How to win the Year of a Million Dreams

[ZambeziZelda]

Wow, thank you so much guys!! I had no idea my post would get such a reaction

 

[LuvtheEars]

This will be my DS and DD's first trip to WDW and I am beginning to think that it will be even better with all the Year of a Million Dreams happening!

I would love to win a big prize, but just to have some magic given to my kids and to see the joy from it and how long the magic will last after we come home will be a big prize for me!

I love Disney, but I want my kids to love it too and know what a special place it is.

Bring on the magic! Only 65 more days!!!!!!

 

[PintoColvig]

Sure wish a five CD sets for WDW parks would be made available. Each park could get its own disc allowing for longer and/or lesser known tracks. The fifth disc could be dedicated to music from now-defunct attractions and loops.

 

[PintoColvig]

Yikes! Sorry about my last post. I was posting to another thread (or so I thought) but have been posting using my cell phone. Obviously, something went wrong. Talk about thread drift! :lol:

 

[ZambeziZelda]

Yikes! Sorry about my last post. I was posting to another thread (or so I thought) but have posting using my cell phone. Obviously, something went wrong. Talk about thread drift! :lol:

LOL, I was wondering what the heck you were talking about :lol:

 

[imamouse]

Any idea how the lucky winners will be heralded at Epcot (no parade to put them in there)?

 

[Chase24]

I spend (on average) 10 hours a day cleaning people's filth. I am overworked in a position that I detest, which I can't quit without having a big, black mark left on my record with the company. The one bright spot I will get in a day is when I am able to find 10 minutes to get away from my bathrooms to create Magical Moments for children. Alright, I'm sorry that helping "Clean Nemo's Beach" or learning to be a "Junior Custodian" don't really compare to winning a 7 day cruise, but guess what? If you took one look at 4 year old Suzy's face when you thank her for helping save Nemo, when you hand her a shiny certificate with her name on it, and tell her that she is so incredibly special, you would know that what we do matters. Magic doesn't have to cost thousands of dollars.

Don't you dare tell me that I don't make a difference. Don't you dare.

What does being a new CM have to do with anything? I'm sorry that I haven't worked for the company for years and years, but guess what? All of the old timers had to start somewhere.

I'd like you to know that I'm actually tearing up over your post, and I would really appreciate it if you would try to look at the other side of the picture before completely stomping all over what some of us are very passionate about.

:sohappy: Someone found the Magic:sohappy:

 

[ZambeziZelda]

Any idea how the lucky winners will be heralded at Epcot (no parade to put them in there)?

I'm pretty sure they get sent over to MK to be in the parade over there.

:sohappy: Someone found the Magic:sohappy:

Thank you

 

[Liquid Figment]

I will be visiting WDW in just over two weeks, and of course, I am stoked. I am going to use my own algorithm of "Red cars get the most speeding tickets" when it will come to winning a Dream. I will wear a fluorescent Safety Yellow Jumper with a hard hat with a rotating red light on the top. It will not be like I am intentionally trying to draw attention to myself, but perhaps, somehow, the prize pickers will be drawn towards the bright light. :hammer:


All kidding aside... I had never encountered a Magical Moment before my trip last November (and I was a CM 5 years ago). My girlfriend and I were hanging out in the arcade in Tomorrowland and I had decided to try Dance Dance Revolution (the video game where you get your aerobic workout at the same time *grins*). My girlfriend joined in beside me and we were having a great time laughing and enjoying ourselves, when a CM came up when we were through and asked us our names. Slightly confused, and wondering if our dancing contortions was going to get us tossed from the park. The CM returned with two shiny certificates commemorating the fun we had just had. Both of us, 29 and 32 respectively, were thrilled and the smiles on our faces could rival any 8 year old's smile facing Mickey for the first time. Not worth a million dollars, not a pretty souvenoir, just a piece of paper with our names on it. Priceless to us and a momento we will keep for a very long time. That is what this is all about. Saving a place in time in one's memory with a timestamp... whether it be a Disney Cruise, a stay in Cinderella's Castle, or my favorite... a shiny certificate with my name on it.


