To the CM's on the board: what is the one "tip" you can give us?

[abarry90]

Where did you get the ID bracelet? I was thinking about doing the bead bracelet thing, but yours sounds better! Thanks!

I CANNOT find the company I bought mine from - I swear it was in Oregon. The only one I can find is this one

(won't let me post the link - so Google: "life-line ID products")

but the bracelet looks the same except that the info is on the top, whereas Jaxon's is on the skin side and his has dinosaurs engraved on the top. I think it is just slightly more than I paid but not bad.

BEWARE of the laser engraved ones. Despite what they say about lasting and not wearing off I tried several and gave up. You have to get the deeper engraved or "stamped" or "pressed" lettering. That is what I had as a kid and mine and Jaxon's remain easy to read years later.

Good luck!

 

[toledo13]

Subbing!!

 

[tpettie]

Great article~

Odd the link posted about MK tips isn't working for me??

the link didn't even show in the quote?? message #375. #404 had the link but it's not working

 

[pakhowe]

try googling hidden gems of disney look for the associated content article#1401945

 

[1stTimeDisneyer]

Nope, that's an African Sausage Tree. (I saw one in Key West and thought it was cool-looking, so when I noticed the plaque on the one at AK, it stood out in my memory).

Thanks for the info.

 

[SKTiger]

Odd the link posted about MK tips isn't working for me??

the link didn't even show in the quote?? message #375. #404 had the link but it's not working

I'm not sure what happened, luckily I had the article bookmarked (along with about 50 million other Disney-related links )

Here it is again so no one has to go back looking for it.

Hidden Gems of the Magic Kingdom

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

bump

 

[amberg@eastlink.ca]

just wanted to reiterate what you guys had said about being nice to your cms. dh and i were there in 2005 and were eating somewhere by potc. we had our food, sat down and a gust of wind came throgh and sent most if not all of my napkins flying. being the person that i am, i ran around cleaning them all up. a dear cm came over and thanked me numerous times for cleaing up after myslef. jsut goes to show how appreciated the little things are.

off topic- when we were in ak that week the disney survey lady came calling. i really didint want to but soemthing said do it. so i started off with our area code- 902- she immediatly jumped up and down and started giving us hugs. she and her hubby live in nova scotia(where were from) for 6 months every year!

it does pay to listen to the cm's! several times ive been on tot with dh and theyve been looking for a party of two and weve jumped about 30 people infront! awesome!!!

weve been yelled at too by snippy park goers for following directions!!! we were getting ready to head up the ramp to catch the monorail and all were yet again going to the rite. the cm directed us to go to the left. we immdiatly were at the front of the very long line and getting yelled at by everyone!!!

 

[exwdwcm]

CP in 96, lol, it's been a while.

CMs are given the ability/authority to make a guest recovery.....i.e. if you drop your ice cream, just go ask for another, they will usually replace it at no cost. They want to make you happy, so if you lose something, break something you just bought, let them know- you might be surprised how they go out of the way to remedy the situation of given the chance. I know i am somewhat shy in person, I don't like to cause a scene if the food is bad or my order is wrong at a restaurant, but let them know and they will try and fix it.

Call CMs by their name------i can tell you, it really meant a lot to me that a guest took 3 seconds to look at my name tag and call me by my name. you might just make the CMs day and spread some magic yourself.

 

[amberg@eastlink.ca]

i have seen this in action and you just reminded me. when we were there in 2004 those slide charm bracelets were really popular. i started mine there. i bought a few cheapies and a few nice expensive ones. well even before the second day hit, my mickey birthstone one the stones fell out. went back to mk the next day they replaced it. of course they fell out again at the airport....the next year i came in, receipt in hand not expecting much and they replaced it yet again for me!!! sadly it fell apart again and i dont think i can go back after 4 yrs and say this broke again! lol

CP in 96, lol, it's been a while.

CMs are given the ability/authority to make a guest recovery.....i.e. if you drop your ice cream, just go ask for another, they will usually replace it at no cost. They want to make you happy, so if you lose something, break something you just bought, let them know- you might be surprised how they go out of the way to remedy the situation of given the chance. I know i am somewhat shy in person, I don't like to cause a scene if the food is bad or my order is wrong at a restaurant, but let them know and they will try and fix it.

Call CMs by their name------i can tell you, it really meant a lot to me that a guest took 3 seconds to look at my name tag and call me by my name. you might just make the CMs day and spread some magic yourself.

 

[rdearth]

Great tips.

One of mine would be to just keep comments, especially rude or snarky comments, to yourself if you see a situation that calls for such things because you probably don't know the whole story of what's going on.

My wife, dd 3, and mom were in line for the back lot tour (or whatever it's called now) and my mom was picked to be in the boat scene, so off she went. While we waited for the water stuff to start, my kid decided to get cranky and throw a fit, a very loud fit. But, since grandma was in the show, we tried to soothe her and wait it out. Finally, we decided to leave even though it separated our party. As we walked out, some nimrod guy started clapping very loudly in my ear and cheering. It took all the Disney Magic and pixie dust in the park for me not to get in his face or worse, but I didn't want to ruin other's good times or cause a scene in front of children.

It still burns me up though...

 

[DoodlesBow]

Love these tips!

 

[hthrbells]

Me too this is GREAT!!!! Thank you so much!!!!

 

[leday]

CP in 96, lol, it's been a while.

CMs are given the ability/authority to make a guest recovery.....i.e. if you drop your ice cream, just go ask for another, they will usually replace it at no cost. They want to make you happy, so if you lose something, break something you just bought, let them know- you might be surprised how they go out of the way to remedy the situation of given the chance.

