Willing to share a memorable story?

[vicky33006]

We were at WDW this past February. My son had just gotten really into The Incredibles. A couple of days prior to visiting HS, we had bought him a t-shirt in DTD at the Design Your Own T-Shirt store there. He had picked out an Incredibles shirt and had "A.J. Incredible" written on it. We went to meet Mr. Incredible and Frozone. That was without a doubt the best character meet and greet I have ever seen. Mr. Incredible saw him and grabbed his hand. He took him through the whole building showing all of the other characters his shirt. Then he got down on his knees to beg DS for an autograph. He threw himself on the floor multiple times and showed off to Frozone that DS was wearing an Incredibles shirt. I'm not sure I've ever seen DS laugh so hard. He was in heaven. It was so completely magical...and it's why I love Disney. All said, he spent over 10 minutes with my DS. It was a busy day, and yet he took that time out of his day to make my DS feel that special. It was awesome. It really was.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I have so many memories, but I think one that stands out is the first time I took my son. He was 3 1/2, which I thought was too young because he'd never "remember it". My husband happened to be in the area on business so we decided, "Why not?"
I think the whole magic of Disney hit me full force when we went to see Mickey's Birthday Party play in Mickeys Star Land. After the show, you could go backstage to meet Mickey. When it was our turn, we walked into Mickey's dressing room, and we had a wait area. I was looking at Mickey, who was saying good-by to another young guest. When I looked at my son, his eyes were as big as saucers; he was rocking from side to side and rubbing his sweaty hands together, he was so nervous. That's when I knew I'd made the right decision to take him at 3 1/2.

 

[ladyjubilee]

Hmmm, it depends one what you mean by memorable.

I think my family's best moment was at the Merida meet and greet. The CM Chip came over to talk to as we waited and he noticed my son's needs. For the next few minutes he sat in the dirt crushing leaves with my son. Then he asked if my son could try archery. I was hesitant, but he said he'd go with him. My son actually did it! Not only did he hold and draw the bow, but it went into the target. It's so awesome that Chip and other Cast Members take the time to talk to folks like my son. So often people are too uncomfortable to try.

On the other side... eek. My son has autism, on the severe side. He is also extremely heat sensitive. I made the mistake of going to POC first on our first trip. When we parked the stroller I made sure to ask where the stroller would be when we came out. I'd heard they were moved sometimes. We rode and I kept telling my son he could get on the stroller, and get his drink.... and the stroller was gone. A tantrum started, then a meltdown... and it kept getting hotter. Then I knew something was seriously wrong. My son went to full overload, bad enough I had serious bites and claw marks. I couldn't get the CMS to understand that this wasn't a tantrum and that I needed EMS, not directions to first aid. We now know that what was happening was a type of seizure. Totally my fault. I should have gone to all of the air condition in Tommorrowland first but definitely memorable.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

One of my very favorite Disney memories is from my older son's first trip, when he was just 15 months old.

We were there in mid-Sept 2003, and at the time that was a pretty slow time for Disney parks. We had taken an afternoon break, then gone to MK to do a few rides and eat dinner. The park was closing at 7:00. About 6:00 we started looking for somewhere to eat, but were having trouble finding a place that had something that our son would like. We were near Main Street and saw the Crystal Palace there. I knew it was a character meal and that it would be expensive, but I asked at the window if they had any walk-up reservations available for 2 adults and a baby, and amazingly enough, we were seated in about 15 minutes.

We went in and sat down, got our food and started to see how the characters came around to each table. We had had a great character meet with Pooh and Tigger at AK earlier that day, so our son definitely knew who they were as they were walking around. He would get visibly excited as each got closer and closer to our table, and absolutely lit up as each one came to see him. Of course, as each had to move on to the next table, he would start to cry.

Since closing time was approaching, the restaurant was emptying out, and as it did, many of the characters came back around and made special second visits to our son. One of them played peek-a-boo with him around the pillars of the restaurant, and the others came back and just interacted with him for extended periods of time. It was the best character meal experience we've ever had. It was totally worth the $70 we spent on that dinner!

That singular experience probably has a lot to do with why we have spent a lot of our vacation dollars at Disney World in the last 11 years! You just don't get experiences like that anywhere else.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

And I can't leave without a story about my younger son. We surprised our kids with a weekend at WDW 2 years ago for the MNSSHP. My younger son had been Peter Pan the year before, with the whole Disney Store costume ensemble, so I packed that for him to wear to the party.

We were watching the parade and Wendy came skipping by and stopped short to greet him and called him "Peter" - then called over the Peter from the parade: "Look, Peter! It's YOU!" and he came over to greet him, saw that my son had his costume dagger with him, pulled out his own and challenged him to a sword fight right there during the parade! Of course, they moved along after just a couple of minutes, but my son was so excited about meeting the real Peter Pan. Then, as the pirate ship float came by right after, Capt Hook saw him from the back of the ship, placed his foot up on the side of the ship, pointed at him, and leaned over like he was coming for him. Just terrific character interaction all the way through!

 

[DavidandLeahZ]

bump

 

[tcherjen]

So many memories...

