OMG! A Disney Cast Member asked ME to do WHAT?!

OMG! A Disney Cast Member asked ME to do WHAT?!

The BIG Question, to Say Yes or No to a Gust Participation Request

       Ok your watching a show or parade and a Cast Member asks YOU to help out do you say YES or run and hide? Been there done that? I’ll be honest we look for the opportunities to join the fun and often ask (Really we BEG, honest we are shameless when it comes to this.) to be picked.

       Over the years we have been picked to be part of the Laughing Stock show outside and inside the Golden Horseshoe, DUH (Department of Untapped Hilarity. Stage show that was like ‘Whose Line is it Anyway.’ We got so well know by the team they called us Hannah and her posse. They knew all our names and nick names.), Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee, several parades including the Parade of Stars and other things.

       Often one of us has been picked and the others get a good laugh. This helps all of us to remember to just give into the fun and leaves us with long lasting memories. These are a few of the comments that go around our house from the memories. “Hey do you remember the time dad had the funny green rabbit hat on with the pink tutu?” “What about the time dad was the drunk in the Laughing Stock show?” “Hey, let’s play DUH. Remember the time Hannah and daddy got picked as a team?”

       For the 40^th anniversary of Disneyland they came up with The Parade of Stars where 40 guests were picked to dance down the parade route with the characters. This parade ran for several years. At first they gave all the people picked to be in the parade funny animal hats and they allowed you to keep the hats. The hats became a badge of honor as you wear them around the park after the parade and people saw them and knew you were one of the chosen few. This was for the first year or so they had the parade there. Our daughter was too young to dance in the parade so my hubby did it several times so we could get the funny hats. He was often put in the section with the dancing alligators and hippos in a bright pink tutu. After the first year or so they changed from giving away hats to giving away pins that were designed just for guests who had been in the parade.

After a couple of years our daughter was old enough to be in the parade. We got “picked” (truly begged) to be in the parade a couple of times. One day we were at the park with my elderly and disabled folks. My daughter decided the grandparents just had to see us in the parade. She made a bee line for a Cast Member in a blue sky with clouds overalls costume. She knew this was one of the people to talk to about being in the parade. She also knew she could not be in the parade alone so she dragged me along with her. She whispered into the Cast Members ear her request to be in the parade with an added comment I did not hear. The Cast Member looked over to the Handicapped seating area at my folks and called out to me, “Come on mom, you’re in the parade.”

We had done this parade before and loved doing it. We danced along the route with the Baloo and King Louie and a few other characters and waived like crazed loons at my parents as we sashayed past. My dad caught the entire thing on video and thankfully the video has gone missing. At the end of the parade my daughter ran to the Cast Member that was handing out the pins for being in the parade. It was the same person we signed up with to be in the parade. Hannah got her pin and took off running before I could get the funny tutu I had been put into off! I went to get my pin so I could chase after my runaway daughter. (I was not overly concerned because I knew she would have no problems finding her way around the park and was headed to the rest of the family.) When I got to the Cast Member and asked for my pin he said he had given my pin to my daughter as she wanted to give them to her grandparents who could not do the parade. She had told him the only reason she wanted to be in the parade was to make her grandparents smile as we danced past and to get them pins they otherwise would never have. She gave one to each of them. These became my parent’s favorite pins in their collection and were proudly displayed on their hats with special pins.

Every time we are picked to join in the Disney fun it is a magical time. We always end up with Pixie Dusted memories that will last a lifetime and fill our hearts with joy. Will you join the fun the next time you are picked? Remember, the thousands of folks watching don’t know who you are and you will most likely never see them again. So why feel embarrassed? Either way joining or just viewing enjoy the shows.