Does Magic Moments Like This Still Happen?

[Grumpy Tigger]

Sorry for the long paragraph, but this was special and I will be as brief as possible:

Many years ago, a really magical moment in the MK happened for us outside the HM. My 12 yr old daughter (DD) asked a cast member to trade pins and the CM did so. But, then the CM asked my daughter if she wanted to work for Disney. My DD said yes and then the CM asked her if she wanted to start now. A little confused, my DD said sure. After asking us if it was OK, the CM took my wife and DD into a side door of the HM for a little while and I waited outside with the rest of my family. After a little bit, I see my DD walking towards me in a HM CM outfit. It included the full dress and head covering. I was amazed and she looked awesome! Then the CM told her it was time for her to go to work, so the CM took us through a side door of the HM into the first room. My DD was told to open the door and welcome everyone in. After that, she was told to escort everyone into the stretching room and tell the guest to move to the "dead center" of the room. After that, we were escorted out to the side door again where my DD returned her outfit. Come to find out, the CM was one of the managers for the area. This is a memory neither she nor I will forget. This was completely magical!

Are magical moments like this still taking place? Please share if so. I just hope the cutbacks have not changed moments like this.

 

[AngiTN]

They do. With so many more guests now it's a bit harder but they do still do special things at a whim

 

[nilla]

Did this story, by any chance, happen during the "Year of a Million Dreams" promotion (2006-07, I believe)?

In '07, we got picked to visit the Space Mountain control room and ride the ride with a CM, and our son also got to wear the Dinosaur CM uniform and got special treatment for that ride as well.

 

[Irish_Mike]

Yes, this still happens - Haunted Mansion and ToT are the two rides that are known to do this, but a handful more do as well.

 

[DisneyFive]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

Dan

 

[Mitzicat]

Very Cool and yes.... Several years ago I was in the Disney Springs area for a business conference. We made reservations at Sanaa. Drove over, parked, but couldn't figure out how to get into the building. Nice CM in a business attire sees us wondering around the parking lot. He asks if he can help us. We ask for directions to Sanaa. He said I'm not supposed to do this, but I can take you straight there. We thought that comment was odd. We follow him, and he opens a door - its the entrance to the kitchen. We walked right past all the Chefs and kitchen workers. It was so neat. The kitchen staff looked at us like we were some important people because they all kind of stared at us. CM takes us to the check in desk and the ladies snapped to attention. We figured at this point he was a big deal. He never gave us his name and said that we couldn't formally thank the company for his help. But wow what a treat. And dinner was awesome that night.

 

[J'aime Paris]

We have a fun story!

When my DD was about 6 years old (now 17), we ate breakfast at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. DD was dressed up as Alice from Wonderland, and was a good match with her long blonde hair.

When the characters paraded in, the "real "Alice spotted my daughter. Alice marched right up to our table and asked my DD if she'd seen the White Rabbit? My shy DD whispered, "no, I haven't". Alice then said, "we must go look for him this instant!"

Alice took my DD by the hand and let her out of the restaurant, across the hall, and outside to a courtyard. I believe it was the area where they used to do the ladybug release. (My DH and I followed of course! We were a bit surprised DD went with Alice. She was a very reserved kid.)

We got some fabulous photos of Big Alice and Little Alice walking hand in hand. They were looking all around the shrubs and plants for the White Rabbit.

When we came back into the restaurant, Alice gathered up all the other characters to get a group photo and signed my DD's autograph book.
It was a true Disney Magic moment! My DD had never felt so special!

 

[WolfDreamer1112]

Our Disney trips always seem magical to me.

During a visit to the princesses in MK (Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, etc.), my youngest daughter fell asleep. Aurora doted over how cute she was and called her "the real sleeping beauty," and kissed her forehead.

One of my favorite shows is the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. I hardly ever get picked for anything, but during our trip two years ago, I was the guy who "feels the urge to get up and dance." Of course, I danced, embarrassing my teenage daughters.

During the same trip, we were placed in a seat by CMs for Dinosaur. My daughter was a little disappointed we didn't get a front seat. Her disappointment didn't last long, though, as our car stopped and the carnotaur was directly beside us, roaring in our faces.

Maybe not the same as your experience, but for my family every trip seems full of magical experiences.

