So many times. That is what is so wonderful about Disney- that moment might happen more than once. Here are the big ones I remember most:
1. Years ago, pre DD, DH and I were standing in a fairly long line at Safari at AK (week between Christmas and New Years). There was an adorable little girl behind us. I started talking to her. Her Dad started to say something to me then immediately stopped when she started speaking to me- he looked surprised. I talked to her a bit. She was holding a stuffed animal and we were talking about it. He was looking at us funny and then his eyes almost got teary. He leaned over to me and whispered "Please keep talking to her- she is autistic and I have never seen her respond to someone like that". She and I continued to interact through the line and ride, kind of playing with her stuffed animal and pointing out animals on the Safari to each other. He said she had been in therapy and had been having some breakthroughs, but had never responded to, talked to, or interacted with a stranger before. He was sad that her mother had gone off with her brother somewhere else in the park, and was not seeing it. I will NEVER forget that. I think that little girl was so wrapped up in Disney Magic, that she just had to tell someone about it!
2. DD was 2 on her first trip and she was obsessed with Cinderella. (She wore a Cinderella dress every day for a year at home starting sometime when she was 1 if that tells you anything-- we had a rule that it was only worn in the house and not if we went anywhere). We had seen Cinderella earlier in the week, but it was our last night and right about closing, she suddenly decided she desperately wanted to say goodby to Cinderella before we flew home the next day. She also was unhappy because she had wanted to sing for Cinderella and had been so enamored at meeting her the first time she had forgotten to sing, so she just HAD to see her before we went home. We bolted to Toontown hoping to make it there in time. The CM was closing the rope as we ran up. With DD dressed as Cinderella in DH's arms and my out of breath panicked question "Cinderella, please?", the CM just looked at us, then smiled and waived us through and closed the rope behind us. This was back when Cinderella, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty all met in the same room. There were others ahead of us. Cinderella was first. DD went up to her. She told her she would like to sing for her and stood in front of her with her little hands clasped just below her waist and sang the entire song "A Dream is a Wish" as Cinderella clapped along and giggled and smiled, clearly loving it. Others heard, and quieted down, and the next thing we knew pretty much everyone in the room was listening to DD sing. Another Mom came up to me and told me she had tears in her eyes and it had given her chills it was such a special moment. Cinderella pretty much kept DD to herself until the other guests had finished the Princess rotation as there was no one behind us. After that, DD made the rotation to the other 2 Princesses, and then as we were the only guests still there all three left their posts and came out together to hug DD and talk to her a minute to tell her goodby and to come back to WDW soon!
3. There were also a couple of others on that first trip. We walked into MK on the first day for DD's first time. I was waiting for DD to be in awe of the castle. NOPE! Didn't give it a second glance because she spotted Pluto. Any plans we had immediately went out the window. The only thing she wanted was to see Pluto- nothing else would do- so we got in line where she happily waited 20 minutes without one complaint (and this was a WILD 2 year old). When it was her turn, she launched herself at Pluto (close to knocking the poor dog over), and then held onto him tight like he was her long lost best friend and she was never letting go. They stood and hugged for a long time. That was the first time at WDW, that my eyes got a little wet. That same trip, I can recall her seeing Spectromagic for the first time. She was totally amazed and was dancing around waving at characters with this look of pure joy in her face. I won't ever forget that one either!
4. When she was 4, she had a huge crush on Aladdin. She could not contain herself and just giggled and jumped up and down when she saw him. We had seen him earlier on the trip and ran into him again at
MVMCP. He remembered her and called me over to see if I would bring her back at a certain time late in the evening, and he and Jasmine would take her for a magic carpet ride. I think the time was about 11:00 p.m., but I wasn't about to say no. I needn't have worried- there was no way DD (a night owl by nature) was going to slow down or get tired knowing what was in store for her later. We went back and when they were ready, Aladdin and Jasmine each took one of her hands and led her off to the Magic Carpets with a photopass photographer with them.
5. Okay, I was going to quit, but I can't leave out the stepmother and stepsisters. We love them. DD has loved Anastasia since she was 2 thanks to the Cinderella 2 and 3 movies. We have had great moments with them over the years, but last fall when DD was 8 was the best! They took DD to ride the carousel with them- she was so excited. Then they had a wonderful meet and greet. When they found out we were going to the
MNSSHP Villians soiree that night, they said they would see us there and they remembered DD when she arrived and all of them made a fuss over her. We ran into the stepmother later that week at 1900 Park Fare and she remembered DD and made a fuss over her, and then I saw her go make sure that the stepsisters who looked a little different
"remembered" DD when they got to our table.
I feel guilty for not mentioning so many other CMs who created so many of those perfect moments for DD, for us to watch, and perfect moments for us too! There are so many other moments I could list. It is not like we are local AP holders who go all the time either. We have been once a year (except for 2009 when they had huge discounts and went twice- once with the inlaws). There is just so much magic and are so many perfect moments at Disney!
