Tell Me More! Family of the Day, Honorary Princess, etc?

[Paigevon]

So I just discovered that there is a such thing as "First Family of the Day" and in searching that, found out a similar thing (may?) exist at Animal Kingdom, HS, etc and at some of the dining places such as CRT and Chef Mickeys! Can someone please tell me the locations that do something like this? I know the likelihood of being chosen is slim, but I'll keep my knowledge of it a secret and dream!

Additionally, I was wondering if having early-open ADR would make us ineligible for Family of the Day at MK? We have 8:05 ADR at BOG but I'd totally be willing to forego it for a chance to be Family of the Day! I read someone's blog post and they said they were asked if they had dining reservations before being asked if they would like to help open Magic Kingdom.

Anyway, any information is greatly appreciated!

 

[Paigevon]

Nothing?

 

[bigmom04]

I can't remember what they called it but while walking through Magic Kingdom Cinderella's Knights came up to my family and said that Cinderella had been watching us from the palace and wanted to give us a huge sundae!! Of course it was in August so it was all melted but it still made for a great photo. So yes they do have special things that they do.

 

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

We were family of the day at Boma (dinner) on our first trip and at Hollywood Brown Derby (lunch) on the following trip. Both times we had the earliest reservation possible. Brown derby was extra awesome and they made a picture book of all the photos they took announcing us as family of the day and gave us a print out while we dined.

My kids also opened toon town when it was still there- we were one of the first families to line up at the rope before toon town opened- it was one of the last days toon town was around. It was amazing seeing Mickey walk them all around his house and garden. They had no clue how special that memory was. Good thing a photopass photographer was there to capture the whole thing.

 

[Accident]

I personally don't know if animal kingdom has this since the parade stopped happening and that's part of being the first family but it's usually the first in line. First waiting for rope drop, first for a specific restaurant, etc.

 

[dreamit]

I am not sure if this is responsive to your question, but we were stopped on the way in to see Beauty and the Beast Live in HS asking if my daughter wanted to be the princess that receives the rose from Belle. We got to sit in the first row and before the show a cast member provided instructions to my dd. At the end of the show she went up to, not on, the stage and Belle gave my dd the rose and dd turned around and waved at the audience. After the show, the cast member gave dd a card from Belle and The Beast and took a family photo.

 

[Paigevon]

Such wonderful magical experiences! Love it!

 

[WhitneyMB]

Very interesting post! We checked in really early at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (maybe 7:30am?) for our last vacation before heading to the park for the day and we were their "Family of the Day." It was great! They upgraded our room to the best Savannah level room and gave us a free Safari. This kind of thing never happens to us, so it really made our week

 

[KingRichard]

I'll share what happened to us.

So DD was 3 and we brought a stroller(best idea ever). The Wife took her to get some coffee before the rope drop at Epcot.

The boys and my self walked very quickly from the gate to the rope at the fountain and a girl comes over and I thought we were in trouble.

No she picked us as the family of the day. If Wife and stroller were there then we would NOT have been picked.

We would not have fit in the fast track car that brought us to the ride(got to ride 2x with no one there).

They gave us extra fast passes and special viewing for IllumiNations that Wife and DD got to enjoy.

 

[Paigevon]

So cool! Thank you for sharing!

 

[angelofjoy23]

Our son was picked as the "kid of the day" or something of the sort for the Disney Jr show at Hollywood Studios. We were walking over to get into line for it and a CM pulled us aside and told our son he was very special because he was chosen (I'm thinking maybe his Birthday pin helped??). They took us in through a special side door and escorted us to the front of the room where we got to set in front of everyone else. At the end they gave him a special card signed by all the Disney Jr. characters. It was really cool.

 

[pooh4evr]

2 of our girl have pulled the sword form the stone at MK. The first was in '05 when they still did the whole ceremony with Merlin, and she was "Queen of Magic Kingdom", the second was in 11, when they chose a kid from the crowd, DD#2 was an honorary princess for the day, got a fastpass for whatever she wanted and ice creams for the family. I think they still do something there every once in a while nothing scheduled though.
My dream is to be family of the Day. It is totally random, some people say wear matching shirts, get there super early, be overly enthusiastic.. but who knows.

 

[Ensusieasm]

So I just discovered that there is a such thing as "First Family of the Day" and in searching that, found out a similar thing (may?) exist at Animal Kingdom, HS, etc and at some of the dining places such as CRT and Chef Mickeys! Can someone please tell me the locations that do something like this? I know the likelihood of being chosen is slim, but I'll keep my knowledge of it a secret and dream!

Additionally, I was wondering if having early-open ADR would make us ineligible for Family of the Day at MK? We have 8:05 ADR at BOG but I'd totally be willing to forego it for a chance to be Family of the Day! I read someone's blog post and they said they were asked if they had dining reservations before being asked if they would like to help open Magic Kingdom.

