My heart started pounding and excitement loomed over me. Why was a Dream Team member standing there? She was looking straight at us and smiling.
Could it be?
Goosebumps, in the 90+ degree weather started popping up all over me…
Really, could we be so lucky?
Flashes of the Castle Suite photos shoot through my head.
Could we really be lucky recipients of dream?
Thoughts of a trip around the world visiting Disney parks splashed across my vision.
Then I really started thinking…why was she alone?
Shouldn’t she have Posse of other Dream Team members awaiting our exit?
Where was her swarm of other baby blue shirted co-workers, wearing smiles from ear to ear.
Reality set in. Well at least one could dream…
The Dream Team CM promptly asked us how our day was going? What rides had we gone on? Were we having a nice time? She noted the b-day button and again offered my ds to pick a button of his choice from her collection. Again, he found one with a hidden Mickey and thanked her generously for it. But she didn’t offer to assist in placing it on his lanyard, so he held it tight in his hand (remember this). Instead she asked if he liked to play games. He told her, “yes!” and asked if he liked cars and would like to race his mom in a car race?
Sure bet he did!
There is a box sitting at the Speedway, just as you enter. The average person walking by most likely wouldn’t even bat an eye at it. I know I never even noticed it. The CM opened the box and pulled out some fancy little Disney Racecars and set us up to race on a lined track on the pavement in front of the Speedway. Again…Seriously I never would have noticed any of this, had we not been stopped to race.
We had a blast. People stopped to watch and cheered us on. Lil’l Diz’s cars beat mine every time.
But… there was no big pomp and circumstance.
No special Year of a Million Dreams dream fastpasses or shopping spree.
Just some good ole fashioned car racing.
AND a certificate was awarded.
Although you try your hardest NOT to be disappointed… it is hard. You read and read about the amazing things that some people have won. This was our 2nd trip during the promotion and this was the biggest dream so far. We had missed bunches of cool dreams by a titch. Groups of people just before or after us had gotten late night special passes to stay in the parks and ride rides, dream fastpasses, free dinners and upgraded hotels.
We were grateful and happy to be at Disney. But it sure would be nice to be one of the big winners sometime. Oh Well, maybe next time. There is always this coming Nov., when we go.
A race car photo shot before we moved on.
The park was really getting crowded and it was really squelchering hot. It was a superb time to exit the park. We were ready to head out, but not before getting a
cool and quenching treat before we left. A dole whip was calling our name, so we headed over to Aloha Isle and grabbed ourselves a treat. YUMMO!
While we ate, Lil’l Diz heard the giggles and screams of the kids playing with the Spit’n Camels (is that what they are?). He asked if he could head over there and I agreed. He had stuck with me so well already, this day. Not even a peep of disappointment or disagreement came from him as I dragged him around the park from one ride to another.
I watched and snapped some photos whilst he dodged ‘spit’, giggling, smiling, laughing and having a great time. I was so happy for my ds. He was in his element. I was enjoying our time spent together. In the back of my head, the thought of loosing my “mom” at anytime never left me. I always thought of her, but was trying my best to keep moving forward with our special time together… just my ds’s and I.
View from Magic Carpets
A quick ride on the magic carpets and we were headed out as the mobs and mobs of people were headed in. It was then that Lil’l Diz asked me where I put his new pin that “the nice lady” gave him.
What? I never had HIS pin!
The question was where did HE PUT IT?
After a few minutes of thinking, we figured out that he must have left it at the race car area. He thought he may have set it down to race his car.
So back we walked, across the park to the Speedway, only to find NO CM there any longer. We looked and looked in the area and there was NO Pin laying anywhere. Lil’l Diz was feeling really bad. I though that we could try to track down a Blue Shirted CM and try to locate the PIN. So we set out to see if we could find one.
NOPE.
They were all in hiding.
I did the next best thing and we headed out of the park and stopped at City Hall to see if anyone had turned it in. The CM inside called a Dream Team member and had us wait. Apparently there is a Dream Team office right in the area of City Hall.
The Dream Team Member came to talk to us in just minutes. She was really nice. Lil’l Diz told her the story of what happened, how he played the car race and won me, and added in to his story why he was on vacation in WDW.
She asked us to wait, while she tried to track down the other CM. Lil’l Diz wanted to go outside, as the pre-parade games where beginning and he wanted to jump in and play. While Lil’l Diz played the games, I waited and waited for the Dream Team Member tried to contact her peer.
No luck finding it. She took all of our ‘information’ and said she’d notify us if the pin showed up. Lil’l Diz was really bummed and gave a little whine. I reminded him of all of the wonderful things we had enjoyed throughout the day and the excitement that was ahead. He chippered up, but still wished he had that new pin he lost.
My thoughts are that it was a great learning lesson to hold on to your property!
As promised, it was time to head to DTD for the promised build it yourself light saber. My DS really was interested in taking the monorail, so the plan was to monorail over to Poly and take the bus to DTD from there. We missed a monorail by just a few seconds, which was great for us, because we asked the CM if we could sit in the front of the next one, if it wasn’t occupied. While we waited up front, we could hear family after family ask for the coveted front seats, but get denied since we were waiting. I was on the look out for a two person group to ask, because I would have invited them to join us, since they usually don’t let more than 4 people in front. A group never came, but it turned out to be for the better.
We got the best Monorail driver ever. She was so darn sweet. She made a huge deal over the birthday boy, which was extra special for him. She gave us a lot of special fun facts about both the parks and monorail, and best of all she showed us how fast the monorail can go by pushing the throttle to full speed. I forget the exact amount of seconds she was allowed to keep it at that speed. But she accidentally went over her allotted amount and the monorail came to a steady, yet complete STOP, because she missed it. It was a complete hoot. We all giggled as the monorail set still on the track for something like 30 seconds. We wondered what the passengers in the back were thinking. Would they all know it was an accident that we were put to a stop? But it was worth the giggles and very cool to see that the monorail has such safety features built into it to prevent accidents or operator errors. The monorail driver made my ds’s morning by giving him some special monorail knowledge. Yet again, Disney was dishing out its magic. The magic that was much needed during this trip.
Before we departed the monorail, my ds asked the driver for her autograph. In my eyes she was a super special CM. In lil’l diz’s eyes she was at the top of his list, just like any another Disney Character. She was totally honored to give him her autograph and stated that it was her first one. No other child had ever asked. This made it even more special. She posed for a quick photo outside of her cabin and gifted my ds with monorail licenses and a row of Mickey stickers as long as he was tall.
Our day was turning out great. Really one of the very best days I have ever had in all of my visits to Disney.
UP NEXT: Light Sabers, Chocolate and Sandwiches
I'm so confused. I stayed up late last night working on some park touring plans for our trip in 3 weeks and saw your update, and POSTED!!!!! I was so excited to beat Michelle to the punch! Then, I come on today to see what else got posted, and holy smokes...it's not there! Waaaa!!!
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I can't even say how many times I've been on Splash over the years and never, ever got as wet as people do these days. (I haven't been on it since Leo was born - jsut as well, apparently. 
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