Magic Moments
My life for the past 6 months has been nothing but Disney. When I'm not at work, then I'm at the parks. When I'm free to spend my 3 days off doing whatever I want, I choose to work at the Sounds like Summer concert series. My life has been non-stop action day in and day out and one of the main things my job requires me to do is make magic.
Sound cliche? I know. But we have something at work called Magical Moments where you take time out of your busy day, it can be 10 minutes or only a few seconds, but the goal is to make someone's day a little better, a little brighter, and a lot more magical. It can be anything from giving a child a Mickey sticker to having an entire attraction sing happy birthday to someone. It sounds silly, but seeing these strangers light up with smiles makes my job worth all the negativity that comes with it.
The part that really gets to me though is when our guests make magical moments for me without knowing it.
My two most recent examples are these:
One day when I was working at the Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute concert I looked across the promenade (the main pathway all around the World Showcase) and what I saw made my heart melt. There, right in front of the American Adventure was a man and his wife slow dancing to Tuesday's Gone. One second they were chatting about everyday things and then as soon as the song started up he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in to a tight embrace, cheek to cheek and they danced as if no one else existed but them. One might call me creepy, but I couldn't stop watching this older couple who were so in love with each other. He would kiss her on the forehead, or she would look at him and smile. Either way I was going "AAAAAAAWE" in my head the whole time and thinking to myself that this is what true love really looks like. How after so many years, two people could still be so in love with each other. It made my day.
My other magical moment happened only a few days ago and it was the most amazing memory I've had at Disney thus far. As I was greeting guests into our attraction I heard this small boy repeat over and over again "Star Wars Train! Star Wars Train!" My fellow cast mate and I looked at each other puzzled as to why the child kept saying that. We've had many guests think the entrance to our movie was a train station (how that is I don't know) but the fact that he kept saying Star Wars was what really confused us.
A few seconds later rotation was brought which meant I had to walk over the the Kidcot station to take up that position instead. As I was walking into the theatre behind the guests I could hear the little boy who was still repeating "Star Wars train! Star Wars train!" I jokingly made a comment saying "Star Wars is at Hollywood Studios buddy! This is our movie about Canada!" His dad then informed me that he had promised the boy that they would take the train to go ride Star Tours after they had finished visiting all the countries; and that Canada was their last country.
So I went over to the boy and knelt down so that I could be at his level when talking to him. I said "Hey! I hear you're really excited to be going to Star Wars! That's awesome because it's one of my favourite rides!" He smiled at me and when he saw that I had got down on my knee to talk to him he did the cutest thing ever and got on his knees to talk to me too. It was like our own secret conversation that no one could hear.
I then pointed to his Duffy bear (a colouring activity done at Kidcot) and told him how much I liked it and how proud I was that he had made it to all the countries! He waved it excitedly and thanked me but then mentioned that his Duffy was falling off the stick a bit. So of course I couldn't let that happen and I said "Well here's the deal, once you're done watching this movie I'm going to be sitting right outside at the table and when you come see me, I'm going to have a mickey sticker with your name on it to fix your Duffy up!"
Without hesitation the boy lept forward and gave me the biggest hug and screamed out thank you! At first I was shocked because the hug was completely unexpected but that soon faded because nothing is better than a hug from a child. I never in a million years would have thought that something as simple as using a sticker as tape could warrant such a response, but to this little boy it was if I saved his Duffy's life.
And while that sticker might have made his day, the hug he gave me will stay with me forever.
That ladies and gents is why no matter how many times I have to deal with a rude, angry, not funny or ignorant guest, I will never hate my job, because it's moments like these that make it all worthwhile.
♥ Megan
Sound cliche? I know. But we have something at work called Magical Moments where you take time out of your busy day, it can be 10 minutes or only a few seconds, but the goal is to make someone's day a little better, a little brighter, and a lot more magical. It can be anything from giving a child a Mickey sticker to having an entire attraction sing happy birthday to someone. It sounds silly, but seeing these strangers light up with smiles makes my job worth all the negativity that comes with it.
The part that really gets to me though is when our guests make magical moments for me without knowing it.
My two most recent examples are these:
One day when I was working at the Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute concert I looked across the promenade (the main pathway all around the World Showcase) and what I saw made my heart melt. There, right in front of the American Adventure was a man and his wife slow dancing to Tuesday's Gone. One second they were chatting about everyday things and then as soon as the song started up he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in to a tight embrace, cheek to cheek and they danced as if no one else existed but them. One might call me creepy, but I couldn't stop watching this older couple who were so in love with each other. He would kiss her on the forehead, or she would look at him and smile. Either way I was going "AAAAAAAWE" in my head the whole time and thinking to myself that this is what true love really looks like. How after so many years, two people could still be so in love with each other. It made my day.
My other magical moment happened only a few days ago and it was the most amazing memory I've had at Disney thus far. As I was greeting guests into our attraction I heard this small boy repeat over and over again "Star Wars Train! Star Wars Train!" My fellow cast mate and I looked at each other puzzled as to why the child kept saying that. We've had many guests think the entrance to our movie was a train station (how that is I don't know) but the fact that he kept saying Star Wars was what really confused us.
A few seconds later rotation was brought which meant I had to walk over the the Kidcot station to take up that position instead. As I was walking into the theatre behind the guests I could hear the little boy who was still repeating "Star Wars train! Star Wars train!" I jokingly made a comment saying "Star Wars is at Hollywood Studios buddy! This is our movie about Canada!" His dad then informed me that he had promised the boy that they would take the train to go ride Star Tours after they had finished visiting all the countries; and that Canada was their last country.
So I went over to the boy and knelt down so that I could be at his level when talking to him. I said "Hey! I hear you're really excited to be going to Star Wars! That's awesome because it's one of my favourite rides!" He smiled at me and when he saw that I had got down on my knee to talk to him he did the cutest thing ever and got on his knees to talk to me too. It was like our own secret conversation that no one could hear.
I then pointed to his Duffy bear (a colouring activity done at Kidcot) and told him how much I liked it and how proud I was that he had made it to all the countries! He waved it excitedly and thanked me but then mentioned that his Duffy was falling off the stick a bit. So of course I couldn't let that happen and I said "Well here's the deal, once you're done watching this movie I'm going to be sitting right outside at the table and when you come see me, I'm going to have a mickey sticker with your name on it to fix your Duffy up!"
Without hesitation the boy lept forward and gave me the biggest hug and screamed out thank you! At first I was shocked because the hug was completely unexpected but that soon faded because nothing is better than a hug from a child. I never in a million years would have thought that something as simple as using a sticker as tape could warrant such a response, but to this little boy it was if I saved his Duffy's life.
And while that sticker might have made his day, the hug he gave me will stay with me forever.
That ladies and gents is why no matter how many times I have to deal with a rude, angry, not funny or ignorant guest, I will never hate my job, because it's moments like these that make it all worthwhile.
♥ Megan
