Stupid Guest Tricks

Here is a quick, random SG monorail memory that St. March said I should post. I don't know if I posted it after our trip originally forgive me if I'm repeating the story.

Trip before last (September 07) we were on our way to the MK on a monorail with little time to spare before the fireworks (we decided to go back into the park at the last minute from the Poly where we were staying).

We were at the Grand holding...and holding...and holding...we didn't know why.

The monorail was packed. Being seated in my wheelchair I was eye level with people in the seats, with people also standing around us crowding me in (ah, it's such a great vantage point, that. Not.)

People in the car started murmuring, wondering what the hold up was. The doors of the monorail were open, but they weren't loading anyone more into the train so people wanted to know why we didn't just go, already.

There was a trio of three tourists from...out of town (where exactly matters not) and they were debating animatedly in a language I don't speak.

So a lady next to me I'd been chatting with on the way over from the Poly wonders aloud to me why the train isn't moving and I said something like, 'there must be another on the tracks too close ahead so we have to hold here for clearance to go toward the the MK station.'

The three tourists look at each other, then at me, and one says to me in perfect English; "Is there another way to get to the park?"

Not knowing how long we'd be there, I said "Yes, there is. You can catch a boat from this hotel, but it's a long way from here to the dock. You're better off to just wait it out here, trust me. We'll be on our way soon."

They looked at each other, made a few remarks to each other in their own language and gave me some looks that translate into any language as insulting, and laughed. If I remember right one of them may even have been speaking in a higher pitched tone as he joked, further insulting me on the basis of my gender.

I just smiled.

"Where is the dock?" the tourist asks.

"Just go in through those doors," I gestured toward the resort lobby doors, "Down the staircase to the first floor. Go straight past the cafe, out the back exit, and then continue walking straight through the grounds as far back as you can go. You'll get all the way to Narcoossees before you get to the dock though...I'd really suggest that you..."

Again, they looked at me as if I had no clue what I was talking about and, muttering, they bolted from the monorail taking off toward the doors of the lobby.

AS SOON AS they hopped off the train and ran to the doors to the lobby, we heard this.

"Please stand clear of the doors."

I looked up, and saw the monorail doors closing and then we started to move.

Everyone in the car, the whole car through, burst into laughter.

They had apparently been watching the exchange more closely than I thought and found it hilarious that those who had been so unwilling to listen to the answer after asking a question were now going to miss the fireworks because they'd never make it to the ferry and to the MK in time.

"Well," I said softly, smiling again. "I tried to tell 'em."

Again, everyone just laughed...

bru

Wait, I can relate to that. While people watching in Frontierland I came across some clueless maga stupid guests. I had to share this with my sister on the phone last night and caused her to laugh off the couch.

SG: Is Dumbo in New Orleans?
CM: No, it is in Fantasyland.
SG: That can't be right. From the looks of the map, it says it is in New Orleans square.

SG: Does the Disneyland RR drop me off at TSI?
CM: No, but if you take the rafts over, it will be faster.
SG: That's too far, I will take the train instead.

SG: Is Big Thunder RR a boat ride on the Rivers of America?
CM: No, it is a fast moving roller coaster and it does not float well in flooded waters.

Last time CBeilby and I rode the Monorail at Disneyland, we were thinking of Randy... Next time I play in the park I will ride on a monorail in memory of those that were in the accident at WDW :(

Please, keep these stories coming. They are a comfort to me, and will be to the other Pilots.

Thank you so much.

I am printing these out, and for the first time ever, StupidGuestTricks.com paperwork will be shown on a Disney bulletin board, backstage. I am sorry I will not be able to get a picture to show you all.

The man wants more stories, he'll get more stories.

I warn you Wallaby, I have 38 years worth saved up...

The Magic Button

I swore I was going to try to tell these stories in order. But I find my mind is skipping back and forth over the years, and I promised to tell this one a long time ago. So here you go.

This is the story of the first Christmas I ever celebrated and the one of a kind gift I got from the Monorail Department that they didn't even realize they gave to me.

This takes place back when March and I had only been married six months. (1999) Before my stroke (at age 29) back when I still had some measure of health left. I still needed even then to use the chair in the parks, but I hadn't yet acquired the forearm crutch for walking.

My dad decided, on the spur of the moment pretty much, that he'd like to take his only grandchild to Disney World. Have you ever heard of such a thing?

So, being part and parcel with said princess, my husband and I were invited along.

It was just a few days before Christmas, but we managed to get a cancellation at the Contemporary so we were thrilled.

