gogriz
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2006
- Messages
- 61
LONG POST WARNING--but lots of people have said they want EVERY Detail
Our family of four (mom, dad and two daughters 4 & 14) won the stay in Cinderella's Castle on Monday February 5, 2007 while at the Magic Kingdom. It is still all very sureal for us but since we have seen so much talk about this prize here, we wanted to share all the details.
On the 4th day of our Disney vacation we planned to visit the Magic Kingdom because my husband wanted to see the Super Bowl MVP parade (sadly it was on Wednesday instead). On our way to Adventure Land we stopped to get a photo in front of the Castle. The photographer was so nice and explained how the photo pass worked and about buying the whole CD instead of individual pictures. My husband asked her where the best place to see Cinderella would be and she said Toon Town so we headed that way. We wanted our 4 year old daughter to see the princesses before it got busy. We waited about 10 minutes for Toon Town to open and fully intended to go directly to Cinderella's line but our 4 year old saw Goofy at the entrance to his Barn Stormer ride and literally ran that way. I followed her and realized Goofy was going to ride the ride and we decided to also. Because we made our 14 year old daughter ride it also we let another family in ahead of us while we waited for her. We missed the first ride but myself and our little one were in the first car for the second ride, with our older daughter behind us. As we stepped off the ride I was approached by a Dream Team member in the light blue shirt and white vest (along with 5 other Disney people). It was a little confusing at first because he said I was a finalist for a stay at the castle. The first thing I thought was, "Is there a drawing?" I didn't understand that we had really won it at this point. They were all sooooooo excited about it. I just didn't want to get my hopes up. We met my husband at the bottom of the ride's exit ramp where he was filming the whole thing and not sure why we were surrounded by all the Disney folks.
As we walked back to Guest Services the details were explained a bit more and we realized that they were just using very careful wording until they verified that we qualified (weren't Disney employees, related to any Disney employees and were from a qualified state). The Dream Team was very excited because we were the first family to win at the Magic Kingdom. Once at guest services hot chocolate instantly appeared as well as crayons and things to color. We filled out the paperwork and were given our itinerary for the remainder of the day.
After explaining to a tearful 4 year old why we had to leave the park at 11:30 am , we went to pack a bag. The CM at the monorail saw the packet I was holding that said "Cinderella Suite Winners" and made a fuss about us and let us ride in the front of the monorail. We were 4 of maybe 10 people on the tram back to the parking lot since no one seems to leave that time of day.
We met our personal concierge at the Grand Floridian where our car was valeted and were driven Back to the Magic Kingdom. We were met by more Disney folks and walked to Frontier Land were we waited for the car we rode in, with Daisy Duck, for the Dreams parade. At this point we were given our special silver eared hats.
After being in the parade and watching the regular parade we checked into the castle. It was just as amazing as all the sites say.
The tub is as great as they say but the best part was how the light in the tub changed just like the lights on the castle change from pink to blue to purple, etc. We have never and will never stay anywhere as nice.
We were treated to dinner at Cinderella's Table where Fairy Godmother made a fuss over us during the show. Afterwards we returned to the room where Tinkerbell had turned down our beds and left a signed, framed photo of Jasmin, Aladdin, and Genie for our youngest daughter (they had asked her earlier in the day who her favorite was) along with a Dreams Mickey and Minnie.
The park was open that night until 12:30 for the Pirates and Princesses party so even though we missed a lot of our day we still were able to do all that we wanted that night with our personal concierge who got us on all the rides without waiting and even got my husband and older daughter in the see Captain Jack without waiting the 45 minutes. We had special seating for the fireworks and the parade. If anyone has the chance to do the Pirates and Princesses party--DO IT. It was soooooo much fun. The fireworks were SPECTACULAR!!!
Our family stayed up as late as we could but finally went to sleep in the castle. Well...actually they did. I couldn't sleep a wink. Cinderella called to wake us up and it was off to breakfast at the Crystal Palace.
Back to reality at that point.
I hope this wasn't too long or boring. It was just such an amazing thing to happen.
