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View Full Version : One of those great in-park moments...



Tinkermommy
08-31-2012, 08:14 AM
I met my brother and his three little ones at Disneyland yesterday. It was the kids' last trip before they go back to school (and in the littlest one's case, start pre-kindergarten), and my brother's first in quite a while. It was my first time with the little guy, other than when he was a newborn. We didn't arrive until early afternoon, but Disneyland was great -- quite a few rides were walk-ons; we had Pizza Port to ourselves, and a friend of mine who is a cast member made the girls' day by coming out to have a picture taken with them.

My brother hadn't been to the "new" DCA, so we decided to give it a try around sunset. Of course, it was very busy. I was going to suggest he try single rider so he could see RSR, since the rest of us had already been on it at least once. As we stood on Buena Vista Street pondering what to do, a guest walked up and asked if we needed fastpasses for RSR. We kind of gaped at her in surprise, and she mentioned she had a family of five, couldn't use the ones they got that morning, and had been looking for a party of five. She handed them over, we thanked her, and off she went, out the gate. What are the chances?

I wish I could find her and tell her how awesome that was for our last ride of the day. I kept turning around to look at my brother, and the whole time, he had a huge grin on his face, from the lit-up waterfall to the finish line. He kept shaking his head in amazement. We ended up racing a family that was SO much fun -- they were as big a party of goofballs as we are, and we laughed the whole time. When the ride ended, my brother couldn't find the words, and gave me a thumbs-up. His kids were delighted that they got to "show" Daddy the new ride.

I wish there was a way to not only thank that woman again for taking the time and effort to seek out another family to benefit from their fastpasses, but to tell her how much her generosity contributed to our enjoyment of the day. I know it's just a ride, but I can't think of a more perfect way for us to have ended a wonderful, bonding day -- and it wouldn't have happened that way if not for her. Here's hoping it was a padder!

CariBelle
08-31-2012, 08:32 AM
Talk about making my eyes leak!

letshavefun
08-31-2012, 08:56 AM
Talk about making my eyes leak!

Me too.

What a great story, thank you for sharing, I have to agree 100% about riding RSR with fun people it really makes the ride fun when you are in a car or racing a car with enthusatic people.


A story of my own the summer that world of color opened we had 2 extra fastpasses for the 1st show. When we were entering there was a young couple asking the CM if they could go to that show with later fastpasses after being told no they stepped to the side and were talking about leaving. I remembered I had the extra tickets and offered them it the couple they were so grateful and of course accepted them and in return offered their later tickets to me which I said no that was okay (later regretting cause I so would of went again)But it is also fun and rewarding to make someones day.

olegc
08-31-2012, 08:59 AM
Great moment - especially for someone who doesn't win a lot ;-). I am so happy for you and your family to be able to have this memory. It will last a long time.

Tinkermommy
08-31-2012, 09:16 AM
Great moment - especially for someone who doesn't win a lot ;-).

I tell ya, Radiator Springs seems to be the exception to my long-running status as a loser. :p We won the AP preview for that (woo hoo!), and after spending the night on the ground in the Esplanade with five teenaged girls, we were in the first group that got in on opening day. I still can't believe that! Such a fun, unique, and CRAZY experience! So no more complaints from me -- Radiator Springs has made everything right in my little world. Ha ha!

currence
08-31-2012, 09:55 AM
That's great. We gave away 6 fastpasses to RSR a little while ago, but it was to a larger group so I felt a little bad. I hope they managed to use them but who knows.

Our first ride on RSR was with a friend and his children. We were a party of 7 and their dad volunteered to be odd-man out. He then spent the rest of the ride trash-talking our car and telling us we were going down. We fired back a little bit, though not as much. The other 5 people in his car presumably thought he was crazy. It really makes the ride fun when you are actually racing the other car - i.e. you care which car wins. I wish there were more ways to encourage good-nature rivalry but I don't think they really can. I'm glad you had a fun race car.

wabby1
08-31-2012, 10:42 AM
You see? That's what is so special about Disneyland!! People get it....their generosity comes out. You tend to try and want to be nice to complete strangers. I remember giving one of my badges to a little girl once who kept staring at it....and I thought she would enjoy it much more than I would....so off it came and I gave it to her. Her face lighting up made my day, and it remains one of my most memorable moments at the park.

Thanks for your story....

