What is the best magic you've ever received....

[tbia]

...for wearing a Birthday/Anniversary/First Time/Etc. button?

 

[BuckeyeBama]

We have been to WDW many, many times and never received any upgrades or anything of the like for any of our special occasions - and my wife is one of the sweetest people on the planet. Just the luck of the draw, so I wouldn't expect anything more than a congratulatory greeting here and there.

 

[Roxy13]

We went to BWI for our 50th wedding anniversary in a standard room and at check in upgraded to Club Level. Every day there was a little gift in our room. champagne, chocolate strawberries, chocolate box with truffles, Stuffed Mickey and Minnie.

 

[Rgonzalez79]

On our first trip my DD, now 7 then 4, wore her Birthday button. As we were walking in the area behind Cinderella's castle a cast member walk up to her with this giant chocolate chip cookie and says: "Belle just sent me down from the kitchen and asked me to give this to you" my daughter was in shock and she just sort of stood there with the cookie in her hand. The CM said "happy birthday, I have to run back inside".

DD turns slowly and says to us "Belle knows I'm here and she sent us a cookie!" She had such a look of genuine amazement, it was priceless

One of the coolest moment we've had in the parks

 

[Mom2Stitch]

Wore our Anniversary buttons the entire trip last year, got a cupcake to share at CRT and had lots of "congratulations, how many years?" 23 years must be a lifetime because some of the younger CMs were very impressed

I think it was just a little extra attention from characters and CMs, nothing over the top, but was lots of fun.

 

[Aeryn76]

I took my dad to WDW for our first time in 2012 for his 70th birthday. He had a button on. He didn't get anything extra besides people (CM's and guests) wishing him a happy birthday. But our "magic" happened in Epcot in England. We were sitting on a bench taking a break and people watching. I heard a voice say happy birthday to my dad and I looked and there was Mary Poppins walking by on her way to a character meet! He said thank you and then we just look at each other with big smiles on our faces. One of the highlights of that trip.

 

[budafam]

We ate at San Angel Inn for my daughter's 4th birthday and she received a stuffed Duffy bear brand new with the tags on it (over $20) from a mystery CM. Sweetest thing ever!

 

[TreeSapp]

I've been in Disney parks probably 25 times before we knew about the buttons/before we moved to FL, and maybe 20 more times (with only an occasional birthday trip) up until 2years ago.

When my husband & I got married & moved to Jacksonville, we decided to buy the AP as a year-long Disneymoon gift to each other since then, I've been decorating our buttons extra special since the cast get such a kick out of them
Since then we've renewed our APs and have been something like 30days over 12-15 visits.

Undecorated Birthday:
We have gotten a free hot chocolate (MK) on my birthday at like 1am in January, and my friend got a free funnelcake (Epcot) but they didn't say it was for his birthday, just said "no charge" when he went to pay. At DCA back in 2007 I got a whole bag of fresh corn tortillas at the sample stop

Decorated Ever After:
-We got a little lemon cake-puff dessert with chocolate drizzle at Via Napoli on our honeymoon trip, it just showed up with our check
-I mis-read our RnRC FP- tickets and showed up at 1:15 instead of 11:15 the guy said we were too late for our window and we walked away, I felt bad cause its one of Dh's favorite rides. 1min later another CM came up & tapped us on the shoulder and have us THREE anytime FP for it. We gave two of them away to other just married couples who had buttons later in the day.

