We saw the night in the castle given away twice

[ahilly]

We just returned from a magical week and while we were there we saw the castle stay given away twice. The first was at MK on Winnie the Pooh the family's little boy was sitting in the correct seat, car at the right time. We were going to ride Pooh first but DS wanted to ride the speedway, so we went on Pooh after. The dream team CM told us they had given it away maybe 5 minutes before, he was very informative considering he was part of the team that just gave the castle away, but there was about 5 other Dream Team CM's with the winning family. They were filling out all the paper work in the Pooh gift shop which I found kinda strange but it was definately very cool to see someone win it. For the record this was right after the park opened at 9am, it was probably 9:30ish.
Two days later, at MGM we went to ride the Backlot Tour. They were asking for 4 volunteers for the movie scene. DH, DMil & myself volunteered along with "Mark". For those who have done this, you and your family are the first ones in and the last ones out of this part of the tour. After the scene, you then walk to the backlot tram part. Since we were the last ones, the last car was row 1 - DH, DD, DS and me, row 2 - DMom, DMil & DFil, row 3 - "Mark and his family". As this part of the tour ended and the tram was pulling around DH and I spotted the Dream Team waiting. As we exited, the team approached "Mark's DD" and said hello princess, blah blah blah and took out the infamous DVD player for the video. Of course DH and I were being nosey and hung out in the gift shop to see if they won the castle. When they came out into the gift shop DH asked "Mark" if they won the castle? And yes they did!!! It was awesome to see it! This team took them away behind closed doors to do their paperwork, it was 4 members, 3 dressed in YOMD attire but one who almost looked like undercover security (he was dressed in black pants, green shirt & dark shades). As they were walking away we overheard the mom say this was the kids first trip, first plane ride etc, so it was pretty cool to see someone like this win it. This was given away about 11:30ish (I know because we went for lunch right after!)
We didn't win but it really was neat to see it happen. Congratulations to the families that did win!

 

[disneynan]

It is interesting to hear about the circumstances of people winning that prize. We could not afford to go this year. But we are going next August and were thrilled to see that they have extended the YOAMD for another year! Maybe we will see the dream teams when we are there.

 

[raven69david]

From reading others posts, it sounds like hanging around the Winnie the Pooh ride is a good place to get lucky for the YOAMD.

 

[Starry]

We saw a cool dream while on the Pooh ride also
Not the castle, but Piglet came over and rode the ride with this little girl in
the car in front of us
It was really cute, they even had a photographer show up to take pics

We thought it was fun to be right behind them

My DS7 and I won the lanyards and pins, that was it the whole week
but at least it was something
I was so hoping for the Dream Fast Passes

 

[tink too]

Wow - bet those families had a fabulous time in the castle suite. Sorry your family missed out ahilly - but I also applaud you for your great Disney spirit in being happy for those that did win!

FWIW - we were at WDW for 3 weeks last year and didn't win a thing although we did see the Dream Team on several occasions. Would have been great to win something, but wasn't disappointed, just glad to be at WDW!