Birthdays and How They are Celebrated...

[ty_n_cy]

Hi everyone... we're pretty close to booking a trip in mid-January... but we had one more question.

We've read about restaurants bringing out cupcakes, etc. for people celebrating birthdays... and we've got 3 birthdays fairly close together.

I am 1/22
My wife is 2/1
Our son is 2/25

We were wondering if we'd each be eligible to celebrate our birthdays (wearing buttons and hopefully receiving 'special treats', etc) even though only one of us would actually BE there during our birthday?

We're more interested in our son celebrating than us... but since his birthday is acutally the one furthest OUT from our dates... we're concerned that they may not take too kindly to us trying to 'fit it in'... so to speak.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[si-am]

You can wear buttons anytime you want. But realize, just about EVERYONE wears buttons because their birthday is "some time in the near future or recent past." Because of the huge proliferation of button-wearing guests in recent years, Disney isn't doing too many surprises or freebies for birthday buttons anymore.

You might get a few "happy birthdays" (though it would be weird to see a whole family with buttons) and maybe a cupcake. But don't expect it.

[CarolAnnB]

I wouldn't have all 3 of you wearing them at the same time. The CMs would certainly ask and then you have your son saying his b'day is over a month away. My DD10 was 3 weeks away from her b'day and she wouldn't wear a pin because she thought it was too far away to say it was her b'day. But to each his own. They don't ask you for an id for a cupcake. But with so many people celebrating b'days, as PP said, there aren't that many b'day specials that I saw this year. People were getting in free so that should have been enough. Since you are there in Jan, maybe they will be a little freer with the b'day specials but I would not get your hopes up for lots of special treatment. Look for the Dapper Dans though, they sang to my DD one year on Main St and it was pretty cool.

[RMulieri]

You are welcome to celebrate anything you want , Disney may or may not acknowledge any of them .remember each day someone is celebrating something.Disney can't acknowledge them all. Go expecting nothing and be pleasantly be surprised if they do otherwise.Fwiw, I have celebrated my honeymoon,birthday and multiple anniversaries at WDW as well as my 4 yr olds Bday last year.We never received anything other than well-wishes

[rhpools]

We had so many free cupcakes, I thought I would go into a sugar rush. Also visit the Main Street Bakery with your button, my daughter got a huge cookie for her BDay

[aka-mad4themouse]

Disney has been openly encouraging the wearing of celebration buttons with their "What Will You Celebrate?" promotion this year. There's been an explosion of birthday, anniversary, first visit, family reunion and other special occasion buttons all over the parks. When they answer the phones, that's the first thing that the CMs ask. And they seem genuinely disappointed when you don't have a special reason to be visiting.

So go ahead and wear your buttons. But don't go with the expectation that there will be extra pixie dust that comes with them. It would be a disappointment to you if nothing more than a "Happy Birthday" wish comes your way.

[TheRustyScupper]

Originally Posted by aka-mad4themouse

Disney has been openly encouraging the wearing of celebration buttons with their "What Will You Celebrate?" promotion this year.

1) The "WWYC" promotion ends Dec-31-09, for freebies and such.
2) But, they will probably always do things like cupcakes.
3) Only YOU can determine if declaring your birthday, when not your birthday, ir proper.

[ty_n_cy]

Thanks for the replies! We wouldn't all be wearing buttons... really only my son (except for on my birthday because I'm sure my kids would be disappointed if I didn't wear one on my birthday).

But, I kind of figured that with the buttons and how easy they are to obtain... it would be nearly pointless. When we visited last May, it was our first visit. We couldn't wait because we'd heard SO many stories (many from here) of CM's providing such wonderful surprises for those wearing buttons.

We had MAYBE two CM's even mention anything to us about it being our first visit. We DID, however, see a bunch of people who celebrated birthdays getting treated really, really well.

Myself... I'd rather the attention NOT be on me (I've got 3 kids... so I'd much rather THEY get the attention).

In any event... we're going to have a great time... but I figured I'd ask the opinions of those here. I got the responses I figured I would... but, it never hurt to ask.

Thanks for the help everybody! I appreciate the time everybody takes to respond.

CY

[Marlton Mom]

We are celebrating my son being an A student.... We will be at POFQ 12/12-12/16. When we booked our ADR's the cast member asked and I told him that was what we were celebrating. He thought it was great. DS works his tail off at school and it wasn't close to anyone's birthday or anniversary. They really do mean "what" when they ask "What will you celebrate?!"

Best of luck,
Smoochies,
Marlton Mom

[CarolAnnB]

Originally Posted by Marlton Mom

We are celebrating my son being an A student.... We will be at POFQ 12/12-12/16. When we booked our ADR's the cast member asked and I told him that was what we were celebrating. He thought it was great. DS works his tail off at school and it wasn't close to anyone's birthday or anniversary. They really do mean "what" when they ask "What will you celebrate?!"

Best of luck,
Smoochies,
Marlton Mom

We did the same thing in June when my DDs got out of school. We told them on the room res and put it in all our ADRs. The CM on the phone said how great but not one comment the whole time we were there from anybody, so I wondered why I spent time adding it to all the ressies?? So better luck to you! I agree it is definitely something worth celebrating!

[Bugsmom73]

We are celebrating my Birthday at WDW this year. I am thrilled. I don't expect Disney to do anything special for me. I hope DH would plan something special but I have yet to figure out if I will remind him or not.