How have you added to the Magic?

[JPL]

We often talk about special CMs who have gone out of their way to make your trip more magical. As a guest how have you added some to Magic to someone's elses vacation?

A few ways I have helped others are offering to take pictures if I see a group with one person left out of the picture. I have given away Fast passes I wasn't going to use to people about to enter a line. I have given a few of my trader pins away so kids could trade with CMs. Let's hear some of your stories

[JMTStone]

My favorite turned out to be a gift to my family too. A little girl my DD's age was behind a very tall person for the parade. I offered her a seat next to me and my DD sat on my lap. They turned out to be fast friends and spent lots of "line time" together that vacation. I got to know her Mom and we keep in touch to this day!

[PrincessEmmasMommy]

I know this seems small, but I've shared baby wipes while seeing mothers with children with sticky hands. Also, we once were standing in line for a character greeting and my DD (2 at the time) was eating some fruit snacks when the child in front of us starting whining about wanting some too. We gave her an extra pack of ours.

This is a great topic! Random Acts of Kindness..Keep them coming!
Jen

[DizneyFreak2002]

I have offered to take pictures for people so they can have the whole family in the picture.... I have also helped people who didn't know where they were going while in the parks.. Then, when they asked for my opinion about certain rides and shows, I told them....

[debandbub]

Like, JPL, I like to offer to take pictures, especially at holiday time, in case a family wants to use one as thier holiday photo, and this past December, I gave away our two FP's for EE to a man we were chatting with in the bar at AK. He was on his quest to ride it 1000 times, and he was so pleased that we were able to help him out.
Also this past Dec, we were on our way back after a night at DD when I tried miserably to win my GF a stuffed animal at the basketball toss. The CM working the booth felt sorry for me, and basically let me shoot until we got one. (It was a slow cold night!). On the bus back to the hotel there was a dad and his son, about 5 years old. It was after midnight, he must have been exhausted, but he was being so friendly, asking us where we were from, etc, and if we liked frogs, because he did. (We had won a stuffed frog). Well of course we wanted to give him the frog, and he was so thrilled. The first thing he did was ask his dad if we could visit him at his house ( a mere three states away) so that he could give us something of his. It was so sweet, and the memory of that child was worth more than any stuffed toy we won.

[Jeremy]

I have taken pictures of newly weds on there
honeymoon.
and a group of people on mainstreet.
So they can be in the photos.

[rsumrall]

We often have extra FPs because some of my kids are too small to ride some of the thrill rides. I always get them FPs anyway, in hopes that my wife might ride twice. Most of the time, she doesn't and I give away the FPs. People feel like they've won the lottery when the line is 1 hr. long and you give them a FP with the window open.

[thejens]

This is a wonderful post. It makes me want to do lots of things to add to the magic on my upcoming trip! I don't think I did anything very special (except beam with happiness at everyone I saw) last time. It was fun giving away extra fast passes though! I think beginning my trip with the goal to BE part of the magic, for other guests and also the cast member can only increase the magic for my family too. In fact, maybe I'll start today!

[disney100%]

I love this thread!

Like several other people, I have taken pictures of lots of people. My family finds it very funny because random people tend to ask me. It happened so many times on out last trip that my DH took a picture of me taking pictures of other people!

My DH and I always make it a point to give up our seats on the bus (well, whichever one of us is not holding our son). We feel there are a lot people who need the seat more than us.

[TikiGoddess]

I like to give away pins to kids wearing lanyards. Fellow pin traders were so generous to me when I started pin trading that I feel the need to pass it on.

I also try to stock up on mini-bubbles, stickers, and light sticks to pass on to other kids in the parks.

TikiG

[Sylvia]

As so many others have already mentioned, I, too, offer to take a group picture when I see someone taking a picture of his/her family.

I must give the impression that I know where everything is located, because people are always asking me for directions. One really funny experience happened a number of years ago. I was wearing a tee shirt from our 4th of July celebration in Philadelphia, which read "Welcome America - Event Staff". I happened to be standing by the American Adventure, several guests saw my shirt, thought I was a CM, and proceeded to ask me many questions. That experience was the beginning of many. I've met some great people and had some great times, especially during my solo trips.

[WDWfanatic742]

Like others have said, the group pictures we do alot. Also, we sometimes have to leave the parks for other things so we will just randomly give our fastpasses away.

