Forget Rude People - Let's make WDW a happier place!

[azcavalier]

I teach a religion class in the morning before school to youth from our church. Before Thanksgiving we had a lesson about "Love Thy Neighbor". I assigned each of them to find some way to serve others (most likely a sibling or other family member) over Thanksgiving and they had to report it to me when the break was over.

I'm not trying to talk religion here, and I have no authority over any of you, but...

I'd love it if the next time you go to WDW (of course, you could always do it where you are now!) you could each find one way to just help someone out...like on the thread about rude people, the last poster commented about how many nice and helpful people they saw. We're heading down today for 8 days, and i'm going to make a concerted effort to not just be polite, but actually go-out-of-my-way helpful to a stranger. If you feel so inclined, after providing some kind of "random act of kindness", please report back here and share. I'd love to hear it.

[SBETigg]

We always try to do this, from something as simple as handing off Fastpasses we're not going to use or buying another random couple dinner (newlyweds, we like to do this for them because we honeymooned at WDW and ran out of money-- but the dining plan has made it harder). I think lots of us have done something nice for someone else in WDW. It usually brings out the best in people.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Wow, great idea.

[mickeys_princess_mom]

I REALLY like this thread!!
We've tried to do some things like this--I really believe in doing it. Have chased down a couple with a little fellow in a wheelchair in the rain to give them a poncho for him, passed on Fastpasses--it's fun looking for the 'right' person, and great when you nail it, cause you see the expression. Helped a lady with sleeping babies get off the bus at another stop one time. We've also had people single us out to do sweet things like handing us a card full of Fastpasses during the Dream thing, and even offering us a ticket they weren't going to use because they had a noshow. It was cool that they looked down the line and thought we were the 'right' ones to appreciate and use it.

[pirate pixie]

We also try to do this and just ignore the "rude" people . our nephew passed away 4 years ago from cancer he got to go on a dream trip everytime we see one of those families we try to make thier day brighter . We always tell the cast members what a great job they are doing . Disney is the one place in this world it seems that my husband and I can just ignore the rude people brush it off with a smile look at the person and tell them to " have a magical day " its all about attitude . an attitude of grattitude . I am so greatful that i get to be there, i get to spend this precious time with my daughter and my husband . That is what we need to remember . That is what walt was all about family and fun

[brivers222]

We have extra TS's at the end of our trip so I decided to book a Candlelight Processional Package for the 6:45pm show (2TS per each of us) on December 18th.... We don't plan on attending the show, but instead go up to a couple in the stand by line and give them a little gift in the form of a voucher for that time periods show

i love paying it forward, maybe something awesome will come our way too!

[Buttercup]

Oh I love that!
I like to ask people who seem confused, looking at their park maps, if I can help them find something. Makes me feel good that my years of Disney knowledge isn't going to waste! haha And you should see how appreciative people are! It's nice to meet and chat with people from all over the world, and help make their vacations a little easier!
We also sometimes get media passes for Disney, and they sometimes give us more than we need. I've stopped many young families in the lineups for purchasing park tickets and given our complimentary passes away. You should see how many hugs I get when that happens!!!

[TheVBs]

Great idea!

On our last trip we were riding the bus from DTD to the Contemporary so we could ride the monorail to MK (quicker than going back to our resort and taking the bus). There was a mom with a baby who was absolutely loaded down with stuff. DH carried all the stuff off the bus for her.

I love the idea of not just doing this in WDW. I do try to help people out whenever I can. It just makes such a difference, not only in their day, but it mine too. The only thing I've done at home recently was give a pack of tissues to a mom who had a little boy with a runny nose and nothing on her.

[emerzmom]

I love this and believe that this is what the magic is all about...not just what you get but what you give.

