That Michael Jackson's Neverland was a child's wildest fantasy is something Tracy Dyer can attest to from firsthand experience.
In 1991, Jackson invited self-help guru Dr. Wayne Dyer, his wife and eight children to visit Neverland for five days. Tracy, owner of Minneapolis based-Urban Junket, a maker of luxe carrying bags for computers and more, was in her 20s.
"When all this stuff came out, allegations of pedophilia -- remember, he was exonerated -- I found that absolutely shocking based on the man I met," said Dyer, who also sat down to "Cyber Jabber" with me at startribune.com/video.
"He was like a child himself. The whole amusement park was like a child's fantasy place, wasn't an adult fantasy," added Dyer, who had an explanation for some of the bad publicity that haunted Jackson until his untimely death last week. "He kept making, in my opinion, poor decisions over and over again; they were decisions a little kid would make," Dyer said. "Who holds a kid over a balcony?"
The Dyer family's stay with Jackson coincided with two birthdays for Tracy's siblings Skye and Sommer. "He was so sweet to all of my brothers and sisters," Dyer said. "August 24 was Skye's birthday, and she was turning 10. He had the entire amusement park and everything in the house decorated in this 'Little Mermaid' theme. It was the craziest thing you've ever seen. We woke up in the morning and ['Little Mermaid'] music was being pumped through the house. It was like, Oh My God! She just loved it.
"Then two days later, on the 26th, it was my sister Sommer's birthday; she turned 8. She was really into Barney at the time. They had taken down all the 'Little Mermaid' stuff and redecorated the whole park for Barney. It was Sommer's birthday now. He was so extravagant, but it was all about the kids."
Before watching movies, Jackson told the Dyers to take anything they liked from the concession stand. "It was like going to Southdale [to see a movie, except everything was free]. I looked at him and was like, 'Why do you have staff working a free concession stand?' He said it was about the whole experience." The whole experience included any movie they could name.
Dyer had one briefly unsettling moment with Jackson. "After everybody had gone to bed, he and I were the only two up. We were talking in his media room and he said, Your dad probably thinks I'm a freak. I said, 'No, he doesn't,'" said Dyer, who said Jackson went on to add, It's not that I'm a freak, it's that I don't know what normal is. I didn't have a normal childhood. I was famous at 5. Then he said there was one freakish element of his personality. "He was like, I have to show you. He took me down this hallway and into his bedroom and I was [thinking], 'Uh-oh, what's this?'" Jackson opened his closet filled with a row of about 100 pairs of black pants, 100 white shirts and 100 red blazers -- all perfectly lined up -- his current look. "He turned to me and said, A little obsessive, don't you think?"
