problems stemming from the unsuccessful One Mighty Party Paris in 2007. Then, barely a month before GDW, Chisholm dropped the bombshell that his parties would not be held at Disney venues.
“We had a contract [with Disney], but there were some modifications made that we couldn’t deal with,” Chisholm told Watermark. “But we have a great relationship with Disney and we plan on being back there next year.”
Within 10 days, Fort Lauderdale promoter Michael Christ had secured Typhoon Lagoon for his “Let’s Go Play” water park party—priced $25 less than Chisholm’s “Beach Ball Luau” at the Buena Vista Palace Resort.
Rocky start
Then, as early GDW arrivals checked into their hotel rooms, Chisholm announced yet another change: One Mighty Party would move—for the second time in a month—from the Gaylord Palms Resort to the Buena Vista Palace, Chisholm’s host hotel. A spokesperson for Chisholm’s organization attributed the move to an unwelcoming attitude at Gaylord Palms. The resorts public relations director, Keith Salwoski, called that characterization “inaccurate and disappointing.”
The circuit blogosphere went into overdrive.
“I’ve canceled my OMW passes and still haven’t received my refund!” wrote one disgruntled Californian on the GayDays.com discussion board.
“I’ve seen birthday parties with more advance planning!” said a local.
Thursday morning, as GDW was just kicking into gear, a transformer explosion triggered a power outage at the sold out Royal Plaza Hotel. Hundreds of Gay Days Expo vendors were stranded outside—just in time for an early thunderstorm. As the afternoon wore on and guests waited to check into their rooms, the Expo was canceled. The hotel and GayDays.com organizers bent over backwards, and complaints were minimal. But some expressed a sense of foreboding.
“Could this be the year Gay Days goes down?” said one woman from Deland.
Another problem: What to do about Thursday night. In past years the first official night of the festive weekend was dominated by Mannequins, a nightclub popular with Disney’s many gay cast members. But Disney closed the Pleasure Island dance club last summer, so the Parliament House stepped in to fill the void with their P.I. @ P.H. Party.
In recent years the Parliament House has become a legitimate locus of GDW activity, drawing crowds rivaling even the biggest GDW parties. On Thursday night, PH owners Don Granatstein and Susan Unger outfitted the courtyard and pool area with light and fog machines. Umbrella tables were moved near the lakeside beach. And the most popular Mannequins bartenders were brought in to tend the many drink stations.
Chisholm’s Jump Start party at the House of Blues was less successful, close to empty early on but drawing a respectable crowd as the night wore on.
Winners and losers
Friday morning the Royal Plaza was alive with light and air conditioning. The previous day’s blackout was immediately forgotten as thousands streamed through a staggeringly diverse Gay Days Expo. Booths offered everything from greyhound rescue to tooth whitening, and from insults by Wanzie and Doug to gay male porn penned by three straight women who looked like they should be serving brownies in an apron.
The Weather Channel forecast thunderstorms throughout the afternoon and evening, but they mostly bypassed the attractions area and by late afternoon pool parties at four different host hotels were in full swing. While not as packed as previous years, Chisholm’s Reunion pool party was crowded and fun. Only the bathing suits seemed smaller.
Friday night, Let’s Go Play organizers pulled off a near-miracle by selling thousands of tickets to their Typhoon Lagoon event in just weeks. Once again the lush water park proved the perfect party venue, as hundreds lined up to purchase last-minute tickets and those inside shrieked with wet delight.
Water was the draw at another successful Friday night party. An estimated 1,000 bears and bear-lovers poured into Wet & Wild for the third Tidal Wave.
“I’ve had people tell me it was the best time of their lives,” said organizer David Biehl.
And at Bongo’s at Downtown Disney, the Girls in Wonderland Climax party was a sensational success once again. As late as 1 a.m., women leaned over balconies calling to hundreds still lined up outside, desperate to get into the Gloria Estefan-owned club.
Back in Orlando, Varla Jean Merman performed before a near sellout Footlight Theatre audience before Tiffany took the Parliament House stage to perform hits like “I Think We’re Alone Now.” There was only one disappointment for the huge crowd: a malfunctioning foam pool.
The loser on Friday night was Chisholm’s Beach Ball Luau. Despite state-of-the-art sound and music, fog machines, stilt-walkers, fan-dancers, drag queens handing out leis and lights bouncing off the 30-story main hotel tower, there were fewer than 250 on the dance floor at the peak midnight hour. One man from New Orleans stood apart, texting his friend at Typhoon Lagoon. “Oh well,” he said.
But attendance at Chisholm’s late-night Magical Journey’s at I-Drive’s Arabian Nights was reportedly strong throughout the weekend, drawing hard core partiers from the other venues.
Magic at the kingdom
Early thunderstorms threatened again on Saturday afternoon, dissuading some locals from making the drive to Disney. But it never rained more than a few drops at the Magic Kingdom, and by the time people lined up for the 3 p.m. character parade there were tens of thousands of creatively crafted red shirts on display.
In front of a huge, mostly gay crowd, two children wearing “My Two Moms Rock” t-shirts tried to keep their hula-hoops off the ground. Seemingly out of nowhere a blanket, flowers and dozens of stuffed animals appeared in across from Cinderella’s Castle. In front of a banner reading ‘Em, I love you. Will you marry me?’ Thomas Devita-Mattson dropped to one knee and proposed to Em Sangma. The crowd roared its approval. The Hong Kong natives plan to marry in Thailand next year.
That night, thousands packed into the Parliament House. When a plumber finally fixed the foam machine the crowd erupted in cheers, prompting a fully-clothed Unger to take a few laps around the lakeside foam pit. Sunday night attendance was reportedly just as impressive, resulting in the best Gay Days Weekend ever at PH.
“I haven’t got enough superlatives for it,” Granatstein told Watermark. “It was way above my expectations.”
The House of Blues was also packed for the Girls in Wonderland Anchors Away party. And over at the Buena Vista Palace, attendance for Chisholm’s scaled back One Mighty Party improved from the previous night, but was down significantly from previous years. Like the Deep Blue World party at the same venue on Sunday night, it attracted about 2,000.
Factoring in late night parties, its possible Chisholm departed GDW in the black, but he will unlikely be able to claim any profit. He is being sued for breach of contract, fraud, and civil theft by two investors who purportedly loaned him $200,000 based on promises that he had secured Disney venues for his parties. A Pensacola judge granted the investors an injunction freezing all of Chisholm’s proceeds from GDW 2009. Their civil complaint paints a sordid picture of desperation and lies dating back to 2007.
Different memories
But for two men, GDW 2009 won’t be about money or attendance figures. Thomas Hawes was recently laid off by Disney after 15 years of employment. The former guest communications manager had one of 1,400 positions eliminated by the company due to the recent economic downturn.
“To go out there this weekend would just hit too close to home,” he said. “It really didn’t appeal to me on any level.”
Gay Days Weekend was also bittersweet for Virginia resident T.J. Elliott. He and his partner, Dave, had attended each of their seven years together. They used to mark off the days on their calendar until the first weekend in June.
Dave died unexpectedly two months ago, and T.J. forced himself to come this year. He’d promised Dave he would release some of his ashes from the back row of The Incredible Hulk roller coaster at Islands of Adventure. It was the first coaster Dave had ridden since he was a child. Terrified, he’d braved it for T.J.
Read Watermark Online’s Day by Day coverage of Gay Days weekend.
