We have had quite a few especially Magical Moments in the last few weeks (for any new folks who don't know, we live 30 minutes from Disney and get to go every weekend)
We went to AK a couple weeks ago. For all of the flak it takes, Tarzan Rocks is our favorite show. MJ LOVES the movie and her "adoption song" is "You'll Be In My Heart" so I of course, spend every show in tears.... First of all we were seated in Disabled seating right up front, we got to sit next to an awesome off duty castmember who was great to MJ, right off the bat several of the performer's recognized her and waved to her from the stage (and the waterworks begin) So we get throught the show and the magic begins....
To understand this magical moment, you need to know that MJ has been scared to death of the characters since we got our passes....
Turk comes out on stage, MJ claps (characters on stage or from a distance are ok) doe her thing and then jumps off of the stage RIGHT in front of MJ's Wheelchair! I just sort of shake my head internally and think, this is going to be bad....untill I turn to MJ and she is reaching her arms out to Turk who promptly envelops her in a hug and kisses her forehead! The waterworks really come in ernest now....which does not go unoticed by the lead singer who then jumps off the stange to give me a hug. It was just AWESOME. I am now crying writing about it, sigh..... Next weekend I am going to take a hand written letter to the stage manager and performers so that they can know how special they are and what an amazing part of our lives this show plays.
Also during the weekend, two CM's randomly stopped MJ and gave her pins....Awwww. (For the record, we never trade pins we are given, so don't ask if you see us! LOL) A guest we started talking with also just gave hera pin......I swear I spend more time in tears at this place!
At MGM a CM let MJ sit in front so she could interact (even tho the wheelchair section is technically in the back, she put us on a corner wo we wouldn't obstruct views...(It was the first time MJ got to be part of the streamers and bubbles and she LOVED it!)
Our wheelchairs are set up to ride side by side since Andrew is the only person to push both of us. It makes us too wide to go through many of the turnstiles and gates. We discovered this weekend that almost every attraction and show has alternate entrances where we can fit (tho we miss some preshows this way), transfer chairs we can use where MJ can sit in my lap or CM's who will go out of thier way to help me so that Andrew can deal with MJ. We did three whole days and never had to try to disasseble wour rig, it was great, takes a bit more time, but totally worth it since pushing MJ's chair in front of my chair is really painful for me.
So, Andrew's work schedule got changed this week and it just happened that it meant that we had a three day weekend this weekend and have a four day weekend coming up for the Happiest Celebration on Earth. So we spent three days in the parks (of course, where else) several special things happened this weekend, but five really stood out.
We FINALLY saw the Dapper Dans after looking for them for several weeks! They were so awesome and paid a lot of attention to MJ during their set (she ATE it up)
We got the BEST Jungle Cruise Captain! Ask for Crystal the next time you go on, she is great! Tell her Andrew, Bonny and MJ sent you!
MJ actually ASKED to see a character for the first time ever (Peter Pan and Wendy).....but she doesn't do well under pressure so the handler let us wait to be the last ppl to say hi to them so that she could interact without a long line waiting behind her. It was a bit more of a wait for us, but so worth it when she didn't shy away and let both of them touch her!
We ran into Gold Dust Gus on the the streets, he and MJ interacted for quite a while, she was fascinated by his animals, upon finding out that her favorite animals are bunnies he took one out of his pack for her to pet...a.s we were getting ready to leave he asked if she could "take care" of the bunny for him since he was going West....Her GAVE her the bunny......back in tears AGAIN, sigh, I am such a sap. "Gus" as the bunny has been dubbed hasn't been out of her arms (except when he got lost and recovered [Whew!] at Philharmagic)
And last, but certainly not least, a Magical Moment for Mommy! A little background....I am a flute/piccolo player and previous Marching Band member. I still play. I have been loving Magic Music Days at WDW a LOT. The new logo is a treble clef with a Mickey head in it that I just love. I have been dying to get my hands on something with that logo on it....so I was talking with a CM at the parade about it and she said to hang on a minute....and came back and said "I am looking into something, if you don't hear from me by the end of the parade, come see me at the HM, ok?" A little while later she shows up, bag in hand and says, here, my manager got this for you...inside were a shirt and a pin for MMD!!!! How incedibly awesome is that? Again, in tears!
Needless to say I have a VERY long letter to write to WDW. And several Thank You cards to pass out next weekend!
As an aside, We got to do several things that we had never done before (or tried to do and had to leave early because MJ got scared) and MJ handled them very well:
Epcot:
Soarin' (very cool!), The Land Boat Ride (so cool!), Circle of Life (very thought prvoking), Illuminations
MGM:
HISTK Playgound, Muppets 3-D (3 times! Those who know MJ will know that is AMAZING!), RnR (kidswap for mom and dad, AWESOME!), LMA (Awesome, tho we didn't get to see the jet ski's) WD:OMD, Fantasmic (Front row and Back Row! Awesome!)
AK:
Primeval Whirl (kidswap for Mom and Dad, NEVER again!), Kali River Rapids (great handciapped loading!)
MK:
Splash Mountain (not as bad as I remembered....we'll see if MJ will do it again), The theatre behind Kodak Store (very neat), Philharmagic (MJ stayed through the whole thing and only took her glasses off once), and for the second time the Flag Retreat (quickly becoming my favorite thing at MK)
Ok, if you got this far, thanks for reading! Can't wait for the 50th (three days, Woooo Hooooo!)
