birthdays

[martinrmn]

My son John is 7 on November 13th and we fly to Orlando November 29th. I have suggested to my wife Donna that we take a birthday badge and he wear it in the parks. She has said no its not honest. Has anyone else done this?

 

[T16GEM]

Yeah lots of people do, if you go to guest services they will give you a birthday button to wear in the parks. I don't see anything wrong with it.

 

[UKDEB]

When we were in Orlando last October, we spent the entire time celebrating the birthdays of two members of our party. One was 60 a couple of weeks beforehand, the other was 13 the day we flew. The day we held the main celebration, they both wore birthday buttons.

I don't see anything morally wrong with it. My only question is whether a 7 year old would get as much from it 2 weeks after the event as he might on the day itself. At that age, I'm not sure it wouldn't seem strange having Cast Members wishing you, "Many Happy Returns" when it's not actually your birthday.

 

[edenlee]

Sorry - I have to agree with your wife. I Don't think it's honest either. Also, as mentioned above it will be 2 whole weeks after the day not just a few days.

 

[disneyholic family]

i also wonder whether a 7 year old would get much out of it 2 weeks after the event..
it's not as if they make that big a deal - they just wish you a happy birthday..

perhaps you could have him wear something else that might draw attention from the CMs, if that's what you're after...
a button saying , I flew all the way from the UK just to see Mickey or whatever.....

as far as the dishonesty thing goes - you would kind of be teaching your 7 year old that it's ok to lie...perhaps not the best educational experience....

 

[angel659]

I dont see anything wrong with this at all. It is hard to arrange your holiday on the exact dates of when your birthday fall. Explain to your 7 yr old that you are celebrating your birthday in Florida on say the first day your at MK. I dont see any harm in this.

I am out there for my daughters birthday, but I will be allocating a day for the boys to celebrate thier birthday, because we simply could not get out there for the 18th November. We are leaving on the 7th Dec.

As long as your honest with your child explaining what your doing then there is nothing wrong with that at all. Perhaps mention as well the CM that its a belated birthday celebration. They understand this too. So many people celebrate thier birthdays out there. Good for them!!

Go for it. Wonderful experience it would be to have a birthday phone call!

 

[UKAnnie]

I'm another one who couldn't lie. You can't wear a button saying 'it's my birthday' when it isn't! - that's called telling fibs! Where do you draw the line - a week either way? a month? I come back from Disney 6 weeks before my birthday, would that entitle me to say it? It just isn't right. It's deceiving people.

One year I was in the Magic Kingdom on my birthday and had a button. Loads of people wished me happy birthday. I would have felt a hypocrite if it wasn't my birthday.

Nuff said - and just my opinion.

 

[OrlandoMagic]

I dont see that much wrong with it, just treat it as an extended birthday.

Hey, when its Disneys birthday (like it's DL Paris' 15th birhday at the moment), you dont see them just celebrating it for a day, they do it for a whole year!!

I say go for it! Get him a badge that has a big 7 on it then your not even fibbing!

 

[schumigirl]

Our recent trip was for my 40th however we arrived 3 days after it due to when we could get our holidays. It was a cast member in MK who we were chatting to told me to get the badge. I said I felt a bit funny with it being past. He said not to be so silly this was my birthday trip after all. He even took us over and got the CM`S in guest services to sing happy birthday to me and some guests joined in too.
It was a lovely gesture and really helped make our day. So in answer to your question get your little boy his badge and by all means explain why he is wearing it when his birthday is over. I don`t think then you would be being "dishonest". Hope you have a lovely trip

 

[T16GEM]

Blimey, I must remember to tell my one year old that he mustn't lie that it's his birthday when it isn't till the day we get home!
I really don't see anything wrong with it - as others have said you can't plan your holiday around birthdates easily so what's wrong with having an extended / or early birthday? I can't believe that people see it as so bad. JMO though I guess!

