Magical Secrets??

[LoveMyDisneyCats]

Hey everyone,
Just wondering if anyone has any tips on those little magical moments.... ya know the ones that anyone can do, if they know about it that is (Not the magical dreams or giveaway things they are doing randomly- I'm not that lucky )
I talking about the ones that you have to read about it on the boards or know someone that's done it!!! What fun being in on a "secret" to make our trip even more magical!
I know about waking up Tink at Tinkerbell's Treasures and just heard about riding up front with the monorail conductor.
Any others would be fun to hear about! We didn't get our tired bodies up early enough last time to even attempt getting to Tinks, but it's still fun to know about! Definately going to try to do the monorail thing though this time with DDs- they'd love that!
Thanks for any input!

 

[MeMom]

Maybe not magical, but how about trying to find the horse with the gold ribbon on the Carrousel. That is supposed to be Cinderella's own, I believe. There's a key under the mat at Muppet Vision. Try to pull the sword from the stone. I think someone said the MK train conductor did something along the same line as the monorail - a pin or certificate. Go to the storyteller at AKL firepit. See the Electric Water Parade on the beach at the Polynesian. Campfire sing-along at Ft. Wilderness. Look for Hidden Mickeys. I don't know if any of this is what you had in mind, but they're just random thoughts.

 

[hvivona]

I've recently heard that the first family to enter the store "Tink's Treasures" in Fantasy Land in Magic Kingdom gets to wake Tinkerbell up. Its been said that you get to tap on her house and then you see a light come on and then a small light shoots around the room bouncing off of the walls.

 

[magicmom99]

We were lucky enough to get to ride in the front monorail car because I got us "lost" going back to the hotel. At 9pm going from the TTC to magic Kingdom to catch a bus, there isn't much of a line! So my getting us on the wrong bus ended up pretty good.

 

[DisneyDotty]

Some magical moment ideas in random order:
--To ride in the front car of the monorail--just ask the CM working there! If there's room, they'll get you in! Keep trying and good luck!
--A friend and her family (DH, DD9 and DD6) were at the MK recently (first trip as a family). Immediately after the turnstyle, the DH grabs everyone's hands and proceeds to lead the family in a happy dance. A CM sees them, asks to be included in the happy dance, and then proceeds to give them an unlimited fastpass for the day and tells them to come back to her in about a half hour. When they return, she leads them to a room in a building on Main Street where they get to spend about 30 minutes with Cinderella--all to themselves! What a magical first-visit-to-Disney moment!
--Talk to CMs. A great excuse/reason to do this is to get a VMK quest or two from the VMK Cinema on Main Street. CMs in the MK love to help with the quests--or at least are eager to talk to guests about them. We had lots of great interactions with CMs this way and even got a few free fastpasses as a result.
--Sometimes our magical moments happened by our giving rather than receiving. We had a lot of fun giving away extra fastpasses to random guests. It was wonderful to see their faces light up!
--We always wear our Guest of Honor badges (name badges that you can buy in every park--engraving is free) and love it when CMs call us by name. Wearing the same shirts has also evoked great reactions from the CMs.
Have a magical trip!

 

[mom2jcc]

Some magical moment ideas in random order:
--To ride in the front car of the monorail--just ask the CM working there! If there's room, they'll get you in! Keep trying and good luck!
--A friend and her family (DH, DD9 and DD6) were at the MK recently (first trip as a family). Immediately after the turnstyle, the DH grabs everyone's hands and proceeds to lead the family in a happy dance. A CM sees them, asks to be included in the happy dance, and then proceeds to give them an unlimited fastpass for the day and tells them to come back to her in about a half hour. When they return, she leads them to a room in a building on Main Street where they get to spend about 30 minutes with Cinderella--all to themselves! What a magical first-visit-to-Disney moment!
--Talk to CMs. A great excuse/reason to do this is to get a VMK quest or two from the VMK Cinema on Main Street. CMs in the MK love to help with the quests--or at least are eager to talk to guests about them. We had lots of great interactions with CMs this way and even got a few free fastpasses as a result.
--Sometimes our magical moments happened by our giving rather than receiving. We had a lot of fun giving away extra fastpasses to random guests. It was wonderful to see their faces light up!
--We always wear our Guest of Honor badges (name badges that you can buy in every park--engraving is free) and love it when CMs call us by name. Wearing the same shirts has also evoked great reactions from the CMs.
Have a magical trip!

