Cast Member describes first day of ‘Disney Dreams’ Giveaway

The official contest hasn’t started yet, but Disney Cast Members are starting to give out the ‘Disney Dreams’, the new version of Magical Moments, to guests throughout the park. Nearly every food and attraction location will be handing out these non-contest prizes around 1 per hour. Disneysaint, a Walt Disney World College Program participant, writes in his livejournal what it was like to hand out the very first such ‘dream’ at Soarin’ in Epcot:

At Soarin’, the dream is "flying first class." Translation: Front and center on the very next flight. I wanted to select carefully and not rush – finding the perfect opportunity. I entered the rotunda feeling as special as ever that I was the first to do this. I spent some time walking around, following some families to gauge how many kids were in it, their happiness level, and so on. As I’m doing this, I hear a small child say "But mommy, why can’t we ride?" She replied, "Sweetie, the wait time is an hour right now and our Fastpasses don’t work for another 2 hours." The little kids (there were 2 of them, and the solo mom) starting tearing up and crying and the mother was in obvious stress. They were basically calling out to me and there was a big arrow over their heads. I went right up to them, knelt down, and said, "How would you guys like to fly RIGHT NOW?" I honestly have never seen kids so happy before. I escorted them to the back, sat them, and then did the pre-written announcement over the P.A. Afterwards they get a certificate which says something to the nature of "This event was a certified magic moment and throughout the years you will always remember this moment."

This is exactly the sort of stuff I love to see Disney, and its castmembers, doing. It’s just too bad there isn’t some sort of base level prize (button, sticker, certificate, poster) available to every guest who visits that day. All guests should be able to feel a part of the ‘Year of a Million Dreams.’

The official contest and prize giveaway starts October 1st. Yours truly will be there keeping an eye out for the Dream Squad.