People who won, how did you do it?

[tarazandra]

My family has won twice at Disneyland. The first time we just happened to be walking in a certain area and everyone that passed the two CMs standing there were given the Year of a Million Dreams Mickey ear hats until the CMs ran out. This was great for us because we collect ear hats.

The second time (on a completely different day) my husband and one daughter were again just walking and were stopped by the CMs and were each handed vouchers for a free 5x7 photopass picture.

Two small prizes, yet both completely made our day

 

[Buzz Litebeer]

There's a difference between "YoaMD" Prizes, and Wishes.

Absoultely. For one thing, Wishes is a fireworks show over the Magic Kingdom.

You may be thinking of "Take Fives" or "Magical Moments", both of which are different than YoaMD Prizes.

A "Take Five" is when a CM does something spontaneous and unexpected for a guest (examples include walking out in front of a busy attraction and taking a random family through the VIP entrance... or even just handing out stickers to smaller guests who happen to be walking by). CMs usually enjoy great leeway in handing these out.

A "Magical Moment" is a planned, scripted event that occurs at a certain time daily (a great example is giving something special to the first riders of a particular attraction each morning). These are designed to seem random and unplanned; they are not.

The YoaMD prizes are randomly distributed and depend on your party being in the right place at the right time. Don't bother asking a Dream Squad member when these will be; they have no idea where they'll be giving out prizes until minutes beforehand. The most common prizes are Dream FastPasses, Dream Ears, and Dream Pin Lanyards -- Disney hands out literally thousands of these each day. The "big prizes" are distributed slightly differently, but it's still random.

Wearing matching shirts that beg for prizes is, in my humble opinion, kinda tacky.

 

[Buzz Litebeer]

What i keep hearing that Star Tours is the place to be to win it seems that every story has Stars Tours in it!! i would check it out if i were you!!!

I'd call that coincidence... anyone on property can win at any time (well... between the hours of 9:00am and 5:00pm).

 

[ADP]

What i keep hearing that Star Tours is the place to be to win it seems that every story has Stars Tours in it!! i would check it out if i were you!!!

There are certain attractions that are more appealing to the Dream Squad because of the "behind the scenes" entrances and exits. The Dream Squad does not want to be seen when they are about to hand out prizes because everyone would be running up to them creating a chaotic situation.

Star Tours is one of those attractions that has a hidden entrance/exit for Dream Squad members to duck in and out. That's why you hear a lot of dream stories from that attraction.

Also, if you want to really increase your chances of winning a prize, get to the parks early and ride attractions as often as possible. As the day progresses you really see a decrease in prizes being awarded.

 

[MissDisneyTeach]

On our first full day at the parks we went to AK first. We had already ridden EE, so later in the day we were walking over to check out the wait time in the single rider line. I noticed that Mark stopped to pick something up off the ground. He found 2 FP to EE. I said are they for today? He said yes! They were for earlier in the day, so we walked over and got right on!
Then we decided to head over to MK. We stopped in the hub and as I was buying us some water Mark looked down again. Yep, you guessed it! This time he found 3 FP's to BTMRR. We started laughing that maybe we were on some kind of hidden video show. So we head that way after a stop at POC. We rode BTMRR and then looked for someone to share our pixie dust with. After searching, he decided to leave the extra FP on top of a trash can near the FP machines. So we left hoping someone would find it! This is where my memory gets foggy. After BTMRR we head toward Fantasyland. We detoured through the HM. Somewhere through there, I can't remember--(I am 36 now!) we found 2 more FP's to Peter Pan. We were amazed at our good luck so far. For the rest of our trip we would continue to look for lost fastpasses! We didn't find anymore, but we did get an extra fastpass each for watching the Monster's Inc. Laughing Floor show over in Tomorrowland and staying after it and answering some questions about what we thought.
Then, I won a dream on my birthday! We went to MK and waited for the first rope drop. Then we waited at the Adventure Land rope drop. Most of the crowd went to POC. We decided to do Splash Mountain first since we already had ponchos on because of the light rain. Next we headed to BTMRR. We rode once and almost asked if we could stay on because there was no line yet. But Mark said let's just get off and walk around and ride it again. I am sure glad we did. As we were exiting, one of the CM's said, "see Kristen on your way out." I was confused and said "who?" He repeated himself and pointed toward the exit. So we walked that way and there she was with Dream Fastpasses. I was so excited. What a great birthday present! We got lots of stares and questions all day long about them!

 

[Buzz Litebeer]

There are certain attractions that are more appealing to the Dream Squad because of the "behind the scenes" entrances and exits. The Dream Squad does not want to be seen when they are about to hand out prizes because everyone would be running up to them creating a chaotic situation.

Star Tours is one of those attractions that has a hidden entrance/exit for Dream Squad members to duck in and out. That's why you hear a lot of dream stories from that attraction.

As stated earlier, all prizes are randomly awarded. The Dream Squad CMs have absolutely no control over what they are told to award, when to award it, or where.

 

[ADP]

As stated earlier, all prizes are randomly awarded. The Dream Squad CMs have absolutely no control over what they are told to award, when to award it, or where.

Agree...However, the company hired to make sure the process is random know what attractions are more appealing to Dream Squad member's safety. As the previous poster stated some attractions are getting more dreams. My point is that since these attractions have back entrances and exists Disney and the 3rd party company are targeting these attractions more since they provide a safe in and out for Dream Squad members.

