Magical Moments

In my job we have these things called "magical moments." Not sure if I've written about them before, but it's basically where we try to make a certain guest's day extra special. When I worked merch, we would play games like tic-tac-toe or play with bubbles or do puzzles. Sometimes it would be a bit bigger like taking their picture and having a particular family be the "model picture" of the day and they'd get a free 8x10. In my job now we let certain families participate in the parades or we get veterans to participate in the flag retreat ceremony. Magical moments can sometimes be as big as giving a guest a free stay in Cinderella's Castle for the night (I think they've stopped doing that at the moment though).

What's really cool, though, is that sometimes guests can be magical moments for the cast members. The most common magical moments for us come from little kids. And yesterday I got to have one of the best magical moments ever from a six year old.

I put up the ropes for the parade and was standing in front waiting and watching my area making sure no one was running out into the street (I had TWO runners on Monday!! they about gave me a heart attack!). And suddenly this little girl was freaking out. And by freaking out I mean I have never in my life seen a child more excited for something. She was jumping up and down and screaming.... in a good way (yes, Dad, that is possible).

She was so excited for the parade to come it was hilarious to just watch her. She asked me if she was going to see Mickey and I told her, "Of course!" She then informed me that she knew Mickey would be in the show, but he told her he had to go take a shower because he was sweaty from the last show that he had just finished performing in called "Dream Along With Mickey."

As the parade came by she was asking me to name every single character. I was able to get Stitch to come say hi to her and he made a face at her so she stuck her tongue out at him. As I started to walk away to make sure the rest of my area was clear she grabbed my shirt and yanked me back to her to tell me I couldn't leave because there were characters still coming. And she was jumping up and down and screaming the whole. freaking. time. Her dad was taking pictures of the two of us the whole entire time. It was the most fun parade I've ever done. Even though I've only done about four so far. She was so much fun!

When the parade finished I had to leave and it was so cute how she kept grabbing my shirt and pulling me back into her because she didn't want me to leave. I love working parades. I love guests who are so excited! I love that I'm in about a million photo albums and probably just as many home videos! I love living at Disney World! I love my life!