Julie

[mom2morgan]

What a lovely thread and what lovely stories!! Please keep them coming and inspire me for my next trip :-) I'll share 2 stories of magic that was done FOR me on my 2 trips, by cast members. 1st trip- had early reservations for Chef Mickey's. To get there from POR you have to take the bus to the Magic Kingdom, and then walk or take the monorail back to the Contemporary. Well, my teenage foster son decided to pick that morning to have a complete angry fit. Couldn't get him packed and out of his room (it was our last day and we had to check out) until we'd missed the last possible bus that could get us there on time. By the time we got on the bus, I was almost in tears due to not being able to make our ressies, the ONLY character meal I planned for my family. The bus driver asked the other passengers if anyone minded a detour, and then dropped me off directly at the Contemporary!! (she had to radio in for permission, and everything). The trip after that, I got my dinner reservations mixed up and showed up at Cape MAy on the night we were supposed to be at Ohanas. Again, I got flustered and was near tears (I'm too emotional in Disney- always take it really hard if I think I've spoiled something for my family). wondering how to get there on time, and the concierge at the Beach Club put us in a cab free of charge to get us there on time. (honestly, I would have happily paid for a taxi, but hadn't even THOUGHT of it!! LOL) Funny thing is, those two near disasters became the warmest memories from our trips!

[MissMaryPoppins]

I was at EPCOT on Saturday and I'm not sure if it's because of Christmas or what but most of the people I saw around the park were very friendly and seemed just happy to be there. Parts of world showcase were a little crowded but people weren't pushing or shoving. I didn't even hear anyone complain about having to wait on line for a bathroom. It was so nice!

[White Rose]

This is a great idea! We leave January 8th for our trip. Will definitely have to think of something nice to do for someone while we're there!

[azcavalier]

I'm back!

We've also had people single us out to do sweet things like handing us a card full of Fastpasses during the Dream thing, and even offering us a ticket they weren't going to use because they had a noshow.

I wonder if this was us! Actually, back during the Million Dreams promo, we had some friends with us, and we had won the Dream Fastpasses, but were leaving the park early that day. Our friend, James, who is a big, scary lookin' dude, was trying to give their FPs away to a family the same size coming in to the park. They were headed by a grandma, who, when she saw him walking their way, not only tried to avoid him, but said out loud for her family to head the other way! He had to chase them down, yelling, "I just want to give you fast passes!" When they stopped, they were so embarrassed, but we all had a good laugh over it.

I was able to do two things:

1. At our Chef Mickey's dinner, the table next to us had two women who were complete hams. When the characters came around, I offered to take their photos so they could both get in on the fun. They were a blast, and had the best time, and I was just snapping away. I hope they enjoy those photos!

2. On the last day of our vacation, on the way out of the park, I saw a family with a little girl walking in. She had on a pin trading lanyard with about four or five pins on it. I had six "trader" pins in my pocket that I hadn't traded away, and so I stopped them and asked them if they traded pins. The mom said that the little girl did, but had forgotten her pins to trade! So, I gave her what I had left. They tried to pay me for them, but I told them just to take them and enjoy!

3. Knowing that we were going to ride Kali River Rapids, my wife had brought ponchos for us to wear. Coming off of the ride, in which we got hammered, a family walking past saw the ponchos and commented out loud that they should have done that. So, my wife stripped off her poncho and gave it to them (along with the rest of our ponchos). I was very proud of her. She definitely gets into the spirit of it being the happiest place on earth.

On that note, my DD6 loves to trade, and she ran up to a guy who she thought was a cast member and asked if she could look at his pins. Then she pointed to one she liked at about the same time that I told her he wasn't a cast member (he had been standing next to the cast member, trading pins with him). But the guy was great, pulled the pin off and just gave it to her. It was very nice, and helped my daughter recover from her embarrassment.

[brivers222]

We did a few things keeping up with our tradition of paying it forward....

1) We had 100 pt arcade vouchers at each of the two hotels we stayed at... so what we did was upon checking in we gave the voucher to a family with kids that were checking in so that they would have extra play time in the arcade

2) I also got a family a 20% off the Surrey bike rental at the boardwalk using my voucher (we wanted to try the bikes but time really didnt allow for it)

3) we gave out 9 Snacks to various families during our stay... we would randomly walk up to a family with kids at the ice cream carts and when we saw them try to pull out money I stepped in and bought it for them.

4) we gave out 3 CS complete deluxe meals to people throughout our stay... 1 because we had left over from the first part of our trip and another 2 because we were only charged 1TS per each of at the Garden Grill using the Candlelight Processional Package. I brought it up to the waiter so that he wouldn't get in trouble and he said, "Enjoy the rest of your honeymoon" unfortuantly we were tooooo stuffed to even considering using the extra credits ourself lol

5) Speaking of the Candlelight package, I booked it knowing that I would walk by people in the standby line for the 6:45 show and give it to a couple... I found an older couple that were very appreciative for the passes

These are some of the small things we did throughout our stay to pay it forward.

