When you wish upon a star! Neil Patrick Harris says that if he didn’t land his dream job as an actor, he would have tried a much more magical career path.
The Series of Unfortunate Events actor, 43, tells Us Weekly, “If I wasn’t an actor person, I would have probably tried to be a Disney Imagineer because they combine so many things that I love — creativity, architecture, secrets, and amusing and entertaining people and families. I know a lot about the behind-the-scenes of theme parks and how they work and the machinations behind them.”
While acting as master of ceremonies at the Walt Disney Family Museum Gala on Tuesday, November 1, in Anaheim, California (where Harris says he was “superhonored” to fete legendary Disney Imagineer Marty Sklar), he explained how he’s passing his love for Mickey and the gang on to his own kids — 6-year-old twins Harper and Gideon — who he shares with husband David Burtka.
“I think what’s most exciting is our kids have grown up with theme parks as part of their DNA, and that makes me incredibly happy because that was what I got to do as a kid as well.”
The actor added that his hosting duties at the Christmas Candlelight Processional takes his family to Walt Disney World every holiday season: “Now I get to go in a whole different way and go to Florida for a week every year with the kids, and they get to ride what they want and they just have a blast.”
Harris says his kids are on board with the Disney trips — to a point! “They’re very into it,” the Broadway star says with a laugh. “But I spend far too much time explaining to them about how everything works, about pneumatics and things. I get too excited about the fact that the presidents in the Hall of Presidents work using pneumatic air tubes, and they look at me like I’m a crazy man — but one day they’ll get it!”
For now, the kids have more age-appropriate interests. Says their proud dad, “Harper’s still all-girl and she’s very into all the princesses. Gideon’s into Star Wars, so when we go in December, there’s a whole new Star Wars land in there, so he’s very excited about that. He got to do Jedi training last time, and he was on the younger end for that, so now maybe that Padawan has grown up a bit.”
But like all normal kids on a cross-country family trip to Disney World, will they manage to get along? Harris says yes — probably for most of the time! He explains, “They spend all their time together, so it’s a little bit of both, really. They have each other’s backs, but they tell on each other — a lot! It’s the yin and yang of twins, I think!”
To learn more about the Walt Disney Family Museum, visit http://waltdisney.org/.
