Trip Reports

• Time of Year: Fall
• Travel Method: Plane
• Resort: PBR
• Accommodations
• Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
• WDW Experience Represented in Group: Frequent
• Comments: Here is the Report from when we were Grand Marshals. It does not fit your usual type of trip report, so I'm not sure if you can use it but here goes. Since I did not write trip reports for our early family trips, I thought I would share unique bits and pieces of our trips over the years, a sort of memory kaleidoscope.

Here is the Report from when we were Grand Marshals. It does not fit your usual type of trip report, so I'm not sure if you can use it but here goes. Since I did not write trip reports for our early family trips, I thought I would share unique bits and pieces of our trips over the years, a sort of memory kaleidoscope.

Most Anticipated Trip

On our fourth trip to WDW, in Oct. ‘92, we decided to stay onsite at the Polynesian. This was our first on-site stay and that alone had us wild with anticipation.

In April or May ‘92 before we went, I sat and wrote a long letter to WDW, expressing our excitement at our first stay at the Polynesian, and the fact that we would be celebrating my son’s ninth birthday while we were there. I also expressed our love for all things Disney and told them what wonderful experiences the parks provided for our family. This was my way of expressing my love of, and thanks to, Disney as a whole. About a month later, I came home to find a message on our answering machine from a man who said he was calling me from the Magic Kingdom, knew about our upcoming trip, and wanted to talk to me. He said he would call again and left no further message. Not knowing at the time who he was, I was disturbed to think that Disney had sold our name as Florida visitors to some timeshare sales person. Little did I know how wrong I was!!!

A week went by with no return call which sort of affirmed my opinion that this was a salesperson. One early afternoon 9 days later, the phone rang, a voice said, "Hello, Mrs. Femino? I ‘m calling you from the Magic Kingdom." "Sure," I thought, but answered, barely politely, "Yes?" "I have a copy of your letter here that you sent to WDW. I know you will be here in Oct. and I am calling to see if you and your family would like to be Grand Marshals in the Surprise Celebration Parade."

I know in the next 30 seconds, I gave new meaning to the words "struck speechless." I was so afraid I would not find my voice and he would hang up on me. Then a new thought struck me. My friends all know how Disney-obsessed I am, had I told any of them that I had written to Disney?

I wondered if this was a joke.

I finally was able to ask, "Is this for real? He assured me that it was. He explained that my letter had gotten forwarded to him, and asked which day of our 10 day vacation would we like to be Grand Marshals. I chose the day of my son’s ninth birthday, October 26. He told me he would call us when we arrrived at the Poly to confirm everything, and would tell us where and when to meet him on Oct 26th.

To say I was excited would be the understatement of the decade. I ran to meet my childrren’s’s school bus that afternoon to tell them what was in store for us. I also told the bus driver and the UPS driver who was stopped behind the bus. I then proceeded to call/tell everyone in the greater Cape Cod area that we were to be Grand Marshals. After I had told 500 of my closest friends and family, I began striking up conversations with strangers just so I could work it into the conversation. If you vacationed on Cape Cod in the summer of ‘92, I probably told you too!

Having wished away that summer, and having told every living soul, some many times, our Oct. trip finally arrived. Arriving at the Poly for our first stay there was just the beginning. The day after we checked in we got our confirmation call about being Grand Marshals, and where and when to meet. Most of the rest of that trip is blur, but I remember how much we enjoyed being at the Poly, the ease of the monorail, and the 24 hour magic of being on-site.

Finally Oct. 26Th arrived, THE DAY, as well as my son’s ninth birthday.

I only remember checking my watch constantly that day to be sure we would not be late.

We arrived on the steps of City Hall at 2:20 and were promptly met by the man who had phoned me. He had Mickey ears for the 4 of us with our names on them, which we were to wear in the parade. He also gave us a beautiful certificate, much like the stock certificates with all the characters, which said * Walt Disney World Honors the Femino Family-Grand Marshals-October 26th, 1992. He had even made one for my son which mentioned his birthday, and one for my daughter too.

We chatted for a while and then he led us backstage by the firehouse. There, we were given Surprise ribbons to wear across our chests. The parade was lined up behind the gates, and we were seated on a comfortable bench seat across the front of the The Surprise Celebration float right away.

A few characters came over to greet us and wish my son "Happy Birthday" and then it was time to start.

We heard them announce *Please welcome the Femino Family from Cape Cod*and we were off!! Our float led the parade, with Roger Rabbit on top and our family seated across the front. Our host walked along the route in front of our float, taking pictures as well as videotaping us.

It all went by much too fast. We laughed and waved and throughly enjoyed ourselves. Just before the parade was to exit off stage in Frontierland, our float came to a stop and we got off and into a special roped off area.

From here we had a wonderful, uncrowded and unobstructed view of the rest parade. We took more pictures from here and all the exiting characters and performers stopped to greet us or interact with us.

Our much anticipated experience was at an end! But it was wonderful. During the rest of the day at the MK, other guests, and CMs as well, who recognized us from the parade, asked us repeatedly how we were picked as Grand Marshals.

To this day I do not know for sure why or how my letter was chosen for this special consideration. I would like to think it was the wonderful prose in my letter, expressing our love of Disney that did it, but I think it was probably just dumb luck. My letter was in the right place at the right time, when a letter-reading-CM wanted to sprinkle some extra Disney Magic.

Our certificate is framed, along with a picture of us on the Surprise Celebration Float, and hangs in our foyer, a constant reminder of a truly unique and wonderful experience.

I hope you enjoyed this trip memory.

Sandi Femino

kfemino@capecod.net

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