>

“Trying to be Picasso”, that is the comment I made yesterday about the man taking pictures in our school. He was in the building for two days taking the kids’ school portraits. You know the ones, everyone gets all dressed up, makes their hair really great and then their moms give them to everyone with Christmas cards. The guy taking pictures was trying to get the perfect shot for each kid. It took him forever. That’s not to say the kids aren’t good looking, it is just that he wanted to make sure every shot was great. It got me to thinking about taking pictures in Walt Disney World, and the article I recently wrote called, A Great Shot about some great backgrounds for your pictures in Walt Disney World.  Then, I got to thinking about something that I do whenever we are in Disney, because of a problem I see. This action of mine sometimes seems to shock people for some reason, but I continue to do it. What I do is when I see someone taking a picture of their family and they’re the only ones not in the picture, I offer to take the picture for them. I just think that everyone should be in the picture, especially in Disney. I’ve seen other people do this and other things that help out fellow guests. I think these are wonderful things, so today I present to you, the Unknown Magic of the Helping Mouse Hand.

As I said I always ask someone that is taking their picture if they want to get into the shot. I just think it is a nice thing to do if the family of four is only getting a picture of three. This past trip when we were at the Spirit of Aloha Luau, there was a very nice young couple from Spain at the table next to us. They were obviously on their Honeymoon, and were having a great time. One of the things that got my wife and I was that he kept taking pictures of her and then she’d grab the camera and take a shot of him. So, I finally asked him if he wanted us to take the picture of both of them. The language barrier was a problem at first and then when he understood what I was asking him, he was a very happy man. We of course enjoyed talking to them throughout the rest of the meal (he knew a little English and my son knows a little Spanish so we got to communicate somewhat).

I don’t know when this next Helping Mouse Hand became out of style, but it happens when you are on the buses or boats. If there is someone with a young child, someone who is pregnant or if an older person on the bus and there aren’t any seats, if you are an able bodied person, you should get up for them. I understand, you are in Disney World, you may have been going Commando* and you are tired. But if you are tired, just imagine how tired these people I mentioned are. I am lucky enough to have a son that at fifteen understands this is the polite thing to do and I have seen him do it on occasion when he didn’t know I was paying attention.

Another thing you can do to lend a Helping Mouse Hand on the buses and boats is to help lift someone’s stroller up the stairs or over the edge of the boat when the family is struggling because they have a few little ones and only four hands to take care of things. We were on the boat this last trip and there was a family of six. Yes, six. There were twins in a stroller and two a little older, but still all of them under 7 years old probably. As we were sitting on the boat, I watched an older gentleman that was standing waiting to get on the boat lift up the front wheels and help the mother move the stroller on as the father carried a sleeping little girl on also; a very nice example of the Helping Mouse Hand.

Things like this happen all the time when you are in Walt Disney World, some of the time these acts of kindness are performed by Cast Members, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help share the Magic of the Helping Mouse Hand. All you need to do is enjoy being in Walt Disney World and be a friend to those in need to create Magical Experiences for others.

So, now you know, there are things you can do to help other guests to have Magical Experiences. All you need to do is help others and be a good citizen of the world.

*As in being a Disney Commando; the act of rushing through the parks to “conquer” as many attractions in the shortest amount of time.

**Picaso Painting from http://pablo-picasso.paintings.name/