 

[momandmousefan]

We were at the Garden Grove at Epcot with my toddler who is in love with the characters and has no fear of them. Within minutes of sitting down Mickey came by and my daughter gave him a big hug. When Chip and Dale came she was so excited she kept running from one to the other and didn't know who to hug more. I was worried she was getting too wild and the cast member with them (handler) said to go with it and the characters were loving it. In fact they kept coming by teasing each other through pantomime which one she loved more. We kept thinking this was the most amazing character interaction ever when it got even better and Mickey came by again and just sits down with my daughter. They're "talking" back and forth gesturing and hugging and then the manager asks if she'll eat fruit. They brought a bowl over and next thing I know Mickey is sitting there feeding her! For almost ten minutes we sat there while Mickey just hugged and fed my completely overjoyed child. In all my years, I can't remember when during a character meal all the characters acted like they were a part of your family for about 75% of the time you were seated. Such an incredible, endearing experience.

 

[YawningDodo]

I've seen a kid get pulled in as an honorary cast member once, and it was on ToT. There was a mother with a young daughter near me in line, and as we got up to the loading area the kid got more and more hysterical from fear of riding (reminded me of the first time I went through the queue...). When it was their turn to board, the mother got on and sat down, but the daughter was too afraid and wouldn't get on the ride. The mother got angry and snapped at the kid that she could just wait for her (uugghh) and the last thing we saw before the elevator doors closed was this kid standing alone on the loading platform in tears (and that's where the similarity ended, because when itty!me freaked out my mom took the chicken exit with me like, you know, a good parent). When our elevator pulled up to the exit door, though, we were greeted by the tiniest bellwoman. They'd put a miniature version of the coat and hat the cast members wear on the daughter and whisked her around to the exit, even got her lined up to greet the car her mother was riding in. She was all smiles at that point and seemed to have had a really good time, so I'm glad the kid got a good experience out of it. I hadn't known before then that that was something the cast members could do.

Very Cool and yes.... Several years ago I was in the Disney Springs area for a business conference. We made reservations at Sanaa. Drove over, parked, but couldn't figure out how to get into the building. Nice CM in a business attire sees us wondering around the parking lot. He asks if he can help us. We ask for directions to Sanaa. He said I'm not supposed to do this, but I can take you straight there. We thought that comment was odd. We follow him, and he opens a door - its the entrance to the kitchen. We walked right past all the Chefs and kitchen workers. It was so neat. The kitchen staff looked at us like we were some important people because they all kind of stared at us. CM takes us to the check in desk and the ladies snapped to attention. We figured at this point he was a big deal. He never gave us his name and said that we couldn't formally thank the company for his help. But wow what a treat. And dinner was awesome that night.

If he was dressed in business attire rather than a work costume, that means he was either management-tier or above or he was on site for some kind of training or orientation rather than a regular work assignment (or maybe leading a tour? I don't know if special tour CMs wear costumes). Considering he had the confidence to take you the back way against regulations my money would be on manager, though it's hard to say whether they snapped to attention because he was top tier or because they figured anyone with an escort had to be important guests. When I worked at DHS the top-tier manager who oversaw the entire park used to set aside time to wander around the property with a reach extender in hand, picking up garbage as he checked in with all the departments. He wore a suit like the rest of management, but you wouldn't have known he was a big shot unless you knew his face from cast bulletins.

 

[ssreward]

Both my boys have done the ToT bellhop but I didn't know HM had a mini-CM outfit too! Might need to spend some time over there next trip, lol

 

[MakiraMarlena]

yes. But they are random. Because they don't happen to any given family on a particular trip doesn't mean that they never happen anymore.

 

[daftkast]

Thanks for posting this, We had the same story from 2013, we were there during October, and My Son aged 9 and I, were about to ride Haunted Mansion, but my Wife and my Daughter had gone on another ride. So we were due to meet in a few mins. But we were approached by the CM and they asked the same thing, we were a little confused, and stupidly said we were sorry but did not have time as needed to meet my wife, and I have regretted it ever since! I always wondered what my Son may have been asked to do and now I know!

When we were there last year, my daughter aged 5 had broken her arm, but we were in Cosmic Rays having lunch, an old CM Bruce came up to us chatting. He said that he used to serve in the Navy, he mentioned that when he used to visit the UK everyone was so nice to him. He then mentioned as the UK were so nice to him, He wanted to repay the debt! He then said "what goes around comes around". He then offered my daughter a ride pass to go on anything she wanted and produced a special little ticket that he wrote out. Well we were unable to fastpass Anna and Elsa which is what she wanted to do the most. But with this ticket she was able to visit Anna and Elsa which then made her holiday!

A few days later, we found a wallet/purse and handed it in at HS. A few days after this My Silver watch which I got from my wife on my 30 Birthday fell in the Main Lagoon Surf Pool at Typhoon Lagoon I searched frantically for it and thought it was gone forever, but asked the lost and found on the way out, sure enough somebody had handed it in! I was amazed.