Great ideas!!! Is there anywhere we can get the Guest of Honor badges before we go on our trip?? Like Disney stores or somewhere? Thanks My son would love this as a pre-trip treat!!

 

[Perditamarie]

I love this thread. Here are some ideas along these lines:

1. Leave out "Tinkerbell" gifts overnight or whenever the room is vacant -- your kids will be so surprised that Tink came by for a visit.

2. Search for Hidden Mickeys -- there are books listing their locations and I even think guest services may have a list of them.

3. Bring a huge stash of glow bracelets for evenings and to share w/your neighbors at parades.

4. Secretly make personalized autograph books -- your kids will be thrilled and so will the characters. They love to look at them and give your kids tons of attention.

5. Have a pocket full of change so you can press a penny whenever the opportunity occurs.

6. Have some postcards autographed on the sly to mail to your kids after you get back home and the Disney withdrawals set in.

7. Give kids disposable cameras to get a "kids eye" perspective of WDW.

 

[PollyannaMom]

What a great thread!

Here are 2 more I have heard of but not personally tried:

MK - Look for Lady and Tramp's pawprints in the cement outside Tony's restaurant.

EPCOT - There are talking fountains by the restrooms on the side of Innoventions facing the Land.

 

[shadownoze]

I agree, the Guest of Honor badges do get your family a lot of extra attention from CMs. You can order them in advance from giftsofalifetime.com/shopping. They only have two choices at the moment, but last year we had several other options. I've already ordered new ones for this year's trip.

 

[DisneyJo]

A couple of Epcot ones:

Visit the candy lady in Japan (see times guide) be there early and stand right in front if the stall. My DD's got chosen (on the second visit!) and she made them a lovely candy animal each to keep!

In the Land Nestle does a Jr chef program where children are chosen to help bake cookies and get to keep their personalised hats!

Where Figment is you can send free e-mails so take your addresses, I think this can be done in Mexico too.

As I'm from the UK I can't buy the name badges before I go, where is the best place to get them on property, I'm staying at CSR?

 

[DisneyDotty]

As I'm from the UK I can't buy the name badges before I go, where is the best place to get them on property, I'm staying at CSR?

At MK--the shop on Main Street, (end of first block maybe?) on the right as you're walking toward the castle, where they sell watches--they have badges in the back room on the right, and can engrave them right there.
At DTD--Christmas shop has badges and can engrave them, too.
I believe there are stores in the Studios and at Epcot where you can buy them, too. Anyone know for sure?

 

[mom2jcc]

I agree, the Guest of Honor badges do get your family a lot of extra attention from CMs. You can order them in advance from giftsofalifetime.com/shopping. They only have two choices at the moment, but last year we had several other options. I've already ordered new ones for this year's trip.

Thank you!! I'll check that out immediately

 

[MelodyMack]

Not sure if you mentioned it, but if your kids are into the whole "costume" thing, that brought quite a bit of attention to my daughter when we went.
CM's were SOOOOO great! They would address her as "Princess" or whatever.

 

[DisneyJo]

At MK--the shop on Main Street, (end of first block maybe?) on the right as you're walking toward the castle, where they sell watches--they have badges in the back room on the right, and can engrave them right there.
At DTD--Christmas shop has badges and can engrave them, too.
I believe there are stores in the Studios and at Epcot where you can buy them, too. Anyone know for sure?

Thanks, I'll try and remember that!

Not sure if you mentioned it, but if your kids are into the whole "costume" thing, that brought quite a bit of attention to my daughter when we went.
CM's were SOOOOO great! They would address her as "Princess" or whatever.

I'm sure I read somewhere that if you go when it's really hot it's best to take other clothes too and just put the costumes on when meeting characters etc. Especially with the nylon type costumes.