We took my youngest dd to 1900 Fare for dinner. She doesn't like to dress up as a princess, but enjoys seeing the princesses. She was so surprised when prince Charming asked her to dance.

 

[pmaurer74]

All of my favorites have been character interactions and one CM interaction. On our first trip we were eating at CRT when Snow White saw my then one year old daughter and gave her a kiss on the forehead and left bright red lipstick marks. Every princess that saw her after that left kiss marks on her head.... I have some great pictures! Prince Charming danced with my daughters at 1900 PF and with the Beast at his castle (they were dressed as Belle). Also at 1900 PF, the step-mother blamed a dropped dish on Cinderella that a waiter dropped and also mentioned I played favorites with my daughters since one had a princess dress on and the other one didn't. She said she plays favorites too. One time a kid asked CM who was checking bags at the gate of MK what he was looking for and he said mouse traps and red apples! These are just a few of my favorite memories.

 

[Chloelilymom]

My favorite from our trip last week was totally unexpected. We had come back from Animal Kingdom and went swimming. (Mighty Ducks pool at ASM). It was quiet and the lifeguard was a guy in his mid-20s or so. My husband was swimming with our almost 4yo DD and she was singing as usual. She started singing "Do you want to Build a Snowman" and the lifeguard joined in with her. The two of them sang the WHOLE song together, then did "For the first time in forever". She was beaming! His shift was soon over and as he switched with the new CM he walked by my Dd and sang "OK bye!" She is still talks about it.

 

[trara1375]

Our first Disney Vacation was taken when my boys were 5 and not quite 3. We were told over and over again that taking the boys so young was a waste, and they'd never remember it, but we didn't listen and I'm glad we didn't! What a magical vacation.

Getting into the Magic Kingdom, we knew our first order of business was meeting Mickey Mouse so we headed to Toon Town. On our way there, we saw there were no lines for the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups, and we had two very excited boys so we thought, "What the heck, let's do it." We did and our not quite 3 year old came off the ride looking a little green...have such a great picture of a queasy little boy in his stroller.

On to Mickey Mouse...as we get into the room for our Meet and Greet with Mickey Mouse, my 5 year old tugged on my shirt. I leaned over to hear him whisper, "I didn't know he was REALLY real." That right there made my trip. I knew we picked the perfect time to take a Disney Vacation....there was still so much magic for my 5 year old!

That was just the beginning of all the Magic of our vacation. My boys loved every minute of our trip. And some of the best didn't even happen until we were on our way home. My not quite 3 year old was a late talker. Comments by family and friends were, "He just doesn't have anything good to talk about." Sure enough, after leaving Disney World, our boy couldn't stop talking!

We are very much hoping to have some new magic in 2015 when we take our boys (Now 13 and almost 10) again and our little princess, who's 3 for her very first Disney Vacation!

 

[Pfau]

I just love this thread

 

[gzmtlock]

DD9 and I are on our mother-daughter trip, just a couple weeks from her 10th birthday. So we're celebrating at the World for about a week. Every time we have TS, she is brought a cupcake. They're not the greatest cupcakes; for a child with a discerning sweet tooth (she now runs her own bakery business at 17), it got to the point she appreciated the sentiment but not the cake.

Last TS, breakfast at OHana's, we're headed to the airport in a couple hours. DD loves Stitch, and is really looking forward to meeting him. Somewhere in the middle of breakfast, our waitstaff brings DD her birthday cupcake. She thanks them and sets it to the outside of the table. Shortly thereafter, Stitch sneaks up behind her. Snatches the cupcake and pretends to be stealing it. Without missing a beat, DD exclaims, "Is it your birthday, too, Stitch?" and starts gushing as only a Southern girl can. Stitch doesn't catch on at first, and protests that it is not his birthday, that he was only playing around. Tries to give her the cupcake back. But DD insists he take it and starts singing Happy Birthday to Stitch. It's so much fun, I join in. At first, Stitch didn't quite know what to do. But when he understood that we were playing right back with him, he got in the groove! When we were done singing, he hugged DD and laughed.

We still ended up with the unwanted cupcake. What would he have done with it while visiting other families? But we also ended up with a wonderful memory!

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

One from our recent trip. My son's favorite character in the world is Buzz Lightyear. We've pretty much reached a point where if I see anything Buzz related, I buy it, haha. This was his first trip down and he didn't know he was going to meet Buzz, just that Buzz had his own ride there. We get off the ride and the time has come. He sees Buzz and his eyes get wide as dinner plates, he was blown away. We head over to the line when we get the dreaded "Sorry, Buzz has to go recharge his batteries he'll be back in about 25 minutes after these folks meet him." I could tell my kid was so bummed and he walked over to a concrete flower pot that was lined up with Buzz about 25 feet away.