 

[angel659]

Blimey, I must remember to tell my one year old that he mustn't lie that it's his birthday when it isn't till the day we get home!
I really don't see anything wrong with it - as others have said you can't plan your holiday around birthdates easily so what's wrong with having an extended / or early birthday? I can't believe that people see it as so bad. JMO though I guess!

I agree totally

 

[Beep]

My boyfriend was exactly the same. We flew out on the 22nd September and it was his birthday on the 30th. I had arranged loads of things leading up to his birthday and afterwards and he said he felt like a fraud. I saw it as a 2 week celebration.

I don't see what is wrong with celebrating your birthday around the day itself, or anytime close. As others have said, you can't always be there for the actual day.

 

[rpbert1]

it was my birthday last year when we where away, went to LTT and had a great time, a few days later we went to HDDR, and reckon most of the place where celebrating their birthday, if you believe them all, there must have been 150 people celebrating it.

 

[team harris]

My son John is 7 on November 13th and we fly to Orlando November 29th. I have suggested to my wife Donna that we take a birthday badge and he wear it in the parks. She has said no its not honest. Has anyone else done this?

In 2003, we were out in Orlando for our son's 7th birthday. We booked a character breakfast and evening meal in Cinderella's Castle. At the breakfast he was given a birthday badge to wear, which made his day sooooo magical. We bought a Mickey Mouse watch for Mickey to give him at breakfast and to this day he truly believes Mickey knew it was his birthday. The birthday badge worked wonders, all characters made a bee-line for him and he got phone calls from characters whilst we were shopping. It was genuinly his birthday and he had such a special day. I wonder, if everyone celebrated their "birthdays" on a visit to Magic Kingdom, would the genuine birthday-ers have such a magical time. I guess I'm saying, I'm with your wife on this one and don't forget, if you want a kid to lie, the chances are that they'll let you down.

 

[scottishsue]

It's my birthday on Monday and I'm going to get a Birthday button.
It will be one of the highlights of my holiday !!

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

It is interesting to see how the countries morals are changing.
At one time there would have been no discussion, but now a large part of the forum responding think it's OK to lie.
And that is what it is. its two weeks after his birthday. It also devalues the badge for people who's birthday actually falls on the day they are there.

 

[emily1982]

There's been a discussion on this before and someone said they do a badge which says something about celebrating a birthday. I don't think it's dishonest just tell them your here celebrating a birthday. Kids/adults birthday parties are rarely on the same day anyway so i don't see how it matters. It's not lying, tell them at the desk they will be fine with it.

 

[martinrmn]

Thanks for the comments. I don't plan on lying to my son John. I do think there has been some over reaction with my query which was not my intention. I was planning on telling him the facts. It was only to get him a bit more of a fuss. If I was going to lie I would tell him that there is a large man who comes into our house every year when we are sleeping, he comes down the chimney with bags full of presents.

 

[Shazzie B]

When we were queuing waiting for Universal to open last year, the guys on the gate asked if it was any-ones Birthday today-it wasn't-so he asked for all the Birthdays that week - both my son and myself put our hands up (honestly!), and a couple of others too. He then gave us all a badge to wear and the crowd sang Happy Birthday to us. My son was 13 (well nearly!) and thought it was great. People were wishing us Happy Birthday all day, Donkey sang to us too. I did feel a little 'uncomfortable' and nearly took my Badge off -but Hubby insisted I kept it on (probably because 18 months earlier I'd set him up!)

On my Husbands 40th Birthday trip (a couple of weeks after his birthday) I had 'Tour T-shirts' made up saying 'My Dad's 40th Birthday Trip' etc and on the day we all wore them-to a special ticket event- it made every-one smile and lots of people wished him Happy Birthday. I did explain to him it wasn't really his Birthday and it's not OK to lie.

We didn't get any 'freebees' (apart from the badges-which were given to us- we didn't ask for them) so I don't think it was being dishonest.

 

[scottishsue]

I spent my birthday in the Magic Kingdom. Once wearing my badge EVERY cast member wished me a Happy Birthday.

One guy even gave us fast passes for Splash Mountain. It was great !!