First, but not technically on property, was when I found out a few days before Christmas that I won a grand prize in the McDonald's Happiest Homecoming on Earth promotion. I had a rough year the year before, with my best friend passing away from cancer, then his mother a little over a week later from a heart attack, and it was as if I was chosen to win that trip for a reason.
We got to pick between a 4-night, 5-day trip to either DL or WDW. We ended up choosing to go to DL since it was the 50th and I was a passholder and visited WDW a lot. Plus, my dad had never been to DL. The whole time my mom had to tell everyone that I won the trip. My favorite was the CM at Clarebelle's Frozen Yogurt stand in Toontown...she gave me the biggest thing of frozen yogurt you've ever seen (people were pointing at it, it was so huge). Let me tell you, that does not taste like frozen yogurt, it is delicious! (I got the twist, or swirl as some people call it, mmmmmmm). That trip was magical in every way.
The best "moment" in WDW was in June 2005. My mom and dad added me at the last minute to their 30th anniversary trip. I felt guilty tagging along, but it worked out because I got to take their picture a lot. Well, for their present, my brother, sister, I bought them dinner in the castle, and when we made the ADR, we told the CM about the special occasion (later adding me....I really did feel guilty for horning in, though...but I loved the special iced tea they made...it had some kind of different fruit in it, and our waiter was from Jamestown, which is near Buffalo, but...anyway).
When we were seated, there was confetti all over the table, and we were given a seat overlooking Fantasyland. The meal was absolutely wonderful (what was that delicious appetizer....was it pretzel bread? My goodness, it was so good). At the end of our meal, our waiter brought my parents two champagne glasses and said they were an anniversary gift from Cinderella.
My mom has a hard time with stairs because of a physical ailment, so while my dad and I walked down the stairs to leave, my mom used the elevator. Just as the doors were closing, I saw Cinderella get in with her!
We waited for my mom at the bottom, and she was beaming. I asked her why. "I thanked Cinderella for our anniversary present," my mom told me, "She said, 'You're welcome, Princess.'"
She looked like a little kid in that moment, and I get misty thinking about it (talk about role reversal....my mom cries when she remembers the looks on my, my brother's, and my sister's faces when we first saw Main Street and Cinderella castle, but I digress again). She seemed awestruck that Cinderella called her "Princess." It really was like she was a little kid. That was a really special moment, and one of the moments that makes me glad my parents raised me to be a Disney nerd
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