A Little Magic To Go

A Little Magic To Go
Tony Caggiano

While the “Year of a Million Dreams” has come and gone, the dream making efforts, on the part of the cast members, is going strong. Just s a few weeks ago, during our last visit to Walt Disney World we had a little “magic” bestowed upon our group.

We were staying at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, we woke up early that morning and headed down to catch a Magic Kingdom bus, hoping to be on time for our 7:30am ADR at Chef Mickey’s Restaurant at the Contemporary Resort. We were the only people at the bus stop, as it was still early, around 7:00am. As we boarded the bus the driver asked where we were headed so early this day. I told him of our ADR at Chef Mickey’s and he very nicely offered to drop us off directly at the resort, so that we would be sure to be on time for our meal.

As we pulled up to the bus stop at the Contemporary, he parked the bus and turned to a young member of our party, my 6 year old nephew and asked him if he liked pirates. What 6 year old in his right mind DOESN’T like pirates, I thought to myself. My nephew naturally answered “Yes sir, I do” and with the that bus driver retrieved a small duffle bag from beneath his seat and said, “Well then, let’s see what we have here for a few young pirates!”

The eyes of all four children began to light up. They began looking at one another, then us, their parents, and very quickly began craning their necks to see what lied in store for them in that Disney World duffle bag held by the bus driver.

“First things first”, he said. “Every pirate needs a bandana,” and with that he hands each of the children a red bandana emblazoned with skulls and cross bones. The children, with the help of their parents, quickly put the bandanas on their heads.

“Hmm, those look good,” he said, “but I think they would look better with these,” as he gave each and every one of the kids an official pirate eye patch to wear next.

“Arrrg, now ye looks tough” he told them. Then he took out a fantastic felt pirate hat for each of the children. They were ecstatic! Now, we could barely even hear what he was saying to us. We did our best to get the children to calm down a bit when the bus driver finally said, “You all can’t be pirates without swords,” and handed each of the kids a plastic pirate sword of their very own.

He then drove us over to the bus stop and, as we exited the bus, I am not sure who was most excited, the children, us parents, or the bus driver who made this amazing magical moment for us all, his face lit with a huge smile.

We thanked him profusely and headed out on our way, off for what was sure to be an amazing and magical day in Walt Disney World, which was now…that much better, thanks to a “Dream Maker” who made it so.