CMs Who Make You Smile

[TigMaya]

There were so many wonderful CM's on our first trip in May that I could go on and on about. One who really stands out though was a woman working at POFQ in the gift shop. My DH and I were shopping while the kids were on the pirate cruise, and when we were checking out I noticed a Pooh pin and a Belle pin on her lanyard. Winnie the Pooh pins are my favorite so I immediately wanted to trade with her, but Belle is my DD's favorite. The problem was that I only had one pin I was willing to trade. Of course, I traded for the Belle pin because I knew DD would love it. Well, my husband paid and I didn't think much more of it until she handed him the change with the Pooh pin placed on top. She looked at me and said "Have a magical day!" It was people like that CM that caused us to want to go back before we even left!

 

[dobtia]

This is my son and two niece's. We have been several times and it was their first trip. We did Biergarten and had a blast. This was our waitress. She was so awesome. Telling us about her hometown and talking to the kids like they were family. On the way out my son kept talking about her and how much fun we had.

Same trip, last day. My brother and me hit HM one more time. Wives and kids went into Christmas store. Kids just having a grand time. Two lovely ladies started talking to them. They remember that the store tree had not been decorated yet. The kids had a blast decorating the tree and knowing their names would be up all day.

On a side note to this they sent the kids ornaments to the front. We went to pick them up, but due to a mistake they not up front yet. People kept apolgizing..we kept saying no need. They gave us drinks, ice cream, paper clips....we never caused a scene. Pure magic.

We have had so many great moments from the CM's. Never a bad one....come on Christmas 2010.

 

[tsa]

Last winter we were at the Studios as a family. I had been visiting on business travel earlier in the month, and had tried out Toy Story Mania. Loved the ride, feared the loading area.

I knew that it would be a stretch for my autism-spectrum kid, but we had talked about the wait and the ride itself. We got into a line that was 45 minutes long by the numbers. Kid was anxious but within spec. As the line curved into the building, though, she froze up. The people around us were all helpfully encouraging the child who didn't want to wait in line, as they perceived her, which of course didn't help.

We walked out to the bench across the way, tears of frustration streaming down her face because This Was IT, the Ride She Had Waited For--and she just couldn't tolerate the waiting area!

Then our day got magical. Chuck the CM followed us. He talked quietly to the kid, told her that it was indeed loud in there, but offered to show her the waiting area from behind the scenes. He walked us in through the side entrance, and put her on the ride before we knew what had happened. He never asked the kid or her parents what was wrong, never told her that she shouldn't be afraid or to stop crying, just used the same calm voice and affect that the best of her teachers have used.

I never had to say 'My kid has a communication disorder' and she never had to say that she wanted desperately to be able to be like everyone else. Chuck made the ride work for her without stigmatizing the child or our family, just because he recognized that she was unable to continue through the doorway.

Considering how often we have to 'prove it' to get services that she's entitled to by law, we were blown away by a CM who took initiative to give our kid a great experience that she's still talking about.

When we return, we will have that experience to build on and will try the line again--she thinks that, now that she's in double digits, she might be able to manage the noise because she can focus on the fun at the end. We'll see!

You made me cry. I LOVE Disney for this reason and for all that they do. The CMs are what makes us come back, year after year after year.

 

[Big Kid]

Love your pictures of the unsung heroes of WDW, Dan. I tend to focus on the most exciting elements of the World like Cinderella's Castle, fireworks, and parades and so overlook all of the hard work required to keep it all clean, safe and beautiful. (One thing I truly love about WDW is that I have yet to see an overflowing trash can.)

My favorite CM memory is from my wife's and my first trip. Our plane landed in Orlando at about midnight after long days at work. Since I can't sleep on planes, I was truly beat and groggy, shlepping heavy bags through an airport that looked like pretty much any other airport, searching for the hokey-sounding Magical Express check in, which I thought would turn out to resemble a Greyhound Terminal.

Finally up ahead out of the gloom I saw this gigantic cheerfully waving bright white Mickey hand attached to a woman who looked truly delighted to see us. Her smile was so genuine and unselfconscious that it lasted us all the way to our resort. I believe that was the moment when I became a believer.

 

[humboldthny]

On our last trip our dd was not shy about sharing with anyone and everyone that she had her first loose tooth...at one point dd asked to pin trade with a CM named Kimi and we talked with her for quite awhile, she was great with dd and very excited about dd's loose tooth. On our last day we happened to see her again and she came up to us and asked dd if she had lost her tooth yet...I was amazed that she would remember us!