Malcon10t
08-31-2012, 04:47 PM
Last trip I had grabbed extra FP to racers. As we were heading down I overheard a dad telling his son the line was too long and the boy commented some day he would get to ride. I asked the boy how many in his family and he said 4 so I handed him 4 FP. His grin was huge.

candles71
08-31-2012, 04:53 PM
We, too, give our extras we won't be using, as well as have been the recipients of as well. Disney Magic all around. :)

jsilkey
08-31-2012, 05:17 PM
We have given away FP's many, many times. We also like to give trading pins to kids who ask about ours to get them started.

Our first trip after TSMM opened, we had done everything else and decided to just suck it up and wait in the 2 hour line. We had only been in line 5 mins. or so, when a lady and daughter asked if we wanted to go with them! They had a FP pass for 6 people (YOMD?? not sure what it was). It was so nice of them, we still tell people about it when we talk about that trip :D it's the gift that keeps giving!

Tinkermommy
08-31-2012, 07:07 PM
I keep looking for the "Like" button on these posts...

Escape2Disney
09-01-2012, 02:09 PM
I keep looking for the "Like" button on these posts...

I was doing the same thing!

What wonderful stories. Things like this are what make Disney so special for our family.

TulaBelle
09-02-2012, 03:29 PM
Disney people like to make magic as much as be on the receiving end. My hubby will ofter try to get FP's on the way out of a park just to pass them on to someone else. The look on someone's face when you say "Could you use these?" is enough to float you back to your hotel. :)

rustymick
09-04-2012, 10:37 AM
During the summer of 1974, I'm not sure now which trip (we lived in El Toro), my family and I were just entering Main Street and my father was counting tickets from some ticket books that he'd just purchased--I'm sure trying to split them up between 3 kids. 2 guys that didn't speak English were leaving and stopped my 9 year old brother and handed him 2 full ticket books. He was in awe and couldn't speak, and we didn't know what they were saying anyway. My Dad thanked them profusely, everyone nodded and smiled and they left.

I still remember this after all these years (I was 6).

Best trip ever as a kid!!!!!!

yellowrosedtxn
09-04-2012, 10:45 AM
I just love hearing these stories. Disney is definitely magical and I love that it brings out the magic in others! Thanks for the happy tears you guys!

gibson510
09-06-2012, 09:26 AM
What a fantastic story! I think that this proves that it's not just a ride, and its not just any old theme park. It's all much more than that, which is why we all keep going back ;)

CariBelle
09-06-2012, 10:01 AM
What a fantastic story! I think that this proves that it's not just a ride, and its not just any old theme park. It's all much more than that, which is why we all keep going back ;)

Very well said!

cheshirecatgirl
09-10-2012, 07:31 PM
I've often given away extra fastpasses. It's fun to spread the magic! My favorite story is from when I lived down the street from WDW, and worked on property. Every year we were given holiday passes to all the parks, including the water parks and Disney Quest. The passes were good for four people. So one night I decide to use my pass at Disney Quest, and I hung around the entrance for awhile, looking for a party of three to take in with me. It seemed that day that there were lots of parties of four or five. Finally, I saw a group of three older folks asking the CM where the Cheesecake Factory was. Upon being told it was inside but they had to pay the admission to get in, they turned to go. So i went up to them and said I had a pass and would they like to go in for free, and they did. They invited me to hang out with them and we ended up having a great time together. They even bought me dinner! It was a really fun night!

Marycontardi
09-13-2012, 07:43 AM
This thread is pure win!

A couple years ago my family was ending a 4 day visit to Disneyland etc.. On the 4th day, my son wasn't feeling well so my wife decided to take him back to the hotel and just take it easy for the remainder of the day. There were a few things we promised to purchase for our son and some friends that we put off until our final day. I really did the stand up thing and took one for our team ;) ... with my wife's blessing of course, I continued on to the park alone for most of the day. I really wanted to get on Indy, it had been a while so I went to grab a FP and realized I had all three of our APs. At that point, I decided to get 3xFPs at every chance and distribute them to smiling couples (and a few threesomes) throughout the rest of my day at the parks. It was one of my greatest Disneyland days ever. Much like TulaBelle's husband, I try to hand out at least one set on FPs every visit, often as I exit.

The Disney community is often the best part of my excursions. Generosity and happiness... it's contagious!

Shortpix77
09-13-2012, 07:52 AM
We try to do the Fast Pass giveaway thing too, and often we're leaving in the late afternoon, so people are incredulous that we're not going to stay and use them.

And on the other end of this, during the Year of a Million Dreams, a couple who'd been given those "magic Fast Pass to every ride" lanyards was leaving and gave them to my mother and me. They had only used one of the tabs on them!! It was just so generous that the rest of our day, we couldn't stop smiling. And this is why we all go back over and over :-) Love it!