Dear Disney, Matthew ROCKS!!!

Customer Service.  Seems like such an easy concept right?  Since moving back from Korea, I've noticed which businesses take it seriously and which ones just have it as a feel-good motto.  But then  you have those experiences that epitomize what service is.  And last week, we were honored to have one. 

Meet Matthew.  Matthew made our trip to the most magical place on Earth an out of this world experience! 

 

So, as I alluded in my post about our trip to Disney, this deserves its own post.  I hope you agree. 

 

First, a little backstory:

 

Anyone who has spent time with Holly knows of her obsession with cats.  She LOVES them.  When she was 15 months old, we were at Disney store and she tried stuffing as many Marie stuffed animals as she could into our stroller so we could apparently take them home.  I missed putting one up so it came home with us.  That was 2005....  Marie (or Cleo as Holly calls her) has been a constant friend for Holly.  As time has passed, Cleo doesn't make it into as many pictures as she used to, but she has been all over the world with us. 

 

 

 

 

 

So, for a kid who has LOVED Marie all of her life, you can just imagine what it would mean to meet her in real life. 



 

Last Thursday, we searched in vain for Marie at all the parks we visited.  We were told she was at Epcot, so we searched at Epcot for her.  No luck!  I visited Guest Services at Epcot to get the scoop and they told me that she was at the flagpole in the Magic Kingdom.  We hustled over there and no dice -- she was no where to be seen.  Instead of running around the park looking, I had the foresight to visit Guest Services.  That's where we met Matthew. 

 

Poor Matthew had the unfortunate job of telling us that Marie had "been called to dinner and a bath by Duchess" but that she would be back out to play tomorrow.  When Holly heard, her little face just broke.  You see, we knew that this was our last day in the park.  She put a good face on and said okay, thank you and went to sit quietly on the bench.  Matthew looked at me and said, oh no, what? 

 

So I explained.  I told him about how much Holly LOVES Marie.  I told him that we had visited the Magic Kingdom numerous times and never knew she was out visiting.  Then I told him that this was our last day in the park for this trip.  He looked at Holly and just knew her heart was breaking.  He asked if we lived in the local area, to which I told him we were in from Washington state.  He noticed I had a button on for my graduation and asked about that.  I told him about my graduation ceremony the next day.  He asked who all was coming, and I explained my family is coming but my husband won't as he is deployed.  He took a long hard look at us, and looked at Holly over there trying to be brave and trying not to cry.  He quietly took my hand and said, okay, give me just a few minutes and disappeared into the back.  When he came back out, nearly skipping he said he was going to work some magic for us but that it would take a while, about 30 mins or so but to come back and see him. He took my name and address and sent us out to Main street.   

 

We watched flag retreat and did a little shopping in the Emporium.  When we walked back in to Guest Services 30 minutes later, Matthew was working on a computer and waved me right over.  Just in time he said with a big smile on his face.  He asked how many folks were coming to my graduation and our pertinent information.  Then he called the girls up for the Magic:

 

He had arranged for us to have one more day in the Magic Kingdom!!!  Complete with a "front of line" pass for Marie.  He had even given us two more tickets for my parents to join us.  I teared up immediately.  I don't think he knew what he had done for my sweet Holly... and I couldn't get around to him quick enough to hug the life out of him.  He made me promise to come back in the next day to show him the pictures with Marie and of my graduation.   Then off we went to Epcot, with a little more pep in our step. 

 

On Saturday, we were on a time crunch.  Matthew told me that Marie is only out until 2 pm, but would go in if there was significant rain.  We had a nice lunch and then ran for the park.  As soon as we got through the gates, we went straight for the flag pole. 

 

And there she was!  In all her white, fluffy gloriousness!!!!!   Holly could barely contain her excitement as we walked straight to the front of the line to meet her. 

 

Then we stopped by Guest Services to see Matthew.  He said hey, meet me outside.  I said okay....   And then this happened: 

 

He lined us all up....  And then announced to everyone passing by that my name was Chris.  and I had just graduated from college.   It was a party -- complete with cheers from random strangers and Mickey shaped confetti.  He had made buttons for all of us saying I had graduated (the girls' read my mom just graduated, my parents' read my daughter just graduated). He then gave us three fast passes to ride the heck out of the rides! 

