Character calls/revealing surprise

[sherilynn]

I'm trying to decide how to reveal the surprise birthday cruise for my DD. I'm sure some of you must have signed up to receive the character calls on the DCL website. How does it work? What do they say when they call? Would this be a good way to do the reveal? Any other suggestions on how to reveal? BTW, she will be turning 10. Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[ImDMous]

I just did one a few days ago just for fun. You can pick if you want Mickey, Goofy or Ariel to call and you put in the number and when you want it. There's also an option for right now. I did Mickey and after the recorded operator tells you to press 1 for someone special to talk to you, Mickey comes on and says he's looking forward to having you join him and Minnie, Donald and Pluto will all be waiting. I think you also choose where you are cruising to. Mickey's voice was a little too squeaky, but you can just attribute that to a bad connection from the Caribbean or wherever.

 

[kuhawk88]

We sail this Saturday on the Fantasy (our first Disney cruise) - and we received a call from Mickey this evening right after dinner. I put it on speaker phone for my twin daughters to hear - and they absolutely loved it. Highly recommend doing this for the family a few days before you leave for your cruise - it really adds to the overall excitement for the kids (as well as the "kids" in us adults)!

 

[Capt Stitch]

I had my call for dd college graduation, it wasn't a surprise it was just a reminder that was her graduation gift. Mickey did the call, forgot that I set it up, when the call came through it was 866 area code didn't recognize the number so I wasn't going to answer the phone. Then reality struck and I remembered I put in the request for a character call.

Put it On You tube not sure if this will work,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqrOLsZJ3kM&feature=youtu.be

 

[DreamGirl90]

I had my call for dd college graduation, it wasn't a surprise it was just a reminder that was her graduation gift. Mickey did the call, forgot that I set it up, when the call came through it was 866 area code didn't recognize the number so I wasn't going to answer the phone. Then reality struck and I remembered I put in the request for a character call.

Put it On You tube not sure if this will work, ...[/url]

YouTube says the video is Private.

 

[dvcdisney]

I think it would be a cute way to reveal to them.

We did a b2b so I chose Mickey for one and Ariel for the other. As pp says, they will say that they are looking forward to you joining them.

I would love to have surprised my kids this way, but alas, I can't keep it in and they know all of our vacation plans all the time. However, we did somewhat surprise them with the second part of the b2b cruise. I remember telling them that we would do a b2b when I first booked it, but they must have forgotten and when we were at port at the end of the first part, they said they were sad it was so short. So my husband and I realized they had forgotten. So on the morning before we had to disembark, we decided to ask them if they had fun and if they wish they could stay on the ship for another cruise. Their eyes went wide and said "SURE!" And when we told them that we can, they didn't believe us. We even told them that we had paid for the cruises a long time ago and that we can. Our luggage (we changed rooms) is being transported to another room. They still didn't believe it. When our server came over, we told her and that's when they finally believed it.

We enjoyed surprising them with this even though we didn't know it would be a surprise since they always know our vacation plans --Disney! every 6 mths. It hasn't changed for 7yrs. I like this type of surprise, because it didn't take any work from us. I think they really didn't know you can do b2b's.

Good Luck with yours.

 

[reelmom]

I didn't realize this was on the website. I will have to go look for it. We are surprising the kids and didn't know how to reveal it. Thanks for the tip.

 

[swalesfamily]

I think it would be a cute way to reveal to them.

We did a b2b so I chose Mickey for one and Ariel for the other. As pp says, they will say that they are looking forward to you joining them.

I would love to have surprised my kids this way, but alas, I can't keep it in and they know all of our vacation plans all the time. However, we did somewhat surprise them with the second part of the b2b cruise. I remember telling them that we would do a b2b when I first booked it, but they must have forgotten and when we were at port at the end of the first part, they said they were sad it was so short. So my husband and I realized they had forgotten. So on the morning before we had to disembark, we decided to ask them if they had fun and if they wish they could stay on the ship for another cruise. Their eyes went wide and said "SURE!" And when we told them that we can, they didn't believe us. We even told them that we had paid for the cruises a long time ago and that we can. Our luggage (we changed rooms) is being transported to another room. They still didn't believe it. When our server came over, we told her and that's when they finally believed it.

We enjoyed surprising them with this even though we didn't know it would be a surprise since they always know our vacation plans --Disney! every 6 mths. It hasn't changed for 7yrs. I like this type of surprise, because it didn't take any work from us. I think they really didn't know you can do b2b's.

