[MommytoMJM]

Very long and not nearly complete...oh and ppl tell me theny need a tissue warning so here it is....

Tissue Warning!

Tarzan Rocks! CM's 4-23, 5-8 and 5-20-05 (update Memorial Day Weekend)

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We went to AK a couple weeks ago. For all of the flak it takes, Tarzan Rocks is our favorite show. MJ LOVES the movie and her "adoption song" is "You'll Be In My Heart" so I of course, spend every show in tears.... First of all we were seated in Disabled seating right up front, we got to sit next to an awesome off duty castmember who was great to MJ, right off the bat several of the performer's recognized her and waved to her from the stage (and the waterworks begin) So we get throught the show and the magic begins....

To understand this magical moment, you need to know that MJ has been scared to death of the characters since we got our passes....

Turk comes out on stage, MJ claps (characters on stage or from a distance are ok) doe her thing and then jumps off of the stage RIGHT in front of MJ's Wheelchair! I just sort of shake my head internally and think, this is going to be bad....untill I turn to MJ and she is reaching her arms out to Turk who promptly envelops her in a hug and kisses her forehead! The waterworks really come in ernest now....which does not go unoticed by the lead singer who then jumps off the stange to give me a hug. It was just AWESOME. I am now crying writing about it, sigh..... Next weekend I am going to take a hand written letter to the stage manager and performers so that they can know how special they are and what an amazing part of our lives this show plays.


Update:

A magical Meet and Greet (followup to MJ's Tarzan Rock's experience)

So in a thread a few weeks ago (titled "talk about magical moments!") I told you all about MJ's first character interaction. It was with Terk during Tarzan Rocks.

Fast forward two weeks, we come to AK again and once again during Tarzan Rocks the CM's onstage recognize us and I cry through the whole thing. I asked to speak with the Stage Manager so I can tell him how special that moment was and what the show means to our family. I want him to tell the cast about MJ's story and who the crazy lady crying in the front row is so that they know how important and meaningful what they do each day is. He asks us when we will be there next, we tell him the 20th for Andrew's bday weekend. He gives us his name and tells us that he is going to arrange for MJ to meet Terk, Tarzan and Jane privately after the show...This started a whole new batch of tears, I didn't expect that, I just wanted the cast to know how much what they do means to us.....

Fast forward to Friday the 20th....we get to AK, go to guest services for Andrew's bday pin, tell them about the M&G, they call to confirm it and tell us that that Lucy (the stage manager that day) will meet us after the show.

We thought we were just going to get a quick hi, how do you do with the main stars, but it was much more....

They took us backstage, the whole cast was there (dancers, monkeys, singers) it was amazing! Terk gave MJ a stuffed Terk, I got to tell the whole cast her story and why the show means soooo much to us. It took me a while to get it out through all of the tears. We took pics which we will get developed soon. We got a big one of all of the cast and us. We are going to get it blown up and try to get it autographed and also get smaller copies made with MJ's story and send one to everyone in the picture and to Disney Headquarters.

Update:

So when we met the cast on the 20th, a couple notable people were missing. When we first saw TR! the lead singer was Billy and the backups were Emily and Pilita. So we went to see TR! on Sat on Memorial day weekend and 'our' singers were there (lol) Once again from the stage Terk played with MJ, the dancers and singers came down to play with us and blew kisses at MJ, it was amazing as well and was about to get more amazing, because as we left the theatre (we waited until everyone else left, our wheelchairs are hard to manuver to say the least!) one of the dancers signaled us, we turned around and there was Billy's head poking out of the CM entrance and wiggling his finger for us to come here....so we go back stage and got to see Billy, Pilita, Ryan (one of my favorite dancers), BJ (one of the rollerskating monkeys) and Tarzan and Jane again! We told them about how we are trying to save the show, found out that only 5 ppl are going to Tokyo and that they have been extended to Jan 2006. We got to tell then the story about why the show is soooo important to our family and we promised them that we would come to see the show at least once a weekend until it closed or was saved. We also promised to be at their final performance if it did close.

The Cast of TR! is just amazing and we love them so much, they bring such joy to us and MJ in particular that I can't even begin to thank them.
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Some more of our Magical Moments

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Not sure where to post these, or even if anyone wants to read them, but I have been trying to get some of our magical moments written (as much to honor the CM's as anything) If this ins't appropriate, I hope someone will tell me.....

