Passing Along The Magic

[Emilily]

I think I may have posted this in the wrong thread before, and if I did again, I'm sorry!

So, in a few days, I will be making my final trip to Disney World for a few years. I wish it wasn't true, but college is expensive! Since this is the last trip for a while, me and my friend were thinking about handing out Disney themed stickers, bracelets, etc. to little kids when we see them at the park or at the hotel. We wanted to do something different on this trip, since it is the last one, and we figured what better way than passing on the magic. They are small items; most of them we got at party stores, so they are nothing too fancy. We were wondering if this was an okay thing to do? We will be asking the parents if it's okay before we give anything to their kid/kids, but we were wondering if Disney would be okay with it? I don't think that it would be a problem, but you never know. If you guys have any input on this, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

 

[AndyS2992]

Uh well, as lovely as it sounds, in this day and age where child predators are lurking around everywhere and parents are now very on edge about this, handing out items to small kids at random will be seen as very strange and some parents will feel threatened by it as they will think you are a weirdo and may be rude and aggressive towards you whereas other parents will think nothing of it and be fine whereas others will accept the gift but then chuck in the trash as soon as you are out of sight due to suspicion and therefore you will be wasting your money. So there is that to think about with parents.

With Disney I'm not really sure how they will take it since guests may confuse you as being as Cast Member and Disney does not like that or they will see you as a threat to guests as you could be handing out drug laced items or something lol or that you are some whack job or child predator. Or they will think what you are doing is nice and leave you to it and so on so it depends what kind of security and CMs are in the area at the time.

If you came to me offering my kid something I personally would politely decline.

So should you do it? Well that really is up to you. I would suggest doing research and only approach people that would seem comfortable in that situation. You should also be aware of CMs and have an answer ready when they ask what you are doing. So it is up to you. If I was in your shoes and wanted to do something nice, I personally would not hand out cheap trinkets but would do something else like give hand out a few official Disney World balloons or hand out fastpasses to families, although can no longer do that.

So yeah, it is all up to you but plan well in case things go wrong so you will be prepared.

 

[Emilily]

Uh well, as lovely as it sounds, in this day and age where child predators are lurking around everywhere and parents are now very on edge about this, handing out items to small kids at random will be seen as very strange and some parents will feel threatened by it as they will think you are a weirdo and may be rude and aggressive towards you whereas other parents will think nothing of it and be fine whereas others will accept the gift but then chuck in the trash as soon as you are out of sight due to suspicion and therefore you will be wasting your money. So there is that to think about with parents.

With Disney I'm not really sure how they will take it since guests may confuse you as being as Cast Member and Disney does not like that or they will see you as a threat to guests as you could be handing out drug laced items or something lol or that you are some whack job or child predator. Or they will think what you are doing is nice and leave you to it and so on so it depends what kind of security and CMs are in the area at the time.

If you came to me offering my kid something I personally would politely decline.

So should you do it? Well that really is up to you. I would suggest doing research and only approach people that would seem comfortable in that situation. You should also be aware of CMs and have an answer ready when they ask what you are doing. So it is up to you. If I was in your shoes and wanted to do something nice, I personally would not hand out cheap trinkets but would do something else like give hand out a few official Disney World balloons or hand out fastpasses to families, although can no longer do that.

So yeah, it is all up to you but plan well in case things go wrong so you will be prepared.

We were not planning on going around the whole time handing stuff out. We were just thinking that if we were standing in line for a ride and the family near us is friendly, then maybe see if they want a sticker or something. I can assure you that we are not child predators as we are two teenage girls who work with children as part of our jobs.
I will take what you said into consideration though.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Uh well, as lovely as it sounds, in this day and age where child predators are lurking around everywhere and parents are now very on edge about this, handing out items to small kids at random will be seen as very strange and some parents will feel threatened by it as they will think you are a weirdo and may be rude and aggressive towards you whereas other parents will think nothing of it and be fine whereas others will accept the gift but then chuck in the trash as soon as you are out of sight due to suspicion and therefore you will be wasting your money. So there is that to think about with parents.
.

Just checking....

 

[AndyS2992]

We were not planning on going around the whole time handing stuff out. We were just thinking that if we were standing in line for a ride and the family near us is friendly, then maybe see if they want a sticker or something. I can assure you that we are not child predators as we are two teenage girls who work with children as part of our jobs.
I will take what you said into consideration though.

Oh right, that seems ok, shouldn't have many issues doing that. Oh no I know your not lol but some adults may be suspicious since it is just the way things have become these days. Can never be too careful with kids and strangers.

 

[Ironace]

If it is done, say waiting in line for a ride or on a bus/monorail/boat, striking up friendly conversation you would get a much better response out of parents than walking up and just handing things out to children. I have 2 DS's and if done making small talk for a bit I know I would not have a problem and I am sure my DW would not either with allowing our DS's to accept a sticker or small trinket but food or candy would get thrown out.