We went to AK a couple weeks ago. For all of the flak it takes, Tarzan Rocks is our favorite show. MJ LOVES the movie and her "adoption song" is "You'll Be In My Heart" so I of course, spend every show in tears.... First of all we were seated in Disabled seating right up front, we got to sit next to an awesome off duty castmember who was great to MJ, right off the bat several of the performer's recognized her and waved to her from the stage (and the waterworks begin) So we get throught the show and the magic begins....
To understand this magical moment, you need to know that MJ has been scared to death of the characters since we got our passes....
Turk comes out on stage, MJ claps (characters on stage or from a distance are ok) doe her thing and then jumps off of the stage RIGHT in front of MJ's Wheelchair! I just sort of shake my head internally and think, this is going to be bad....untill I turn to MJ and she is reaching her arms out to Turk who promptly envelops her in a hug and kisses her forehead! The waterworks really come in ernest now....which does not go unoticed by the lead singer who then jumps off the stange to give me a hug. It was just AWESOME. I am now crying writing about it, sigh..... Next weekend I am going to take a hand written letter to the stage manager and performers so that they can know how special they are and what an amazing part of our lives this show plays.
Also during the weekend, two CM's randomly stopped MJ and gave her pins....Awwww. (For the record, we never trade pins we are given, so don't ask if you see us! LOL) A guest we started talking with also just gave hera pin......I swear I spend more time in tears at this place!
At MGM a CM let MJ sit in front so she could interact (even tho the wheelchair section is technically in the back, she put us on a corner wo we wouldn't obstruct views...(It was the first time MJ got to be part of the streamers and bubbles and she LOVED it!)
Our wheelchairs are set up to ride side by side since Andrew is the only person to push both of us. It makes us too wide to go through many of the turnstiles and gates. We discovered this weekend that almost every attraction and show has alternate entrances where we can fit (tho we miss some preshows this way), transfer chairs we can use where MJ can sit in my lap or CM's who will go out of thier way to help me so that Andrew can deal with MJ. We did three whole days and never had to try to disasseble wour rig, it was great, takes a bit more time, but totally worth it since pushing MJ's chair in front of my chair is really painful for me.
So, Andrew's work schedule got changed this week and it just happened that it meant that we had a three day weekend this weekend and have a four day weekend coming up for the Happiest Celebration on Earth. So we spent three days in the parks (of course, where else) several special things happened this weekend, but five really stood out.
We FINALLY saw the Dapper Dans after looking for them for several weeks! They were so awesome and paid a lot of attention to MJ during their set (she ATE it up)
We got the BEST Jungle Cruise Captain! Ask for Crystal the next time you go on, she is great! Tell her Andrew, Bonny and MJ sent you!
MJ actually ASKED to see a character for the first time ever (Peter Pan and Wendy).....but she doesn't do well under pressure so the handler let us wait to be the last ppl to say hi to them so that she could interact without a long line waiting behind her. It was a bit more of a wait for us, but so worth it when she didn't shy away and let both of them touch her!
We ran into Gold Dust Gus on the the streets, he and MJ interacted for quite a while, she was fascinated by his animals, upon finding out that her favorite animals are bunnies he took one out of his pack for her to pet...a.s we were getting ready to leave he asked if she could "take care" of the bunny for him since he was going West....Her GAVE her the bunny......back in tears AGAIN, sigh, I am such a sap. "Gus" as the bunny has been dubbed hasn't been out of her arms (except when he got lost and recovered [Whew!] at Philharmagic)
And last, but certainly not least, a Magical Moment for Mommy! A little background....I am a flute/piccolo player and previous Marching Band member. I still play. I have been loving Magic Music Days at WDW a LOT. The new logo is a treble clef with a Mickey head in it that I just love. I have been dying to get my hands on something with that logo on it....so I was talking with a CM at the parade about it and she said to hang on a minute....and came back and said "I am looking into something, if you don't hear from me by the end of the parade, come see me at the HM, ok?" A little while later she shows up, bag in hand and says, here, my manager got this for you...inside were a shirt and a pin for MMD!!!! How incedibly awesome is that? Again, in tears!
Needless to say I have a VERY long letter to write to WDW. And several Thank You cards to pass out next weekend!
As an aside, We got to do several things that we had never done before (or tried to do and had to leave early because MJ got scared) and MJ handled them very well:
Epcot:
Soarin' (very cool!), The Land Boat Ride (so cool!), Circle of Life (very thought prvoking), Illuminations
MGM:
HISTK Playgound, Muppets 3-D (3 times! Those who know MJ will know that is AMAZING!), RnR (kidswap for mom and dad, AWESOME!), LMA (Awesome, tho we didn't get to see the jet ski's) WD:OMD, Fantasmic (Front row and Back Row! Awesome!)
AK:
Primeval Whirl (kidswap for Mom and Dad, NEVER again!), Kali River Rapids (great handciapped loading!)
MK:
Splash Mountain (not as bad as I remembered....we'll see if MJ will do it again), The theatre behind Kodak Store (very neat), Philharmagic (MJ stayed through the whole thing and only took her glasses off once), and for the second time the Flag Retreat (quickly becoming my favorite thing at MK)
Ok, if you got this far, thanks for reading! Can't wait for the 50th (three days, Woooo Hooooo!)
