Tell me about "Family of the Day"...

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

Can anyone tell me a little bit about being chosen for Family of the Day? This is what I've gleaned so far:

1. You need to be one of the first families in line.
2. It helps to wear matching shirts or other apparrel that helps you stand out
3. You get to "open" the park, though I'm not entirely certain what this means.

It sounds like something that would be fun to try for one morning. Is there any more to it than this? If not, are you done pretty quickly and on your way to your first attraction? If there's more to it, is the time spent worth the early morning time you miss out on?

 

[Kayla's Mom]

We were chosen to do this a few years back when it was me, DH and DD8 (at the time about 5). We were one of the first families there and the security guy started chatting with DD. A few minutes later he came over and asked if she wanted to open Disneyland. We were not in matching shirts, DD had on a Mickey shirt and Mickey ears.

They brought us inside and Cappy (a CM that seems to always be there whenever we go) shouted out our family name and where we are from and had us countdown from 10. They gave us Honorary Citizen stickers. It held us up a few minutes, but not much.

 

[DangerMouse]

Love Cappy! He's such a great CM! We are always first at the gates, but have never been chosen to be the opening family, which I am grateful for since it would prevent us from being first on Peter Pan!

 

[allimaree]

Does anyone know if they do this at DCA too? We are atarting at DCA our first day this trip and would love to do this if possible.

We went a year and a half ago and we were chosen to be the opening family. We were a large group wearing matching shirts and my mom went up to a CM to ask something. He then said he thought they were still looking for an opening family. He went to check and then came back and said we were picked! Id did hold us up a little, but we were all just going to the rope drop on Main Street so we caught up with everyone else.

 

[DLVixen]

My family was chosen for this in Oct of 2007. We were second in line behind two boys. The boys saw their parents and wandered off. A few minutes later they came back and I let them have their spot. My ex-hubby was griping at me for letting them back in, but I told him, "What's 1 family in front?" I mean your at Disneyland how can you sweat the small stuff. The parents saw that they had cut back in line, I explained it was okay. A few mins later the dad left and came back, apparently he knew the CM that chooses the families to open the park. He came back asking if we would like to join them and open the park. Which we did, of course! We got to sign the book, get the Honorary Citizen pins, and do the countdown. The best part for me was that it was my oldest sons birthday trip and he got to open the park the day before his birthday.

Moral of the story: A little kindness to others goes a long way, (and makes a grumpy teen who hated getting up early pleasant for the whole day)

I ♥ Disney

 

[bumbershoot]

Yes DCA has had a family "open" the park (at least the time we were there before 9:30). Probably only the people right up at the front could hear or knew what was going on.

People get kind of weird and competitive about opening DL, not sure why...we had a big family next to us at the front of the gates who were doing this "cute and cuddly, boys, cute and cuddly" sort of pep talk (if you've seen Penguins of Madagascar you'll get it), almost pageant-like...said they wanted to get it *again*...they did indeed (but the CMs didn't know it was a repeat, which I found out when I mentioned to a choosing-CM what they'd said about "again").

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! It would be fun to be picked, but definitely don't want to compete for the honor! I'll leave it to luck! Besides, trying to get the DDs acting cute and cuddly (ala Madagascar penguins) would likely have opposite the intended effect in certain moods!

 

[hlbtimes2]

We were chosen this past Mother's Day. We were there really early to get in line for early entry. I think we were one of 3 families that day. They kind of rushed and had us sign a guest book and help count down. It was a great way to start our day!

 

[Kayla's Mom]

We got to sign the book, get the Honorary Citizen pins, and do the countdown.

We didn't sign a book...we did it in Sept. of 2006 though, so maybe it wasn't done then?

Yes DCA has had a family "open" the park (at least the time we were there before 9:30).

I have only seen them have an opening family once....not sure what determines when they do it. They definitely didn't do it on the day we were there a couple of weeks ago. But I don't know if they do it every day at Disneyland either?

 

[wrightut]

We were picked in July to do this. We were first in our line for an 8 am opening. We weren't wearing anything matching or special so I'm not sure what drew the CM to us unless it was my 3 year old daughter who was wearing a bright blue little sundress.

Anyway, we signed a guest book and got Honorary Citizen badges to wear. We were first in the parks before the countdown - they introduced us and had us lead the "Let the Magic Begin" countdown. Then the CM shook our hands and were were on our way. It didn't hold us up much at all and it was fun to get a few pictures of the kids with the crowds behind them before opening. And several times during the day we were recognized as the family that opened the park.