Walt Disney once said,

“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world.

But it takes people to make the dream a reality.”

It has been said that Walt Disney would continually tell his cast members, “The customer is king” and “every cast member is responsible for the impression we make.” He also encouraged them to  “take five minutes a day to make a magical memory for one of our guests.” Former cast members have stated that Walt would walk around Disneyland with a roll of $5.00 bills in his pocket to tip any cast member who worked extra hard to plus the experience for a guest. Friends of Walt Disney have said that if you understand the plus factor, then you have the key to Walt’s heart.

When I read the quote above, I tend to think that Walt was talking about all of us collectively; from extraordinary cast members to the guests in the parks. In my studies of Walt, I have read that he envisioned people coming to Disneyland (and I am sure Walt Disney World), finding happiness there, then going out and widening the circle of happiness around the world. That is why my family tries to do our part to “spread the magic” when we travel to Florida each year.

Through the years, there have been many things we have tried to do to help people feel the magic of Disney. I am not only talking about visitors with a “First Timer” button on their shirt, but all kinds of people – children, adults, cast members, everyone really. As a tribute to one of the most wonderful human beings in the world ( in my opinion), I wanted to share a few nice ways we can all help spread the magic while at Walt Disney World.

Playing Photographer

My husband is constantly walking up to strangers and offering to take pictures of them whenever he notices someone being left out of the photo because they are taking the picture. He has been our primary photographer so he knows exactly what it is like to have many pictures of the rest of the family but only a few that include him. He has never met a stranger, so he will walk right up to someone and ask if they would like him to take their picture.

Thanking the Cast Members

We hand out cast member thank you cards when we happen to interact with one of those extraordinary cast members. This year we gave one of them to a very sweet young man named Scott who was working at the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. He was so surprised and appreciative, he looked like I had handed him a million dollars. To tell you the truth, if I had been carrying a million I would have given it to him. If you would like to have some thank yous to take on your trip, you can download them free here.

Paying the toll

Whether at home or on vacation, it’s a nice gesture to pay for someone’s toll. When passing through the Florida Turnpike we just tell the person in the booth that we also want to pay for the car behind us. We say, get the magic started before they have even hit the park.

Giving up your spot

We usually take the Disney transportation to the parks but we have driven before when we knew we were going to be leaving during a very crowded time that would cause a long line at the bus stop. When we drive, we will usually give up a closer parking spot if we see a family with small children trying to park near the entrance, as my kids are all grownup now. We still remember what it was like having tired children to lug to the car when leaving the park and this is our small way of encouraging their plight, even though they never know why we did it.

Standing up

Thankfully, my family is healthy and generally about ten times happier whenever we are at Walt Disney World.  Most of the time, we are happy to stand up and give our seats to someone who clearly needs one on the bus – pregnant woman, grandmother, grandfather, small child, etc. I have to admit, though, that there are nights when we have started very early and stayed very late and we are wiped – those nights we might not give up the seat. But, we are happy to when we can bear it.

Wearing and sharing special greetings

We wore “Happy Thanksgiving” shirts this year in order to wish others a Happy Thanksgiving, but we received so many kind wishes that we were clearly the ones that received the blessing. Sometimes trying to do something nice pays you back two-, three, and four-fold.

Sharing your credits

Both years we have had the free dining plan, we have ended up with snack credits at the end of our trip. A very nice older woman working in the gift shop really helped me to find a nice gift for my loved one back home, so I used one snack credit to buy a sweet treat for her and took it back to the gift shop. I told her it was a sweet for a sweet.

Smiling

It is so funny how everyone faces everyone else on the busses. You end up with people looking right at you, where else can they look when they are sitting right in front of you. Even when you are in line, you make eye contact with people all day long. We share our smiles generously. We are so happy to be at Walt Disney World we can’t contain it anyway, so why not share it and brighten someone else’s day?

Thanking the bus driver

I do not like driving at all. My husband jokes that I keep him around for chauffer duties and lawn maintenance. Truth is I keep him around for the entertainment value  – just kidding 🙂 I must say that I cannot imagine driving a bus at Walt Disney World with crowds of people standing behind me, kids screaming, babies crying, I could never do it; I would be a nervous wreck. That is not to mention all the traffic on Disney property and people not obeying the street lights. I am so thankful for the kind, calm individual getting me safely to my destination; I always thank the bus drivers at WDW and tell them to have a great day. They are not allowed to take gifts, but I do give them cast member thank you cards.

Surprising someone with a fast pass

If we have fast passes left when we decide to leave the park, we always find someone to give them to, especially since we have 5 or more people in our party every year. We have been blessed a few times to actually hear a parent say they just don’t have an hour to wait on the ride while their child is begging to be able to go on it. We love to be able to offer up our fast passes for this. If we had time, we would offer them even if we had planned on using them and just wait out the line ourselves.

We feel very blessed to be able to enjoy our annual trips to Walt Disney World. Someday, we might not have this chance but while we can we will take advantage of every opportunity. It is our pleasure entirely to try to make someone’s day a little more magical – whether it is a guest or an employee. It’s amazing how much trying to “plus” someone else’s experience completely lends exponentially to the amount of magic we received from our trips. These are some of the things we have done to help honor Walt’s dream. I would love to hear about your experiences with kindness – given or received – while at Disney parks. I think Walt would be happy to know we got the message!

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