This reminded me of my own story. My daughter was 3 or 4 at the time, still in a stroller I believe. We had bought her a small size Chip Rescue Ranger plushie and she carried it everywhere. We were in the long line for Peter Pan when someone's kid did something to harass her and make her cry (don't remember what it was) and she somehow dropped it. By the time we realized it, we were farther up in line and it was gone (I think that kid took it but I could never prove it). Anyway, she was so upset that we lost it. We went to Guest Relations and filled out a Lost and Found report, hoping "someone" would turn it in, but nobody did. The CM was very sympathetic and helpful.

About a week later when we got home from our trip, we got a surprise package from Disney World. In it was a LARGE size, brand new still with tags Chip Rescue Ranger.

My daughter just turned 21 last week, and we STILL have that Rescue Ranger sitting proudly on a shelf. She and I are taking a mother-daughter birthday trip to DW for 4 days. We leave next Thursday (June 18). It's STILL her favorite (and mine) place to go in the whole world.

 

[Alesia]

Where did you get the ID bracelet? I was thinking about doing the bead bracelet thing, but yours sounds better! Thanks!

I bought a silicone bracelet with our cell phone numbers on it from shanrene.com

I got 2 for about $7 including shipping.

 

[queenmum2]

Both involving transportation:

1) If you are staying at the Poly...no matter WHAT longhouse you are in...if you are going to EPCOT, WALK to the TTC instead of riding the monorail. The monorail loop takes you all the way around and the last stop before the GCH at the Poly is the TTC. So you go to all the other stops before hitting the TTC. This can add significant travel time. We were in the farthest house from the TTC and still found it better to walk there.

2) A bus driver cleared up all our transportation confusion with this pithy advice. You can get to ANY hotel from ANY theme park. You just can't get to any hotel from any other hotel. Go to a theme park, then catch the bus or whatever transportation to the hotel.

3) Frankly, nobody else - hotel CMs, other bus drivers or guest relation CMs gave us good advice about how to get from one place to another. We got three different answers from three different people on how to get to AKL. Our second morning, we had breakfast at BOMA at 8:30. I seemed to remember that there was no resort-to-resort transporation, but called the front desk just in case. The CM said "oh, yes! Just go to the bus stop and wait for the AKL bus". At the bus stop, we asked the driver of the DHS bus and he said "NO! - you can't get there from here on a bus." Go to the TTC. TTC guy said "No! You have to go to MK and take the bus from there". Which is what we did. THAT bus driver was the one who helped us understand that you have to go to a park, and catch the resort bus from there.

 

[FCDub]

CP in 96, lol, it's been a while.

CMs are given the ability/authority to make a guest recovery.....i.e. if you drop your ice cream, just go ask for another, they will usually replace it at no cost. They want to make you happy, so if you lose something, break something you just bought, let them know- you might be surprised how they go out of the way to remedy the situation of given the chance. I know i am somewhat shy in person, I don't like to cause a scene if the food is bad or my order is wrong at a restaurant, but let them know and they will try and fix it.

I have a big problem with this type of attitude. If I drop my ice cream, it's MY FAULT and I will go buy another one. I don't expect someone to compensate for my clumsiness.

I worked food service for years and can't count the number of people who dropped their food on the ground and expected us to replace it for free. Um... no.

 

[siskaren]

Both involving transportation:

2) A bus driver cleared up all our transportation confusion with this pithy advice. You can get to ANY hotel from ANY theme park. You just can't get to any hotel from any other hotel. Go to a theme park, then catch the bus or whatever transportation to the hotel.

Actually, that's not entirely true. Obviously, you can get to any monorail hotel from any other monorail hotel. And there are also boats that go between Ft Wilderness, Wilderness Lodge and the Contemporary.

3) Frankly, nobody else - hotel CMs, other bus drivers or guest relation CMs gave us good advice about how to get from one place to another. We got three different answers from three different people on how to get to AKL. Our second morning, we had breakfast at BOMA at 8:30. I seemed to remember that there was no resort-to-resort transporation, but called the front desk just in case. The CM said "oh, yes! Just go to the bus stop and wait for the AKL bus". At the bus stop, we asked the driver of the DHS bus and he said "NO! - you can't get there from here on a bus." Go to the TTC. TTC guy said "No! You have to go to MK and take the bus from there". Which is what we did. THAT bus driver was the one who helped us understand that you have to go to a park, and catch the resort bus from there.

For Boma though, it would have been quicker to take the bus to AK and then take the bus to AKL, unless of course you were staying at a monorail resort.

 

[1stTimeDisneyer]

2) A bus driver cleared up all our transportation confusion with this pithy advice. You can get to ANY hotel from ANY theme park. You just can't get to any hotel from any other hotel. Go to a theme park, then catch the bus or whatever transportation to the hotel.

We could not get to the Monorail resorts from Epcot by bus. We had this problem in May when the monorail broke down. But they might have changed that since we where there a few weeks ago.

 

[em-o-so'smom]

Hi! we were at HS in Feb this year and bought our youngest a headband with glitter mickey heads on springs at the muppet gift shop...by the time we walked to the playhouse live stroller parking one of the mickey heads was off and lost DH and I checked the stroller and said oh well maybe we'll get her something else after the show. When we came out of the show there was a new pair on top of our stroller DH's brother was meeting us at the stroller parking and said a CM came up to him and asked if he was with our party(our name was on the stroller) and said she heard we needed these and put them on the stroller. We can't believe that she would have overheard us talking about it and got DD a new one. That was one of the best magical moments at disney! A Big THANK YOU to that thoughtful CM at the playhouse stroller parking in FEB.09!!!! Chris when you gert to this post I love you anfd can't wait for SEPT 09 at WDW!!!!