Decorated/undecorated Celebrating:
-We've gotten tons of random magic over the years, the biggest was being asked to be in the MJJP at AK when we went with friends this winter.
-One time we were lined up 8:55am to meet Mary Poppins and a cast lady came out to tell us she wasn't going to be there today. I said "I guess will just have to squeeze in a stop at Epcot to get her autograph on the way out". She asked was i an autograph collector & i said i was trying to get 'non princess' characters to send to my niece for xmas. Then she asked for my name & autograph book and said "I can probably go find Mary this morning, you two go have fun, ride the rides and come back to GR after noon and tell them your name". We came back to 11 new autographs in our book! Very sweet of her
-one time we stopped mid-afternoon at a character greet to ask "will the line be shorter later tonight?" And the girl asked what are you celebrating. We said (kind of embarrassed) "not being at work?" And she let us skip the line - we actually felt guilty, cause we'd have been just as happy to meet the character at night.
-once at rope drop for TSMM we got stopped and asked about our buttons, and a few other cast came over to look and and questions too. After about 5-7min of fun chat with happy CMs they felt guilty that the line had gotten long with people going past us even tho we were there first. One girl gave us a rider swap card and let us go in the FP entrance.
-this trip we were celebrating a first visit to Flower & Garden Festival and a CM in a store stopped and asked for a picture with us, she said 'I wanna submit you for our cast newsletter' so we'll see if anything comes of that.


Mostly tho, we just get recognized by cast from former trips now and typically don't get perks, just friendly "you're back! I remember you! What are you celebrating today?"

EDIT:

I also made First Visit buttons for my niece and nephew a month back and while I walked away to set up their FP+ they went to do a ride without me. when they got to the line, a CM recognized their buttons from seeing me a trip or two before and gave them a coupon for a free Mickey ice cream. those kids (2.5yr & 15mo) aren't allowed sugar treats at home... So it was pretty much the best day of their lives

 

[jon18uk]

With a birthday badge at Magic Kingdom I went to buy a bottle of Sprite from a cart and the CM told me that Mickey had heard it was my birthday and the drink is on him! A tiny thing but made me smile for an hour

At Disneyland with a birthday badge an off-duty CM in front of me in the queue at Casey's gave me his staff discount on my food! then the CM on the till gave me an extra soda (I had two meals but only wanted 1 drink as were off to Fantasmic dessert party) and he said that I couldn't be sharing a drink on my birthday. Again small things but make me happy.

 

[rapunzels]

Year of a million dreams, given 2-3 lanyards with pins as we entered Soarin.

When my daughter was around 3, we had just arrived to OKW. It was around noon, a long flight, she was cranky and had just had an accident... while daddy was holding her, while I checked us in. I saw him freaking outside, (he was soaked) and we had taken ME.. so our bags were not onsite yet... I went outside found out what happened.. then went back in to finish checking in.. the manger stepped over, and asked what had happened. I explained what happened and told her I had planned poorly for not having extra clothes for my daughter and we did not have our suitcases yet... she said come with me... she took all of us to the gift shop and "bought" my daughter a pair of Minnie pajamas, long sleeve and pants since it was Feb and the best we could do under the circumstances) and let my husband pick out a new Disney t shirt.... we were surprised and appreciative. Its a sweet memory, having photos of our youngest daughter running around MK that day in her new pajamas.

1 year later, already on ME at 4pm, I noticed my older daughter, 6 years old at the time, had forgotten her glasses on the airplane. She had been wearing glasses at the time about 5 months and chronically took them off and on, as she was still adjusting to wearing them. She dissolved into tears that she had lost her glasses, and I was distraught that not only did she lose her glasses, but that we were going to go the whole week without her being able to see anything, as she is pretty nearsighted. When we got to OKW, we used the courtesy phone, and called the airport. The flight attendant had found her glasses and they were at the gate waiting for us... we were told to come get them.. but we had done ME, and did not want to have to cab it or rent a car to go get them... they told us they could hold them till we picked them up one week later. The agent transferred me to the ME desk to see if they had any suggestions. The ME agent suggested they would walk to the gate, get her glasses, and send them back on one of the next ME busses leaving that afternoon. By 9pm, there was a knock on the door...a delivery... a box that said dreams do come true... and inside of the box, carefully wrapped in tissue paper, my daughters glasses... delivered to us at OKW.

