Storyteller: the end to the premature (or late) birthday celebrations?

[DisneyKevin]

But there may be some who feel that it cheapens the "legitimate" celebrations

I would like to watch if someone at Disney explains to a guest that there celebration is not "legitimate".

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I appreciate you effort to monitor this thread, but I thought I asked a legitimate question.

Wow - I'm sorry if I'm out of line here, but I'm a little offended, humiliated, and a lot hurt right now.....I did not think that me stating my opinions or discussing things in a calm, rational discussion, without being personal, was attempting to monitor the thread, which is being stated to me personally, in "public" here.

So very sorry - I will have to re-think if this is the place I thought it was, and if it is truly the place for me.

 

[Aliceacc]

In 2014 we wore Anniversary buttons.

In the interest of full disclosure, it wasn't our anniversary; our 25th had occurred 2 weeks before we had our family reunion at WDW.

And a whole lot of CMs wished us a Happy Anniversary. That's all we had expected, and it's what we got. And it added some extra joy to the trip. It didn't get us anything that someone else didn't get, with the exception of those good wishes.

I honestly don't see what the big deal is.

 

[DisneyKevin]

Last but not least - I believe the OP posted this question in the true spirit of healthy debate - and - for the most part, people have been doing that. Let's please all just remember and stick to that, please. Again - that's what these boards are supposed to be all about.

Wow - I'm sorry if I'm out of line here, but I'm a little offended, humiliated, and a lot hurt right now.....I did not think that me stating my opinions or discussing things in a calm, rational discussion, without being personal, was attempting to monitor the thread, which is being stated to me personally, in "public" here.

So very sorry - I will have to re-think if this is the place I thought it was, and if it is truly the place for me.

Heidi, I apologize if I offended you or humiliated or hurt you in any way.

This is NEVER my intent.

I was not being sarcastic or snarky when I thanked you for monitoring the thread.

I always assume that people know who I am and how I talk because of the podcast and more than once I have been told that my humor doesn't always translate into the written word.

Again...please forgive me for upsetting you in any way.

I would never do that intentionally and I'm sorry that it happened un-intentionally.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Tigger, I agreed with you until you tried to use the word "gifting" in a normal sentence, so now I disagree with all of it.

Oh come on Llama...it's pretty awesome to gift someone with a trip to WDW

I guess the response to this could be that you just celebrate your birthday in some other way at home. Not everyone gets to go to Disney World for their birthday.

I've been to Disney on my actual birthday, and I got a button, but I've also been there plenty of other times when it wasn't my birthday and I didn't get a button.

The 10th anniversary celebration will be 16 days before my birthday. I wouldn't even think about getting a birthday button because it won't be my birthday.

I mentioned earlier that we plan to take a trip for our 25th anniversary that won't actually happen until 2 months after our anniversary. However, during that trip, we aren't going to tell every restaurant that we are celebrating our anniversary. We'll just know in our minds that the trip is for that reason.

And that's what works and feels right for you guys, and that's fine too. Still, when you've got CMs who beg guests to be celebrating something (and we've had this happen multiple times) and CMs stating that Disney believes that it's acceptable to celebrate any special event if it happened 6 months before or after your trip (i.e. any day is good with them), it says to me that they never intended this to be something where it's be isolated to your actual birthday or anniversary day. i.e. it's not like when you could get in free on your actual bday.

If we make it to the 10th, we'll be about 2 weeks out from my birthday and 3 weeks out from DD9s...we'll also have friends and family meeting us. We live far enough apart that it's rare for us to be together on special days. For me, I would rather my child celebrate her 10th birthday with her grandparents and long-time family friends 3 weeks early vs. waiting until the actual bday when we're home and it's just the 4 of us. I probably would skip the button as I don't like wearing it in general. It may not be how everyone would handle it, but I believe there are a lot of right ways you could approach this situation...and this is what would be right for us.

 

[Princess Jes]

Sorry for the late response guys and gals. Time zones and work functions and all that jazz.

I have to give some leniency here. Ten years ago we had our honeymoon in Disney, but we had to wait about a month after our wedding to go. Still counts as a honeymoon to me.
We often go over my birthday in July. A few years ago we did BOG on my birthday, and I did get the Grey Stuff (before it came to the dessert menu). I have received other perks on my birthdays since then, but nothing as special as that time. Strangers were asking to take pictures of it, but abuse of the system has killed that. We are pushing our trip back a week this year for the Dis anniversary, but I still plan on getting a button. My magic band is also stamped with 10 yrs instead of my name, not for the Dis, but for our 10 year anniversary which won't be until November.

For all the CMs care everyone attending the Dis event in July could get buttons that say 10th anniversary.