He just sat there staring at him. No tears, no tantrum, just longingly looking at his hero (Side note, the kid was dressed in a Buzz shirt and wearing a Buzz book bag). My wife and I offered everything from ice cream to biting the bullet and doing standby on SDMT to get him to move, but all he wanted to do was watch Buzz. We weren't mad and were just going to have to wait it out when the CM walked over to us and said loudly "Your family is looking for you, they are at the end of the line to meet Buzz, you should go join them" and gave me a quick wink. When I said to him we were allowed to meet Buzz now I got the biggest grin I have ever seen this kid have on his face. It was an act of kindness from that CM that I will never forget....nor will he:

 

[SCDisneyfanatic]

My wife and I spent our Honeymoon at WDW in May of 1981. For our 30th Anniversary, we thought it would be nice to have a family vacation there. The group consisted of us, our son, his wife, her parents (who are great friends of ours), our daughter and her (then) boyfriend, our best friends in the world, their daughter and her husband (all of whom we love very much). It was a great trip, but the highlight was an evening I'll never forget.

To celebrate our Anniversary, our daughter and our best friends daughter bought everyone a nice T-shirt (baby blue) with the castle on the back...and the fireworks exploding around the castle...everyone's name placed at different points in the fireworks. On the front was a Castle and "30th Anniversary" under it. We all wore some type of kaki shorts. The plan was to attend the late showing at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue, but before we left, our son called us to his room. There we watched a 20 minute DVD (created by our daughter) of our thirty years together. It was very heartwarming and brought tears to our eyes. We had an incredible time at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue, highlighted by our dance together and then our best friend Jim's appearance on stage as the "Fairy". We laughed and had an absolute awesome time. It was the perfect way to end the first thirty and start the next thirty. It was truly a Disney Magical Night!!!

 

[princessbride6205]

It's hard to pick just one!

When my daughter was 3 1/2 we had the most magical trip. We were there with my parents and sister as well. Lots of fun memories - some Disney magic, some we made ourselves. On our last day, we were in Magic Kingdom. It was mid-afternoon and we were all a little scattered around the train end of Main Street - with a couple people in the bathroom, I was finishing up a purchase in the Emporium, and my sister was hanging out with my daughter waiting for us all to regroup. A guest relations cast member asked my sister if she was with the little girl (yes) and how many people in our party. As I'm leaving the shop, my sister is running over to me saying to hurry up, we are getting a magical moment! (She had been a college program CM for 2 summers.) The cast member escorted us into City Hall, and behind their counter. He told my daughter that someone special wanted to meet her. He also warned us that it wasn't Buzz or Woody, since my daughter had a Sheriff Woody shirt on. We had to knock on the door and say "Bibbidi, Bobbidi, Boo!" We entered what looked like a Victorian sitting room...and Cinderella was there! There was even a Photopass photographer - thank goodness! Since we were all in shock and just enjoying the moment, none of the 5 adults in our group even took a photo! Cinderella chatted with my shy daughter for a bit, about where she's from, if she traveled by coach, etc. My daughter was definitely overwhelmed to be meeting a real princess all by herself. It was an incredibly memorable ending to a great vacation.

My husband and I joked that if there had been a DVC person there, we would have bought another contract! When you have magical experiences like that, it really makes you want to return again and again.

 

[tiggerunner]

My 24 year old daughter and I trained for the Princess half marathon(her first) and a weekend together before she got married and I moved to Japan for 2 years. Had a great time and we decided to get a good spot for the Electrical parade on our last night. Two female cast members saw our medals and we all gabbed about doing the race and how the cast members should try a Disney race. After about an hour the cast members asked if we were tired of standing and we said we were ok, but they said we needed a rest. They surprised us and put us in the VIP section of the parade with seating. During the parade all of the characters came up to us, greeted, took photos and interacted with the 12 of us in the VIP section. We were so silly excited and what a nice thing to happen to us.

 

[DavidandLeahZ]

bump

 

[DisneyWorldMimi]

When I was younger we lived in CA and went to DL all the time with my Aunt, Uncle and twin cousins. We went one time and there were the twins, their older cousin and my sister, brother and I. My Aunt was the only one with us at one point in the evening before we were leaving. This was when they still had ticket books. We had gone through most of our tickets and were near the square in front of Main Street Station. A woman came up to us and gave us some tickets that she had left in her book because she was leaving. We were excited to get extra tickets and were trying to decide what rides we could go on. Then an older couple came up and asked about the woman giving us the tickets. We thought they were going to ask for them back, but instead gave us their two books as well.

With the three books of tickets it gave us each an additional "E" ticket ride. Plus other rides as well. These three people/family must have just seen a mother with 6 kids (from teenagers to a 4 year old) being disappointed that we were going to have to leave. They gave us the chance to have a little bit longer time in the park and I still remember the generosity of those three people and I was only in 3rd grade, maybe 4th grade at the time.

 

[SnackCredit]

Last March, my mother and I just happened to be in the Magic Kingdom walking over to Adventureland when an announcement came on the loudspeakers saying that the US Navy Blue Angels would do a flyover that day during the Move It Shake It parade! They were on their way to the Cocoa Beach Air Show. So we went back to the Hub as the parade came and stopped with all the characters and dancers jamming.

I had my DSLR taking still photos in one hand and my phone taking videos in the other. They ended up doing two flyovers back and forth, and I got this great shot of the Blue Angels over Mickey's shoulder!