What will you celebrate? How was your birthday or anniversary acknowledged at TS

[Belle5]

I am curious how this promotion (What Will You Celebrate--I think it's called) worked with you. I noted it in all of our TS ADR's that it was our 25th wedding anniversary and we wore our anniversary pins. Only one restaurant out of the 8 TS restaurants did anything special for us (The Wave brought us dessert). I am VERY glad that we had two custom cakes made for our occasions (we celebrated DS22's birthday one night). I am so glad we didn't leave these things to chance!!!! Ordering custom cakes ensured us that something "special" was done for us. We did have lots of CM's wish us "Happy Anniversary" as we walked by them in the parks. At the restaurants, I felt the CM's almost made a point NOT to notice... The truth is, with the promotion going on as it is, EVERYBODY is celebrating something! I can't say as I blame them too much for not wanting to acknowledge it in the restaurants. If they bring you a cupcake or whatever, you might just be too full to order dessert! We ate at a ton of QS restaurants through the week and not even a little snack cake was offered. I was a little surprised since I had been reading about that sort of thing being done. Again, glad I didn't count on it and made my own plans for celebrations. Also, if I wanted a cupcake--I bought myself one!

What was your experience when wearing your pin or noting a celebration in your ADR?

 

[AuroraMeansDawn]

Couldn't help but notice your signature. Know what we're celebrating? My son will have his Eagle Scout court of honor right before we leave. However, he's not the kind who would want to wear a button nor would we do that. It's a private celebration and we're so very proud of his accomplishment.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I don't care for the what are you celebrating theme. Since everyone is now putting down they are celebratiing something (whether or not that something actually falls during the trip, or even the month of the trip), nothing ends up being really celebrated in the restaurants. No happy birthday singing, no happy this or that wishes from the waitstaff/hostesses, no nothing really. You are right, you do need to plan for your own cakes, etc., because they aren't going to do something for every single person in the restaurant and everyone is putting down they are celebrating something.

Happy Anniversary! How was the cake you ordered by the way? I am considering ordering one for an upcoming trip.

 

[Belle5]

Couldn't help but notice your signature. Know what we're celebrating? My son will have his Eagle Scout court of honor right before we leave. However, he's not the kind who would want to wear a button nor would we do that. It's a private celebration and we're so very proud of his accomplishment.

How exciting and what a perfect place to celebrate! Congratulations to him!

My fourth DS is working on his Eagle project...

 

[Belle5]

Happy Anniversary! How was the cake you ordered by the way? I am considering ordering one for an upcoming trip.

Our cake was spectacular and delicious! We had it made through the GF as we were happy with them for a cake they had made for us in the fall of '08.

 

[stazmatic]

Last June DD14 celebrated her birthday with breakfast at Ohana. She got a card signed by all of the characters and a huge cupcake.

 

[catsaneda]

I went in April and was celebrating my 63rd birthday. Every signature restaurant recognized it and many TS did also. The Flying Fish, Narcoossees,and Citricos even presented me with personalized menus. I got a special dessert or decorated plate at most places and California Grill presented me and my DS with champagne. I am so surprised your 25th was not celebrated more.

 

[Hopefully]

Last year I noted that we were celebrating our 40th Anniversary. No one mentioned it anywhere. THe only thing I expected was Anniversary pins on checkin and we didn't even get them.
I firmly believe that you need to plan (and pay for) your own special thing if you want it.

 

[Sadie22]

I think I read you need to get and wear the buttons and also tell the host/hostess at check-in and let your server know, but that still nothing is guaranteed.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Well we were there starting May 18th. It was our anniv. and we wore our buttons on the special day. (I brought them from home myself from a previous trip) I only noted it for our narcoosees dinner and Kona breakfast. This is what happened.

Kona Breakfast - server congratulated us and told us it was her anniv. the next day! Gave us a cupcake. Said she was suppose to give us something else but they ran out of it yesterday since so many people were celebrating stuff??