We had our honeymoon 2 months after our wedding due to a few factors. It was still our honeymoon though

I guess the response to this could be that you just celebrate your birthday in some other way at home. Not everyone gets to go to Disney World for their birthday.

I've been to Disney on my actual birthday, and I got a button, but I've also been there plenty of other times when it wasn't my birthday and I didn't get a button.

The 10th anniversary celebration will be 16 days before my birthday. I wouldn't even think about getting a birthday button because it won't be my birthday.

I mentioned earlier that we plan to take a trip for our 25th anniversary that won't actually happen until 2 months after our anniversary. However, during that trip, we aren't going to tell every restaurant that we are celebrating our anniversary. We'll just know in our minds that the trip is for that reason.

I just realized I didn't even say congrats on your impending 25th anniversary! I know it's a while away but I'll most likely forget to wish it by then!

Wouldn't it just be easier to celebrate our birthday every day? That way we can walk around wishing people Happy Birthday all day! No gifts of course...

So I guess that puts me in the celebrate ON your birthday camp. But I don't expect anyone to feel the same way.

I guess I'm confused as to how someone else wearing a birthday button affects any other guest.

I know someone that celebrates the day that she was given the news that she was in remission as her second birthday.

How would you know whether it is or isn't someone's birthday / anniversary etc. and why would you care?

Once again, I've been misinterpreted, and always in a negative light *cries*
I WAS actually aiming at the storyteller part. Eg. Now talking Mickey will know if it's your birthday regardless of if you're wearing a button.
A server may now have a talking point "happy "early" birthday! What brings you to the world this time of year?" I don't know?
All I was getting at was that you're asked these questions (birthday, anniversary) in your MDE account, so I've got to think they're going to use it for something, and now they'll know when your real birthday/anniversary is, even if you DONT want to make a deal of it.
Also, as mentioned in my post, I don't think it is here to change whether you wear a button, but perhaps a bigger fanfare for those who are wearing a button and a CM sees the birthdate on the MDE when the Mb is swiped.
I've read discussions on this on the TPAS board more than once (usually off topic of the original OP, not unusual here) and it does spark some debate, and people certainly chime in that they're jaded by how many buttons are worn with suspicion (and sometimes people have openly admitted) that they're wearing them for the freebies.
It's often also been said that people feel the pixie dust has been diluted and speculated that it's due to the amount of people wearing them.
So I was pondering whether y'all thought that this may reinvigorate the pixie dust for those who are celebrating on the actual day of their birthday (NOT that those who have other reasons, like your friend who is in remission Kevin, have any right not to do so)

Wow.
Maybe I should just go hide in a kangaroo pouch for a while. I always manage to tick the wrong people off around here

 

[Princess Jes]

In 2014 we wore Anniversary buttons.

In the interest of full disclosure, it wasn't our anniversary; our 25th had occurred 2 weeks before we had our family reunion at WDW.

And a whole lot of CMs wished us a Happy Anniversary. That's all we had expected, and it's what we got. And it added some extra joy to the trip. It didn't get us anything that someone else didn't get, with the exception of those good wishes.

I honestly don't see what the big deal is.

Also for full disclosure, on our trip for our honeymoon, the lady who checked us in asked us why we'd come all this way etc, and I said it was our honeymoon.
Well! She went crazy! Getting buttons, congratulating us.
At that stage, I knew nothing of the buttons and wore them as she told us to.
We got SO MANY congratulations, from servers, custodial and even other park guests. It WAS magical.
But we didn't know anything about freebies and "pixie dust" until I got back and actually got right into the boards (and podcast)
It was magical that people congratulated us. I'm not discounting that, I was simply asking if storyteller will change/enhance that.

And now I'm rambling because I'm trying to clear up my intent and I'm doing terribly :-(

Anyway, I'm off to see frozen at the movies with my niece!!
We saw the lion king last week. Two movies I never got to see at the cinema in their initial run!

 

[DisneyKevin]

Wow.
Maybe I should just go hide in a kangaroo pouch for a while. I always manage to tick the wrong people off around here

I don't know I'm considered to be "the wrong people" or not.....but please note that you have not ticked me off.

I'll apologize here too.

I thought I was just playing around on a thread and asking the questions I asked.

Apparently, I'm not communicating well at all.

Again...I apologize.

EDIT: I edited this because even my apology could be read as snarky.

I swear....I'm not being snarky.

 

[disneysteve]

when you've got CMs who beg guests to be celebrating something (and we've had this happen multiple times) and CMs stating that Disney believes that it's acceptable to celebrate any special event if it happened 6 months before or after your trip (i.e. any day is good with them), it says to me that they never intended this to be something where it's be isolated to your actual birthday or anniversary day

That's a very good point. If Disney is actually encouraging people to celebrate something whether the actually are or not, that totally changes things. I didn't know that was happening. I guess that's why they just started putting the buttons out for people to take freely.

