Stories of Disney Magic

Harry Rickards

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 29, 2016
I just wanted to share and thought others might have similar stories they want to share as well.

Several years ago, my granddaughters went to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. As they were leaving, one of the Castle Stage shows had just ended. As each character passed my granddaughters in the castle tunnel, they bowed. It created a life-time memory for them and for my daughter. I still get teary when I think about the magic that creates in adults and in children. Thank you to all the cast members who do this!
 
My then 6 year old and I were doing a girl's breakfast at Akershus before the park opened. She was dressed as Belle. We got off the monorail and the security started singing "Tale as Old as Time..." in a beautiful voice as we walked. At the bag check the security bowed at my daughter, who curtsied back. He gave us anytime fast passes for any park for our whole family. So magical!
 
At the height of the Sofia the First craze my daughter insisted that she would be Sofia for MNSS Halloween party and that the rest of us would dress as the king and queen and prince. We made it happen and it was so cute.
One CM spotted us all together and exclaimed “look it’s the First family!” My daughter was beaming with happiness.
 
Two years ago my family were in Hollywood Studio. We were there very early for PPO ADR and we were so tired. It started raining and we had never visited a park in a rain. A MM photographer was standing in the rain and wanted to take our pictures. We all had ponchos on and the photographer took our photo and said "Disney is fun in the rain too! A different memory. Have a magical day!" What he said really changed my mindset about the rain. From then on, our family does not worry about the weather when we visit theme parks in FL during the summer.
 
Two years ago my family were in Hollywood Studio. We were there very early for PPO ADR and we were so tired. It started raining and we had never visited a park in a rain. A MM photographer was standing in the rain and wanted to take our pictures. We all had ponchos on and the photographer took our photo and said "Disney is fun in the rain too! A different memory. Have a magical day!" What he said really changed my mindset about the rain. From then on, our family does not worry about the weather when we visit theme parks in FL during the summer.

We have some PhotoPass photos of us (pre-kids) with our ponchos on, too! For many trips, rain is par for the course, so might as well save those memories, too! We haven’t needed ponchos on any trips with the kids yet- we go in cooler months now and the rare showers seem to wait until we’re in an attraction (and if the sky looks in the least bit gray, I put the rain cover on the stroller before leaving it- that’s saved the day a few times!) and clear up before we come out.
 
This one is more for the adults in us. In June 2011, DH (then boyfriend) and our best friends visited Disney World. We were by Cinderella's castle at night right before the lights parade. DH had apparently told my best friend that he was going to propose to me that night. My best friend ended up speaking with the CM at the castle without me knowing and they let us go up past the roped off section of the castle where no one else was allowed to go. This let my now DH propose to me in front of the castle in our own private way. I am thankful the CM did that, as we were able to have our own moment and I heard all my husband had to say while proposing. It was perfect! My friend then made me go show the CM my ring to prove that was what happened haha. The CM was so sweet and congratulated us. Now DH and I get to go back for the first time together this summer with our DD :) So excited!
 
Two years ago my family were in Hollywood Studio. We were there very early for PPO ADR and we were so tired. It started raining and we had never visited a park in a rain. A MM photographer was standing in the rain and wanted to take our pictures. We all had ponchos on and the photographer took our photo and said "Disney is fun in the rain too! A different memory. Have a magical day!" What he said really changed my mindset about the rain. From then on, our family does not worry about the weather when we visit theme parks in FL during the summer.
Our favorite memory in over 20 trips was a rainy day in Epcot. We were ready to join the crowd and leave for the afternoon but our girls decided it would be more fun to splash around in puddles. My dh and I decided to join them and had a great time.(not a great day for a white shirt!!!!)After a few minutes we turned around to see a couple cast members enjoying our little show. The older cast member came over and gave our girls "worry" dolls(we were by Mexico) and thanked us for a great time. We adults learned something that day and I secretly wish for a rainy day on our trip.
 


My favorite memory is a simpler one. During out 2008 trip my then 7 year old daughter and I found Mulan and Mushu in Epcot China alone with no line at all. They spent several minutes with her and Mulan told my daughter that Mushu was a house dragon. Gwen told her that she didn't have a house dragon. Mushu then held is hands over his face in disbelief. He then waved goodbye to Mulan took my daughters hand and started walking away. The photographer got all of that in pictures for me. At 17 she still talks about that day.
 