 

[Jrsy Boy]

5. Have a pocket full of change so you can press a penny whenever the opportunity occurs.

Or carry your quarters and pennies in one of those mini-M&Ms tubes. You can fit a $10 roll of quarters, alternating every two quarters with a penny.

At DTD--Christmas shop has badges and can engrave them, too.

I learned here on the DIS that you can call the Christmas shop and order your badges, then have them deliverd to your resort if you are staying on-site. DS got a letter from Buzz Lightyear telling him to pick up his surprise gift as soon as he checked in. To this day, I don't know if he realizes the letter was from me.

 

[DisneyJo]

I learned here on the DIS that you can call the Christmas shop and order your badges, then have them deliverd to your resort if you are staying on-site. DS got a letter from Buzz Lightyear telling him to pick up his surprise gift as soon as he checked in. To this day, I don't know if he realizes the letter was from me.

Oh that's a good one, how do I get the number? After all the ADR's I'm making what's another call to the States!

 

[LoveMyDisneyCats]

Thanks everyone for all the ideas so far. I agree that the name badges is a good idea too. We did that and did get called by name at almost every ride. I also agree that the CMs make lots of special spontaneous moments that noone ever expects! I remember when my DD5 was 2 we went and saw Minnie and others at the Judges tent. After standing in a really long line for that, we decided not to get back in for the others or for Mickey. We were getting our stroller and my DD was crying and saying "Mickey," "I love Mickey" and a CM came over and took us in a back way to see him and then if that weren't enough she took us in the other two rooms in the Judges Tent to see everyone else. What special treatment! We took pictures with everybody and even did a special picture of DD and the CM as she took us out afterwards. We were so taken by this special moment and still talk about it today...that's Disney for you. Anyway, that's not really the kind of secret moments that I originally was talking about, but it still was really "magical."
I love all of the other real ideas so far...keep em comin'
Oh, I did think of one more too..If you have little ones who want to participate in the Belle's storytime at MK...get there early and sit in the front row on the left side. Every time we've gone, we've noticed that Belle's helper picks the little ones on that side. Out of probably 10-15 times seeing that show, I think we've only seen them pick somebody on the right or in the back ONCE! That's pretty good odds if you have a princess who loves to be a star!

 

[Jrsy Boy]

Oh that's a good one, how do I get the number? After all the ADR's I'm making what's another call to the States!

This is from an older thread, so I can't guarantee that the information is still accurate, but it is someplace to start:

Guest of Honor badges can be found at the Christmas Store in DTD. You may call them 407-828-2042 and order them over the phone. I called and left a message, they called me back about 2 days later. They were very nice and the best thing........they are having them sent to my hotel the day we arrive so I can save on shipping! I will just pick them up at the Poly gift shop! She suggested this, it never occurred to me to do this!! They are the traditional red ones w/ Mickey and are $6 each (Magic Kingdom Mega store had them for $22 each!!)

 

[MamaKto3]

I learned here on the DIS that you can call the Christmas shop and order your badges, then have them deliverd to your resort if you are staying on-site. DS got a letter from Buzz Lightyear telling him to pick up his surprise gift as soon as he checked in. To this day, I don't know if he realizes the letter was from me.[/QUOTE]

How exactly do I do this? Call the Christmas Shop directly with our names, date we are arriving, and where we are staying??

My kids will flip!

Does anyone have ideas for "Tink Gifts" (I think that's what someone called it)-- love my kids, but at 5, 3, and 3, not sure that I want to spend a small fortune on those gift baskets, etc...
thanks!

 

[Jrsy Boy]

How exactly do I do this? Call the Christmas Shop directly with our names, date we are arriving, and where we are staying??

From QwestDex and confirmed on MapQuest and Google Maps:
Disney's Days of Christmas
1780 Lake Buena Vista Dr
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
(407) 828-3759

I called and left a voicemail and got a call back within 24 hours. I just told the person that I was looking for Name Badges that I could have delivered to our resort. She took down the names and CC information, where we were staying and when we were arriving and gave me a confirmation number. When we arrived at POFQ, we went to the gift shop and gave the number to the clerk and there were the badges.