I just realized I didn't even say congrats on your impending 25th anniversary! I know it's a while away but I'll most likely forget to wish it by then!

Oh, I'm sure I'll remind people . We have to get to our 24th first and then make it through a whole other year before we get to celebrate 25. (So you have plenty of time to shop for your gift).

Once again, I've been misinterpreted, and always in a negative light *cries*
I WAS actually aiming at the storyteller part. Eg. Now talking Mickey will know if it's your birthday regardless of if you're wearing a button.

That would be creepy, but neat. I think it would be a whole lot more magical for Mickey to know it's my birthday when I'm not even wearing a button. Of course, that would only work on my actual birthday, which is fine. If I was celebrating on a different day, there's still the button as a back up.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I think some of the problem here is that it is sometimes hard to gauge tone from typed words...even when things are well composed. A concise professional email could be interpreted as abrupt and borderline angry, or a simple email to my husband could be interpreted as cranky and annoyed...on a day when I'm not cranky or annoyed

 

[disneysteve]

I think some of the problem here is that it and sometimes be hard to gauge tone from typed words...even when things are well composed. A concise professional email could be interpreted as abrupt and borderline angry, or a simple email to my husband could be interpreted as cranky and annoyed...on a day when I'm not cranky or annoyed

This has happened to me more times than I can count. The death of conversation and phone calls to communicate has led to so many misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and more that just never happened when we actually talked to each other.

 

[Princess Jes]

I don't know I'm considered to be "the wrong people" or not.....but please note that you have not ticked me off.

I'll apologize here too.

I thought I was just playing around on a thread and asking the questions I asked.

Apparently, I'm not communicating well at all.

Again...I apologize.

EDIT: I edited this because even my apology could be read as snarky.

I swear....I'm not being snarky.

Absolutely you're "the wrong person"
Kevin, I think you're wonderful. You're certainly one person I'd hate to get offside, because I love listening to your witty jokes and comments and usually am nodding along in my car with you.
But I confess, I feel like I'm always on your wrong side here on the boards and honestly, it makes me sad to think I'd said anything that may offend or annoy you, and your post didn't feel like joking to me? But maybe it's the distance it needs to travel, it got translated wrong?

Anyway, I hope I cleared up my intention in my OP, I like to think we are all adults here and can handle other people's opinions and can all live in our discommunity in harmony (except that pesky Llama! Nah, he's alright I suppose!)

 

[Princess Jes]

This has happened to me more times than I can count. The death of conversation and phone calls to communicate has led to so many misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and more that just never happened when we actually talked to each other.

You're welcome to call me Steve... Can't say it wouldn't be an expensive way to convey tone accurately though
Edit. Calm should have said call

 

[disneysteve]

You're welcome to calm me Steve... Can't say it wouldn't be an expensive way to convey tone accurately though

Skype is free

 

[TiggerTrigger]

This has happened to me more times than I can count. The death of conversation and phone calls to communicate has led to so many misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and more that just never happened when we actually talked to each other.

I worked as a corporate writer for over 16 years before moving to my current job. We'd go back and forth for years deliberating over whether things like "please note" and "per our previous mailing" were too sharply worded for the average client. We were fine discussing these things face to face and on telephone calls, but the minute it moved to an email discussion or instant message, feathers would be ruffled because someone's choice of words skewed in a negative direction with some of the crowd...while others read nothing into the wording. The irony was often lost on key members of the team. Still, it's this same issue that can be a pitfall to posting in forum groups or other online areas.

 

[disneysteve]

I worked as a corporate writer for over 16 years before moving to my current job. We'd go back and forth for years deliberating over whether things like "please note" and "per our previous mailing" were too sharply worded for the average client. We were fine discussing these things face to face and on telephone calls, but the minute it moved to an email discussion or instant message, feathers would be ruffled because someone's choice of words skewed in a negative direction with some of the crowd...while others read nothing into the wording. The irony was often lost on key members of the team. Still, it's this same issue that can be a pitfall to posting in forum groups or other online areas.

I recently applied for a new job. Virtually all of the communication was electronic. I can't tell you how uncomfortable that made me. It was extremely hard to judge and decide how formal or informal I could or should be in my messages. Those issues wouldn't have existed face to face or even in a phone call which are much more natural ways to communicate. In writing, I agonized over every word I chose to make sure it wouldn't come across wrong, and I happen to be an excellent writer, which probably made me even more sensitive to the issue.

 

[DisneyKevin]

your post didn't feel like joking to me? But maybe it's the distance it needs to travel, it got translated wrong?

