Is this cheating?

[Brier Rose]

I think there should be a happy medium here!

If you miss your birthday by a few days or a week..I say go for it!
But it it's several weeks or a month, I would think twice about the birthday button.

We are leaving Thrusday to celebrate 3 birthday's. DD's was yesterday, Oct. 17th, mine is Oct. 20th, and DS is Oct. 24th!


DD wanted to do the Princess Storybook breakfast for her birthday, so I booked that, and she will wear a birthday princess crown, and pink feather boa for her special day. I also ordered her a birthday cake.

We'll be there on DS's birthday, so he will be wearing the birthday pin, and having his party at Chef Mickey's , and I ordered him a birthday cake too!

 

[AnaheimGirl]

...what if it is a once in a lifetime trip? I rather ignore the "today is not her birthday" comments on the boards and give her wonderful memories of her birthday trip at The World.

I don't mean to single you out, but your post is the one that jumped out at me, although I've seen this comment posted many times and each time, I'm confused. Will your dd not have wonderful memories of her birthday trip if she doesn't hear strangers say "happy birthday"? If it is a once in a lifetime trip, to me, that makes the trip itself even more special, with or without a birthday pin on. Either way, your family will have a wonderful time.

I see a difference, too, between celebrating a birthday with friends or family members on another day, versus wearing a pin proclaiming to strangers that it's your bday when it's not. When someone gives a party to celebrate their own birthday, or a friends, they are doing so because they know and love that person and want to celebrate, whether or not the celebration occurs on the actual day. I see no problem with going to WDW, buying yourself a cake and having your family sing to the birthday child at the restaurant. Very different from wearing a pin, which, face it, has no other purpose but to tell strangers that it's your birthday, and whether you want freebies or just happy birthday wishes, you're still getting them under false pretenses, and I wouldn't be comfortable with that at all.

As many have said, everyone can do what they're comfortable with, obviously WDW doesn't care, or they'd be asking for proof of birthdate. But if someone asks if this is "cheating", I can't help but get the impression the questioner already thinks of it as "cheating". Otherwise, why ask? And I'm going to answer honestly based on my personal standards. You've answered honestly, too, based on your own standards, and that's fine, that's (hopefully) why the question was asked, to get different people's opinions.

 

[AnaheimGirl]

one little aside...

We were there on my dd's bday, and ordered the $12 6-inch cake at CRT lunch. Well, the waiter messed up and brought the little freebie cupcake-ish thing instead. We told him we'd ordered the 6-inch cake, so he brought that too, but left the freebie one on the table. We each tried a bite of the freebie cake (it was a different flavor), and boy, was it nasty!! It tasted horrible! The 6-inch cake was delicious, though!

So, for anyone trying to get freebie birthday cakes, it's really not worth it. Not at CRT anyway, we didn't mention dd's bday anywhere else, so we don't know if other restaurants have better freebie cakes. If you want to celebrate a birthday, do it right and buy yourself a real cake.

 

[Dani&Pao'sMom]

I don't mean to single you out, but your post is the one that jumped out at me, although I've seen this comment posted many times and each time, I'm confused. Will your dd not have wonderful memories of her birthday trip if she doesn't hear strangers say "happy birthday"? If it is a once in a lifetime trip, to me, that makes the trip itself even more special, with or without a birthday pin on. Either way, your family will have a wonderful time.

Everything you said is absolutely true and she doesn't need the pin to make this trip special. It will not make a difference if she doesn't wear it, but it will be nice for her if she does. Even if we don't hear a single happy birthday from anyone, she'll be happy to have the pin. And while I kept reading all the posts I had a couple of ideas. She could wear the pin everyday WITH the homemade badge that says "today" is not the actual birthday but we are ther celebrating or I could do the magic marker "UN-" birthday thing or put a sticker on top of Today that says Oct XXth. and either way, I'll be giving my kid a little extra pixie dust on her already special trip.

I wouldn't be comfortable with that at all

And I really don't see a problem, isn't it great that we can agree to disagree? WDW is the only place where I would be able to get this button for her. Another poster already said something along those lines. If I tried to celebrate my birthday for a week at work, I certainly wouldn't be able to.

 

[MossMan]

I can’t believe people are even arguing about this. I have visited Disney 30 times so far this year. And on every one of those occasions I wore a birthday button. In fact I even had one specially made up that was real big and had flashing lights – let’s just say it’s really noticeable.

I am a firm believer that Disney is special only inasmuch as I am treated special. And I have found that the best way to ensure this is to pretend its my birthday. I know that there are some who might feel differently. Maybe they don’t want to feel special – or maybe they don’t think they deserve to feel special. All I know is that I want it and I deserve it.