[alicia524luvstw]

I had an experience where someone made my day. We just walked into Epcot and a man gave us his fast passes for Soarin' ! Great way to start our first day

[snowflakegirl]

DH and I both like to offer to take pictures for groups when we see someone being left out of the picture. We're especially conscious of couples taking pictures where one person can't be in the picture because we were so greatful on our honeymoon to everyone who stopped to take pictures of us together.

When I see parents who are worn out and at their last nerve with kids who are equally worn out, with the parent's permission I try to distract the kids with something more fun/interesting to think about, giving both the parent and the children some time to calm down. I'm a school psychologist and I work with elementary aged children, so I'm used to working with kids who aren't necessarilly always in the best of moods.

When I was at Disneyland last year at the end of one long, cold, rainy day I was waiting for the shuttle to my hotel to pick me up with one of my friends. Also waiting were two mothers with three or four small children between them between the ages of maybe 1 and 6. On the bench next to them was an 8 year old girl, wrapped in a poncho with an umbrella, shivering and crying because she needed a bathroom break, and the moms didn't want to take the chance of missing the shuttle back to their hotel... you know the story. Mom was trying to keep the two kids with her dry and entertained while trying to calm her other child. My friend ended up sitting with the moms and talking with them to take their minds off the cold and rain and I sat with the 8 year old, making a game of using both our umbrellas to cover us from the wind and rain, talking about our favorite characters/rides/foods/etc. She calmed down, stopped crying and even laughed a few times, and my friend was able to get the moms laughing, too. It turned out to be one of the best memories for me of the whole trip, and I'm glad that I got to help them out with what otherwise would have been a rather unhappy last moment of their trip.

[Crow]

I was in line to get a Fiesta and had a few pins on lanyard. talked for a sec w a woman who saw a pin i had on, think it was 1 w TInk and she said that was her fav character...so i gave it to her.
and i married a CM one time...but im trying to forget about that

[Mickey 101]

These posts are great! We've benefitted from the generosity of other guests when it comes to offering to take our photo. Now we try to look for opps to do the same. We've also had fun sharing fps we aren't able to use.

My personal favorite was when we were sitting on the boardwalk eating pizza from the take-out window at Spoodles in Jan 2006. We had several slices of our pizza left and there was a table of girls next to us, so we asked if any of them would like it. They politely declined when one who was very bubbly said, "We're cms from Brazil and we don't cook. I'd love to take it back to my room." We started talking and in appreciation for our small deed, she ended up offering to get us into the cm event for EE since she had no family to invite!! It was even more amazing because we were missing the AP event by only two days. It made our trip and was immediately one of our favorite attractions.

[KAJUNKING]

for some reason i am the guy everyone asks to take a picture for them and i really enjoy it any chance to pay it forward, i have had a guy walk up to me and my wife and give me fast passes and it was a very nice gift

[Figgyluv03]

I must have had CM written on my forehead when I was in the parks on my days off because people would come up to me when they were lost and would ask me where attractions were. I absolutely loved it! I felt like a little tour guide and would give them information like the best time to ride and where to sit and the best way to get there! I also recommended other rides that they might like.

[Tynkerbelle]

We'll give away any unused counter service or snack credits we have on our last day - if there's someone in line not on the dining plan they get a meal on us!

During our Sept trip we rented a car to go to that other Orlando park and decided to keep it an extra day. After having a late dinner at the Concourse Steakhouse, we came out to get our car from the valet and overheard a couple of guys with their very sleepy kids asking how they can get back to the WL. They had separated from their wives and ended up at the CR after a fireworks cruise and had no way to get back (the boats had stopped running) so we offered them a ride. They were so happy not to have to take the bus to DTD and then take another bus back to WL and we got to hear about their Wishes cruise!

[Tinkerfreak]

We also give away unused FP's and take pictures for people. We always offer our seats on the bus to someone with a small child or elderly or preggers. I was so proud of my 2 daughters age 9 and 12 and my neice age 19 on our last trip. Our bus had stopped at another resort to pick up more people while we were on our way back to our resort. A young couple got on with 3 or four small children and the bus was full. Before I even had a chance to get up all of my girls jumped up and offered them their seats. I was very proud. The people thanked us all and told me that I was raising girls that were beautiful inside and out.