I am still writing things down, but these are the ones I have so far....

Turtle Talk 3-18-05

this happened the weekend after we got our AP's

I am not sure who this shout out goes to...so I hope he gets to read it some day...

Some background....MJ is almost 4.5 but has the language skills of around an 18 mo (single words only, limited vocab, etc) the other thing that is important to know for this story is that MJ wants desperately to fit in, especially with other kids, so she is a real mimic.

So we enter in to Turtle Talk with Crush...all of the kids move down front and MJ wants to follow, I am nervous about this, but let her since she is still pretty close. Crush comes out and starts the show, MJ is enthralled, I find it charming......then Crush gets to the Q and A part of the show and I hear the words "ok, all of you little Dudes and Dudette's who have a question for me, raise your hand" just as I cringe I see MJ's hand shoot up and I see Crush fixate on her.....

"Yes, the little dudette, in the blue shell, sublevel......"

The host moves over to her as Andrew and I frantically try to signal to Crush or the host and we finally just have to yell out...

"Crush, she can't talk"

In the most amazing feat of thinking on his fins he places his fins to his head and says....

"That is ok, I have been practicing my ESP with Dory and I will just pull her question out of her mind...." he closes his eyes and thinks for a minute and says..."MJ wants to know, what do turltes eat...good question MJ!"

I of course at this point dissolve into tears as I realize that WDW is going to be the one place that MJ is actually treated like a real, normal, little girl.

I am not sure what we would do without WDW, it really is our only happy place...
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This one is from my husband....
Something bad turning in to something good!
Sometimes a negitive event can turn into a wonderful CM experience, I guess it was about 6 weeks back we went to the 2nd showing of Fantasmic at MGM. The left side of the path is for strollers and wheel chairs but there was no one working traffic control. People began crushing in around us in an effort to get in faster. They were running into Bonny and Marjories wheel chairs and several people hit Marjorie in the head with the backpacks they had slung on their sholders. We were very frustrated and angry by the time we got into the stadium. Once we got settled, we asked to speak to the manager once the show was over.( now the positive part ) We met Jason, the manager on duty that night after the show and he spent over 30 minutes talking about what had happened and wanted to hear our ideas on how to improve access for wheel chairs to the stadium. We don't know if any of our ideas will be used but it was wonderful to have our concerns taken seriously and our ideas listened to.
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Memorial Day Weekend - Pocahontas and Friends
So we have gone to AK a lot and had somehow managed to never see this little show....(Truth be told I had never seen Pocahontas either, but I knew the songs) anyway, we pull up to the greeter and explain that our chairs are too wide to go into the entrance and asked if they wanted to use a tranfer chair or what...They said, just wait here, we'll take you in the exit. So we are early for the show so we start chit chatting with the CM's as usual! MJ is her little charming self and is pretending to take pics of the CM's (for which they cheerfully posed over and over again) We did take a couple of real pics with them and MJ too, they signed her CM autograph book. That was our experience with Jillian, Michelle, Stephanie (who gave me a card ans asked me to get a copy of the pic for her), Wana (I think, can't quite read her signature) and Claudia. They were sooo awesome!

Then I hear someone say I'm _______ (nickname from a board, don't want to give away her identity unles she wants me to) from Such and such a board. I gave a little shout and told her how nice it was to meet her, we got to talking and stuff, she played with MJ and took us into the theatre, seated us up front and took off to do her thing....she came back a bit later before the show started and told us to wait for her after the show and to stay seated until the theatre cleared out. So we enjoyed the show (altho the porcupine and birds didn't cooperate very well) The show is pretty neat, especially loved Sprig and Grandmother Willow.

So after the show clears out we are waiting around talking to Marcia and out comes Stephanie (It might have been Lynnzie) with POCAHONTAS!!!! Oh my goodness! Well, for those of you who know me, you know the water works started then! MJ actually let her picture be taken sittng with Pocahontas, she signed her book and played with her for a bit....pure magic!