 

[epfootballcutie04]

My friend and I won by taking the easy way out

We were at MK and it was a HOT october day. (I'm talkin 98* with 95% humidity, kind of hot).

Anyway, we wanted to ride big thunder, so we walk over and realize it's a 70 minute wait and fast pass it was an hour, so we grab a fastpass, something to drink, and took a seat right infront of the ride under some trees that provided a warm breeze and shade.

We just relaxed there for an hour, when it was time to use our fastpass we walked right past a ton of people... very grumpy, hot looking people, got right on after waiting about 2 minutes, and when we got off, the dream squad was there giving our train MICKEY YOAMD EARS!!!


It was soooooooooooooooooo cool!!!!

And totally unexpected!!!

 

[kbkids]

Sometimes they are waiting when you exit a ride(won pins getting off Space Mountain) Or try doing an activity(the recycling race @ Epcot)Good Luck!

We won fastpasses getting off Space Mountain too. First day of the trip, first ride of the day - what a way to start a vacation!!

 

[Dopey420]

Absoultely. For one thing, Wishes is a fireworks show over the Magic Kingdom.

You may be thinking of "Take Fives" or "Magical Moments", both of which are different than YoaMD Prizes.

A "Take Five" is when a CM does something spontaneous and unexpected for a guest (examples include walking out in front of a busy attraction and taking a random family through the VIP entrance... or even just handing out stickers to smaller guests who happen to be walking by). CMs usually enjoy great leeway in handing these out.

A "Magical Moment" is a planned, scripted event that occurs at a certain time daily (a great example is giving something special to the first riders of a particular attraction each morning). These are designed to seem random and unplanned; they are not.

The YoaMD prizes are randomly distributed and depend on your party being in the right place at the right time. Don't bother asking a Dream Squad member when these will be; they have no idea where they'll be giving out prizes until minutes beforehand. The most common prizes are Dream FastPasses, Dream Ears, and Dream Pin Lanyards -- Disney hands out literally thousands of these each day. The "big prizes" are distributed slightly differently, but it's still random.

Wearing matching shirts that beg for prizes is, in my humble opinion, kinda tacky.

This is the best post of the thread. We got to be the first family on 3 different rides last time we went and each of those times we got a certificate that said "Magical Moment", not YOAMD. I think the CMs do have latitude on who to pick for Magical Moments because each time I saw the CM scan the crowds and then zero in on my kids and then walk over to us and pick us out. YOAMD may be completely scripted.

 

[sticker231]

We were awarded "Dream Lanyards" again this trip. My father is a fireman and my three year old son just loves firetrucks, so we were checking out the firetruck in Epcot. I think it is Liberty Mutual who has the house where you put out/identify fire hazards. I entered with both my sons because the wanted to put out fires. As we entered the house to learn the rules of the exhibit, we were awarded lanyards from the Dream Squad. As the CM was explaining what to do, he said he had a surpride for us and a member from the DReam Squad took over and announced who they were, what they were doing, and they handed out the lanyards. It can happen anywhere. Just enjoy the parks.

 

[Marmstrong]

My DS (11) was "in the dream place at the dream time" when he got off of POTC on Mar 2 a little after 10 am. We'd chosen the shorter right hand line because CMs called out "all lines are open" as we approached.

The Dream Squad caught him as he got off and waved our whole group off to one side. We won one of two ESPN the weekend packages at MGM that afternoon. We met them at MGM at 1:30 and had semi-private meet and greet with several BIG NAME athletes (Herschel Walker, Mike Singletary...) and had our pictures taken with each and behind the ESPN Sportsdesk under the big blue hat!

I asked one of the Dream Squad members how they chose DS and the other winner. They'd been told to be at POTC at a particular time on that day and pick the person in xxx seat in yyy row of zzz boat. The other child was chosen because he was in the Pink Dumbo at a particular time.

 

[makinorlando]

That's my understanding also and I tend to believe it's true. We won Fastpasses from the Dream Team while my DGSs were playing a virtual robot game. Everyone (players and spectators) won passes and we never saw it coming until the CM made a special announcement. All of a sudden a 'vested' Dream Team member appeared out of nowhere telling us we'd won a special prize!

Us too! Later the same day we won the lanyards, DD was one group away from winning dream ears on Test Track!

It is totally random, so there reallly is nothing you can do to win. Like someone else said - just go and enjoy!

 

[DisneyBride'03]

Its really being in the right place at the right time. However, Saturday is a good day at AK..I think. We were there at opening, got off Expedition, and were wondering what to do before Nemo...I saw the white vest people , she actually said Happy Bday to DD10 (wearing button) and told us to go to the Jungle Trek..nice walk thru seeing animals, never did that before. So when we got there the CM offered us something if DD came out with 2 facts abt kimodo dragons. SHe got a special Magical Moment certificate with her name..perfect for this trips scrapbook.
Then while waiting for Festival of Lion King, the CM there advised us to go get autographs by the trail...ok...sure enough , white vested people waiting with silver mickey ears after meeting Goofy:0
My advice, get to parks early, keep an eagle eye out, but not to obvious. I think the more folks concentrate on "Finding" the WVP..lol...the less fun your adventure will be
I can't wait to see what Disney has planned for next year! Isn't someone turning 80???????

 

[adabob]

IT is random
Adabob