My stories revolve around my daughter, who is extremely shy. DD is an artist, so I thought she would love to do the Animation Academy. Unfortunately, she is a perfectionist and her drawing did not meet her expectations and she got extremely upset and frustrated with herself (she was about 7 at the time). A CM saw how upset our daughter was, and had a sweet one-on-one pep talk with her. She fawned over her drawing and even took her up to show it off to the animator. I was so touched! My daughter even hugged the CM after their chat!

On a separate trip, a couple of years later, we were waiting on the dock at Fort Wilderness. It was a bit of a wait because the Electrical Light Pageant has started and we had to wait for the boats to have the all-clear. A CM started making jokes and faces at my daughter. She was laughing and even did a secret handshake with him. I looked at my husband in amazement and said, “THIS is why we do Disney!”
 
Some of my favorite memories of Disney came from our most recent trip in 2016. We took our son for his first trip a month shy of his 3rd birthday and were able to take advantage of the freebies for him. But our best memory came at Magic Kingdom. We went in June, so it was hot. It was early afternoon and we ducked into the theater on Main Street to see Talking Mickey since it was inside and air conditioned. We decided to stick around for a few more minutes and see Tinkerbell also. We're not fans of Tink, but the ac was hard to pass up. We honestly had the BEST character interactions from those two out of any of the characters anywhere else in the parks. Talking Mickey was great, but Tink was amazing. She got down in the floor with our son and carried on a good 5 minute conversation about The Lost Boys with him complete with high fives, hugs, and signing his autograph book. All while he was a stinky, sweaty 2 year old.
 
We got some Disney magic on our trip last August. It was a trip to remember, that's for sure - Me, DD, DD's friend, and my 12 yr old niece visiting with us from another country. It was her first trip to WDW too (but we need to bring her again - you'll see why!)

I had been feeling 'off' for a few weeks before the trip - but felt well enough to drive 22 hours from MA to WDW. Well, when we got there I was much worse. Toughed it out for a few days, but had to skip a lot of attractions as I had horrible back and pelvic aches. Ended up doing two rides I never want to do again - the shuttle to the health clinic and the next day, an ambulance ride to Celebration Hospital! Luckily, the doctor in the ER was amazing, found the obscure bacterial infection, prescribed the correct antibiotic, and I got enough relief to be able to complete our vacation.

The CMs at Pop Century were fantastic - one in particular made sure I got back safely, and asked if I needed anything. When I said we had missed a day in the parks and my niece (who has special needs) was being a good sport but was sad to have missed a bunch of rides, he gave us 3 use anywhere FP! We had the best day at MK, even in the rain, as we had 6 FP to use. Little did I realize at the time that my niece could have benefited from the DAS, but that easy day at MK showed me what she had been struggling with the whole trip. I hope to be able to take her again, now that I am 100% better (it took two months and a medical procedure to get better) and redo our 'dream' trip :)
 
A wonderful young cast member struck up conversation with my husband and I in an animal kingdom gift shop. She complimented my disney tattoos, and we chatted happily for several minutes. (I needed an air conditioned break anyway!) She asked us if we were celebrating anything special, so we told her it was my husband's birthday trip. She smiled and said, "You two are sweet, i'll be right back with a birthday present!) so we stood still, and moments later she was a back with a good for any ride fast pass! We thanked her, and ended up using it to experience frozen ever after when we slept through rope drop the next day! It was nice of her to make a magical moment for two die hard Disney adults!

As a side note, I quickly lose track in the parks how often my tattoos are complimented...it's a confidence booster for sure!
 
We haven't done WDW yet, but a cast member at DIsneyland totally made our day last year. My daughter was 2 and wanted to ride the carousel first thing in the morning. They have that special horse and she was ALL about it. There were very few families on there, as everyone was dashing for Peter Pan.

The cast member running the carousel made it seem like a huge deal that she was on the special horse on the first ride of the morning. I wish I'd remembered the girls name because she absolutely made my daughters day, smiling and waving and just having so much fun with her. When we went to get off, she asked us to hang out for a few minutes and then came back and loaded us up on free fastpasses for the family.
 