Fast forward to the next day, we came back to the park and did the show again (this time all the animals cooperated so we saw it in full, someday I am gonna make it thru a Disney show without crying, I swear I am!) Had a blast talking to the CM's again, should have taken their advice on where to sit (we thought we'd have a better view in the back...all we saw were heads....)

We got to talk to Peter about our Make a Wish application, he gave us some great advice and spoke to Hannah about us possibly volunteering to be guides of sorts for MAW families coming to WDW (she thinks they would love that)

Anyway, as we are leaving the show we get to talking to Lynnzie and Hannah, they were so very sweet to MJ, They both gave her a pin and Lynnzie gave her stickers (her favorite thing!) and gave her the 10th ediition of Pocahontas! What she couldn't have known is that we really couldn't afford to buy it for her, so it really made our day (We've watched it half a dozen times this week, she loves it)

This was Dinsey Magic at it's best.......a lot of magical things happened for Andrew'a bday last week, but I arranged most of them, so it wasn't the same as when it happens so spur of the moment....

going for tissues now....
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Passing the Magic along.... Festival of the Lion King, Memorial Day Weekend
So after Pocahontas and Friends on Sat, we went to see the Lion King. We were seated on a front row bench and had room for two kids or one adult to sit with us, so we called over our camp counselor and mentioned to her that it might be nice to find someone who was here for the first time who wanted to move up front. So she scurried off and came back with a boy and a girl and their mom. The kids had their faces painted and were very cute. The mom sat behind us so she could see her kids. they picked the boy to demontrate the Lion Roar and during the finale they picked the two kids and MJ (Andrew carried her) to dance with them. The mom was in tears behind us, it felt so good to pass some of the magic along to others! I love being able to do that! It is so much more special when it is shared!
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Amazing Magical Moments (6-4 and 6-5)
Hi all- Well, every weekend I think that our magical moments won't get any better and every weekend I am surprised....so here is a long set of events from this weekend.....In chronological order)

Memorial Day Weekend we never got over to the Studios.....We got an email this week from a CM who missed us and wanted to see if we were ok! How sweet is that.

Sat June 4th

At MGM we had lots of mini magical moments with CM's loving on MJ....one of which was with the custodial staff (Maddie) Andrew was in the restroom so MJ and I were waiting in our chairs outside. I have a tradition that whenever I see a custodial person I say to them “Thanks for keeping our parks beautiful” Many of them look at me like I have two heads (I guess they aren’t used to being thanked) but on this occasion Maddie stopped to chat with us. After chatting for a bit she pulled a bag out of her pocket and asked what MJ’s favorite character is (right now it is Tinkerbell) so I told her and she pulled out the cutest pin with Tink sitting on a thimble holding a sewing needle and gave it to MJ! I am pretty sure the pins are from her personal collection since they weren’t on a lanyard. Thank you Maddie!

Then we went over to Playhouse Disney and while we were waiting Peter came over to us and told MJ to close her eyes and he pulled a Jo-Jo and Goliath postcard out for her, signed by Bear in the Big Blue House and everything…this was special just because he did it, but also because at that moment she was focused on wanting a ball that belonged to another child that she couldn’t have. Thank you Peter!

We went for a trip on the GMR and had a lot of fun. There was Laurie our guide who was great, paid lots of attention to MJ and we were sitting right in front of a family that was very unique…They were there videotaping their daughter’s first day as the gangster! Here name was Lauren and she was great!

We visited with our buddies in One Man’s Dream (MJ is the unofficial mascot there) Rose, Anita, Jeffery and Chris, it was great to see you!

At Beauty and the Beast Four for a Dollar made sure to wave at MJ and blow her kisses….we just love those guys they are our favorite pre-show! (More about them in Andrew’s Bday weekend post……I am soooo behind!)

Later that day we went to Stars and Motor Cars, Katie was the CM at the handicapped section. She is a returning CP’er and it was only her second day, she also took care of us at Fantasmic that night, she was awesome! And the kicker? When I got up Sunday morning, I had an email from her thanking us for making a magical moment for her, wow! Thank you Katie, looking forward to spending the summer with you!

Sunday June 5th

We were meeting a friend from another board for a day of fun at the AK/MK. Adam is a CM at Epcot normally, he is really awesome and MJ loved him! Thanks Adam, even off duty you are a magic maker….