Not necessarily Disney, but just as magical, my husbands new boss, a few years after that, decided to treat us to a welcome to Disney package, which at the time we had never heard of... We checked into the room and opened the door to the room... and found balloons galore, confetti, the table decorated party style with paper tablecloth, tinkerbell plates cups, on the couch 1 each for both my girls, a Mickey mouse, Mickey ears, a tshirt, a stuff it yourself toy, a beach pail, tokens for arcade, chocolate covered strawberries, apple cider, a $200 gift card, and Welcome to Disney, with all of our names marked on a mirror in the dining area. There were more items, but at the moment I am failing to remember there was soo much stuff...It was exciting and a wonderful gesture, and magical.

On our very first trip to Disney, we were celebrating a birthday, and found a balloon and signed character card in our room, which is not uncommon, but for a first time visit, unexpected.

Coming off of Space Mountain, Stitch chose my daughter to play with in the arcade. He took her hand and walked her over to the sit down car races together, with stitch in a car, and my daughter in a car. People followed them around, watching the special attention Stitch was giving my daughter. It was very cute. Still magical, and a good memory.

At Chef Mickey, Mickey took my daughters by hand, and skipped over to the dessert station and helped them deck out the best dessert ever seen!

There must be more, but not coming to mind right now. Pixie dust comes in many different ways, and does not always need to be monetary. It is magical in any mode given, that is different from normal expectations, IMO.

 

[ciera321]

Paid for a garden view room at Contemporary Resort and was given at tower Magic Kingdom View room! Technically, that was before I put the button on, but he had it ready for me, then said to wait because he had to check something in the back office. That's probably as good as I can ever hope for....

 

[ConnieB]

I've been in Disney parks probably 25 times before we knew about the buttons/before we moved to FL, and maybe 20 more times (with only an occasional birthday trip) up until 2years ago.

When my husband & I got married & moved to Jacksonville, we decided to buy the AP as a year-long Disneymoon gift to each other since then, I've been decorating our buttons extra special since the cast get such a kick out of them
Since then we've renewed our APs and have been something like 30days over 12-15 visits.

Undecorated Birthday:
We have gotten a free hot chocolate (MK) on my birthday at like 1am in January, and my friend got a free funnelcake (Epcot) but they didn't say it was for his birthday, just said "no charge" when he went to pay. At DCA back in 2007 I got a whole bag of fresh corn tortillas at the sample stop

Decorated Ever After:
-We got a little lemon cake-puff dessert with chocolate drizzle at Via Napoli on our honeymoon trip, it just showed up with our check
-I mis-read our RnRC FP- tickets and showed up at 1:15 instead of 11:15 the guy said we were too late for our window and we walked away, I felt bad cause its one of Dh's favorite rides. 1min later another CM came up & tapped us on the shoulder and have us THREE anytime FP for it. We gave two of them away to other just married couples who had buttons later in the day.

Decorated/undecorated Celebrating:
-We've gotten tons of random magic over the years, the biggest was being asked to be in the MJJP at AK when we went with friends this winter.
-One time we were lined up 8:55am to meet Mary Poppins and a cast lady came out to tell us she wasn't going to be there today. I said "I guess will just have to squeeze in a stop at Epcot to get her autograph on the way out". She asked was i an autograph collector & i said i was trying to get 'non princess' characters to send to my niece for xmas. Then she asked for my name & autograph book and said "I can probably go find Mary this morning, you two go have fun, ride the rides and come back to GR after noon and tell them your name". We came back to 11 new autographs in our book! Very sweet of her
-one time we stopped mid-afternoon at a character greet to ask "will the line be shorter later tonight?" And the girl asked what are you celebrating. We said (kind of embarrassed) "not being at work?" And she let us skip the line - we actually felt guilty, cause we'd have been just as happy to meet the character at night.
-once at rope drop for TSMM we got stopped and asked about our buttons, and a few other cast came over to look and and questions too. After about 5-7min of fun chat with happy CMs they felt guilty that the line had gotten long with people going past us even tho we were there first. One girl gave us a rider swap card and let us go in the FP entrance.
-this trip we were celebrating a first visit to Flower & Garden Festival and a CM in a store stopped and asked for a picture with us, she said 'I wanna submit you for our cast newsletter' so we'll see if anything comes of that.