Liquid

 

[AlishaMisha]

I experianced my first Magical Moment when I was 15. Now that was totally unexpected. I have been going to Disney every year since i was 3 (i'll be 18 this Oct) for a month at a time and I had never ever had a "Magical Moment" or even heard of them. I have to say that was one of my most fondest and most loved memory from Disney... I was at the Pin Trading Central in DTD and I got that awsome Artist Featured LE 750 Dr. Bunsten (cant spell haha) and Beaker Pin (which to this day is my favorite pin ever) and a VERY nice CM told me to hold on after I purchased it. I just looked at him oddly as he was scavenging around and whispering into another CMs ear and they both started searching around. to my pleasent surprise he pulled out that certificate and I has overwelmed with excitement. Judging by how long it took them to find it it seemed to me that they rarely gave them out which made it seem even more magical to me... Now that they will be givin out massivly makes me extremely sad cause now when i show people they will be like "pft...I got one too...actually i got 6..." In my opinion it doesnt make it as magical anymore... but i still love Magical Moments:kiss:

:king: ~Leash

 

[blackerbys17]

Taryn, I just wanted to echo what so many others have already said. All the little things you and other CMs do make a difference. You would be surprised how nice it feels when a CM just smiles at me or engages in conversation. I have CM "friends" that I have made that way throughout the years and it is so nice to be remembered by them when I return. (Hi Ryan from MGM and Doug from the Resort Monorail! :wave: )

It is people like you, sweet, friendly, and in love with all that is Disney, that keep me coming back again and again. In fact, I go about once every 1-2 months and everytime I drive underneath that WDW gate, I whisper, "Ahhhh, I'm home." It's home to me because people like you make me feel like we are all one big Disney family. So, thank you, for all you do! :wave:

 

[Dwarful]

Well, hopefully everyone will remember they have gone to WDW to have a wonderful vacation, not necessarily a trip to win a big prize. lol
Seriously though, between Dec. 22 2006 and June 30th of 2007 we will be inside a WDW theme park 30 days...so hopefully, with our gang someone will get a bit of magic sprinkled on them...

btw: do you know how incredibly hard it is to keep those little Nestle Toll House cookie chefs hat nice during a day at Epcot let alone nice all the way home in a minivan for 1,000 miles? My feelings were a bit less than magical before we got home

 

[bayoutinkbelle]

Taryn, you rock! Anyone from here who visits WDW should go out of their way to shake your hand and say thanks!

:sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[ClemsonTigger2]

Taryn,
Thanks so much for working so hard. CM's like you are what keep us coming back to WDW. We have other "amusement parks" much closer to us, but WDW is what we love, because of the kindness, professionalism, friendliness, thoroughness, and "magic" of the CM's there. Our friends were there for a week last January, and the wife talked to me for several days just about how clean the bathrooms were!! (She even asked the CM in the restroom about the cleaning process, etc.) I promise, what you do is noticed and appreciated! So, thanks!:sohappy:

 

[missionspace]

Another TIP!
What I'm going to do is follow the Dream team around all Day! That should help my odds!

 

[Timothy Q Mouse]

Another TIP!
What I'm going to do is follow the Dream team around all Day! That should help my odds!

I don't think you'd be allowed in the Utilidors. (Unless you we're joking, of course.)

 

[Frank Stallone]

Cowabunga

 

[maharet97a]

(Hi Ryan from MGM and Doug from the Resort Monorail! :wave: )

Would that be Ryan from The Great Movie Ride at MGM? Just curious.


And to echo others Taryn, thank you so much for the magic you make. My family and friends and I try to do all we can for CM's like you who make our visits special. While I've never seen a Magical Moments certificate in 20 years of visiting Disney parks, our visits were no less special thanks to people like you. Thank you. And as a question, is there more we can do for CM's like you? In the past we've spoken to supervisors and emailed the company, but with that it's hard to find out if the CM got the kudos they deserve.

 

[pcf1385]

Taryn,

I know many others have said their thanks, but I just wanted to add my 2 cents because I have two janitor related stories. When I was in Disney this summer, my boyfriend and I where having a good time playing at the fronteirland shooting arcade shortly before spectromagic. A little boy next to me was trying to play, but the spot he chose ended up not working and eating his only quarters. I felt bad, and had alot of change in hand, so I gave him like two bucks in quarters and told him to have fun. Well I didn't know the Janitor in that area was watching, but for my nice deed he gave me and my boyfriend over a hundred free shots. It was great. I can finally shot everything in the arcade, and I will never forget that CM who created a little magic for me. I also recieved a lumirere pin from from a janitor in MGM just because he liked my tinkerbell hat. Both moments, no matter how small will remain with me forever.

