Spreading the magic?

[Imagineer1981]

In addition to FP we will also give away our ADRs if we decide not to use them to someone in the park

[Goofy Texan]

On a trip a few years ago, I was next in line at a drink stand in the Magic Kingdom. There was a guy in front of us with his girl friend. He had gotten her a bottle of soda and she had started drinking it. When he went to pay, his credit card was rejected. When he opened his wallet, I could see it was empty. I just spoke up that their drink was on me and asked for two bottles of water - gently pushing them out of the way in the process. He thanked me and kind of gave me a weird look... I guess pushy but generous strangers are not the norm.

I wish I could have figured out a way to hand him a twenty. It was still early in the day, and I had no idea how they were going to buy food.

I like to think I did something nice (my daughter still talks about it), but really - it was only $2 and I was thirsty.

We've also given away free tickets to Six Flags on bring-a-friend free days. Those are always a nice surprise. People always assume we want something in return.

[wire0monkey]

WDW is much better when everyone realizes we're all in it together and if we help each other everybody has a better trip.

On the last trip, we had some helium balloons that we'd bought on Main Street from the balloon vendor. I gave them to some kids on the day that we left. They were really happy.

On another trip, we had just gotten FPs for test track, when somebody offered us FPs that were good immediately. They didn't want to use them. We used their FPs and when we got off the ride, we gave our FPs to someone who was walking up to the FP machine.

[It'sWDW4me]

Back in 2002, we were walking toward the stroller rental area just as a family was returning theirs. They asked us if we could use a double stroller for the day - exactly what we needed! They saved us the cost of the day's rental. Very nice.

[jaredkari]

My wife and I will give away fastpasses. We have done it numerous times. Usually we are just ready to head back to the hotel so we kind of have fun looking through the crowd on the way out to find the right people.

[azcavalier]

During the YOMD celebration when you got those Super FP lanyards with multiple fast passes on them, we got some right before lunch, but we were leaving the park for the day so we would not be able to use them. And there was another family with us as well, so we had quite a few of them that were going to go to waste. So, on our way out (it was the Magic Kingdom), the father of the other family was looking for a family of four to bequeath his FP lanyards to, and a family with one DD, the parents and a grandma came in. So he headed towards them, and they saw him coming. (He's a really big guy.) They started speeding up to get past him, and the grandma even said, "Don't stop, just keep going!!!" He had to run them down, yelling, "Wait! Wait! I just want to give you fast passes!!!" and he had to chase them about 20 yards. When he finally caught them, they were so embarassed that they had avoided him, but were really grateful. It was hilarious.

[Lakin]

I always give people my seat on the bus. I like standing up! I know, call me crazy.

My family, too, gives away our fastpasses if we don't use them.

[Pirate Granny]

We give away FP's...but the one thing I remember most...is after the MNSSHP we waited over an hour for the bus back to Pop...as we finally got to the front of the line the bus was full and we were going to have to stand...so...we waited for the next bus...got on, and sat in the front seat...you know the ones, facing the aisle...the last two persons on that bus were little ole ladies about 80 yrs young...we looked at each other, and got up and gave our seats away...I really made us feel good, but we really missed having a hot tub at the hotel to soak in for our feet

[Laughin' place]

On our most recent trip (6/08), we bought multiple tubes of glow necklaces. When buying them from places like Oriental Trading Company, you can get a tube of 50 or so for very little money.
Our original plan was to throw a few in the backpack each day, and give them to kids for the parades or fireworks, or whenever we wanted to give a little magic.
While this was a lot of fun, and brought us many smiles, we found something even more fun.
On our last night at MK, during EMH (we were there til 2am), we handed a glow necklace to every castmember we encountered. Every single cast member we gave one to was THRILLED. It was a silly, cheap little gift, but our boys RAN to cast members, said something to the effect of '"thanks for giving us such a great night", and gave them a bracelet/necklace. For the rest of the night, we got big smiles and waves from all our new friends. The funniest thing was, the cast members wore them the rest of the night. We saw them EVERYWHERE.
It is one of our happiest memories of that trip, watching our 12 and 14 year old "cool" teenage boys running around bringing a magical thank you to cast members

[disneyboundagain]

It was last Dec and we were spending the day at Epcot. The sun had just set, and I was in line for a frosty cold beverage . There was a group of college kids behind me that were obviously having a great time drinking their way around the world. I paid for my drink, and then told the CM that their round was on me. Ended up costing me about $100. Mind you I had just lost my job the day before we left for vacation, so we were trying to save every dime we could. Buying myself a drink was supposed to be my treat for the trip. I don't know why I did it, I have never done anything like that before. It just felt right, and good.