So, AK…First thing we did was go into Guest Relations to get our new GAC’s (ours were about to expire) We met Angel, she was so sweet, asking about MJ, etc…..she was admiring her pins, told her how pretty she was. We had her sign MJ’s CM book. When she handed us back our cards she also handed us a voucher for a pin to add to MJ’s collection and asked us to come back and see her at the end of the day. So sweet…..(this next part happened over the hole day, but to keep continuity I will tell this part out of order) We went to pick out MJ’s pin (I wanted to get it before we left so we could show Angel what she had chosen) In the process of picking a pin we found two part pins that said best friends one had Todd and Copper from the Fox and The Hound (one of MJ’s faves) so I had the bright idea to get that and keep one half for us and give the other half to Angel so she could remember MJ. We went back to see her at the end of the day and found out that she had left for the day, so we gave her pin to the gal there and asked her to give it to her and explain the significance of it. Then the CM gave us a present from Angel. She had left MJ and autograph book that had character signatures on every single page! (Including MJ’s fave Tink!) She had inscribed MJ’s name in the front of the book and left a note explaining that that characters really wanted to meet MJ, but they had to run, so they left her this very special gift. I of course burst into tears. You see, MJ is afraid of the characters so this is something that we have never been able to have for her. I asked when Angel would be back on so we could come and thank her…as it turned out, Angel was on an Advanced Internship and Monday (yesterday) was to be her last day. I was so sad, I did leave my email for her and I got to talk to her manager. A copy of this report will also go to WDW. Monday I did get an email from Angel, what a special lady! You’ll never know how much what you did means to us Angel!

(Back to chronological reporting in a bit, hands starting to hurt…..)
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As an Aside....these are some other thoughts...

Nice things to do for CM's (and a couple special ones thrown in for Guests)
I was thinking about some stuff and wondered what types of things others do for guests or CM's...

I always call CM's by name

I take Thank You notes to CM's who did special things for us and write to their bosses

I thank the custodial CM's for keeping the park beautiful

I totally forgot the most important thing we do:
As you all know, MJ doesn't like characters (except from a long distance) so we started a CM autograph book for her. She always makes us stop so she can give CM's a high 5 or a hug, so now she also has ones that are special to her sign her autograph book. I cry everytime I read it.....some of the entries are VERY moving.

Guests:

I thank the vets who participate in the Flag Retreat for their service to us and our country

I thank smokers who are smoking in designated areas rather than out in the parks

[DarthTortoise]

WOW!!! That was all so fantastic!!!
When is your next Disney trip, I cant wait to hear more good stories!!!

[Erin]

Wow. This was a great post. I know CMs are wonderful people, and I'm glad they've shown you that time and time again. MJ is a special girl!

[DisneyTeacher]

Thanks for the tissure warning! What magical moments you have had at WDW, I can't wait to read about your future trips.

[Disneyfever]

It sounds like you and your family had some awesome experiences!! That is so great!

[Tinkerbelle67]

Tissue warning indeed!!! It's wonderful to hear about the "magic" Disney has brought to your family.

[BuzzLightyear]

Thanks for sharing.
It was really nice to read your expierences.

[jo-jo]

The story about "Crush" was amazing. For someone to think on how to handle the situation so quicky, was great. Thank you for taking the time to share.

[SplashMtnMan]

Thank you for sharing your amazing experiences, I am just sitting here at a loss for words...I will just say, this is part of what makes WDW so magical!!!

[queensmama]

Glad to hear that your family has experienced so much magic

[Dana]

I needed that tissue. Thanks for the warning. I love how you send the magic you get right back to the CM's. You are a very special lady.

[daisyd]

Wonderful stories! Thanks for sharing them here.

[Cosmicwaves]

Its great to hear stories like yours, and know that there are wonderful people out there trying to make everyone's experience a great one.

[MommytoMJM]

Originally Posted by DarthTortoise

WOW!!! That was all so fantastic!!!
When is your next Disney trip, I cant wait to hear more good stories!!!

Ummm, Saturday! (we live here and og every weekend) I am so far behind, I still need to get up a lot more stories, I'll types as fast as I can! Glad you like them!

[lovemysons]

Beautiful story! Thanks for sharing it with us. So glad that Disney is so magical for you and your family.