I was even more so thrilled because my daughter was turning four that week and we'd be there for her birthday- which I had never celebrated before and for Christmas, which I was celebrating the first time in my life that year.

That's right, I had never celebrated Christmas (my father still doesn't religiously prohibited) and so all the years I was growing up and going to WDW around the holidays, we avoided anything to do with them and were really even discouraged from looking at the decorations if you can believe that. This time, it was going to be different for me.

We arrived at the Contemporary with plans to stay in my beloved North Wing (don't get me started) and we went up to the counter where a wonderful CM was working(who shall remain nameless but I do remember his name, believe me)

My daughter was pointing at all the lights and was so excited.

She begged to see. I put her on my hip and she was up to the counter and she waved to the CM and said "Hello!" with a big smile.

He said "Well hello there" and laughed. She pointed to his Playhouse Disney button (the show was brand new) and said "Mama, Bear in'na Big Blue House! Take you there?" ('take you there' was how she asked to go places. She would also say "Take you onna On'a'rail to App'icot? Please???")

Front Desk CM laughed and said "How old are you?" And I said "Tell him, _____" and she responded very proudly, "I gonna be four inna couple a days!"

He looked at me and said "Really? Its her birthday?" and I said "Yes, on Christmas day."

He just melted.

He looked at his screen and punched a few things and then said. "Well, look at that. Look what just happened. Looks like your room is ready. It's on the ninth floor."

I looked at him in confusion, obviously knowing that the wings did NOT have nine floors.

"No way." I said. "There has to be a mistake we're in the wing."

"No mistake. Magic maybe." He grinned. "Enjoy your trip, and have a good Birthday okay ____?" he said to my daughter, who didn't even realize yet what had happened. She said thank you and we went on our way, stunned, keys in hand.

I didn't even realize the extent of the 'magic' until we got up to the ninth floor and realized we now had five nights during Christmas week in a Magic Kingdom view tower room.

I cried. I really, really cried.

We stood there, looking out at the ginormous Christmas tree and the monorails coming and going and just cried. I couldn't believe it. The view was so spectacular I hardly wanted to leave the room.

So fast forward a few nights. It's late, and everything at the resort is quiet. I'm taking in every light, every wreath, every bit of tinsel like a child, because after all it was my first real Christmas.

Happy little girl, grandpa and a grown up aunt who tagged along are all asleep in their respective beds.

DH and I, still newlyweds at the time, decided to sneak out to the game room for a little while, just the two of us. We stayed awhile, but then I wanted to take a walk and explore the convention center, which I'd never seen really. So we did.

We wandered, and in the distant emptiness I saw a beautiful grand piano.

There was no one there to bother, so I softly played a little Disney medley, When you Wish upon a Star, A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, a few other things.

March and I were married in Kissimmee you see, at the little victorian chapel I hear is gone now- and had our luncheon at the Grand Cafe and then we took our guests (there weren't many but we strove for quality not quantity *lol*) to the Magic Kingdom for the day. We figured since everybody was in different states why meet up here when we could meet up at WDW?

We finished our wedding day with dinner at the Castle and Fantasy in the Sky.

So you could say that Monorails were my Cinderella's Carriage on the wedding day of my dreams-- they were. Another memory, right there, that made the little girl inside of me very happy.

So six months later we're in the convention center- and I get up from the piano.

There is music being piped in overhead, and Karen Carpenter singing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas comes on.

Now all those years working in retail, and I learned the words to the Christmas songs that I wasn't supposed to know how to sing. So in the deserted convention center, it had to be two in the morning, March and I danced and in honor of my very first Christmas, I sang to him.

As we were finishing our dance, a lone soul walks through the convention center.

It was a Monorail Pilot.

He looked very weary. But when he saw us dancing and caught me singing, he smiled. I gave him a little embarrassed shrug and he smiled even bigger. Then he was gone.

After the song was over, we figured we'd better head up to the room in case my daughter woke up and asked my dad where we'd gone (we'd left a note).

Just as we were going to go, March said "What's that?" and he saw something glimmering on the floor. He found, upon inspection, that it was a beautiful Disney D button.

It had fallen off of the jacket that the Monorail Pilot had slung over his arm.

Now, I should mention that I've always been crazy for sewing buttons, going back to the time when my grandmother had a huge tin of them I loved to look through as a child. So for me, this was truly like finding treasure.

We looked down the hall to try to find him to give it back, but it was too late, he was gone. And so March tucked the button into my hand, and I still have it. I keep it with my special jewelry.