I wasn't joking around but I wasn't trying to offend.

I still don't understand why anyone would care who was wearing a birthday button.

Also, my post wasnt necessarily directed at you. It was just part of the general discussion.

Again, I apologize if I've offended anyone.

 

[samsteele]

And that's what works and feels right for you guys, and that's fine too. Still, when you've got CMs who beg guests to be celebrating something

You made a great point. I make most of my ADRs online but once in a while, I call long distance to make an ADR & like clockwork, the CM asks me repeatedly, "Are you celebrating anything? What are you celebrating?" In a way, this is WDWs own problem & they should own it. Not us. Some CMs must be trained per script to ask about celebrations and this encourages many guests. But typically, the other hand at WDW isn't following through & little or no attention is paid to the celebrant at dinner.

That's a very good point. If Disney is actually encouraging people to celebrate something whether the actually are or not, that totally changes things. I didn't know that was happening. I guess that's why they just started putting the buttons out for people to take freely.

I know I'm in good company if @disneysteve sees the same/similar thing.

This forum is usually a very friendly & supportive one. We've grown accustomed to each others points of view, opinions & even a few or many (including my own!) eccentricities. Because its a nice little hothouse, this encourages us to ask & debate hot button issues. No pun intended because funny was lost in the dust a while back. We've always been able to do that & be decent to each other. But I don't think this thread was ever intended to be hot. I think when @Princess Jes explained she meant something else, she meant something else. The rest of us have piled on and driven this thread off the road. My apologies to @Princess Jes because I was the first to pile on and probably started the bandwagon.

 

[KingLlama]

Suddenly this thread feels like the end of a "Brady Bunch" episode, and we've all learned some important lessons.

 

[SunnyKYLake]

My family and friends move celebration days around all the time, for all sorts of reasons.

Here's some examples.

My older sister's 40th birthday: we wanted to surprise her with a big party without her being suspicious...we celebrated her October birthday in August - yes, she was suprised (I've never seen so many different emotions on one face in so little time, priceless!)

My nephew's first birthday: my little sister's family lives in France. They come home roughly every 2 years. They had to leave a whole month before my nephew's turned one. He is the first born grandchild on either side - so, yes, we had a big party with the entire extended family. I would have been heartbroken not to make his birthday cake and be there to see his reaction. And his paternal grandparents were delighted to be able to be there because he reacted to his first touch of sticky icing just as his father did - hated it! What a memory for all of us.

Thanksgiving: My younger sister goes to her in-laws on Thanksgiving (when they are in from France) so we celebrate Thanksgiving a week early, sometimes even earlier. Actual Thanksgiving day becomes a normal day of work for us.

We run a business that is incredibly busy from before Thanksgiving right up until Christmas day. We have no time to do any of the Christmas festivities or Christmas shop and no desire to make Christmas goodies after that month long baking frenzy. We are tired and want to recoup before we focus on our own celebration. So we've decided that this year, Christmas Day is going to be just the first day of OUR Christmas celebration. We are kicking it off in the right spirit with a Christmas Eve service at my brother's church. We'll still be able to see lights in the park for about a week, shop for a ham and catch after Christmas sales for our presents. We'll put our decorations up on Christmas Day or a day later and sometime in January, we'll wake up and open our presents and eat our KY country ham breakfast and bake some chex mix. Yay, Merry Christmas!

My Parents' 50th anniversary: The 50th year starts August 27th. They aren't having a big reception, vow renewal or even a fancy dinner. They are going to France to spend a month with my sister and her family...next March/April. Our sister can't come here so they are going to her. They are going then because of the cooler weather (mom has health conditions and sis doesn't have A/C), because of the kids spring holidays, and because of better prices. They are choosing to put whatever would have been spent on a fancy shindig toward this once in a life time trip. Sis and bil are picking out a nice restaurant and hotel for mom and dad in Paris to spend a special night. That and a month of having their grand kids and youngest daughter to themselves is well worth the wait.

I guess we think the reason for the occasion is more important than the date of the occasion, if that makes sense. So, I totally get it when people say they are going to WDW for their 30th b-day but it was in December and now it's March. Maybe they put every bit of "b-day celebration" money plus movie and popcorn money plus savings from coupon clipping to be able to go when it was most affordable for them or when they could get off work or whatever. You do what's right and possible for you and your family. Go on and wear that button, doesn't bother me a bit.

To bring my obnoxiously long post back to Jes's op, good question. Maybe it will be a good talking point for CMs or Mickey. Mickey: "Uh, gee, what's up with the birthday button? That was months ago!"
30 year old: "gosh Mickey, we came as soon as we could to see you, but we've saved up all our partying so we could celebrate with you!"
Everyone: awww (big hug, smile for the camera and scene!)