I have noticed, though, that sometimes the CM’s don’t react very positively to me wearing my birthday button. I think some of them recognize me and know that I wear the thing every time I come. But no matter. If I don’t get the treatment I’m after from some CM’s then I just make sure to complain about their job performance. If I have the button then they are obligated to say nice things to me. I simply won’t stand still for anything less.

I suppose as time goes on that more and more people will begin to emulate me. That’s OK though because I’ve always been somewhat of an innovator. It’s natural that people want to do what I do. So just remember, if you want to guarantee yourself special treatment you have to do it aggressively. At place like Disney you need to take care of yourself because no one is going to care for you on their own volition.

 

[Bama mom to 3]

We will be there next June and during our time there, our youngest will turn 5. Whichever park we are at on the 19th (his birthday) is the one he will wear a pin at. The rest of the week, I am making special shirts. Some are just matching ones for the whole family (like the tie dyed mickey head ones) And some will be different that might say something Like "I'm celebrating my 5th birthday at Disney World" Or something along those lines. We won't do the pins at every park, each day that week, but we will be sure others know we are celebrating that whole week we are there, not just the one day.

 

[VSL]

Nevermind.

 

[eeyore45]

one little aside...

We were there on my dd's bday, and ordered the $12 6-inch cake at CRT lunch. Well, the waiter messed up and brought the little freebie cupcake-ish thing instead. We told him we'd ordered the 6-inch cake, so he brought that too, but left the freebie one on the table. We each tried a bite of the freebie cake (it was a different flavor), and boy, was it nasty!! It tasted horrible! The 6-inch cake was delicious, though!

So, for anyone trying to get freebie birthday cakes, it's really not worth it. Not at CRT anyway, we didn't mention dd's bday anywhere else, so we don't know if other restaurants have better freebie cakes. If you want to celebrate a birthday, do it right and buy yourself a real cake.

Just to offer a "different" opinion... we celebrated my dd 9th bday and my mom's bday - mom's was on arrival day, and dd 3 days later, they both wore buttons - at AK the day after dd bday a CM asked when her bday was, and she answered honestly - he replied, "well Happy Birthday to you, its special to be here on your birthday isnt it?"!!

Mom said it was the best bday celebration ever - but she did get tired of wearing her button every day!!! She needed the "special" boost, as we almost lost my mom to a terrible disease last year... we take each day as it comes, and thank God for the gift of life. Life is too short.

As for the "tastes" of the cakes, we had the opposite experience. I ordered the $12 cake at LTT, it was still 'frozen' and the icing was falling off, it was disgraceful!! At CRT they were given a 'freebie' choc. cake, and both thought it was the best - moist chocolate!! (and I did call to complain about the $12 cake, you need to refuse it at the time its served, make a huge SCENE and then that's better than calling to complain...)

 

[mommaU4]

As I said in an earlier post I did ask this question to get differing opinions and that's what I got. Thanks! Some people obviously feel very strongly about it which surprised me. I don't think it's cheating and as I said that was maybe the wrong word to use. I don't know. I just wondered what people thought. I just wanted to know if it was allowed or if it had to be the actual day. As I said we have never done it so I didn't even know about the "freebies". I just figured they'd get alot of b-day wishes.

I love the ideas about making a button or shirt that says we are here celebrating my b-day. That's a great idea and is what we are going to do. BTW, in case anyone was wondering, my DDs b-day is 9 days before our first day at WDW and DS's b-day is 10 days after we get back. We tried to time it in the middle of the two. But we will be doing the above idea which I think is a happy compromise. Thanks guys!

 

[SueM in MN]

We found out differently this trip. My mom rented an ECV because of her bad knees. We were let in a handicapped entrance every single time or the fasspass entrance. We didn't need any special card either. I was surprised because I've always read that you do not get in front of the line but we did every time. Even Small World and Haunted Mansion we ended up in a different entrance.

Most attractions at WDW have what it called "Mainstream Access" which means that they are wheelchair and ECV accessible; users of those wait in the same line with everyone else. AK and the Studio were built with Mainstream Access and all the attractions at those 2 parks are Mainstream.

MK and Epcot are older, so were built before Mainstream Access was ever thought of. The newer and recently renovated attractions at those parks were built with Mainstream Access as much as possible. All the Fastpass lines are wheelchair accessible, but in some cases the regular line is not. The CM has some discretion of how they will handle wheelchair/ECV users when they arrive at rides that don't have Mainstream Access. They may tell you that you need to get a Fastpass; they may give a slip of paper with a time to return (usually equal to the standby line time) or they may allow use of the Fastpass line (that is usually when they are well staffed and all the Fastpasses are gone, Fastpass is currently not in use or the standby wait time is fairly short) - this is especially likley to happen on the rides where the regular line is not wheelchair accessible.

