Interview with Kenny Pate
Former Jungle Skipper
Online Producer for Digital City Orlando

JGR:    This month we're talking with Kenny Pate, a former Skipper now working in the cyber-sector for Orlando's premire online community, Digital City Orlando. Kenny, welcome.
KP:    Thanks.
JGR:    First off, Kenny, when was your Jungle 'Tour of Duty'?
KP:    I started on the WDW College Program in Jan. 1991. I worked through May, then continued as a CT on holidays for a couple of years.
JGR:    Geez, we should have run into each other at some point...
KP:    We probably did.
JGR:    What other attractions did you work?
KP:    Nothing -- they didn't let me do anything else. I worked greeter at Pirates sometimes.
JGR:    Tell us your favorite Jungle Cruise story.
KP:    Easy -- I had one of those textbook Disney moments... One day I was working a double shift - started at 10 a.m. and got off close to midnight. Early in the day, there was a little boy - maybe 6 years old - who I was kidding around with most of the trip. He was kind of shy, but it was clear he was having a good time. I let him drive and wear the hat. He had fun. Then he got off the boat and split. Later that night, under the fireworks, I was walking back to the tunnel very tired and all of the sudden I hear this kid scream from behind me, "Skipper Ken!" I turned around and he jumped into my arms. Very Kodak-momentish.
JGR:    That's great!
KP:    It was nice. You wonder if people just get off the boat and forget it. He didn't.
JGR:    How about your most embarrassing Jungle moment?
KP:    That one's easy, too. I got some lemonade in the break room, and on the way uptairs for my bump, I spilled it right on my crotch. I had to start the cruise with what looked a lot like (an accident). Everybody was looking, but I didn't say anything until the end.
JGR:    Tell us who some of your favorite people to work with at Jungle were.
KP:    Well, I made a couple of good friends. Chip Rankin, who I've stayed in touch with on and off was a good friend. He ended up working in Community Relations for a while afterward. A guy named Doc was a lot of fun, plus a bunch of other guys I haven't stayed in touch with but made the experience a lot better.
JGR:    When did you leave the Jungle for good, and what happened afterwards?
KP:    I *think* my last day as a CT was New Years 1993. Couldn't swear to it, though. I graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 95, and started working for the university's PR department.
JGR:    Tell us what you're doing now for Digital City Orlando, and how that came about.
KP:    Well, while I was working in the public relations office, I was getting really bored. I wanted to do something in media, but it became really clear that PR wasn't it. I wasn't very good at it, and I didn't enjoy it. I was really getting into the Web at the same time. That was back in 1995. I was using something like Mozilla beta 1 or something. I had a friend who worked at Cooking Light magazine in Birmingham, which is a division of Time Warner. They were looking for somebody to help them get online on MSN and on TW's Pathfinder site. I was completely sick of PR, and I knew HTML and enough about writing to get the job as a contractor, so I took a little risk and quit for a 3-month contract position at Cooking Light, which eventually turned into a full-time    job. I worked there for a year in two jobs -- first as online producer, then as new media producer for Southern Progress Company, the parent company that also publishes Southern Living, Coastal Living and Weight Watchers. Then I met some people from The Orlando Sentinel at a Netscape conference in San Francisco who told me they were hiring. I decided I liked Orlando the first time, so I wouldn't mind moving back. Plus, there aren't a lot of Southern Living readers on the Web.
JGR:    What is it exactly that you do for DCO?
KP:    Well, when I started I was working on the Sentinel's AOL area. After about six months we started a new service called Digital City Orlando on AOL and the Web. In April of 1997 I was given the job of executive producer. Basically, DCO is a community site -- lots of chat rooms, and a lot of information for Orlando locals. Then in April of this year, we launched a new site called Go2orlando (http://www.go2orlando.com). It's a site for tourists, which Jungle prepared me well for.
JGR:    That leads me right into my next question...how has your Jungle experience helped you in what you do now?
KP:    You know, it's really kind of funny. It's helped a lot.  Even before I moved to Orlando, I'm sure working Jungle Cruise opened some doors just because it was an interesting way to open an interview. But now, it really helps. Those months I spent on Jungle, I heard a lot of questions just like everybody else. That really gave me a feel for what people want to know about the parks and Orlando when they're coming here. I hope that shows on the Web site. (Plus, I never get lost on Disney property.)
JGR:    What do you think the future holds for Kenny Pate?
KP:    Whoa. I didn't know you were going to ask hard questions.
JGR:    That's my job.
KP:    Well, in the short term, we're redoing Digital City Orlando. It needs a facelift. We're also about to launch a new local entertainment site - target is Aug. '98. I'm thinking more and more about grad school and starting my own interactive ad agency.
JGR:    Wow! Cool.
KP:    Well, we'll see...
JGR:    Any words of wisdom for the Jungle Skippers, past and/ or present?
KP:     I don't know if I'm qualified to offer wisdom. I've done some pretty dumb things. But I can honestly say that working Jungle was EXACTLY the right thing for me to do at that time. I needed a break, and it opened my brain to some opportunities I might not have thought about otherwise.
JGR:    That's great. Kenny, thanks so much for doing this.
KP:    No problem. I enjoy what you're doing, and I hope everybody finds out about it. I'd love to get in touch with some of the guys I worked with (back then, it was all guys).