DD was 5 during our last trip. I felt it was finally time to do Hoop De Doo. DH had no interest, and I very little, but we accepted that it was just one of those things you do when you're a Disney fan with kids. So, we booked main floor seating and I was very pleased to find out, on arrival, that we got a table right by the stage. DH was less pleased, because he predicted (correctly) that this would result in more required audience participation. Towards the end of the evening one of the players came over to our table and invited DD up on stage. She got to play the Sheriff. She got a certificate of bravery and everything. Afterwards, DH admitted that it was the best part of the whole trip.

PS: Several days later we were in Epcot and stopped to watch the Voices of Liberty. After their performance some of them stuck around to talk to people a bit. DD struck up a conversation with one of the ladies, who appeared a bit familiar to me. After they'd been chatting awhile, the lady started asking questions about how long she'd been in WDW, and if she'd been to Hoop De Doo. Well, turns out it was the same lady who had invited DD up onstage! Apparently the singing CMs perform multiple duties. She was all excited because she basically never got to see the kids they worked with after the show. I saw someone's picture of the VoL on social media the other day and this lovely lady was still there.
 
Two magic moments off the top of my head. I know I have more but they're not coming to me right now.
1) I purchased a drink (a smoothie?) and entered the Mexico pavillion to ride the Three Caballeros ride with my ex. It was hot and we were both exhausted. The CM told me I couldn't get on with a drink. Since I had just bought it, I reluctantly stood in a corner and drank the whole thing. We went back to the line and the CM let us go ahead of everyone and put us in the front row. She didn't have to do that at all but it instantly cheered us up.
2) Much more magical - I did a triple split stay blitz to celebrate passing my boards (found out the results while I was there - figured if I failed I'd still be at the happiest place on earth!) The third reservation was for a 1-bedroom BLT theme park view. My BFF and I check in, go up to our room, and immediately freak out because it was a 2 bedroom and we were only 2 people. I called down to "the desk" frantically doing the mental math at how much was left on my credit card before getting an overage charge but they assured me that there was no error, I had booked and paid for a 1-bedroom and told me to enjoy our stay. I was FLOORED!!! My friend got the extra bedroom/bathroom and I luxuriated in the king bed/master bath!! It was the best room/view experience of all my trips to Disney and to date the most Disney magic I've experienced. :wizard:
 
At the Christmas parade this year we were seated near the end of the route in front of tony’s, me DH our two sons, one was sleeping in the stroller and the other between us, so the very end Santa is waving and saying merry Christmas to the general crowd and we make definite eye contact so I have on the biggest smile and then he looks right at my 5 year old son, points directly at him and says “thank you for being such a good boy this year” the look on my sons face was priceless, my husbands jaw hit the floor and I immediately got choked up with tears bc it was so special and meant so much to our son who really struggles with ADHD to behave and be “a good boy”, he couldn’t stop talking about it the whole Christmas season
 
I rode 7DMT with my older daughter on her 8th birthday last October, and right when the ride ended, she squealed with delight, "I want to do it again!" She wasn't even wearing a birthday pin, but a CM who heard her immediately said, "You do? Then let's go!" and sent us right to the front of the line for another ride. Disney magical!
 
We have had many over the years but this is one of my favorites ...

When I was a kid, my younger sister caught a stomach bug on our trip. My dad and I headed off to the parks while my mom stayed back with my sister. Mousekeeping stopped by to clean the room and my mom told her that my sister was sick and that they would be in the room all day - just needed extra towels and some garbage bags.

About 15 minutes later, the woman knocked again and brought an enormous stufffed Sarabi with baby Simba. Like top shelf on the old displays at the Disney Store big. It was such an unexpected surprise and truly made my sister’s day.
 
My daughter lost her first tooth ever while eating lunch at Animal Kingdom. A Worker at pizzafari got her a button and scanned her magic band telling her when you lose a tooth in Disney Tink comes with the tooth fairy. When we returned to Boardwalk that evening, there was a message asking my husband or I to come see Guest services. They also sent a cast member to take a photo of DD telling her they like to document these things. Later that evening a cast member bought her the photo framed and we thought that was the end of it. When we returned from dinner DH said don't open the closet. After she was asleep we opened the closet and Tink had left her a Tinkerbell trading pin set, a HUGE stuffed Minnie, a tooth bag for the tooth fairy, $10 Disney Dollars and a Certificate of Losing a first tooth. The cast member at Pizzafari had contacted Boardwalk to make all this magic happen. Funniest part is when she told my daughter Tink comes, I whispered to my husband "Oh Great. Guess you will be hitting the gift shop late this evening."
 

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