TAMPA, Fla. — Bruce Michaud lives in a quiet, deed-restricted group. Muscovy geese plod via manicured lawns, previous properties with impartial paint and American flags swinging within the breeze. The outside of his grey home blends in with the remainder.
You’ll by no means suspect the Disney explosion inside.
Michaud opened the door, extending an arm coated in a Tower of Terror tattoo. His different limbs had been encased in additional Disney ink: a Area Mountain automobile on the entrance of his left leg, together with Angelina Jolie’s mug as Maleficent on his calf.
Behind him, 4 mannequins decked out in Haunted Mansion uniforms stood sentry within the entrance corridor. The refrain of “It’s a Small World” performed over loudspeakers.
Almost each room is lovingly adorned with its personal Disney theme. That is what occurs while you cling onto a childhood dream lengthy sufficient to bankroll it.
“It took me like 10 years,” mentioned Michaud, 59, with amusing.
Michaud grew up on fantasy, spending hours watching the “Great World of Disney” in his Stamford, Conn., residence. When he was 10, his household drove all the way down to Florida for the grand opening of Disney World.
“I used to be into the design work, into the element work, the little bricks they put in entrance of the Haunted Mansion,” he mentioned. “I assumed at the moment, ‘If I ever get my very own home, I’m going to design it like Disney,’” he mentioned.
After Michaud’s father was transferred to North Tampa, their household began taking common journeys to the parks. Later, Michaud obtained jobs working for the Mouse: In a Disney name middle, as a safety guard and driving the buses. He even did some designing and Imagineering. And on the finish of every work day, he watched the night time present at Magic Kingdom.
“Working at Disney was the best factor,” he mentioned.
He was making sufficient to purchase a home in North Tampa, however his first spouse didn’t share his imaginative and prescient for residing Disney.
“The entire home was white and I couldn’t paint a wall,” he mentioned.
They divorced a decade in the past. He obtained on a stepladder and began DIYing the day she moved out.
Michaud doesn’t have a home or automobile fee. He’s lived on this 1,600 square-foot residence for over 30 years. Again then, he paid about $80,000 to construct it (It’s value roughly half 1,000,000 now.) There are three bedrooms, plus an workplace and two bogs. Most are full of memorabilia, replicas and costumes.
His second spouse, Barbara, rolled her eyes however let him run wild. She’s a advisor and travels lots, which provides him a number of time alone to hatch his plans.
“It’s form of just like the odd couple,” he mentioned. “She’s not precisely working round with Mickey Mouse ears on.”
Michaud cooks in a retro kitchen impressed by the Carousel of Progress in Tomorrowland. Blue mild strips and midcentury pendants illuminate previous theme park menus and a signed picture of Walt himself. Teal home equipment, from a juke field to a gum-ball machine, add to the kitsch issue.
Subsequent is the lounge, a hybrid of “The Mummy” and “Indiana Jones” with a splash of different films thrown in. A “Jurassic Park” dinosaur head bursts from the wall whereas a tall Egyptian god statue lurks on the opposite facet of his tv. Within the middle of the room, Michaud proudly shows his coffin-shaped espresso desk. The lid flips open to disclose a purple storage cavity full of coupes and wine bottles. He was impressed by the Haunted Mansion journey.
You’ll be able to exit via a glass sliding door to the “Jungle Cruise”-themed yard, engulfed in palms and a tall trellis of jasmine. Or flip down the “Bates Motel”-inspired hallway, full with bloody gashes within the wall. Michaud was very excited to indicate off the one room the place he confirmed restraint.
“I obtained one thing regular for you!” Michaud mentioned. “A standard toilet!”
On the opposite facet of the home, the master suite and tub are a distinct story, impressed by his favourite swashbuckling movie. Johnny Depp’s kohl-smeared Jack Sparrow stare is blown up and plastered straight going through his mattress. Michaud created a 3D impact with wooden planks surrounding the actor.
“Once I die and somebody will get it, they’re going to should sand all this off,” he mentioned. “I destroyed this home.”
The grasp tub is a cultured tackle the franchise. Dangling pendants seem like rum bottles. The mirror is round, framed to seem like a porthole.
A few of the design work he did himself, impressed by theme park journey queues and executed with wallpaper and spackle. He employed Eva Nesbitt at WoodWorks Kitchen & Bathtub Designs in Odessa for the grasp tub and his kitchen.
“The very first thing he requested us was, ‘Are you an annual cross holder?’” Nesbitt mentioned.
Michaud was laid off when the pandemic shuttered theme parks. The additional time — and the stimulus checks — impressed him to complete his residence. Plus folks wanted money quick, and plenty of fanatics had been determined to dump their treasures.
“As quickly because the plague occurred, I purchased out each collector within the nation,” he mentioned. “You couldn’t go to Disney, so I figured I’d simply do it right here. My trip for the final two years has been in my home.”
His workplace, a pointy proper flip from his Haunted Mansion-themed entryway, holds a few of his favourite objects. Platinum document plaques for the “Vehicles,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “The Little Mermaid” soundtracks. Framed photos autographed by Tim Allen and Johnny Depp. A chair from the Haunted Mansion journey, which he sits on whereas he works on the desk. He’s particularly pleased with the inexperienced Disneyland turnstile, which dates again to when Walt Disney would have been alive.
“That may be one thing he went via, or at the least would have checked the numbers,” he mentioned.
Among the many free weights and washer in his storage, Michaud shops extra collectables that he plans to promote. Although the financial system remains to be in a wierd spot, he’s began to see huge income on the objects he purchased beginning in 2020. His spouse lastly began to come back round to his obsession when she noticed him promote $6,000 value of stuff for $37,000. It’s good cash, however he nonetheless drives the trams at Busch Gardens on the weekend for further money.
Michaud has no plans to present excursions to the general public. He doesn’t need to promote the home anytime quickly, although he mentioned he obtained affords from Common, Disney and Busch Gardens. For now, he’s greater than content material to remain at residence, within the fantasy he’s created.
In any case, he nonetheless has to complete the “Alice in Wonderland” spare room.