EDIT
Feb/05 2007 Castle Suite Winnner Photo's
Our family of four (mom, dad and two daughters 4 & 14) won the stay in Cinderella's Castle on Monday February 5, 2007 while at the Magic Kingdom. It is still all very sureal for us but since we have seen so much talk about this prize here, we wanted to share all the details.
On the 4th day of our Disney vacation we planned to visit the Magic Kingdom because my husband wanted to see the Super Bowl MVP parade (sadly it was on Wednesday instead). On our way to Adventure Land we stopped to get a photo in front of the Castle. The photographer was so nice and explained how the photo pass worked and about buying the whole CD instead of individual pictures. My husband asked her where the best place to see Cinderella would be and she said Toon Town so we headed that way. We wanted our 4 year old daughter to see the princesses before it got busy. We waited about 10 minutes for Toon Town to open and fully intended to go directly to Cinderella's line but our 4 year old saw Goofy at the entrance to his Barn Stormer ride and literally ran that way. I followed her and realized Goofy was going to ride the ride and we decided to also. Because we made our 14 year old daughter ride it also we let another family in ahead of us while we waited for her. We missed the first ride but myself and our little one were in the first car for the second ride, with our older daughter behind us. As we stepped off the ride I was approached by a Dream Team member in the light blue shirt and white vest (along with 5 other Disney people). It was a little confusing at first because he said I was a finalist for a stay at the castle. The first thing I thought was, "Is there a drawing?" I didn't understand that we had really won it at this point. They were all sooooooo excited about it. I just didn't want to get my hopes up. We met my husband at the bottom of the ride's exit ramp where he was filming the whole thing and not sure why we were surrounded by all the Disney folks.
As we walked back to Guest Services the details were explained a bit more and we realized that they were just using very careful wording until they verified that we qualified (weren't Disney employees, related to any Disney employees and were from a qualified state). The Dream Team was very excited because we were the first family to win at the Magic Kingdom. Once at guest services hot chocolate instantly appeared as well as crayons and things to color. We filled out the paperwork and were given our itinerary for the remainder of the day.
After explaining to a tearful 4 year old why we had to leave the park at 11:30 am , we went to pack a bag. The CM at the monorail saw the packet I was holding that said "Cinderella Suite Winners" and made a fuss about us and let us ride in the front of the monorail. We were 4 of maybe 10 people on the tram back to the parking lot since no one seems to leave that time of day.
We met our personal concierge at the Grand Floridian where our car was valeted and were driven Back to the Magic Kingdom. We were met by more Disney folks and walked to Frontier Land were we waited for the car we rode in, with Daisy Duck, for the Dreams parade. At this point we were given our special silver eared hats.
After being in the parade and watching the regular parade we checked into the castle. It was just as amazing as all the sites say.
The tub is as great as they say but the best part was how the light in the tub changed just like the lights on the castle change from pink to blue to purple, etc. We have never and will never stay anywhere as nice.
We were treated to dinner at Cinderella's Table where Fairy Godmother made a fuss over us during the show. Afterwards we returned to the room where Tinkerbell had turned down our beds and left a signed, framed photo of Jasmin, Aladdin, and Genie for our youngest daughter (they had asked her earlier in the day who her favorite was) along with a Dreams Mickey and Minnie.
The park was open that night until 12:30 for the Pirates and Princesses party so even though we missed a lot of our day we still were able to do all that we wanted that night with our personal concierge who got us on all the rides without waiting and even got my husband and older daughter in the see Captain Jack without waiting the 45 minutes. We had special seating for the fireworks and the parade. If anyone has the chance to do the Pirates and Princesses party--DO IT. It was soooooo much fun. The fireworks were SPECTACULAR!!!
Our family stayed up as late as we could but finally went to sleep in the castle. Well...actually they did. I couldn't sleep a wink. Cinderella called to wake us up and it was off to breakfast at the Crystal Palace.
Back to reality at that point.
I hope this wasn't too long or boring. It was just such an amazing thing to happen.
EDIT
Feb/05 2007 Castle Suite Winnner Photo's
Hi there!!!! Welcome to the DIS!!!!!!
Wow!! What a great memory from your trip! Thank you for sharing it with everyone.
How wonderful for you and your family. Do you have pics to share?!