[azcavalier]

On our most recent trip (6/08), we bought multiple tubes of glow necklaces. When buying them from places like Oriental Trading Company, you can get a tube of 50 or so for very little money.
Our original plan was to throw a few in the backpack each day, and give them to kids for the parades or fireworks, or whenever we wanted to give a little magic.
While this was a lot of fun, and brought us many smiles, we found something even more fun.
On our last night at MK, during EMH (we were there til 2am), we handed a glow necklace to every castmember we encountered. Every single cast member we gave one to was THRILLED. It was a silly, cheap little gift, but our boys RAN to cast members, said something to the effect of '"thanks for giving us such a great night", and gave them a bracelet/necklace. For the rest of the night, we got big smiles and waves from all our new friends. The funniest thing was, the cast members wore them the rest of the night. We saw them EVERYWHERE.
It is one of our happiest memories of that trip, watching our 12 and 14 year old "cool" teenage boys running around bringing a magical thank you to cast members

Now THAT is cool. Hope you don't mind if we steal a page from your book and do this when we're there in October!

[Daddy Mouse]

On our most recent trip (6/08), we bought multiple tubes of glow necklaces. When buying them from places like Oriental Trading Company, you can get a tube of 50 or so for very little money.
Our original plan was to throw a few in the backpack each day, and give them to kids for the parades or fireworks, or whenever we wanted to give a little magic.
While this was a lot of fun, and brought us many smiles, we found something even more fun.
On our last night at MK, during EMH (we were there til 2am), we handed a glow necklace to every castmember we encountered. Every single cast member we gave one to was THRILLED. It was a silly, cheap little gift, but our boys RAN to cast members, said something to the effect of '"thanks for giving us such a great night", and gave them a bracelet/necklace. For the rest of the night, we got big smiles and waves from all our new friends. The funniest thing was, the cast members wore them the rest of the night. We saw them EVERYWHERE.
It is one of our happiest memories of that trip, watching our 12 and 14 year old "cool" teenage boys running around bringing a magical thank you to cast members

DW and I already purchased the glow necklaces before I read this post. We thought about it as away to let young ones to celebrate with us. Universal during our trip so we plan on giving it away to someone that can use it. We have also talked about doing some other things such as giving away Disney Dollars, Fast Passes etc...

[Mousemates]

When we leave a park early in hot weather we usually have a set of fast passes that we give to someone on our way out.

[Reesa Roo]

One thing we have done that is fun if you are diriving, is to pay for the car behind us when we pay for parking. That car then gets a nice surprise when they go to pay for parking. We've done this on road trips as well when we are paying for toll roads and bridges. All it takes is something small and unexpected like that to make someone's day.
BTW... I really love the glow necklace idea. We may try that on our next trip!

[indytraveler]

To be truly good at paying it forward you have to be paying attention to your surroundings. Like several people have mentioned if you are tunnel vision from ride to ride you miss out on the "experience, atmosphere" or whatever you want to call it. I've given some families with small children advice on what rides to do next while waiting in line on one ride.
Usually the conversation will start by what are we doing next? And if the answer is one that might get them in trouble I'll offer suggestions. No I don't butt into their conversations but my older kids play a game in line to see who can make the most people smile. So they make faces at their younger kids to see if they can make them laugh. Good conversation starter.

[wdwgirl21]

My son always gets a balloon at some point on Main Street.. if it is still in good shape at the end of our trip, we will give it to another child on our way out to catch Magical Express back to the airport!

[Charlee]

I love this thread - especially as we seemed to be lucky enough to have some magic come our way last week!
We got fastpasses for Everest after an exhausting, very hot day in Animal Kingdom where I thought I was not going to get on the ride. I was really greatful to the lady who came over to us and offered them and they made our day!
We ended up taking loads of pictures of families for them and the good karma came back to us. Each time we offered or were asked, we were offered a picture together later. It seemed spreading the magic brings it back to you! I was very greatful to all those people who offered to take pictures of us this trip!

[danyele128]

We definately do for others. It feels great! We usually have a few snack credits or a dining credit left and we give them away before we leave. Either to someone waiting in line or just ask a parent if their kid can have a treat and we get it for them! My girls love sharing their disney trip with other kids. We have also given and been given parking passes. I am sure this is frowned upon by disney but..... shhhhh! Usually when we check out we see another family coming in and pass them our AAA diamond parking pass! Every little bit you know!