All around the parks often you will spot a family with the 'Make a wish' Buttons and t-shirts, they are easy to spot. As cast members you are expected to go out of your way to make sure their time is special and perfect.
One day while at work I realized a family was looking in my workspace trying to figure out what was going on with all the kids sat down and colouring. I noticed the buttons and left all the guests and went to speak to this family, they were from South America and spoke very little English. They had a son maybe around 11 or 12 years old on a wheelchair, while I was talking to him I couldn't help but notice how ill this kid was because he has no hair and was so pale yet smiling. I handed them a paper asked them to write his name, wrote his name in Hindi and handed it to him asked him if he was having a good time, handed him some other things kids can take away with them (country cards, little animals the thai people make with palm leaves). As this family was walking away delighted about seeing the kid's name in another language and chatting in a language I couldn't even understand , all I could tell was that they were having a very special time.
As they walked away all I was thinking that this was probably their last family vacation and that when this kid had the chance to ask for ANYTHING in the whole world as his last wish, he picked to come to Walt Disney World, a theme park ? Just when I realized that this place is more than just a theme park, for some it is a place filled with memories, memories they will hold on to for a life time. In the case of this family, they might come back here 10 years later and think of their last vacation with their son.
It probably wasn't very professional of me to feel a little bit upset and ignore the next 10 kids that walked up to me, but to think of it I couldn't help but feel really special to be part of such a special place.
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