Liberty Tree- Lunch - Just got a little oh, happy anniversary from our server, That was it. But 2 tables away a whole bunch of cast memebers came over to some guy and loudly sang him Happy Birthday, announcing it etc. Hmm, I felt like the invisible couple at that point

Narcoosees - Upon arrival manger asked us why we had 2 reservations (that was a mix up). Just said are you staying here at the Grand, I said no we arent. (We were at the Polynesian, but why he asked that was beyond me and I felt it was rude. Why does it matter where I am staying? Then he said, oh happy anniversary and our server did too. There were better tables that had the view of the fireworks below, but we were given a table higher up and next to the bar. Sorry it was about as unromantic as you could get. I had to twist my neck to see the fireworks. (I found this particularly funny since last year I had half my neck dissected due to cancer). For the dessert there was a little chocolate cone on the plate. Actually I dont even khow if that was part of the real dessert or not. I am glad we had the disney gift card offer to pay for that meal or I would have considered it a complete waste of money, also considering my dh got sick from the food later on...oh yes, happy anniversary to us!

I have learned to make my own magic. I dont count on too much from the Disney end.

 

[BBQMommy]

Feb 2010 -

Arrival date, day before my birthday:
Les Chefs in EPCOT 4 waiters brought my crepes desert to the table with a candle in the vanilla ice cream and sang 'Happy Birthday' to me in French.

Birthday:
Breakfast: Liberty Tree Tavern, MK: birthday cupcake and special glitter/confetti sprinkled on the table cloth (best breakfast of the entire trip)

Lunch: CRT: more glitter and birthday wishes from our server

Dinner: Narcoossee's: wishes from our waiter, personalised birthday menu, 'Happy Birthday' in gold on my dessert plate

I stopped wearing my button after my birthday passed.

Day after birthday:
Breakfast: Kona Cafe: just a fabulous breakfast
Lunch: Wolfgang Puck Caf: just an excellent lunch
Dinner: I skipped

Day Two after birthday:
Breakfast: 1900 Park Fare: just a super breakfast
Lunch: ABC Commissary: surprisingly good fish and chips
Dinner: California Grill: warm wishes from our waiter, and when I did not order dessert he brought a 'to go' box with a slice of chocolate mousse cake with birthday wishes I had been too full for dessert. Easily the best dish of the trip was the lamb shank risotto for my appetizer.

Day Three after birthday:
Breakfast: WCC (at our hotel) a happy birthday from our waitress and the biggest Diet Coke of my life!

Lunch: on the run
Dinner: Tony's Town Square - just a pleasant meal

Day Four After Birthday:
Change of plans from AK to EPCOT, so no ADRs and I think that is key. If you have an ADR and note a special event, there is much more of a likelyhood to receive a little magic.

Hope this helps, sure was fun remembering

 

[athenna]

In January, when we got engaged, we were wearing the engagement buttons, and we got free deserts @ Kouzzina, Kona and a couple of other places I cant remember right off the top of my head.
My fiance did mention when he booked some meals that he was proposing the 1st night.
We got an awesome free Theme Park view upgrade @ Poly

 

[CathieArms]

I was pleased and disappointed, both.

DS was celebrating his first trip to Disney and his 5th birthday (early). It seems like - at the very least - 75% of the places we went at least VERBALLY acknowledged one or the other (often both) for ds. That part was wonderful.

The downside is that DD (13) was celebrating having made the A-Honor roll for the entire school year. NOT ONCE did ANYONE say A SINGLE WORD to her the entire time we were there. It made her feel terrible! She wore her button every single day, and it got to be a bit of a joke as she started wearing it in the most obvious places and STILL it didn't get noticed. What started out to be rather humorous quickly turned sad. Finally, on one of the last days we were there, I pulled the manager of Cape May aside and asked if SOMEONE at the restaurant could at least VERBALLY acknowledge what she was celebrating as it was beginning to be very depressing. He was awesome. The restaurant made a big to-do over it and it seems like they brought her a card and a dessert. We didn't really "need" that, but it was great for someone to FINALLY acknowledge her accomplishment...after all, it WAS Disney's idea to "celebrate" in the first place.