[Hair_Razor]

Ooh, I love this!
I always try to do stuff like this. I am always stopping to take pictures for people, I think sometimes people think you are trying to run off with their camera, haha.

This reminds me of something my husband told me about recently. He said that on the news he heard about a group of people were going into local Kmarts and paying off people's Christmas layaway. These families would come in to pick up their stuff to find it had been payed for! I love that, if I had heard about it sooner I would have done that!

[TinkerbellFan16]

I know it's a small thing, but if we have extra fastpasses or we decide not to use them we ALWAYS give them to other people. We usually wait in front of the ride or attraction and wait for a family that had kids that REALLY want to go but their parents tell them the wait is too long, and we give them the fastpasses. The kids' reactions are the best

[ransam]

there's so many small things you can do.
Open the door for people.
Hold open the door for somone in a wheelchair/evc
Something as simple as saying hi.
Smile.
take the man sweeping up trash a glass of water on a hot day.
Smile.

[SandmanGStefani24]

Great idea!


I love the idea of not just doing this in WDW. I do try to help people out whenever I can. .

I try to also, but WDW is just an easier place to do this at for me it seems. The world outside WDW can be a scary place at times and good intentions often get confused for something sinister or having an ulterior motive. Sad isn't it?
Still, all the more reason to love WDW. It's a place where I can hold the door open for a lady and it not be seen as trying to hit on her, a place where I can offer to take a picture for a family and be trusted not to run off with their camera, and a place where I can give away game tokens or something else to a kid and not be accused of trying to kidnap them.
Let's keep the good WDW deeds coming!

[IloveDisney71]

We also try to spread the magic of Disney. I saw a previous poster shared her ponchos after getting off Kali River Rapids. We shared ours after we got off of Splash Mt in February! It was a pretty cold day and hardly anyone was riding. We had ridden twice and we were about to just throw our ponchos away (they were the cheap ones we had bought at Walmart) and we heard someone walking up say that they wished they had some ponchos. We gave them ours. They were so happy to get them.

It doesn't take much to make someone's day. I always let little ones get in front of me at a parade because they're so short and I want them to be able to see. I remember being little and not being able to see the floats and characters as they went by. It's not their fault if their parents show up late to a parade.

[Renfairwedding]

Here is some of our stories…

We seem to give more pins than we trade to kids just arriving in the world. We tell them about pin trading and that this one is to trade for a better one.

On a bus returning to POP One little girl about four years old admired and asked about a princess pin on my Wife’s lanyard. My Wife without losing a beat told the girl “well it was really yours and I was just holding for her” and gave the pin to her. That girl was so happy and sat next to my wife and held her hand all the way back to the resort. We saw the mom latter and told us she could not separate that pin from her daughter.


We have invited single dinners told there was no seat available to join us as most tables hold four and we are only two.

I love to help with family photos and on few occasions e-mailed a copy from taken on my camera. My favorite was a local family whose camera would not work. They were all playing hooky from work and school and brought glasses with the nose and mustache as a ”disguise”. It’s an awesome shot.

Best part of all is we get to meet the greatest people.

Well one on guy was not so nice. He was covered in cameras on the steam train tour. I was solo on this adventure and asked him if he could take snap shot of me and the train and he told me NO WAY… lol…

We have even benefited in a way. During the little mermaid show the handicapped section filled with a family that had no wheel chair and no obvious handicap. (Not that all issues or obvious) A make a wish kid with lots of issues came in. The CM asked if the family could just scoot over so the kids companion could sit next to her they (Must be related to my steam train camera friend) told the cm NO WAY. Well I rolled from my spot and my wife gave her companion seat up and moved up a row and I sat next to the NW family. After the show letting the crowed thin out we made sure the kid had a few pins of her and her companion’s choice. On the way out the CM stopped to thank us and presented us with a Tinker Bell pin set. She told that one was for us and to trade the second to continue to help spread the pixy dust.