No one in the world would probably believe that one button off a CM's clothing could mean so much to a grown woman.

But it does. It's a memory of a time and a place, so sweet, which will never come again.

Like all of my monorail memories, it is a snapshot in time overlapped with so many emotions, sights and sounds and scents that you can't get anywhere else but Walt Disney World.

One of the hardest parts about going blind as I have in the past year was the nights I would sit and cry, thinking I might never get to see a monorail gliding down the tracks on the resort loop again.

But after two surgeries, three months of recovery and rehabilitation and glasses and exterior lenses that should be used by NASA for the Hubble (and maybe were at some point), with one eye, I can see. Hopefully with surgery on the right eye pretty soon I'll get some use of that back too.

Guys, I can see. takes a lot of equipment to do it without which I am still technically legally blind the moment I take it off, which is scary. But I'll manage. I'll get by, and I will see monorails again.

The last time I left WDW last year- I thought I might be seeing them for the very last time.

And when I do see them again, I will see Monorail Pilots.

And you will see a smile on my face, like you won't believe.

Oh and one more thing. The CM that gave us the magical room upgrade? We had thanked him again every single time we saw him throughout our stay.

He showed up at our door Christmas morning, with a stuffed Mickey, balloons, and an autograph book for my very surprised, and very grateful, four year old daughter. He did that just out of the goodness of his heart and I'm sure out of his own pocket too.

That's magic.

love,
Bru

Three here, but not from that long ago...

- The best one was my first ride, in 2003, and I was so enchanted by the monorail heading into the Epcot station that I bought a souvenir monorail, the red one. Two years later, I ended up getting the Contemporary Resort to go with it. Still got 'em both.

- Simply anytime I'm in the Epcot car-park, I'll see the monorail overhead. Seeing that brings back all sorts of memories.

- My English exam this year. I wrote about the journey to Epcot, and mentioned the monorail passing overhead and all that jazz.

I wander over to the World about three times a year. Usually Christmas, my birthday in January and a few random times through out the year. We generally stay at a non-monorail resort, most times Coronado Springs and Port Orleans French Quarter. However, each trip I make, I ALWAYS try to ride the monorail.

I love the ride. I'd prefer to ride up front every time if I could, but I tend to only ask if there's no kids wanting a ride. I always get a window seat. I love standing in Epcot, near the Imagination Pavilion, just watching the monorails go back and forth. It's even better when I'm on the monorail riding through Epcot (my favorite park), looking down at the people and attractions and waving through the window at them.

My favorite monorail memory: It was the 25th anniversary of Epcot, October 1st 2007. It was pouring, and I mean pouring. My husband and I went as a last minute trip, and were making a quite successful attempt to visit all 4 parks on one day. Epcot was the last. At one point, we just said "screw it," and minus poncho or umbrella, walked through the park soaking wet. Right as we were about to leave the park, we bought something to sit on, so we wouldn't get the monorail seat wet as we went back to the TTC. My husband and I snuggled together on the seat on the long trip back, giggling like kids at our situation as two Japanese tourists stared at us quite confused.

When I think of Walt Disney World I see the monorails. Not the Castle, not Spaceship Earth..the monorails. I remember seeing the topairies from the windows when I was a child. I still feel like that excited kid everytime I get on the monorail.
To me the monorails ARE Walt Disney World. They hold a very special place in my heart.
I remember being so excited when I got to meet and talk to BW. I still can't believe that I actually "know" a monorail pilot!
I manage a KFC and on my last trip to Walt Disney World I made it a point to trade all my pins for every monorail pin I could find. When I returned home I gave them out to all my team. We wear them on our hats everyday.

February wrote:My daughter was pointing at all the lights and was so excited.

She begged to see. I put her on my hip and she was up to the counter and she waved to the CM and said "Hello!" with a big smile.

He said "Well hello there" and laughed.

Front Desk CM laughed and said "How old are you?" And I said "Tell him, _____" and she responded very proudly, "I gonna be four inna couple a days!"

He looked at me and said "Really? Its her birthday?" and I said "Yes, on Christmas day."

He just melted.

He looked at his screen and punched a few things and then said. "Well, look at that. Look what just happened. Looks like your room is ready. It's on the ninth floor."

"No way." I said. "There has to be a mistake we're in the wing."

"No mistake. Magic maybe."

Yeah, we don't get many chances to make magic at the Front Desk, mostly it's resolving problems. But when we *do* get a magical opportunity, stand back!