I like the idea of the celebration, but it didn't seem like Disney trained their CMs all that well to at least verbally acknowledge their own program.

 

[smcdaniel4688]

My DH and I were in Disney the week of our 11th wedding anniversary and we had a TS meal everyday. we got acknowledged at every restraunt and was given a complimentary dessert at just about every one except Liberty Tree Tavern. I thought it was very sweet and was actually quite suprised by the way the cast members went out of their way to wish us a Happy Anniversary not just at restraunts but in the streets and getting on and off rides!

 

[bballmom56]

Our trip two weeks ago was to celebrate our 30th anniversary.

I had only noted the anniversary on one ADR and that was for the first night which was the actual date of the anniversary. That was for Narcoossee's and we couldn't have been more pleased. We didn't say anything about it when we checked in at the podium. I did however ask for a table by the window. When we were called, we were taken to a window table which had been decorated with Mickey confetti, and handed personalized menus. The maitre d' congratulated us and asked why we didn't have the pins on. We didn't know anything about the pins, so he brought us 2 of them. He then also brought us non-personalized menus so we didn't get the other ones dirty. The entire meal was excellent! I was planning to order the almond encrusted cheesecake which I had read about on the dis. Before I could do that, the waitress brought us a lovely plate with the cheesecake, the chocolate cone, and some ribbons of white chocolate with Happy Anniversary written in chocolate on the plate. We felt we were treated very well there and we will go back again!

DH liked the attention from wearing the pin (me, not so much, lol). We were given desserts at LeCellier, Boma, Trail's End (they make a big fuss, but it was sweet. They did it for birthdays too), and even at the food court at POFQ. The wonderful lady there asked us if she could make a big fuss or if we liked it more quiet. I said we were more the quiet type and she was disappointed, but she honored that and brought us mardi gras beads and a cupcake which was so good. She talked with us for quite a while and was so nice.

 

[lynn46356]

We also celebrated our 25th anniversary with a trip this past November/December. We received a ton of anniversary wishes from CM (we were wearing our buttons) but as for extra desserts, only one. It was at Cape May buffet at the Beach Club. We had a wonderful waitress who we chatted with tons and she brought us out a couple of oreo bon bons or whatever they are called. The last day we visited MK and one of our last stops was Main Street Bakery. We had a small amount of treats (probably around $20) and the CM seen our buttons and wished us a happy anniversary and also said to stay put for a moment. She came back with a receipt book and told us our goodies were on the house! She was wonderful and truly made our day even better. I didn't expect much but the two extras just made the trip even better. Belated 25th Anniversary wishes to the both of you!

 

[Disneyelf10]

I celebrated my 40th b-day last November 2009. I had several happy b-day wishes from cast members and even from other people on vacation! (must say I liked that- thought it was very nice of them to notice my pin!)
I got mickey confetti on the table at Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner and then a delish cupcake!
On my actual b-day dinner we ate at the Wave and our waitress said since you already have dessert I she gave me a light up TinkerBell clip on thing. Loved It!!
Thinking back about it, I feel I had some pixie dust sprinkled!!! But do think it isn't consistant!

 

[texasgirl73]

They seem to force people to put something that they are celebrating so people are "celebrating" their birthdays (a month or two ahead of time,) anniversaries, accomplishments, etc when they wouldn't have bothered to even mention it. It's too bad because it makes it harder for those who actually come to DisneyWorld to actually celebrate an event to be acknowledged.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

It was my DD7's birthday. She got a free cupcake and birthday card at every restaurant we ate at. At Sci fi, she got a birthday sundae instead of cupcake. ( I noted it on the reservation when I made them).