Define Pixie Dust

[happyrebster]

Pixie dust, to me, is just the DCL experience of my kid. The joy in her eyes when she gets the hugs and extra attention from the characters. She's a shy kid - but she lights up around Goofy, Donald, Chip and Dale. She feels comfortable and safe with them - and she forgets about the stuff that makes her anxious in the "real world". I don't get that reaction from her when we go to other places, so I willingly shell out the extra for Disney. The other stuff - good service, decent facilities - I enjoy that as well - and it helps me to feel better about the high cost; but it isn't unique.

 

[delo4]

I'm not sure you can adequately define Pixie Dust. I think it means different things to different people. The way I probably see it, is when something special happened that you never anticipated or expected.

We have cruised Disney many times, all four ships. Once we were sailing a back to back cruise on the Dream and our server asked us if we missed anything that used to be served on the Magic. We told him that we loved the crab Martinique and the pomegranate chicken wings. Well, the next night each of us received an appetizer of the crab Martinique. The next night, we got a huge platter of chicken wings to share. Now, that may not seem all that special, but the head server told us that the chef on the Dream had never made crab Martinique, so he emailed the chef on the Magic for the recipe. That to me is Pixie Dust.

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't know what this dust is. I'm mystified by it. Sure, I get a *feeling* sometimes at world/land. That's a feeling. Period.

I don't define the lounge bartender remembering my drink of choice as pixie dust. Nor do I count the fact that the dining room had DD's drink ready every night after the first one.

Same. Especially because I don't have a drink of choice, and have absolutely NO interest in the bartender thinking that the drink I drink the first time they see me is what I want the next time! Same with DS. If I let him have chocolate milk the first night, and he reacts massively to it that night, I'm going to not be happy if they have it for him the second night just b/c of that first night.

Go ahead, put his name on the cup of water. Of course, he's nearly as big as me and has been drinking from proper glasses for at least 5 years, but whatever, condescend to him b/c he's a kid and give him the disposable cup with the straw and such...but don't put the drink he had one night in it just because he had it that one time....

Like the CM who appears out of nowhere and whips out a napkin and hands it to your kid just seconds before that first drip falls from his ice cream cone and onto his Mickey T-Shirt.

Now what would be magical would be if they did that for someone in a Royal shirt.

And what you're missing is the 5 kids who didn't catch the eye of that same CM, who got their shirts all stained and ruined, because the CM was busy helping the one kid.

But if you are looking for Disney (princesses, characters), you won't find it anywhere else.

Sure, Disney princesses and Disney characters.

But we sure as heck met Princess Fiona on Freedom of the Seas, and we met other characters as well. Po made me, a character-disliker, smile, which has never happened in a non-"I hate you Goofy for doing this and you're hurting my neck but I'll smile because I'm not a huge enough jerk to ruin the picture for all these dis women" way.

So although I feel this thread was set up to mock DCL, because almost everyone in the modern world knows Disney and Disney magic and Pixie dust, not only from DCL, but also the Disney parks and many other venues.

No, see, people know "pixie dust", but let's define it. That's the thread. Define it. If it ultimately just comes down to a feeling, own that.

However the bottom line is the Disney cruises are special with real Disney Magic and Pixie dust only found on their ships.

That's your bottom line. It hasn't yet been mine on DCL! Not at all!

Pleasant cruises on OK-looking ships (I prefer the Royal aesthetic) with decent employees. Yep. The end.

Now, step back and think about cult behavior. Look, I know using the word "cult" is extreme but let's be objective here. Think about how they operate, the techniques commonly used to get into people's heads. Key words and phrases repeated constantly is a psychological tool.

All we have to do is look at the phrase that's been bandied about in THIS thread, seriously and truly...that horrible awful disgusting kool aid phrase. Cult cult cult cult. And people this week have argued AGAINST changing it, because that's not what they meant... It has NO other meaning. None. The meaning of the koolaid thing is that you are so involved with something that you will drink and make your family drink poison because someone told you to.

Of course it wasn't koolaid. But pish posh. That's the meaning.

Jimmy I would ask not to use the term *KOOL AID*......I find the term insulting as does most Disney fans.

This just feels hilarious to me. "Most" Disney fans do not find it insulting. They think it's lovely. And it's not actually *insulting*. It's disgusting and vile, but it's not insulting anyone. And many Disney fans use the phrase! But some of us can remember what it actually means, and we find it horrifying to have it used in a positive way...

When I got hurt my room steward said that he told his supervisor and I felt like they were watching out for me. I took one cruise on another line, Royal Carribean. When my cousin got hurt it felt like they didn't care, and couldn't watch out for her and that it wasn't worth their time.

Whereas you can read thread after thread after thread about Disney NOT caring about injured guests. Look for them, especially on the Theme Parks main page. People tripping in front of CMs and not being cared for, etc etc etc.