 

[Emilily]

If it is done, say waiting in line for a ride or on a bus/monorail/boat, striking up friendly conversation you would get a much better response out of parents than walking up and just handing things out to children. I have 2 DS's and if done making small talk for a bit I know I would not have a problem and I am sure my DW would not either with allowing our DS's to accept a sticker or small trinket but food or candy would get thrown out.

That's what we are planning to do. We knew that if we just randomly walked up to people the reactions wouldn't be that great. Guess I wasn't that clear in my original post. Sorry about that!

 

[Nemo14]

I applaud you for wanting to do something like this, but just don't be surprised if parents politely refuse. Unfortunately it's the way of the world now. A couple of years ago, DH and I had some leftover coupons for BOGO meals at the hotel in Vegas where we were staying. Knowing we wouldn't be using them,we tried to give them away to people in the casino, and no one would accept them. It was rather frustrating!

 

[Goofyernmost]

Sad isn't it?

 

[Nemo14]

Sad isn't it?

It really is. We were trying to be nice...really.

 

[seahawk7]

Sad isn't it?

Yes, unfortunately in this day and age but everyone here is being honest. But you are right, it is sad.

 

[disney4life2008]

Nice gesture but it may not even be worth it. Any kid that is at disneyworld is privileged to be there anyway. How about instead you do the same gesture to a homeless shelter to the children there or a boys and girls club?

 

[Emilily]

Nice gesture but it may not even be worth it. Any kid that is at disneyworld is privileged to be there anyway. How about instead you do the same gesture to a homeless shelter to the children there or a boys and girls club?

We are both already actively involved in the communities where we live. We just wanted to do this on the upcoming trip because, yeah, it's just a sticker of Elsa or Mickey but you never know, it could make a kids day and that's always cool to see. I know when I was younger if anyone ever gave me a sticker or something like that I would be so excited about it. Just trying to continue to magic.

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

I've done it. On a girls trip we made it point and it was awesome!

Go for it. We did small things like stickers and Princess rings/necklaces.

 

[harryk]

Give it a try - if it works, well WONDERFUL -- if it does not work - well YOU GAVE IT A TRY.

Too bad that we live in such a suspicious society - but we let people into the country without checking up on them (when they come in across the Rio Grande) go figure.........

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

Nice gesture but it may not even be worth it. Any kid that is at disneyworld is privileged to be there anyway. How about instead you do the same gesture to a homeless shelter to the children there or a boys and girls club?

What's to say she doesn't already do this? You don't know her story.
What does a $1 pack of 24 rings from walmart hurt to give out if it makes a kid smile?

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

If it is done, say waiting in line for a ride or on a bus/monorail/boat, striking up friendly conversation you would get a much better response out of parents than walking up and just handing things out to children. I have 2 DS's and if done making small talk for a bit I know I would not have a problem and I am sure my DW would not either with allowing our DS's to accept a sticker or small trinket but food or candy would get thrown out.

This exactly.

I still remember making Holly from the UK's day 7 years ago at Fantasmic. I'd turn down food for my kid but a small ring/sticker? She'd love it.

 

[RMichael21]

I really wish you could still get paper fastpasses because those you could hand out if you weren't using them. When I was at DLR last week, we had 2 RSR fastpasses that we weren't able to use. So I gave them to a very nice woman and her son, who was obviously a huge fan of Cars and was disappointed by the 90 minute wait. They told me that I had made their day. But because they have FastPass+ now at WDW, it's impossible to give out those FastPasses.

 

[SagamoreBeach]

I think I may have posted this in the wrong thread before, and if I did again, I'm sorry!

So, in a few days, I will be making my final trip to Disney World for a few years. I wish it wasn't true, but college is expensive! Since this is the last trip for a while, me and my friend were thinking about handing out Disney themed stickers, bracelets, etc. to little kids when we see them at the park or at the hotel. We wanted to do something different on this trip, since it is the last one, and we figured what better way than passing on the magic. They are small items; most of them we got at party stores, so they are nothing too fancy. We were wondering if this was an okay thing to do? We will be asking the parents if it's okay before we give anything to their kid/kids, but we were wondering if Disney would be okay with it? I don't think that it would be a problem, but you never know. If you guys have any input on this, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

Go ahead and have a great time doing it! If you run into a suspicious parent just explain what you are doing. If you do it while waiting in line, lets say, then you have a better opportunity for the parents to get to know you and understand your motivation. Have a great time!

 

[Sans Souci]

I think it's cute. When my son was five, we were in CCH having lunch, when this little boy and his grandmother approached us and gave my son a glow-in-the dark necklace to wear later that evening. I did let him accept it. As others have said, if it was something edible, it would have been discarded.

As previously mentioned, I think if you strike up a conversation with the parents and ask the parents first, you should be okay. I would be prepared to be rebuffed here and there, though.