 

[imagineersrock]

Not exactly a big prize to have a magical moment now is it?

You're kinda new.. Magic Moments were around for a long time and sorta went out of style at attractions. Now, they're grand again with thid new marketing scheme, particularly because they have a new fleet of CMs to give them out with - because most of the old timers are gone.

I doubt by 1/07 you'll be enthusiastic about forking over a sheet of cardstock with tinkerbell on it (my assumption - but am i right?) where you write in with a sharpie the Guest's name and the "Magic" you provided in some corny ceremony and then - wow - your name too, and double wow, you'll probably draw Mickey ears next to your signature.

Let me guess, they came in a 500 pack shrink wrapped to your location and you keep them in a console near the interride phone where you keep the vioban (vomit cleaner) and the spray areosol room deoderizer? Wow.. so SPECIAL.

Wow. You really have no clue as to what you're talking about on this subject... Merf, you DO realize that the Disney experience is nothing without it's Cast Members, right? Even your beloved Epcot wouldn't run without all the hard work people like Taryn put into their jobs. Besides doing all the necessities (whether it be pushing a button, cleaning a bathroom, or driving a bus) Many of us go above and beyond to make the Disney parks what they're known for: the service. Included in that "above and beyond" service are Magical Moments.

Magical moments have never gone "out of style." I started giving them out back when I used to work as a Living with the Land boat captain... My favorite Magical Moment to do was let a kid that was sitting in the first row take my seat at the front of the boat. I'd refer to him/her as our boat captain, ask them questions throughout our ride, and let them push some of the buttons on the console to really make them feel as though they were running our tour and the whole boat would give the kid a round of applause once we reached the unload station. "Corny" as it might seem to you, it was really special, and the kids loved it and so did their families---And I loved making that magic happen.

A while a go, I transferred to Kilimanjaro Safaris. This ride is on a much larger scale than my last role, and obviously some of the Magical Moments we offer are on a slightly larger scale as well. My favorite one to give (to date) is the "Lion Liaison"---where we choose a random group of guests getting off of one of the trucks to come along with the CM, get a ride in one of our VIP van to the Lion barn backstage. There, they get to see both a male and female lion up-close and personal (about 10 feet away.) During the experience (presented by 2 animal care workers) they get to learn all about the lions, and ask any questions they might have. "Corny" as it might seem to you, it's an awesome experience, and all the guests I've gotten to take back there have thoroughly enjoyed it.

On top of this and several other "Corny" experiences we already offer... We are working on some terrific brand new magical moments to offer during our Year of a Million Dreams celebration. My two favorite Magical Moments that we are currently working to get up and running by the celebration are:

1.) Junior Safari Guide
2.) Honeymoon Safari

(I'm not sure how much I am allowed to say about these since we haven't "officially" started yet... so I won't give out any details about them until after the celebration has started.) Just use your imagination based on their names! :animwink:

And as a question, is there more we can do for CM's like you? In the past we've spoken to supervisors and emailed the company, but with that it's hard to find out if the CM got the kudos they deserve.

Those are great things to do. You can of course tell the CM in person that you appreciate them for doing ______. From there, I find that Guest Relations in that same park is the best place to go to praise a great CM you experienced. Managers in the area are often busy or get distracted by other things, and while trying to email things sometimes they get lost in the system. Guest Relations on the other hand, it is almost a gurantee that the CM will be notified.

While we unfortunately don't get a raise or anything based on how much positive feedback we get, it still is GREAT when you are at your morning track talk and a manager stops to let everyone know they have a letter from a guest about YOU. Something so seemingly simple is a terrific way to start your day, and especially helps you get through the rough ones! At least in my area (not sure if all areas do this...) positive recognition ("Great Service Fanatic" cards) gets put into monthly drawings and a few months ago My card actually got picked! For winning, I got 75 Disney Dollars, along with a GSF card and a very nice letter from Guest Relations that a few Annual Pass holders really enjoyed my safari!

Besides that, I also love it when guests do something nice for us in return. On Christmas this past year, several guests came up to us and gave out candy thanking us for working! I had similar experiences on NYE, and Easter as well... Even during Mardi Gras this one really nice family went around giving out a bunch of us beads.

Thanks for thinking of us, maharet97a!