"Here stand there, I'll take the picture"

WWWD · Post by **WWWD** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 10:54 am

Japanese tourists at DL used to borrow my daughter to have pictures taken with them, and only sometimes with characters in the photo.

Never quite figured THAT one out.

Chaka Peachfuzz · Post by **Chaka Peachfuzz** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:24 pm

ifoundnemo wrote:A-freakin-MEN!

Guests LOVE chatting with CM's. The cool part is, they love when CM's chat with them! It makes them feel special for a few extra minutes- even if it's something as elementary as asking for a restroom, or noticing the hometown on the person's name tag is about 15 minutes from your hometown!

I was at Pirates the other day (on the clock) when a family was seeking simply an autograph from Captain Jack Sparrow. They didn't care about a meet and greet, or all the fuss of a photo, they just wanted a mere signature on a piece of paper- so much that the mother wouldn't have cared if one of us ran backstage and slapped a random autograph on a sheet of paper. The special part was that the boy who wanted the autograph wore a prosthetic leg, and had been a pirate for the previous Halloween (his grandpa constructed a real peg leg out of one of the boy's former prosthetic legs and a crutch). We of course, were amazed with the story of this boy, and his charisma, zest for life, and simply just being there, that we made the attempt. After a few minutes, we found out that we couldn't get the boy an autograph. At that point, we went into service recovery mode, and I escorted the entire party into the backstage entrance to the attraction, gave them a private tour of the ride (from the boat), and shared as much information about the ride that I could with them. They were incredibly grateful for our attempts and efforts. After getting off the ride, we discovered that entertainment managers were working on getting our little pirate an autograph. One of my managers about 5 min later emerged with a scroll that they hand out during the Pirate Tutorial Shows, signed by Captain Sparrow. At the next show, he was handpicked by Captain Sparrow to learn how to sword fight, and actually got to sword fight with Jack. We didn't get to see this (though we would have loved to) and hoped that they enjoyed our dose of magic that we helped set up for them!

When Princess Tiana arrived at the Magic Kingdom, guests would line up at least 30 minutes before her set time- they still do. I sat in line on a couple occasions, just chatting it up with little boys and girls- and ever so often, I would hear the "Is Princess Tiana coming yet?!" I would sit (even though I was off the clock) and get into CM mode, and settle them down, take their minds off the time, and the parents loved it... I would even help families plan out their day! By that time, I would be called out as a CM, and yes, I would admit it... it's amazing how sometimes we feel that we truly are never off the clock when we step foot in those parks.

That is an awesome story and why I love Disney!

Freak · Post by **Freak** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:46 am

WWWD wrote:Japanese tourists at DL used to borrow my daughter to have pictures taken with them, and only sometimes with characters in the photo.

Never quite figured THAT one out.

Japanese/Asian/Whathaveyou tourists have occasionally borrowed me and had their groups pose with me and have photos taken of me with their groups.

Dang randomest thing I've ever encountered. Mr. Incredible is less than 100 feet away, but you're taking pictures with joe schmoe Cast Member? LOL.

Goofyernmost · Post by **Goofyernmost** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 6:11 am

Freak wrote:Japanese/Asian/Whathaveyou tourists have occasionally borrowed me and had their groups pose with me and have photos taken of me with their groups.

Dang randomest thing I've ever encountered. Mr. Incredible is less than 100 feet away, but you're taking pictures with joe schmoe Cast Member? LOL.

If I were a picture taker, which I'm not, I would chose an actual human to have a picture of before a cartoon character. I'd also would choose your autograph because I will never understand why anyone would want a character autograph. I know, it probably just me...but there it is.

I remember a thread years ago where a woman was absolutely in a panic because they had lost their child's autograph book. She called Disney repeatedly to see if they would recreate the autograph book. The child was too young to really have any recollection but she wanted the autographs to be authentic. I wanted to scream...SIGN THE DAMN THING YOURSELF. It would be just as real. Fictional characters do not have actual signatures to my knowledge.

TeamUBR · Post by **TeamUBR** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 8:42 am

Goofyernmost wrote:I remember a thread years ago where a woman was absolutely in a panic because they had lost their child's autograph book.

On our last trip in 08, my son left his autograph book somewhere. My wife and I were like, hey we'll get another one and then you can start over getting new ones. He was ok with this, but did want to go back and look. If I remember he left it on the bench at DHS- Stunt Show. We walked back but didn't find anything. We saw a CM and asked if there was a lost and found. She told us about one near TTC. The book had his name in it otherwise I wouldn't have bothered.