Typhoon had gone home twice and gotten married during those 16 months, yet he still recognized us.

Huh. Wonder if the CMs know who is getting on the ship ahead of time? I wonder if the ship has a roster of every single person onboard or something? Oh yes, yes they DO.

Did it feel amazing to have former-concierge Wensdae recognize me and my family on the pool deck, when we weren't booked concierge on that cruise, and for her to absolutely insist we come say hi to her at the lounge (ringing the bell to have her come to us), and for her to insist that she send the pillow menu to me because I need a flat flat flat pillow and my spine was utterly dying, even though we weren't concierge on that trip? Oh my goodness yes! Are we a fairly distinct looking family? Yep. Could we be easy to recognize? My husband and son, yes (I'm just a basic Irish-looking chick). It wasn't magic that she recognized us, though. Just chance, most likely. (and the pillow menu has no FLAT pillows so that did no good, sadly) I get that it's fun to be recognized, but it's good customer service AND it's not just on DCL.

On DCL, luck is rebranded as pixie dust. Thats

YES YES YES.

And for a family withOUT luck, we see others getting "dusted" while we get nothing. Or at least nothing unexpected or extra-special. We would be the family with the ruined shirt I thought about above, while someone else gets the attention.

Like DS having his arm pushed down while being rechecked for Star Tours, while the shorter, younger, girl in the heels and the high ponytail went waltzing through as my 95th percentile kid smooshes down b/c the CM was smooshing him, and doesn't get to ride.

They could have just loped along waving at everyone and went on their way, and no one would have cried "foul".

And that does, in fact, happen. Didn't happen in this case. Wonder if there were some other kids in the distance, watching this, wondering why they had just been passed by?

Pixie dust, to me, is just the DCL experience of my kid. The joy in her eyes when she gets the hugs and extra attention from the characters. She's a shy kid - but she lights up around Goofy, Donald, Chip and Dale. She feels comfortable and safe with them - and she forgets about the stuff that makes her anxious in the "real world". I don't get that reaction from her when we go to other places, so I willingly shell out the extra for Disney. The other stuff - good service, decent facilities - I enjoy that as well - and it helps me to feel better about the high cost; but it isn't unique.

Because you have raised her with Disney.

If you had raised her with Dreamworks, it might not have gone over that well.

If she had been totally skittish, as I was, about characters, those characters would NEVER have given her good feelings. This is an upbringing, her personality, and LUCK, thing. This isn't a Disney thing.



(edited to bold the things I had capitalized and also for spelling and to lighten something)

 

[squirk]

Yes, it is obvious (one would think) that due to the random nature of luck/happenstance/serendipity, these little "pixie dust" incidents always will exclude somebody. But these things lose their luster if they happen to everybody at all times. I feel bad for the younger kids, who can't grasp that notion, but the adults who throw tantrums like a 3-y.o.? That's remarkably ugly.

I mean, what's the alternative? Should Pluto have challenged every kid on deck to a race? Should every CMs throughout the ship be constantly on the lookout for dripping ice cream, with napkin in hand? That's unfeasible, if not impossible.

Or do the CMs just do nothing special for anybody in order to keep it "even-Steven"? I don't think anyone wants that either.

I guess the happy medium is to try and get all CMs to try and do something individual and special for as many different guests as possible. Increase the odds that everyone will have a little something special happen at least once during the cruise. So, like, if your kid misses out on the race with Pluto, she might be the one who later gets double desserts delivered to them at dinner without even asking (or whatever).

 

[ladypiph]

I keep seeing the idea of pixie dust being thrown around as a way to justify the extra expense of a Disney cruise. So, what do you define as pixie dust? Did I get some and just classify it as good service?

To clarify: When I see people talk about pixie dust, I figure they mean free plushes for the kids, or free upgrades or... I don't define the lounge bartender remembering my drink of choice as pixie dust. Nor do I count the fact that the dining room had DD's drink ready every night after the first one. That to me is just good service if a bartender or waiter knows they will be working with the same people for a period of time.

So, what is this mythical pixie dust that people say is disappearing?

I am a firm believer that you get what you pay for. So "Pixie dust" encompasses those nice things you get from a Disney vacation it's what adds to the magic for myself as well as mt little one. It is nice to know that when we randomly bump into any character they are always "in character" and willing to stop for a picture. One year at WDW my DS lost a shoe so they issued us a voucher for any pair of shoes that he wanted my DS got a $34 pair of shoes for free as they never recovered his missing shoe and we checked the lost and found three times before leaving. A shoe was lost at Busch gardens (Tampa), it was never found and we left with just one shoe that day. Disney just does it right, you feel welcomed, and you don't have to ask several different cast members the same question before getting the correct answer, and they right every wrong. Personally I have yet to leave a Disney vacation feeling like I didn't get my money's worth.