So as I handed in the Wallet, my goodness was rewarded with my watch, My kids then said its what Bruce said, "what goes around comes around".

I and my Kids will never forget that, and that is my little bit of Disney Magic.

 

[Laneybelle]

I love the HM story! Last year my husband and I visited WDW for our 5th anniversary (we also got engaged there in 2009) so we wore our Anniversary buttons most days. We had two really nice things happen during this trip. We were sitting on a park bench sharing a carrot cake cookie in Hollywood Studios and a CM walked by and said hi and asked if we were having a good time, which of course we were, and then handed us each a FP paper ticket for any ride at any time that day! Then later that week we were buying a bag of caramel popcorn from the caramel store in the Epcot Germany pavilion and the CM checking us out rang up our order and then handed me the receipt and I said "wait I haven't paid" and he said "Happy Anniversary" and my receipt said the price was $0.00. Needless to say I went to GS and wrote very kind words about these two CMs and it made our trip even more special. We still bring it up all the time!

 

[ckmommy]

I love reading these stories!! We have been to WDW a lot with our 5 kids--we have not had great stories like these--but when we were eating breakfast for the first time at Chef Mickey's--one of my twin boys who was 3 at the time loved anyone dressed in a costume. Mickey came by the table and my son excitedly got out of his chair and ran to give Mickey a great big hug. Unfortunately, his shoulder landed in Mickey's "no no zone." Mickey was not happy, wagged his finger at my son and did not come by again. We were super embarrassed--but now find the story funny. I guess 3 year olds are Mickey's greatest threat!!

 

[TeamSy]

These are my favorite types of things to read! I had no idea things like this exist! How cute! And we thought we were special in '07 when we were asked if we wanted to sit in the front car of the monorail

 

[serenitynow]

Once upon a time, a long time ago, when my youngest was 4 we had our first breakfast at Chef Mickey's. It was our last day and we had attended the Christmas party the night before. Everyone was feeling tired and a little down to be leaving. My little guy wanted to wear his Mickey Mouse costume from the night before, so I warned him that we were turning our luggage over to Magical express and he would have to wear the costume all day and on the plane. He insisted and I realized he was going to fall asleep as soon as the plane became airborne, and the costume was pretty soft like pajamas, so I relented.

So we show up at Chef Mickey's at 7:30 in the morning with little guy dressed in a full Mickey Mouse costume. The CMs were so great. They announced that "the boss is here", made a big deal over my little guy and escorted us to our table. The characters hadn't come out yet so we readied ourselves to hit the buffet when out of nowhere, all the Disney characters, minus Mickey came out and Goofy grabbed my little guy's hand. Then the whole gang formed like a conga line, with my little guy leading the way and marched throughout Chef Mickey's, with more and more CMs joining the conga line as they marched all over the place. He was so thrilled.

Then, once we were done eating, he got a tap on the shoulder and there was the real Mickey Mouse acting all upset. Mickey kept pointing at himself and my little guy. Then Mickey gave him a big hug, grabbed his hand and the two of them skipped all over Chef Mickey's. He was beyond words. It was a great ending to our vacation!

 

[frisbeego]

My son is the lucky recipient of lots of pixie dust.

At Pirates League, my son finished first and sat down next to me. He asked me to buy him a toy gun, but I said no. After we were outside, the pirate found us and handed my son the toy gun. He then got picked for Pirates Tutorial and shot Captain Jack repeatedly throughout the show.

Another time, my son found a stick and carried it around the park. When he got to a ride, my son asked the CM to hold onto the stick, which she did. We went back 2 days later, and the same CM was working. She said, "you're the stick boy!" When we got off, she handed us 2 any-attraction FPs.

And, from my avatar picture, my son was wearing an Ezra costume at last year's Star Wars Weekend. After the trivia challenge, a CM said that Ezra and Sabine would like to meet him. As a bonus, Chopper was there too.

 

[Grumpy Tigger]

It is awesome to read all these stories. My friends do not understand why I am a Disney freak and this is just one of the many reasons!

 

[Mitzicat]

These are my favorite types of things to read! I had no idea things like this exist! How cute! And we thought we were special in '07 when we were asked if we wanted to sit in the front car of the monorail

I got to sit in the front car of the monorail....the driver - and older gentleman took a liking to me and asked if I could stay and ride with him all day! He was very sweet and nothing inappropriate. It made me smile. His best line: "Had I known such a lovely lady was waiting for me in my cab I would have never held the train so long!" I said "you say that to all the ladies." He laughed and we had a nice chat from the poly to the MK.