Hi. I have only posted on this board once before-asking about crowds and weather in Feb (when we went). But believe it or not, we won the castle suite!!! I still can't believe it and we've been home since Thurs 3/1! Here's our story:
It was our first full day at Disney. We arrived on Sun 2/25 in the afternoon, so this was Mon 2/26. We went with our 3 sons (7.5yr old twins and 2yr old), my MIL and FIL. I was really the only one who knew about the YOMD-the big boys kinda knew from the TV, but we didn't really discuss it because I didn't want them to be dissapointed if we didn't "win" any dreams. We had breakfast reservations at Crystal Palace at 8:25am, then went to Pirates of the Carribean ride, then to Alladin's Magic Carpets and then to Jungle Cruise. As we were getting off the Jungle Cruise and I was busy wrangling the boys, I looked up and saw some DT members flanking my MIL. I was excited but was only thinking dream ears or dream fastpasses. We all walked over to my MIL and DT and they said "how would you like to stay the night at Cinderella Castle"? I screamed OMG- but no one else in our party really "got it". My inlaws are fairly clueless when it comes to this kinda stuff- my MIL thought it was some kind of scam to get her to buy pictures or something!! I was so thrilled-beyond belief!! My MIL was sitting in the right seat at the right time. It was around 10:30am.
We were all escorted to a room behind the counter at Guest Relations in the front of MK where we signed all kinds of papers. Good thing my husband is a lawyer cause I was so excited that I didn't read what I was signing-I could've promised to leave my 2yr old there for all I could focus!! The DT was so great-sweet as could be. And every time a new DT member came in they kept saying to me "I hear you are REALLY excited"!! They told us to go back to our resort and pack an overnight bag and they would pick us up at our resort (Grand Floridian) at 2pm. So we played around in the park for a while longer-all the time I was in a daze-and headed back to eat and pack. They gave us some fastpasses to use before 2pm for any ride we wanted since they said they took up a lot of our time with the paperwork. Very nice.
A suburban came at 2pm with Jeff-our personal guide for the day. Of course, being Disney, there was a car seat already in the car without me even asking. We were brought "backstage" behind Main St and then walked out from back there (and a side note: although it was very exciting being backstage and seeing things no one else gets to see, I didn't really like it. I know most of Main St is all "fronts" but I don't really need/want to see it. I like the fantasy, you know?) after meeting Cinderella all the way across the park to Frontierland backstage there where the parade starts. We were loaded up into the first car of the parade (with Daisy Duck, after meeting Clarabelle) and our names were announced over the park as the winners! Absolutely unbelieveable!!! The parade was fun to watch from the inside out and oddly enough, I saw someone I knew on the parade route in front of the castle!! We were brought over by the "firehouse" to watch the rest of the parade go by where the DT had popcorn and drinks waiting for us. After the parade, we were brought over on Main St in front of the castle for pictures with our dream hats and dream buttons. The DT asked if we would like to go up to the castle then, so.....
Up to the castle suite. Everything very secure and almost secretive. Beautiful beyond belief. Just like the pictures everyone posted. The boys were most enamored of the touchscreen remote in the 2nd room. Our luggage was there waiting. After getting settled, back out to the park with Jeff. He was fantastic-I learned all kinds of new Disney trivia and he was wonderful with all the boys. We did not wait on ONE SINGLE LINE. We just walked on to every ride no matter how long the wait was. We rode things 2x in a row (like BTMR) without even having to get off. No wait for characters either. We were rock stars!!! Now I know why it is so fabulous to be a celebrity!! And everyone made such a HUGE deal over all of us. All the cast members, all the characters. It was a whirlwind.
They arranged dinner for us at Cinderella's Royal Table where we had a private meeting with Cinderella again (with pix). Jeff and the suite concierge were able to cancel our dinner and breakfast reservations (at Tony's Town Sq and Ohana) without issue. A few more rides after dinner with Daniel (Jeff's shift was done) where we got our own boat on Small World and a few more trips on BTMR, Many Adventures of Pooh, Buzz, Peter Pan, etc. Then we had VIP seating for the Pirate and Princess Parade and free entrance to the Pirate and Princess Party (which we were not planning on attending). After the parade, VIP seating (standing) for the fireworks, which by the way, were so amazing for the Pirate party. Highly reccommend those. Then we went back up to the suite, dropped off the IL's and the baby. When we got back up, the beds were turned down, amazing pastries/cookies were waiting, and all 3 boys got a personal note from TinkerBell (addressed "to lost boys") with 3 little "dream" Mickeys!
We went back out into the park for rides and a Captain Jack Sparrow meeting. Rode everything we possibly could-Daniel was super fun and went on all the rides with us. Almost made us puke on the TeaCups! Met Pirate Mickey and Pirate Donald Duck. Apparently there was a 2hr wait for Captain Jack and we just walked right in! He was very cute by the way. Out in the park til 1am (rides closed at 12:30pm), took some pictures on Main St and in front of the Castle. Went up to the suite and couldn't sleep-too excited. Tried to look out the windows into the park but they are leaded glass/stained glass so it was very difficult to see out. I eventually slept and we went to the arranged Crystal Palace breakfast in the morning. And that was it. I wish we had more time in the suite-I would've liked to take more pictures than what I did and would've liked to enjoy the tub a little.
The whole experience was just the best thing ever! The hardest part was going back to being a "regular schlub" after all the attention and VIP treatment of that day. I forgot how to wait on lines! Apparently, big $ people have asked to rent out the suite for 50-$60,000 for the night and Disney won't do it. Maybe that will change after the YOMD is over. But it really makes it even MORE special.
Oh, my FIL smokes and they did "let him out" of the suite to smoke when needed (I saw there was some question on that in other posts). They really overlooked NO details in the suite and the whole experience. It was amazing. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far!
Beth
They are all red x for me.
but after copying them to a word document I was able to see them!
See, dreams do come true
