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Disney Pilot Made Dream Come True

Vacationing Family Releases Video 3 Days Before Man Died

POSTED: Wednesday, July 8, 2009

UPDATED: 10:07 pm EDT July 8, 2009

Austin Wuennenberg, 21.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Three days before Austin Wuennenberg was killed in a monorail crash at Walt Disney World, he helped make a 4-year-old Connecticut boy's dream come true.

Wuennenberg, a monorail pilot at Disney, was killed early Sunday morning when two trains collided near Magic Kingdom.

On July 2, a Connecticut family on vacation at Walt Disney World was chosen by the 21-year-old Wuennenberg to ride in the front cabin with him, which was magical for Christyan Cimino, whose grandparents recorded the event.

The video shows Wuennenberg explaining the monorail system to the Cimino family, providing details about the transportation system and answering numerous questions.

"What do they call you?" asked Diane Cimino.

"The monorail pilot," Wuennenberg said.

"You're the monorail pilot," she said. "This is Austin, the monorail pilot."

Diane Cimino said the time Christyan spent with Wuennenberg on the monorail impacted the boy.

"After that, anytime a monorail would go by, Christyan would point and say, 'Oh, I think that's Austin. I see him in there, I better wave,'" she said.

On the home video, Wuennenberg told the family "sit up here for a second. It's OK, the monorail won't go. Right now we're just going to hang out here until we see another train behind us or the train in front of us leaves the Contemporary."

At the end of the ride, Wuennenberg presented the Ciminos a gift.

"I'll give you guys your honorary monorail co-pilot's license," Wuennenberg said.

Diane Cimino said after her family left Orlando, she heard that a monorail pilot was killed in a crash at Disney and instantly thought of Wuennenberg.

"My husband and I just looked at each other and said, 'What could the chances be? It could not be our Austin," she said. "It just took all of our joy and excitement because since we've been home, Christyan talked about nothing else except that -- being on the monorail with his friend, Austin."

The Ciminos said they released their home video because they wanted to show Wuennenberg's mother how her son touched others.

"I think she needs to hear his sweet voice and how he was when he was speaking to my grandson. It was just very, very dear," Diane Cimino said. "He made Christyan's dreams come true, and I think that she needs to know that. I think his whole family needs to know that."

Chrystyan doesn't know what happened to Wuennenberg, but his grandmother said he made a statement that now seems prophetic.

"He said, 'I'm gonna put this picture of me and Austin up near my monorail train (at home), so he can be watching over us,'" Diane Cimino said.

Wuennenberg's family told Local 6 News that they deeply appreciate the gesture made by the Ciminos.

Funeral services for Wuennenberg, who was a senior at Stetson University, were held on Wednesday at the First United Church, located at 101 W. Dakin Avenue in Kissimmee.

Wuennenberg's death is the first in the history of Disney's monorail system.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Previous Stories:

July 7, 2009: NTSB Investigates Fatal Monorail Crash
July 7, 2009: Monorail Pilot's Funeral Scheduled
July 6, 2009: Disney Reopens Monorail After Death
July 6, 2009: Theories Swirl Around Fatal Disney Monorail Crash
July 6, 2009: Deadly Disney Crash Investigated

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