Creating a Magical Moment for a Family's First Disney Visit: One of My Proudest Moments as a Disney Cast Member

A lot of people talk about their favorite Disney memories or their most magical moments. When I was thinking about mine, I realized my favorite magical moment was really another family's magical moment. Allow me to explain…

It was a hot summery evening at the Magic Kingdom when I was working as a full-time Cast Member at Guest Relations in City Hall. It was one of those rare days when the Magic Kingdom had reached its capacity so the amounts of people that were coming in to City Hall with concerns was plentiful. A very sweaty and very angry looking man came over to me with his wife and two young daughters behind him. The guest explained to me that this was their first trip to Walt Disney World and they couldn't believe that people thought the place was so great! He said he only had encountered rude and unhelpful Cast Members. He informed me that he had made an advanced dining reservation several months in advance to have a dining experience with Cinderella to which they had been told by the Cast Member that booked the reservation was indeed at Cinderella's Royal Table. The guest explained when he went to Cinderella’s Castle, he was told that his reservation was not there and instead at a completely different park. I looked at his confirmation information and sure enough, he had been booked at Akershus Restaurant in the Norway Pavilion at EPCOT for Princess Storybook Dining. I tried my best to see if the Cinderella’s Royal Table could open up any extra spots, but as you may know, they were booked solid for the last 6 months! I explained to the guests how the other dining experience actually had all the Princesses and eventually convinced them it would be just as wonderful to dine there instead.

The guest then pointed out that there was no way they would make it to EPCOT in time for their dining reservations with all the crowds and the back-ups on the monorail and ferry boats. Luckily, Guest Relations had a few vans for emergency situations located back stage and I was able to make a special request to use one to personally transport them over to EPCOT! I loaded the family into the van and it looked like this story was going to have a happy ending.....when all of a sudden a shuttle bus rounded the corner next to our parked van and sideswiped us!!! Everyone was just fine, first of all. No injuries were incurred by either party. When the shuttle hit the van, it did move us quite a bit though.

After I checked on the family, I was about to make a call to security on my Nextel, but the park Security office was right next to us and they had witnessed the whole event and were already talking with the shuttle driver. The security team informed me and the family that we would have to write statements about the incident right then and there. At this point the father was just “done”, if you will. He followed me with his family and filled out the reports. Several hours later the paperwork was complete and the dining reservation time slot was long gone. I eventually got another vehicle and since the family was staying on site at Caribbean Beach, I at least was able to drive them back to the resort.

Talking with the family, the mother and father were so exhausted, the children were passed out in the backseat and the parents informed me that they were seriously considering leaving early and just going back home. Although they were not angry with me and were very complimentary for my assistance, at this point they really didn't want anything to do with Disney. I asked them to give it another chance and said there were just so many wonderful things about Disney that they needed to see and do. I asked what their plans were for the next day and the mother told me that they had planned to go to Animal Kingdom. As I dropped them off I told them to have a wonderful time at Animal Kingdom tomorrow and that I was certain things would turn around for them.

 The next day at work, I spoke with one of my managers about an idea I had for this family. I couldn’t let them go home with that as their lasting impression of Walt Disney World. After a quick approval from my manager, I was off to the Emporium on Main St. USA picking up t-shirts, Princess dolls, pens, plushes and more. Then it was off to the Chapeau to get embroidered hats and then to the bakery for some tasty sweets. I also was able to catch my pal Mickey for a few autographs on a special letter for the family. After a quick shopping trip, I stopped into Guest Relations for a few last items, hopped into a van and headed back to Caribbean Beach.

After speaking with my friends at the front desk at the Caribbean Beach resort about the situation, I was able to call the family’s room to see if they were there. Fortunately they had left for the day, but had not decided to check out! There was still hope!! My friends from the front desk helped me to stop in the family’s room and we set-up decorations, balloons and filled their beds with the gifts from the Magic Kingdom. I left Mickey’s letter and a special letter from myself and the Magic Kingdom Guest Relations team on their bed. The letter I had left them was apologizing for the whole situation again, but also inviting the family back to Magic Kingdom, complimentary (tickets included) to join us on the Disney’s Family Magic tour as special guests where they would get to spend some personal time with Peter Pan, Wendy and other Disney Characters. I left the note, crossed my fingers, closed the door and left with my Caribbean Beach friend and hoped for the best.

One day past, then another, then another…and finally it was the day the family had been invited back for the tour. I hadn’t heard anything from them or the Cast Members at Caribbean Beach. I was just finishing up assisting a guest when out of the corner of my eye I saw the family walking into City Hall after just finishing up their tour. There they were decked out in the t-shirts and embroidered hats we had purchased for them and their daughters were all smiles clutching onto their Princess dolls. The mom and dad both gave a huge bear hug and just kept saying how amazing everything had been. It was my proudest moment as a Disney Cast Member seeing how happy I made this family and being able to show them how magical and special a place Walt Disney World truly is.

 The family and I exchanged email information and from then on, the family has been going to the parks every year. I still get occasional emails from them and in the last one I received I was informed their oldest daughter was now in high school and couldn’t wait to go to college to participate in the Disney College Program.