 

"Okay, some here girls, you stand here, you stand there"

 

"Excuse me, everyone.  Could you stop just a moment for us?  Chris just graduated from Grad school!!!"  YAY!!!!!!!!

 

 

As he hugged me, he whispered that he knew it wouldn't replace having my husband there but that he hoped it would give us the push we need to get through to August. 

 

 

Oh, Matthew!!!  Thank you does not seem like a big enough word for how you touched our hearts.  My family just loves what you did for us that day.  I don't know if you realize how big of a gift you gave us.  Even a week later, as I'm writing this, I'm tearing up thinking about it.  Thank you for working that day!  Thank you for recognizing we needed a little bit of extra magic!  Thank you for putting your heart into making our trip one of the best ones to date!!!   Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

 

"Chris, you've just finished your Masters degree, what are you going to do next?"

"We're going to Disney World!"

 

 

 

And that (plus the other story that will be posted in a bit) was how we wound up in Orlando yet again this year. 

 

Yes, Disney World. Twice in one year.  But we had some days left on the passes we bought back in February and is there any better place on Earth to celebrate?  Especially when you have two little girls who miss their daddy something fierce and WDW is smack dab in your home state? 

 

We took off for Florida last Wednesday for a five day trip.  When we landed and got settled in our hotel, though tired, we put the jet lag to good use!  The girls and I headed for Downtown Disney and to one of their handpicked activities - Disney Quest!!!

 

 Holly was tall enough to ride Cyber Space Mountain, so off she went to design her own roller coaster.  Sarah sat on the sidelines and a Cast Member kept a good eye on her while I rode with Holly (seriously, how good is Disney?).  We then spent some time running around.  We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.  No lines, no waiting to play games, and a whole BUNCH of fun!  We stayed and played until they kicked us out at closing time. 

Early Thursday morning, we headed for the Magic Kingdom.  It was POURING down rain because of a tropical depression that had popped up -- yes, Holly's in town so there has to be some sort of tropical disturbance. But, with coffee in hand and ponchos on, we made our way through the park.  And straight for Space Mountain! 

Now, Sarah has a love hate relationship with Space Mountain.  But we had such a great time on Big Thunder Mountain railroad in February that she wanted to give it another try.  And she went "Weeeeeeeee" the whole way!!!!  As soon as we got off, she wanted to go again-Again-AGAIN!  Oh, my heart was so glad -- we are a roller coaster family now! 

After we had our third ride on the roller coaster, I dragged the girls to the new Fantasyland so we could get to Belle's Enchanted Tales.  What a great attraction!  Perfect for kids who love to reenact their favorite stories.  And guess who got to be IN the show?  That would be me...  Somehow my volunteering my girls grabbed Belle's attention, who pulled me up there to be a dish for the Be Our Guest number.  Too funny!  We spent the rest of the morning bumming around the Magic Kingdom and hitting the highlights.

Once we grabbed lunch, we headed for Hollywood Studios to ride the Tower of Terror. While we were in line it absolutely POURED down rain.  If you've ever been in Florida in the summer, you know the kind of rain I'm talking about.  I seriously was standing in puddles that reached my ankles.  I could only be thankful that the girls listened to me and wore their Crocs.  Once off the ride, my sister called and said they were there!!!   We met up with them and went to Star Tours and the Beauty and the Beast show.  Then it was time for cousin camp with Auntie.  We headed back to the hotel and swam in the Mickey pool, got some ice cream, and watched a movie.   

Again, early the next morning, we got up and headed for Epcot!  If I've learned anything, it's to get up and go so you can get Fast Passes for your favorite attractions.  This time we were going for Soarin' and Test Track.  But the girls were so good getting up and out of the room -- of course, the promise of doughnuts may have had something to do with it. 

 

 

We got to ride the two big rides at Epcot and got out of there before lunch to meet up with Erica and Laurelei at Animal Kingdom.  We also got the call that Grammy and Papa had finally made it to Orlando -- we made plans to meet up with them at Epcot for dinner.  We spent the rest of the afternoon at Animal Kingdom and watched the Finding Nemo stage show.  Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye to the girls and Erica. 

