Last year, while on the Keys To The Kingdom Tour in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, we were told by our guide that Disney employees were ‘empowered’ to make their own decisions, especially where they were in a position to add that something extra to a guest’s visit. Don’t bother asking a superior for permission – just do it! Disney calls these “Magical Moments”
This year we were indeed fortunate enough to experience such empowerment in action – twice!
Our first experience took place in The Magic Kingdom.
Whilst our wives and other members of our party were watching Cinderellabration, two of us decided to forge ahead to get Fastpass tickets for Thunder Mountain. As the park was fairly quiet, and the queue for Splash Mountain was only ten minutes, we decided (having obtained our Thunder Mountain tickets) to have a quick ride on Splash Mountain while we waited for the rest of our party to join us.
Having got our share of water we headed back to the meeting point near the entrance to Thunder Mountain. Suddenly my wife came running towards us telling us to hurry! She then introduced us to a young girl that she and the rest of our party had been chatting to whilst watching the ducklings on the lake. It turned out that the girl, Paula, who was actually a psychology student working at Disney as part of her course, was one of the operations managers on Thunder Mountain and had asked my wife, her friend and my mum if they would like to ride Thunder Mountain as her guests. My wife had explained that I had been to get Fastpasses, but she said – ‘It will be even faster with me!’
So all six of us entered the ride through one of the staff exits and having let one train depart we commandeered the front carriage of the next train. Paula, it seems, enjoyed working at Disney so much that she came in on most of her days off just to ride the various attractions. Indeed she had been coming to Walt Disney World since she was three years old and the thrill has still not worn off! Oh, and we used our Fastpasses later!
So, be prepared to expect the unexpected when you visit Walt Disney World. The Disney cast members are Magic!!
(see The ‘Extra Special’ Disney Magic (Part II) for our second Magical Experience).
This year we were indeed fortunate enough to experience such empowerment in action – twice!
Our first experience took place in The Magic Kingdom.
Whilst our wives and other members of our party were watching Cinderellabration, two of us decided to forge ahead to get Fastpass tickets for Thunder Mountain. As the park was fairly quiet, and the queue for Splash Mountain was only ten minutes, we decided (having obtained our Thunder Mountain tickets) to have a quick ride on Splash Mountain while we waited for the rest of our party to join us.
Having got our share of water we headed back to the meeting point near the entrance to Thunder Mountain. Suddenly my wife came running towards us telling us to hurry! She then introduced us to a young girl that she and the rest of our party had been chatting to whilst watching the ducklings on the lake. It turned out that the girl, Paula, who was actually a psychology student working at Disney as part of her course, was one of the operations managers on Thunder Mountain and had asked my wife, her friend and my mum if they would like to ride Thunder Mountain as her guests. My wife had explained that I had been to get Fastpasses, but she said – ‘It will be even faster with me!’
So all six of us entered the ride through one of the staff exits and having let one train depart we commandeered the front carriage of the next train. Paula, it seems, enjoyed working at Disney so much that she came in on most of her days off just to ride the various attractions. Indeed she had been coming to Walt Disney World since she was three years old and the thrill has still not worn off! Oh, and we used our Fastpasses later!
So, be prepared to expect the unexpected when you visit Walt Disney World. The Disney cast members are Magic!!
(see The ‘Extra Special’ Disney Magic (Part II) for our second Magical Experience).