 

[OB1]

We had a great one at Tower on a recent trip. When the doors opened to the library, Chris burst out from behind them to greet us with his gloomy face. Everyone jumped back as he came out from behind the doors. As we watched the preshow, he moved around the room, hovering almost on top of us as we watched. He really got into the character and helped us enjoy a great attraction.

 

[heatherandnick]

so, i've never thought of myself as an emotional type of gal...why do these stories bring tears to my eyes?!
thanks to you all for understanding and sharing my love of Disney...for reasons we cannot even begin to explain to others.

 

[disneyhockeymad]

We had a great one at Tower on a recent trip. When the doors opened to the library, Chris burst out from behind them to greet us with his gloomy face. Everyone jumped back as he came out from behind the doors. As we watched the preshow, he moved around the room, hovering almost on top of us as we watched. He really got into the character and helped us enjoy a great attraction.

I had a simular experience at TT but in Paris, area of TT where the CM asks you how many people were in your party, I told him 4 and he motioned to me to go to a certain lift, well I walked off but he stopped my family behind me. I was soon aware I was walking alone and when I turned around he was just there starring at me, he then proceeded to follow me where ever I went and wouldn't let me back to my family so I had to just stand there looking unimpressed. He then mimicked what I was doing, took up my pose and facial expressions and stood there with my too. My family were in hysterics as were most of the people around us. It just goes to show that you don't have to speak the same language to get an amazing experience off of a CM.

When I was finally allowed through to the lift with my family we were walking up to the loading where a French family who took up most of the lift, infact I think it was them and us, were already waiting. Well they had an adorable little girl who was obviously not afraid of anything, we had an amazing CM loading us who I had seen the previous day and was really in character, well he and this little girl had a starring contest and this little girl refused to give up, when it came time to load us into the lift he let everyone in but this little girl, blocking her path which ever way she decided to go, we were all laughing and finally he took her by the hand and skipped with her into the lift, he face was so funny because she was trying to hard to remain 'cool' and completely unafraid and when they started skipping she was completely bemused!! (on another note when it came to getting off the ride and the doors opened he just popped up out of no where and totally scared us all, he was one of the best TT CM's I've seen in a very long time!!)

 

[heatherandnick]

After reading everyone's stories, I will definitely pay more attention tot he names of the CMs this trip. Maybe we should all pay more attention and then write letters commending their super customer service, enthusiasm, and spirit?!

 

[Joanna71985]

Her mom is also. She sent me an email to get a picture of her DD, so when I was in Epcot I stopped by the Art of Disney to get it. I always like your pictures, Joanna.


Here are links to a few threads I made in the past on CM's you might enjoy also...........

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=770432

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=775161



They are linked in my signature with many others.

I've met her mom. She is really nice (the whole family is just awsome).

Thank you! I will have to check out the links.

 

[heatherandnick]

Have you noticed how nice the reservation people are? The last one I talked to was so nice and helpful.

 

[heatherandnick]

bump

love the stories!

 

[fluffycow333]

On my last trip, I had been in the emergency room all night the night before and got out just in time. The CM when we were checking in asked us how we were and my dad said we didn't think we'd make it to Disney because of being in the ER. She seemed very sorry and told us about all of the medications they had in the gift shop and to find her if we needed anything and she would get it for us for free. I never needed anything but it was so kind of her to offer this and she seemed very concered.

 

[zhazhazsu]

Dan Murphy -


Your post just made me cry! Those lovely portraits of the amazing people who help make the magic happen just reminded me of what a wonderful (and small world) it is.

Thanks!

 

[verticalchaos]

Well, my sister... But that goes without saying!

There were two on one trip...sadly i don't have their names and it's been almost 10 years since, but...

We all met up at Christmas 2000. The last time we stayed off-property. I ended up getting sick-sick-sick our first full day there - even spending about an hour in EPCOT First Aid (all great people there too!). After that I was still sick, so sis took me back to the hotel (she could worst-case park in CM parking) where I stayed. When they came back that night, they had copies of the family picture we'd let them take of us in front of Spaceship Earth along with another bag. Turns out the guy who had taken our picture was working extra and was in the place where you purchase them. He noticed that one of us was missing and asked about me. When they said I was back at the hotel sick, he told them to hold on and then printed off a 5x7 of the picture of my sister and me for them to give me. No charge. (The funniest thing is looking at the pictures, you'd never know I was about an hour away from being about as sick as I've been in my life.)

