Hello Disney Lovers! It has been a little over a year since I last posted a blog, but a lot has happened since then. In April I went down to Florida for a week with my family and we enjoyed a week of Disney! We stayed at Disney's Caribbean Beach and had a awesome time. We got to experience new things, especially our experience as the Grand Marshalls!
If you don't know what the Grand Marshalls are, then you don't know Disney! Being chosen as the Grand Marshalls is one of the best things to happen to you at Disney World (second of course being able to stay in the Cinderella Castle Suite) and does not happen to everything. At random, a family or group are chosen to be the "family of the day" and get the opportunity to ride in a car before the main parade of the day. You get treated like royalty and it's unlike anything else at Disney.
Before:
I can't explain it, but before we left on our trip I had a feeling that my family and I were going to be chosen as the Grand Marshalls. When I there with friends or by myself, but this trip I had a feeling. So like any other Disney obsessed person, I looked up "How to Become the Grand Marshall at Disney World" (which is a possible reason that you found this blog). And to my disappointment, I found that it is a completely random shot. You have to be in the right place at the right time, but I did see some people with tips to help improve your chances. Some of the tips I saw were that you have to be on Main street early in the morning, stand out and to not be afraid to talk to cast members. But there was a problem. We had late reservations for breakfast at Kona Café and wouldn't get to Magic Kingdom until 10am. But I decided that I was going to wear my special homemade Minnie Ears and talk to as many cast members that I deemed appropriate. How could that hurt right? The least I would get out of it was some awesome interaction.
The Hunt:
Once we walked into the Magic Kingdom, I had this "Grand Marshall" idea in the back of my mind, but if it didn't happen, I was still happy to be there. So I decided to walk around and start talking to some cast members about trading pins, etc. I was looking for pins anyways. My family started asking me if I was going to talk to every cast member in the park, but I didn't care. I still had a feeling that we were going to be chosen. Finally I walked up to a cast member who looked important. He had an earpiece in his ear, and I could immediately tell that he was a manager of some sort. He happened to have a pin that I liked, so I walked up to him and asked him if I could trade pins with him. Rather than giving me the pin, he asked about my homemade Minnie ears, and I told him that I used to work here etc. He was asking me a lot of questions, but it really took a turn when he asked my dad how he would wave if he saw Goofy, and when he asked my mom how she would wave if she saw Cinderella. At this point, I knew where he was going. I remember the last thing he asked was if I had a good parade spot, since I had worked here before, and he said that he had a better one. That's when he asked " Would you and your family like to be the Grand Marshalls for the day?"
The Morning:
I immediately started crying. My family was still very confused and were looking at me with concern. I turned to them and told them that we were going to be in the parade. My family started smiling and I kept crying. This was one of the best moments that I could remember. It was an amazing feeling. Once I had calmed down, (Lets call him B) B asked for our information, how to say our last name and what city we were from. He said to meet him at the Splash Mountain Gates at 2:30pm and left us to enjoy our day. My mom started freaking out and didn't think she was dressed appropriately to be in the parade, so she and my dad went back to our hotel to change. My brother and I went on with our day, but we were both freaking out on the inside. I remember we waited in line for Big Thunder Mountain for an hour and then went to get a dole whip. While we were eating our dole whips, I sparked up a conversation with a women who was another manager and we told her that we were going to be the Grand Marshalls for the day. She congratulated us and we later met up with our parents.
2:30pm:
Once 2:15 arrived we worked our way over to the gates. We were a little bit early, and there were some cast members standing over there. We explained that we were the Grand Marshalls and they let us hang out near the gates while we waited for B. B came along with two photopass photographers. They were going to be our personal photographers for the parade. B surpised us with 4 Mic
key Hats, all enbroded with "Grand Marshall" on the back. He asked us to wear these while we rode in the car for the parade.Because we had time to spare before the parade, our photographers asked us if we wanted to take any fun pictures before hand. My brother and I did some "jump" photos and they tooks some really fun other photos before hand. Around 2:45 our car arrived, and we got to go "backstage" just a area behind the gate, where the car was waiting for us. We took a few pictures, were introduced to our driver, and B told us to keep waving and smiling until our arms fell off.
The Journey:
The Aftermath:
After we made it through the whole parade route, we hopped off right before the car went into the end gate and stood in the designated "Grand Marshall Area". B said that this spo
We still had time before the parade was going to make its way down Main Street, so the photographers asked us if we wanted to take some pictures in front of the castle. We got to take some really special pictures! Because the photographers were there just for us, if anyone asked them for a picture, they turned them away. (That was kind of funny). After we were done with pictures, B brought us back to our spot and showed us a special certificate that said "Grand Marshall" and had our names on it. While we were standing there waiting, the same women that I had met before (getting the dole whip) was there and she said hi. She was escorting a merchandise cart that had the mist fans on it. I think I mentioned that I had always wanted to get one, and B just gave on to us. In addition he also asked if we wanted fast passes, so he gave us 6 fast passes each on our magic bands to use for the rest of the day. That was amazing. We got to go on rides (like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train) and others that had lone lines.
The Parade and Goodbye:
The parade started coming along, and B was right! We did get a lot of attention from the characters. We got some special pictures with our favorites and we got a hand shake from the Mad Hatter and he told us "Congratulations, you sat in a car!" Hahahaha. Once the parade had concluded I was not sad, but very grateful. We were able to have amazing pictures to remember the experience and I was grateful that we, out of the thousands of guests at the park that day, were chosen to become the Grand Marshalls. I know that not everyone gets to experience this, and I owed it all to B. I gave him a great big hug and thanked him for bringing magic to me and my family. It truly was an experience of a lifetime.
More to come about my amazing trip!
-S
