I checked in late on our first day. We had spent the day in an off property Amusement Park and were getting to the Disneyland resort much later than we had planned. We had just spent 2 hours on Interstate 5, struggling thru traffic and were tired, hungry and a tad put out. We arrived at the Paradise Pier Hotel with only a half an hour to go for a 7:00 dinner reservation at the Rainforest Cafe.

Everybody wanted to freshen up and there was a few folks in front of us. The line moved and a young lady named Ashley waived me over. She smiled and asked how she could she help me. I was a bit grumpy and snapped at her I need to check in, and she needed to deal with it. She smiled and said it would be her pleasure to assist me, and checked us in so fast I could not believe it. She had our bags delivered to our room and put the keys in my hand before I knew what was happening. I was amazed and commented (sarcastically) that she was really good in dealing with shaggy dog cases like me. Ashley stopped and smiled at me and said "You are not a shaggy dog, you are our guest and we take extra special care of all of our guests"! I was floored. Ashley shooed me off so I wouldn't miss my dinner, and she said "Have a magical day".

I thought about it, and she was right I was having a very magical day after all. I ran the events over and over in my mind all the next day as we toured Disneyland. On our way to the room that night I approached the front desk, and there was Ashley with that big smile. I apologized for my very "unmagical" attitude the previous night, and Ashley said it was "OK". I then told her I believed that Walt lived on thru folks like her and that his spirit was alive and well because of her actions. She smiled even bigger and said she really believed that as well.

I presented her with a WWWD pin on the spot and thought she was going to cry. I wanted to thank you Ashley on behalf of my family for making the magic come alive for us in such a very personal way.

I will always think of your example of making lemons into lemonade, and reminding me of the "Disney Way" I had forgotten. I was also a cast member (Disneyland, Class of 1977) and just had lost my way, thanks for the lesson in good show!

God bless you,

From Vince, Debbie, and Morgan