Great CM stories everyone. Those are so nice to hear...especially the one about the bear Meggin!
I'm glad you got a chance to hook up with Tripp....I'm sure that was fun!
If you read Eric's trip report you may remember that several years ago we met him making a pin trade. Long story..but we've become good friends and communicate all year long and make special time to spend with him when we go to Disney. Well, he once told me a similar story about an autograph book that was lost and then found. Our CM friend took the autograph book and got EVERY character to sign it...even those "hard to get" autographs. He then mailed it along with a note from Mickey to the little girl. Thankfully their address was in the front of the book. Anyway...such a nice and thoughtful thing to do.
Another little magical moment was this same CM took our family to lunch and we had great conversation. As usual he presented us with special pins..some are castmember only pins, some collectors pins, and some just have special meaning. I must admit that we know nothing about the value or the pins or what type of pin they are...we just treasure them because our friend, Mr. Bill, gave them to us. Anyway.....
This day at lunch he also gave our three older kids a very special set of Tinkerbell "Share The Magic" pins. It was actually 2 pins on two connected cards. As he explained to us......These pins are very special and very rare You can only get them from a castmember. The purpose of them was to spread the pixie dust by finding someone that needed a bit of magic and present that stranger with a pin. We were to then keep the other connected identical pin as a reminder of the magical moment. What a great idea DISNEY! So, naturally we took this job very seriously and were off to find three deserving strangers to give the Tink pins to.
Longer story still...but the Cliff Notes version was that throughout the rest of our trip we became very aware of those around us and what magic we could sent their way. We felt like little Tinks ourselves.
We managed to find a deserving family on the monorail who had just come to Disney for the first time and were just riding the monorail in excitement. Not having tickets to the park yet they just wanted to look! This family was very much like ours..same number of kids outnumbering parents.....2 boys, 2 girls and they were, believe it or not, LOST on the monorail! They didn't know how or where to get off. It was so very very sweet. So Tink came to guide them back to their hotel and start what I'm sure was a truly magical vacation.
Pin number 2 went to a little Princess who had just walked into the park in her Princess outfit and had just come out of City Hall from getting her special "I't my birthday" button. Well, lucky day for her that Tink had a special wish for her too!
Pink number 3 was the most meaningful to me. I had noticed a little girl, maybe 4, just running around the teacups lost....crying 'mommy, mommy' and just running frantically looking everywhere. Well, I'm sure all you parents can feel the gut wrenching anguish I was feeling witnessing this. So of course I went over to her to help and calm her down. Moments later mom found her and the scary moment was over. Natually I felt that Tink needed to give this little girl a hug and perhaps stay with her to make her feel safe. Anyway...
Those stories really aren't about us, it goes back to the CM who took the Pixie Dust one step further. By entrusting us with this task of spreading magic it not only sprinkled pixie dust on some deserving guests, but we managed to spill some on ourselves too!
By the way, that was part of the idea with us sending everyone two of Eric's pins. Originally the plan was to keep one for yourself and then to go spread the word and the magic and get someone else to vote and present them with a pin too. If you don't want your extra pin then you might consider that option.
Just thought I'd share. I'm all about the warm fuzzies in the a.m.
Good Morning all!
Amy
Do you think I actually gave it to myself??!! 
I like your way of thinking! 
) I asked a nearby CM if things might get any better. He encouraged us to return during that evening's Extra Magic Hours, so off we went to get our wristbands. This might not seem particularly extraordinary -- except that he recognized me later in the evening when my family returned. (He actually made a point to approach us and ask, "So, is this better?")
)