Mostly tho, we just get recognized by cast from former trips now and typically don't get perks, just friendly "you're back! I remember you! What are you celebrating today?"

EDIT:

I also made First Visit buttons for my niece and nephew a month back and while I walked away to set up their FP+ they went to do a ride without me. when they got to the line, a CM recognized their buttons from seeing me a trip or two before and gave them a coupon for a free Mickey ice cream. those kids (2.5yr & 15mo) aren't allowed sugar treats at home... So it was pretty much the best day of their lives

Would love to see photos of your special buttons!

 

[BellsFam]

On our first trip my DD, now 7 then 4, wore her Birthday button. As we were walking in the area behind Cinderella's castle a cast member walk up to her with this giant chocolate chip cookie and says: "Belle just sent me down from the kitchen and asked me to give this to you" my daughter was in shock and she just sort of stood there with the cookie in her hand. The CM said "happy birthday, I have to run back inside".

DD turns slowly and says to us "Belle knows I'm here and she sent us a cookie!" She had such a look of genuine amazement, it was priceless

One of the coolest moment we've had in the parks

O.M.G.! That's awesome!!!

DD got a birthday badge, and wouldn't wear it! So I wore it the day and everyone kept calling me by her name...it was weird, I put it on the stroller after that, easier to locate my stroller that way!

 

[aVASTGrl]

I was headed towards the FP line for Star Tours, and when the CM attendant saw my birthday button, and that I was by myself, she pulled me to the front of the line and deposited me directly into the ride vehicle! It was a pretty fun experience

 

[TreeSapp]

Would love to see photos of your special buttons!

Thanks
About 8 months ago I made a Facebook fan page for them - since a lot of people were asking. I'm still shocked that I've gotten up to 90 people following it

Facebook.com/BigRedsPinHeads
Facebook.com/BigRedsPinHeads

It's best to go to the photo album to see the old ones - a lot of my new posts are just practice designs/sketches

 

[disneyworlddreaming]

My husband and I went for our honeymoon 7 years ago and had our "Just Married" pins Minnie veils & Mickey hats on the whole trip. We got moved to the front of the line quite a few times, a couple of free desserts at restaurants "Congratulations", etc as well as one cast member gave me the phone in one shop with a phone call from Mickey and Minnie congratulating us. There were probably a fee more, but can't remember! It was all unexpected and definitely a treat.

 

[Soccer and Swim Mom]

When my daughter and I arrived at the resort the cast members had my 6 year old daughter go back behind the desk and check us in. When she pushed a button on their computer all the cast members cheered and told her that she and her mommy were upgraded to a very special room. She was declared guest of the day. When we arrived at our room it was decorated inside with balloons and Disney treats. There was a stuffed Mickey and monogrammed ears with my daughter's name.

Every time we checked in a restaurant the staff or characters would come up to my daughter and call her by name. They would tell her that they had a message from Nemo. He said, "Just keep swimming."

She was called onstage at Turtle Talk with Crush. She played hide and seek with Peter Pan outside the entrance to adventureland. She shared a dance with Prince Charming at 1900 Park Faire.

Whenever we'd leave our resort room we would come back and there would be a extra fast passed and a different present for my daughter.

We kept calling daddy at home and telling him what all was happening because it was unreal.
The magical moments just kept happening and created the most amazing mommy daughter trip ever.

 

[tinks_1989]

On our last trip we were

Upgrade to a 1 bed villa atSSR from a studio. The extra space was awesome.

Opened1900 park fare. DD was dressed as Mary poppins and was greeted by Mary poppins after having said the magic supercali word to open the doors.

And were chosen to be family of the day at MK

Did the family magic tour and DD became great friends with the CM who later treated her to a Duffy bear

 

[ajwolfe]

So many neat things!! My family hasn't really ever had any pixie dust thrown our way on our trips but I love hearing about everyone elses!!

 

[rapunzels]

I would give up any room upgrade to get to be family of the day at MK! That is the ultimate pixie dust I aim for every trip. Of course, since I'm not a morning rope drop person, it would have to be a miracle my family would ever get chosen. : (