I called the next day and damn the luck, they had it. We drove over and picked it up. My son was thrilled.

j

HappyCamper · Post by **HappyCamper** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 11:05 am

To ifoundnemo: Your story of helping families discover the 'magic' (AKA CMs) is what keeps us returning time and time again, year after year, and is why I now am moving to the area to apply for any opening. Thanks for a heart-warming story filled with care.

Our autograph books are special because we take pictures of the grandchildren with the characters. The characters sign on the right side of the book and we later print the photo and glue it onto the left side of the page. My 14 year old and 12 year old grandkids still cherish those books and related memories.

Thanks to all CMs for what you do.

BRWombat · Post by **BRWombat** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 12:01 pm

Goofyernmost wrote:...I remember a thread years ago where a woman was absolutely in a panic because they had lost their child's autograph book. She called Disney repeatedly to see if they would recreate the autograph book. The child was too young to really have any recollection but she wanted the autographs to be authentic. I wanted to scream...SIGN THE DAMN THING YOURSELF. It would be just as real. Fictional characters do not have actual signatures to my knowledge.

An acquaintance was heading to WDW a few months before our own first family trip, when my boys were 5 and 8. I asked him to get a Walt Disney World postcard and write a message "from Mickey" on it and send it to the boys from Florida, just to build a little anticipation for them.

Instead of one postcard, two envelopes arrived in the mail. Each contained a WDW postcard, with Mickey's unmistakeable scrawl across them: "See you real soon! Mickey." My friend had taken the time to get a postcard for each of my sons and then actually locate/wait to meet Mickey so that the signature would be authentic!

Needless to say, I was not expecting that, and it added so much magic for me that I ended up telling the kids that I'd asked my friend just to write a pretend message from Mickey, but he actually got the real Mickey!

So I guess it makes a difference to some of us (grown) kids. We still have those postcards!

Goofyernmost · Post by **Goofyernmost** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 6:06 pm

BRWombat wrote:An acquaintance was heading to WDW a few months before our own first family trip, when my boys were 5 and 8. I asked him to get a Walt Disney World postcard and write a message "from Mickey" on it and send it to the boys from Florida, just to build a little anticipation for them.

Instead of one postcard, two envelopes arrived in the mail. Each contained a WDW postcard, with Mickey's unmistakeable scrawl across them: "See you real soon! Mickey." My friend had taken the time to get a postcard for each of my sons and then actually locate/wait to meet Mickey so that the signature would be authentic!

Needless to say, I was not expecting that, and it added so much magic for me that I ended up telling the kids that I'd asked my friend just to write a pretend message from Mickey, but he actually got the real Mickey!

So I guess it makes a difference to some of us (grown) kids. We still have those postcards!

I don't doubt you but might I ask...how do you know they did all that. Couldn't they have had a random CM do it or maybe even themselves. No actual Mickey signatures exists so why would it matter where it came from. I know, I'm a wet blanket...but some things lend themselves to willful suspension of disbelief more than others.

Alyssa3467 · Post by **Alyssa3467** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 5:00 pm

Freak wrote:
WWWD wrote:Japanese tourists at DL used to borrow my daughter to have pictures taken with them, and only sometimes with characters in the photo.

Never quite figured THAT one out.
Japanese/Asian/Whathaveyou tourists have occasionally borrowed me and had their groups pose with me and have photos taken of me with their groups.

Dang randomest thing I've ever encountered. Mr. Incredible is less than 100 feet away, but you're taking pictures with joe schmoe Cast Member? LOL.

It's never happened to me. Being Asian might have something to do with it. :D:

DisneyMom · Post by **DisneyMom** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:13 pm

Must've been more than 25 years ago.....Me,My Boyfriend, and two other couples all bought Classic Mickey Sweatshirts in Baby Blue,put them on,and climbed up on the Fire Engine @Disneyland.....looked up and about 20 Japanese Tourists were all snapping our picture! Guess they thought we were Mouseketeers! :p:

Stupid Guest Tricks

"Here stand there, I'll take the picture"

Re: "Here stand there, I'll take the picture"

Re: "Here stand there, I'll take the picture"

Re: "Here stand there, I'll take the picture"

Re: "Here stand there, I'll take the picture"

Re: "Here stand there, I'll take the picture"

Re: "Here stand there, I'll take the picture"

Re: "Here stand there, I'll take the picture"

Re: "Here stand there, I'll take the picture"

Re: "Here stand there, I'll take the picture"

Re: "Here stand there, I'll take the picture"