I love this thread! Let's get it going again... I'm a CM so I've seen and heard tons of awesome heartwarming stories. I'll just start with a few favorites, from others as well as myself (this is going to get long!!)
- I'll start with one of my own as a guest. It's simple, but so special to me. My last night of my college program, after a day already so filled with emotion and tears and goodbyes, I stood in Magic Kingdom to watch Celebrate the Magic and Wishes with my friends. I was doing okay, until I realized that I was standing here in the happiest place on earth, with all my best friends, watching the fireworks show that makes me cry on a NORMAL day. I immediately lost it and we all stood there holding hands and crying. By the end of the show I was literally crying so hard I could not see. After the finale we all just stood there hugging and crying. I'm sure some onlookers thought we were insane
despite the tears, that was one of the happiest nights of my life and we had SUCH a great time being there together.
- okay, on to the guest stories: I have a friend that worked at Tony's Town Square Restaurant. They're used to seeing proposals and romantic dinners and things there, so it wasn't anything different one day when a couple walked in all giddy, wearing bride/groom ears and "just engaged" buttons. Everyone was congratulating them as they waited for their table. While the girl excused herself to the bathroom, the guy got up quickly and asked my friend for "a favor". He was holding a small box and asked if they could please arrange to have it brought out at the end of the meal, as a surprise for his fiancee. My friend obliged of course but jokingly asked, you already gave her the ring, what else could you possibly have in this box? He explained to her and the rest of the staff (who were now listening in) that they had just gotten engaged, but he was active duty and was to be sent off overseas in a few weeks. Inside the box was a glass slipper that he had gotten engraved with several dates important to them. He wanted her to have something to remember him by when he was gone for so long
needless to say, the staff all had chills and tears in their eyes, and arranged for them to get the special "romantic table" (checkered tablecloth with a Lady & The Tramp backdrop usually used for proposals). It was, of course, a huge hit, and the girl was in (happy) tears at the end of the meal.
- Another friend works at Under the Sea in MK. One of the positions they have there is like the entrance greeter, where you basically just say hi to guests or blow bubbles as they come in. One day she was doing her thing, blowing bubbles at the kids walking by, when a little boy and his family come up. The boy was intrigued by the bubbles and kept reaching out for more. My friend quickly noticed he wasn't talking, and then that he was signing something to her in sign language. His parents told her he was saying "more" because he wanted more bubbles. She continued, and then looked up again to see his parents crying. It turned out that he had recently lost his ability to talk because of an illness, and had been very introverted and shy when he had once been excited and happy. She was the first person outside of his family that he had signed to
- and I'll end with another one of my own: one day when I was working at an outside greeter position, a friend and I saw a little girl and her family walking by. The girl was in a wheelchair, and was dressed in a Rapunzel outfit, with hair and a crown and all done up, the whole nine yards. We started talking to her and learned that she was confined to her wheelchair, but she was the sweetest little thing, so full of life and happiness just to be at Disney. My friend and I were both wearing these paper crowns we had made out of maps (......things like this happen on slow days) and the girl kept eyeing them so we asked her if she would like one. Of course she said yes so we gave her a crown and crowned her "princess of Disney World". She was, of course, thrilled, and we sat there with her making flowers and things out of maps and decorating her wheelchair, calling it a "carriage" and talking about how beautiful she looked. After a good 15-20 minutes of chatting we said goodbye - her mom was in tears, and the girl was happy as a clam.
It was amazing how much we were able to brighten up the day (especially for someone who probably can't do a whole lot at WDW) with so little effort.
And while it's awesome to see these things happen as a guest, I can definitely say that it's AMAZING for CMs too. I can attest for myself and for others that these guests have such an impact on us. While we deal with lots of crazy or rude guests during the day, the ones we remember are the special stories like this. These are the ones that remind us why we work for Disney. ♥