Anyway, any information is greatly appreciated!

The family of the day at MK has to be available for the park opening show above the train station, and for a ride to the castle in a Main Street vehicle or horse drawn wagon, so you could not do that if you had a pre park opening breakfast ADR. But I think the ADR you snagged is pretty SWEET! They will let you in the park at 7:45am and you can casually stroll down a beautiful almost empty Maine Street! Enjoy!

 

[strmtroopr96]

We were chosen to open the Magic Kingdom on our 2012 trip. It was the best day ever! We had gotten to the park at about 7:40 am for a 9 am opening and were the first ones at the gates. The only other guests were the ones lined up in the breakfast line. We weren't standing there long when a CM pulled my hubby aside and let him know what was in store for us. She wanted it to be a surprise for the rest of us but of course I knew what was going on since it was on my bucket list. She took us through the gates and over to the "magical bench" to wait for our driver to arrive. After a awhile, we were taken up and down Main Street on the fire truck and stopping for photos along the way with our own Photopass CM. Then were taken back to the train station where we met the host for the opening show, Scoop Sanderson, and the dancers. We took more pictures and then received our instructions (hubby was to look at Mickey and nod at a certain point, I had a line of my own..."Good Morning"). Soon the train made its way down the tracks and we were standing in front waving to all the guests alongside the characters. Our photographer was also out front taking more pictures of us. After, we had a private meet and greet with the Fairy Godmother and then met back up with Scoop and our driver for more pictures under the train station. Then Scoop gave each of my girls a pin along with a fast pass good for anything at the MK. It was an awesome day!!!

We were also chosen to open Chef Mickey's during our 2014 trip. We had a 5:00 reservation and checked in about 30 minutes before since we were already at the resort and they asked us to open. My girls had their names announced and then "cut" the ropesopening the restaurant and then were escorted by Mickey to our table (Photopass again taking pictures) that was decorated with cute placemats and confetti. Once there, they each signed the guest book.

 

[hoffman1]

We were chosen to open the Magic Kingdom on our 2012 trip. It was the best day ever! We had gotten to the park at about 7:40 am for a 9 am opening and were the first ones at the gates. The only other guests were the ones lined up in the breakfast line. We weren't standing there long when a CM pulled my hubby aside and let him know what was in store for us. She wanted it to be a surprise for the rest of us but of course I knew what was going on since it was on my bucket list. She took us through the gates and over to the "magical bench" to wait for our driver to arrive. After a awhile, we were taken up and down Main Street on the fire truck and stopping for photos along the way with our own Photopass CM. Then were taken back to the train station where we met the host for the opening show, Scoop Sanderson, and the dancers. We took more pictures and then received our instructions (hubby was to look at Mickey and nod at a certain point, I had a line of my own..."Good Morning"). Soon the train made its way down the tracks and we were standing in front waving to all the guests alongside the characters. Our photographer was also out front taking more pictures of us. After, we had a private meet and greet with the Fairy Godmother and then met back up with Scoop and our driver for more pictures under the train station. Then Scoop gave each of my girls a pin along with a fast pass good for anything at the MK. It was an awesome day!!!
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We were also chosen to open Chef Mickey's during our 2014 trip. We had a 5:00 reservation and checked in about 30 minutes before since we were already at the resort and they asked us to open. My girls had their names announced and then "cut" the ropesopening the restaurant and then were escorted by Mickey to our table (Photopass again taking pictures) that was decorated with cute placemats and confetti. Once there, they each signed the guest book.

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We LOVE Scoop! He makes you feel special even if you aren't the family of the day

 

[Paigevon]

Oh I love these so much!! I will keep dreaming!

 

[Corbinator]

I could cry, these are so sweet. Is rope drop a different time each morning or is exactly on the dot at opening time?

 

[Ensusieasm]

I could cry, these are so sweet. Is rope drop a different time each morning or is exactly on the dot at opening time?

At MK the opening show starts up to 20 minutes before park opening, which may be at 9, 8, or even 7 AM. Check the park times calendar . This January they actually let the crowd in 15 minutes before the scheduled Park opening time.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm not sure if any of the parks do "family of the day" any more except the MK. I think that's partly because of evolving opening procedures.

 

[Yarbogash]

Some great stories. Ty everyone for sharing!

Our own bit of magic like this happened last year on The Land at Epcot. Our then 4 year old DS loves that ride. Went on it over and over. Late in the day before leaving we came back for one more ride. Short line and they held the people behind us as they announced our son was chosen to be Captain of the Day. He got a fancy captains hat and we got a boat to ourselves. Afterwards they presented us with a beautiful card with greetings to our son by name from every person working the tide that day. Somebody must have really hustled to put that together during our ride! They took photos for us with the cm's. Our son still calls himself a Disney Captain.