Subsonic Radio

When I worked for The Disney Store, the big thing was always to "exceed the guest's expectation" and, as we all know, Disney guests have high expectations to begin with! And that's even more true, I'd say, when it comes to the parks.

With that in mind, I wondered if anyone had any great stories of Cast Members going the extra mile and exceeding your expectations to share.

When I think of great CMs, my mind immediately flashes to the cast and the administrative staff at Journey Into Imagination (the latter whom we knew because of my brother being a Make-a-Wish trip kid). Steve, Ginger, Wendy, Sandra and Judy - in many ways - made our trips so magical. We always felt like we were coming home when we went to the old JII. Dreamfinder and Figment were just always amazing.

How 'bout you?

This isn't much, but you mentioned Journey Into Imagination, and this was the first Cast Member story I thought of. I was around 11 at the time, waiting in line for the ride with my sisters and it was taking a while because the ride had broken down. We were near the front and one of the Cast Members started doing magic tricks with a coin to entertain us. In no time at all, the ride was fixed and we got on.

That's pretty awesome, Maqique.

Another thing that made me smile was when the cast member for Star Tours moved his hand like a Jedi to close the doors.

I would've *squealed* to see that happen. Hahaha.

Back in... 1995 or 1996 when my Mom and I went to WDW, we were wandering around the Wilderness Lodge when a CM approached. She said that she was on her way upstairs to raise the flags, and wanted to know if we'd like to help.

So of course, we said "SURE!" and got to stand on the roof of the Wilderness Lodge to raise the flag. We also took some amazing pictures from up there, looking out toward the lagoon, the pool area.

Wow. That is amazing! How lucky are you!

I have a good CM story for Wilderness Lodge.

If you stay there they do a tour of the Lodge. Ask for Stan the Man

Stan took me and my father in law around for a tour of the lodge and was extremely knowledgeable about the lodge, the construction, and the Indian lore build into the lodge. Plus he was a whip.

I would highly recommend it. It was like finding a hidden Disney gem.

I think Stan does tours a couple times a week at 9am. Just ask the front desk. Or look for Stan hanging out in the lobby!

Rich

We'd taken the tour back in the day, but I couldn't tell you *who* gave the tour now; we were impressed by it though, at any rate!

When we went to WDW in Dec 05, I thought I knew where we were supposed to get on the bus to go back to our hotel when leaving the MK. Needless to say, I was wrong! We went out the main gates and to the TTC. The buses for the MK resorts stop there, but not the others. The only bus waiting was for the Wilderness Lodge (we were staying at Coronado Springs) The bus driver was very kind and dropped off the WL folks, then took the All Star guests (we weren't the only ones who goofed ) and finally took us to our hotel. I wish I would have written down his name, so I could let someone @ Disney know what a help he was. As there were only a handful of us on the bus anyway, he told as stories of his time at Disney. Just a wonderful CM!

I really like the bus drivers that sing on the way to the park and they get the whold bus singing Disney songs. That's magical and it's a great way to start off the day. Or the ones that just like to talk to the guests over the intercom on the way to the parks. It's a lot more fun than just sitting on the bus quietly waiting to get to the park. We've had quite a few magical bus drivers like that.

Another magical experience from a cm was a monorail driver (I'm seeing a trend). When I was six years old, my parents and I got to sit in the front of the monorail. After we got out onto the track, the driver asked me if I wanted to drive, so he put me on the chair and told me to push the joystick forward while he stood next to me. He let me drive monorail pink through the contemporary. (I don't know if I was actually driving or if it was on automatic or something, but he did tell me to pull back a little when we got close to the contemporary).

Driving the monorail! Cool!

We've sat in the front, but were never asked if we wanted to drive it.

I have another great CM story.

I proposed to my wife in the Rose garden, during Fantasy in the Sky.

Well 2 cast members saw me propose and ran down and gave us a Mickey Top Hat and Wedding Minnie ears, out of their own pocket!

My wife and I were very touched.

I will never forget that day and the extra touch, from 2 very special CM's

Rich

Wow, Rich, that is really nice!!!

A couple of things in this topic.

On our first trip, April 01 to WDW, we stayed off property for 4 nights then moved to stay on property (POFQ) for the last 3. We took the off property shuttle to the TTC (with all our luggage) and then travelled the monorail to EPCOT in order to get a resort bus to POFQ. Because it was park openeing, busses were coming in a dropping guests off but not picking guests up and heading back to the resorts. We were quite anxious about this (being our fist time staying on property) and a kind bus driver stopped and gave us a lift to the resort (even though he was out of service).

During our second trip in Jan 04, again to WDW, while staying at POR we had a character breakfast booked at Cape May on our last day. It was pouring rain, and we were running late (especially considering we had to go through a park to get from POR to BC). Standing at the bus stop, soaking wet, a bus supervisor pulled up and offered us a lift. We made it early for our ressie.

It is moments like these that completely justify the cost of a WDW vacation and our decision to go back over and over again.

My husband and I had a great experience on our honeymoon in August of 97. All through the park CMs would just say "Congratulations!" and we wondered how they knew! We asked one of them and he said "shiny rings". I don't know how true that is...

Also, one morning we had slept in so we arrived at MGM mid-morning and as we were walking down the street we noticed two people following us. We finally turned around to see who it was and found two CMs who asked us if we would like to be in a parade. Of course we said "yes!" and we got to be in the Hercules Zero to Hero Parade. It was really cool because they announced our names over the speaker at the beginning and they took about 5 or 6 5x7 pictures and gave them to us for free. Our children think it is really cool that Mom and Dad were in a parade!

Also, that same week, my husband surprised me with dinner at Cinderella's Castle. It was great. They sat us right by the window and we got to see the fireworks during dinner. And they also gave us a chocolate Mickey and Minnie bride and groom.

It was a trip that we will never forget! I would definitely recommend going to Disney for a Honeymoon, Anniversary, or any other special occasion.