Magical Cast Members: The Soda Situation

Dear Manager of Intermission Food Court,

My family visited Disney World and stayed at the All-Star Music Resort in September of 2013. During the twelve days that we were there, we walked through the Intermission Food Court, at least, once every day. We are there a few times and stopped to refill out Rapid Fill mugs on the way to and from the parks, daily. Each time we went into the Food Court, we were greeting with a friendly smile and a "hello." From clean up crew to management, everyone was great. The food was always good and the atmosphere was friendly, clean, and inviting.

On our third or fourth day, we stopped at the soda machine to get drinks and, upon filling mine, I found that the Coke Zero was flat. It has been that way for two days and, when I noticed you standing at the checkout line, I decided to go and tell you.

I told you that I wasn't upset, not was I complaining, but that the Coke Zero was flat and had been for a while. I decided to mention it, figuring that the machine just needed a slight tweaking, because if no one told you, you couldn't possibly know. You informed me that the ice maker on the machine was broken and that was causing the issues. I said it was no big deal and was about to walk away when you walked around to the machine on the other side of the beverage island, and then said that the problem was the the other machine didn't have Coke Zero as a drink option at all. I, again, said that it was just fine and that I could just drink something else. I didn't really mind and thanked you for your time.

However, it wasn't just fine with you. You insisted upon giving me a bottle of Coke Zero out of the fridge and told me that, until the machine was fixed, whenever I came through the food court, if I wanted a soda, to simply let you or another manager know, and you would gladly give me a bottle. I tried to tell you that was completely unnecessary, but you insisted. I said, "thank you," and honestly walked out feeling really nice.

I did not ask for another bottle of soda because, while I prefer Coke Zero, I will also drink Diet Coke. Two dates later, my family had dinner at the Intermission Food Court and my husband pointed out that the Coke Zero was not in the other, working, machine.

This whole thing was minor. I wouldn't even call it a complaint. Had the machine been broken and that been the end of it, I probably wouldn't even remember it. However, you took the situation seriously and went out of your way for me and, I have to admit, it truly enhanced my trip. So, thank you for being so kind and guest-friendly. Without fail, when someone talks about Disney's excellent customer service, I always tell them about you.

Thank you!

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Magical Cast Members: Figment Dries Tears

Over our many trips to Walt Disney World, we have been fortunate enough to meet many Cast Members who have gone To Infinity and Beyond to make our trip even more Magical than it already is. This is one of those stories:

Whether you have stayed at Disney for 2 days or 10, it is always so hard to say, "goodbye," when those final few moments come. My 5-year-old daughter took leaving the Most Magical Place on Earth particularly hard last summer. We had decided to spend the morning of our last day at Animal Kingdom, riding our favorite rides one more time and giving Mickey & Minnie and Chip & Dale some last big hugs for the road. As we began to make our way toward the park entrance, reality began to set in for my daughter - we were going home - and she lost it. She started crying so hard and so loudly, with enormous tears running down her cheeks. We gave her hugs and we gave her kisses but, unless we were going to be able to give her 1 more day, there was nothing that we would be able to do for her at that moment. She did mention that she would like some water (no kidding, with all of that crying), so we checked out Island Mercantile - the first store we came to. There was no water to be found in there but a kind Cast Member pointed us in the right direction, just across the way. She took a moment to check on my daughter, making sure that everything was okay, and then we continued on our path toward water, and then the busses. Just moments after we exited the store, however, that kind Cast Member popped back up again, calling for us to wait. She knelt down to my daughter and asked her if she liked Figment. Like Figment? My little girl loves Figment! And then the Cast Member proceeded to give my daughter a small Figment pin! Did it take away the sadness of leaving Disney? No, not really. But it did make my daughter feel so nice to know that other people cared about her, and were thinking about her. The tears came a little slower, the crying quieted to a silent sob, and my kiddo still has her Figment pin in her room to this day, to remind her of the kindness and compassion of others - which kind of just makes us all want to go back even more!

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Magical Cast Members: The French Fry Guy

Over our many trips to Walt Disney World, we have been fortunate enough to meet many Cast Members who have gone To Infinity and Beyond to make our trip even more Magical than it already is. This is one of those stories:

There we were, at Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe, with our kids and a couple of trays filled with hamburgers, chicken nuggets, french fries, desserts, and drinks (yeah, the Disney Dining plan comes with A LOT of food). It was kind of busy that day, and we were searching around for a table. We had just found one when, as we were sitting down, 2 of our large containers of french fries fell to the ground, spilling fries across the floor, much to the dismay of my children. My wife and I were about to get down, on our hands and knees, to spend the first little bit, of our first meal, on our first trip with our kids, cleaning up french fries. Not a huge deal. It stunk, though. Just as we were about to start cleaning up, one of the Disney janitors quickly came up to us, and stopped us - he would take care of it and we should just go ahead and enjoy our meal. Super nice and much appreciated. We sat down with our children and got to eating. We split the remaining fries up between all of us. And then, up came the janitor with 2 new, piping hot, and very yummy boxes of french fries. It was just nice, sweet, and unexpected and it really set the tone for the rest of our vacation - even without us having to ask, the folks at Disney have got our backs.

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Magical Cast Members: Finding Belle

Dear Cast Member from Magic Kingdom's Toon Town Fair,

It has been a long time since you made our little girl's day and, possibly, our entire vacation - we're talking all the way back to September 2010. You were working with Belle at her Meet & Greet location right there in Toon Town Fair but, as we discovered when we entered the room to meet her, Cinderella, and Aurora, we learned that, for whatever reason, she was not available to meet at that particular time. Cinderella was there. Aurora was there. There was a big empty spot where Belle was supposed to be! Her favorite princess being Belle, all my daughter had wanted to do for that last activity before we left the park to head back to the airport and home, was to give Belle and hug and say, "goodbye." So, after happily hugging the other two princesses, when my little girl got to that last, empty spot, her heart sank. "Where's Belle?" she asked us. We honestly didn't know where Belle was. There was no time to wait and find out, though - we had a plane to catch.

We made our way out of the Meet & Greet, through the shop at the exit, down the path leading back to the main road, and then began to head out of Toontown Fair. All the while, my daughter, broken hearted, tears streaming down her face, just kept saying, "I want to say, 'goodbye,' to Belle." And that's when I first noticed you. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw you running out of the shop at the exit of the Meet & Greet, though I didn't think much of what you were doing at the time. Sure enough, though, you came running down the path, turned the corner, and headed straight for us. "Come with me," you said. So we went. You ushered us into a hallway, not intended for guest use, and began pulling curtains closed. "Wait right here." And then, out stepped Belle, in her big yellow ball gown with a big ol' smile on her face. "I heard my little friend calling my name!" she said. My daughter's face lit up! Ah, who am I kidding - All of faces lit up and, now, it was my wife and I who were crying. We were so touched at the effort made by both Belle and of course, YOU, the Cast Member who chased us down, and it is a memory that we will keep with us forever.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts!

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