The next day, I was feeling a bit better and managed to keep crackers and gingerale from the evening down as well as some toast and tea for breakfast, so I went along to Studios (whatever their extra name was at the time). We mainly did shows and the Muppet movie that morning just to make sure (and then it was only the tame rides...no Tower of Terror for me that trip, which made me !!). Lunch was at Prime Time. I ended up going with the chicken caesar. I ate some, but by no means all of it. Our "cousin" started to scold me, but when I said I had been sick the day before she looked again at my plate and said I'd done just fine and that "Mom" would definitely understand. Seeing how some of the "cousins" are to people who don't clean their plates, I was quite happy with her kind response.

 

[MYD714]

In 2008, I was traveling with my friend and her two kids. During this trip, the following two CMs made me smile:

1.) We were on main street before the parade and one of the kids dropped her ice cream. Upon seeing my friend's impending breakdown, a CM quickly offered to bring us a replacement ice cream. Within minutes the crisis was averted.

2) While getting a frozen lemonade in Adventureland, I was telling the CM behind the counter about a horrible encounter I had at AK the day before. This CM said "You had a rough day yesterday. I'm going to make you something special." A minute later he handed me a homemade ice cream sandwich (2 huge cookies w/soft serve). I was tickled pink.

They were truly full of Disney magic. It made my week.

 

[Hollymom1229]

On our trip in 2002, Leonard was our CM of pure magic, eight years later and my DH and I both still remember him fondly. He was the bell hop at AKL when we arrived, he took time to acquaint us with the hotel, looked for us every morning when we left for the parks to see how our trip was going, and on our anniversary wouldn't let us take a cab to the GF but personally drove us in the AKL van to the GF for our dinner at V&A. He was amazing and his care is part of the reason AKL became our second home.

In 2008, Mandy at Jiko went out of her way to make our trip magical and got the rest of the crew at Jiko in on it. From special dishes, to visits to the table - she had others in the restaurant whispering to each other wondering who we were because we were clearly VIPs. It made us feel so special.

 

[Howellsy]

I love these stories! They make me wanna go back right now though.
I paid a lot more attention to the CMs on my past trip (probably because I was applying for the ICP at the time) and I was a bit sad that I forgot to give the names of a few into Guest Services when I left, which I'd been meaning to do all trip!

Sadly, the only one whose name I remember now is Jack, a CM who works at Main Street Bakery. Me and my DGF were wearing the personalised Mickey ears and he kept calling us by our names and telling everyone in the bakery that we were princesses - it was magical!
Another one I loved was a CM working on the Magic Carpets who told us princesses to have a magical day And then there was the Security Guard who gave us Junior Security stickers which made our day, as we were leaving the day after! Our sever at CRT was amazing too, he really went overboard to make sure we had everything

This is why WDW is the happiest place on earth!!

 

[2GirlsMama]

We were in the world last month and having a great time. For some reason one morning our daughters got into a tiff about a towel. (I know, it's always something stupid...) They were separated and given the standard lecture about how fortunate they were to be in WDW, and they got into a fight about a towel...yada yada. So they were properly remorseful as we were walking through the WL to go to breakfast. A wonderful CM noticed them because every other morning they were laughing and holding hands. So, he stopped us and had them hug each other and then he wrapped them up with Mickey stickers. Soon they were giggling and enjoying being sisters again. Of course, I was taking lots of pictures to remind them about the silliness. It was the perfect way to turn the situation around. (It was much better than my lecture!) The rest of the day they rode every ride together and were back to being best friends. I thought it was so special that the CM would notice that they weren't acting the same way and try to do something to help. It was great.

 

[SquirtsMom]

We too have met many wonderful cast members but there are several that seem to stick with us:

Magic Mikeasaurus - server at Donald's restaurantasaurus...he is always fun and entertaining with his magic tricks (yes we've been lucky enough to sit at his table several times). He also helped us out when my dd left her arcade point slip on the table and it was taken away as trash. He called our resort and arranged for her to redeem the points without the paper.

Fabiola - mousekeeper at All-Star Music. She is the best!! We never asked for anything special but she was always leaving extras of everything and cute animal towels too!

Andrew - CM at the now closed Virtual Magic Kingdom store in MK. My kids were big fans of VMK and collected all of the cards, etc. We were in the store to redeem a quest for cards and he made the kids feel special by giving them more cards than they expected.

I can't remember ever meeting a cast member that wasn't pleasant and enjoying what they do.