A few attractions (again mostly at MK) do not have wheelchair accessible entrances - you don't need a special card to use those. You have no other option because the regular entrance is not wheelchair/ECV accessible. Many attractions have part of the line accessible, but the boarding is not. In those cases, there is a wheelchair "pull off" point for boarding. It sometimes looks like the wheelchair users miss a lot of the line, but the "pull off" point is usually close to where the regular line is close to entering the boarding area.

Small World and Haunted Mansion's regular boarding areas are not wheelchair accessible. For Haunted Mansion, the "bypass" to go to the exit for wheelchair boarding is just before the regular line goes thru the turnstiles into the building. If you board in the wheelchair access area (which is the exit) you miss the "Shrinking Room."
For Small World, wheelchair and ECV users have to board at the exit so that they board on the same side of the water as they will exit. The "pull off" point is conneccted to the left side of the line as you face the outside of the ride. Depending on how busy it is, etc. the "greeter" CM can send people with wheelchairs/ECVs to that "pull-off" at any time from the first turn to the last turn before boarding.

 

[skiwee1]

Sue, when we went to the wheelchair entrance to HM, we indeed went into the shrinking room. We actually went in this neat hallway that had bells to be run by Madame Leota if she needed help whilst in her boudoir! The hallway was really neat. We took that hallway and it empties right into the first area where the fireplace is. We stood there for a minute then went into the shrinking room. I thought we would miss the room too but we did not.

 

[SueM in MN]

Sue, when we went to the wheelchair entrance to HM, we indeed went into the shrinking room. We actually went in this neat hallway that had bells to be run by Madame Leota if she needed help whilst in her boudoir! The hallway was really neat. We took that hallway and it empties right into the first area where the fireplace is. We stood there for a minute then went into the shrinking room. I thought we would miss the room too but we did not.

Whether you can go in there or not depends on how far you can walk. If you are able to park the ECV/wheelchair and then walk into the shrinking room and into the boarding area, then you are allowed to do that and the wheelchair/ecv will be waiting when you exit. (So you are allowed to enter the room from a less crowded entry and walking is minimized a bit).

My DD can't walk, so we have to skip it. Some people can walk, but not far enough to get thru the shrinking room. They also have to skip it.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

go for it. it will be a little late for one and early for the other. we did it last year and DD4 loved it. i may do it this year cause my Bday will be less then 1 month after we leave WDW.

That's what I was going to say but really I think it depends on the AGE. I mean if it was one of my older two- nah... they wouldn't wear the pin but we do have it noted in the room ressie that we're celebrating a birthday on that trip (if it's near their birthday -like it was once in Nov for my son). However, on our June trip my youngest actually had a birthday during the trip and she wore the pin from her birthday (3 days into the trip) until the end of the trip. You just TRY to get that kid to not wear that pin! She had to have the pin on even though she shied away from any attention she got- she just liked the pin and thinking it was her birthday! It wasn't about what others said or did for her. (okay maybe she's smarter than I think and it was really all about getting mom to buy her something "for her birthday" every day? Hmmm... LOL)

But she was only turning 5 and she flat out honestly thought every day was her birthday. I kid you not. (she's a little less mature at that age that my older two were... probably because she's the baby and gets babied more than they did back then? I dunno. I mean after all she REALLY thinks she's a princess too! LOL) Whenever someone asked when her birthday was- she'd say TODAY and did NOT think she was lying. LOL She'd argue with me when I told her it wasn't her birthday anymore- uhuh, it is TOO MY BIRTHDAY! LOL

Problem is that when she got home she still thought every day was her birthday. Rude awakening, my sweet little princess! LOL

I would not do that on future trips or with older children that can understand they would be lying about it being their birthday or having to explain to everyone that it's not really their birthday even though they are wearing the pin/etc. Plus an older child wouldn't be that insistent that they wear the pin everyday like it's fashion jewelry or something. (like she was) LOL

Did I cheat?
Well if I did... ohwell. She didn't get anything special from it except a couple extra cupcakes (because she didn't really WANT the extra "attention" like CMs talking to her and such- got all shy about that). I hope the extra cupcakes didn't make me a bad person. She only wanted the icing anyway! LOL It just wasn't worth the tears if I had made her not wear that darn pin!

 

[mommaU4]

For all of you who have gotten and worn the b-day pins/buttons do any of you have a picture of it that you could post for me to see?
I want to make one similiar that says "celebrating my b-day this week" as opposed to "today is my b-day". But I am not creative in the least and would love to see pics to get some ideas. Thanks!