 

Before we headed to Epcot for the night, we stopped in at the Magic Kingdom.  Word on the street was that Marie from Aristocats had been hanging out there.  Unfortunately, we missed her for the day.  But the outcome, well that's also another story.... 

 

The girls and I cleaned up and headed to Epcot for our evening with the Olivers.  We had a lovely dinner at the Seasons -- if you've never eaten there, it's a real treat!  They use fresh vegetables that are grown in the garden out back.  Then we strolled around until the fireworks.  It was just a real nice night altogether. 

 

Saturday morning was my graduation and a nice lunch with my parents and the Olivers. But we had to hustle to get to the park.  We had one more park pass to use and had a date with destiny!!!! 

 

 

Yes, that is Marie!!!  We got one more day so we could see her.  The back story on this is coming soon..... It is so good that it deserves its own post.   

 

After we all loved on Marie, talked with our friend, Matthew, we headed to ride some rides as a last hurrah.  We got my parents on Space Mountain with us a few times, rode the teacups, and generally just had a great time.  And that's even with the torrential downpours (and tornado warnings) that the tropical storm brought.  Before we knew it, it was time to head back to our hotel and get packed up to go home. 

 

 

 

 

 



Magical Moments

Oh, Disney...  Do you even know how you make the world a little more bright?  

A few months back, I registered to run the Princess Half Marathon, figuring that a trip to Florida would be right up our ally about 3 months in to Ronnie's deployment.  It's also been a year since my brother-in-law passed, so visiting Grammy and Papa would be a welcome diversion for them as well.

We left the PNW for sunny Florida last week.  When we landed, my best partner in crime, Kim, greeted us at the airport and shuttled us to her house for the night.  We spent all day Friday with Kim and her littlest, Ashley.  The girls had so much fun playing with their new friend, while I had a much needed catch up session with Kim.  We wound up at Downtown Disney after we checked into our hotel so we could play and get some supper.  Eventually, Erica and my nieces and Darren, Kim's hubby, and Sydney joined us for some pizza and playtime.  Can I just say it was so nice to eat outdoors and it not be cold and rainy out.  Eventually we said our goodbyes and the girls and I headed back to our hotel. 

Hey, how'd they get a mini-me in there?

Bright and early Saturday morning, Grammy and Papa arrived!  I gave them instructions to not knock on our door until 9 am -- being that it would be 6 am in our West coast brains.  Once they got in and the girls properly greeted Papa, we headed over to the Expo to pick up my stuff.  Soon, I got a text from some friends of mine that were in town for the race too.  And lucky for me, we all met up at the Expo!!!  And yay for Grammy and Papa being in town, I got to go to lunch with them :)  While I was at lunch, my mom made it to town.  It was an early night for me because Sunday was going to be an early morning. 

Sunday was spent running and celebrating!!!  I did a post about that... 

Monday morning we got up bright and early and headed to the Magic Kingdom.  My sister, brother in law, and my two oldest nieces joined us for the day. 

We had a great time bumming around the park and showing Grammy and Papa all the fun to be had with little girls at the Magic Kingdom. We went on rides.  Sarah even decided to give Space Mountain another try -- it's a hesitant good and she didn't cry this time. That's progress, right?

Early in the afternoon, we headed back to our hotel for some rest and pool time. After dinner, we headed back to the park for fireworks.  This time we took the ferry over.  Our lollygagging cost us a good spot for fireworks, but it was so pretty. 

Rather than closing the park down, we went back to the room to relax for the next day.  And I had some writing to do for my Thesis.  Yes, have Master's program, will travel... 

Tuesday brought some rain but more fun.  We started our day hanging out with the princesses and fairies.  And my FAVORITE fairy was out. Seriously, how cool is Vidia?!?

We dodged more thunderstorms by hanging out at the Tiki Room and Pirates.  

Eventually, we just needed to go for it and ride some rides.  After all, Sarah thought she maybe might wanted to ride another roller coaster and Big Thunder Mountain was up and running!  I think she had a good time...  what do you think?

 

We spent the rest of our day riding more rides...  but eventually it was time to leave.  And say goodbye to Grammy and Papa and get packing for our trip home.