Good Luck with yours.

I'm the same way! Not sure if the trip is more for me or the kids I have a question though, how far in advance do you need to contact Disney for the character call? We don't sail until Jan but I want to make sure I have enough time for them to process my request

 

[DisSarahK]

Does anyone have more specific info on the wording used in the call?

 

[Capt Stitch]

YouTube says the video is Private.

Made it public

Does anyone have more specific info on the wording used in the call?

The wording is very simple similar to the wake up call, Mickey says he is excited you will be sailing the Caribbean with Pluto, Goofy and friends. It will be fun.

 

[DisSarahK]

The wording is very simple similar to the wake up call, Mickey says he is excited you will be sailing the Caribbean with Pluto, Goofy and friends. It will be fun.

Thanks! Any idea if the wording is changed at all for the Alaska cruises?

 

[tripsmom]

You choose which desination you are cruising - we are going to Alaska and Mickey said he would see us in Alaska.
As afar as how far in advance.... no advanced planning required. You can set it up months in advance or the day you want it!

 

[suemouse]

I'm trying to decide how to reveal the surprise birthday cruise for my DD. I'm sure some of you must have signed up to receive the character calls on the DCL website. How does it work? What do they say when they call? Would this be a good way to do the reveal? Any other suggestions on how to reveal? BTW, she will be turning 10. Thanks for any thoughts!

Friends of ours thought that the character call was a little disappointing because it was a really short recording...

We surprise our DD when she was 9. We told her that we were going to FL for our vacation (couldn't hide all the luggage etc). At MCO, when we walked toward the Disney welcome center, she was a little surprised that we were going to WDW (been there the prior year), very happy but not totally amazed. Then this Disney lady yelled out "All cruise guests, come with me" and pointed to me when she spotted the cruise document that I was trying to hide from my DD. The DD's eyes went so wide, her mouth dropped open, and she actually stuttered (never stuttered before!) "but but but mommy, mommy, she means people who will go to the big ship, to go out to sea, that's not us" and tears almost came to my eyes as I replied "yes, yes,she means us, we're going on the Disney ship!"
I actually wanted to surprise the DD when the Disney bus would pull up next to the ship at port (after somehow hiding from her view the word "cruise" on the side of the bus), but the surprise did work out!

Wish you a great memory!

 

[oceangirl]

This sounds really fun. How do you arrange for such a call? Someone mentioned the website? If it's the DCL website, what do you look under? TIA!

 

[oceangirl]

Never mind - I figured it out!

 

[Keurigirl]

So how do you get them to call you? When I did it, you called a number and basically waited a second and Mickey talked to you. So it was like you calling mickey, not him calling you....

 

[oceangirl]

I went to my reservation page on the DCL website, and toward the bottom was a picture of Mickey asking if we wanted a character call. I only had a choice between Mickey and Goofy (unlike previous posters who mentioned Ariel & others) so I'm not sure if the character options are based on your CC level, length of cruise, or what. Anyway, if you click on Mickey, it will prompt you through setting up the call.

 

[MCBWHITE]

So how do you get them to call you? When I did it, you called a number and basically waited a second and Mickey talked to you. So it was like you calling mickey, not him calling you....

In WA, you have to call in with a code. Go to My Reservations (as PP said) and at the bottom, click on the "Have our characters call your characters" link. That'll take you to a new page where you pick either Mickey or Goofy. Once you make that selection, a new page will open up, requesting your phone number, state of residence, etc. After you enter in all that info, it will give you an 800# to call, plus a code you'll have to enter to access Goofy or Mickey's message.

I don't know how old your kids are, but my DH and I just told our (little) kids that we got a message on our voice mail that said we needed to call Mickey & Goofy so they could talk to our kids. Worked for us!

 

[dvcdisney]

I'm the same way! Not sure if the trip is more for me or the kids I have a question though, how far in advance do you need to contact Disney for the character call? We don't sail until Jan but I want to make sure I have enough time for them to process my request

Well for us, the trip is definitely more me. I think my husband and I love Disney more than the kids.

In terms of the call, I don't think they need that much time to process the request. But I will say that I signed up for it after the PIF date. So possibly 2 months before. It's really quite easy and I made sure I put it on my calendar to remind me that we will be getting a call. And because I did 2 calls, I had them call a week before we left and then 2 days prior.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

Friends of ours thought that the character call was a little disappointing because it was a really short recording...

If it were longer then people might try to interact with the recorded message.

It's a shame they were disappointed though.

Ex Techie