Sophie's Button was hand drawn by one of the Disney Artists!
We love taking our vacation trips during Sophie’s birthday! There is so much to enjoy at Disney when you are visiting for your birthday, for us it is a no-brainer to book our vacation during that time of the year! For this post, I’m going to go into some of the special touches that Disney puts on to help you celebrate your birthday right!
First of all, I have found it a key point to make sure that Disney knows that you are celebrating a birthday when you check-in. In fact, I have made sure that they know even before we leave home, because I want to make sure that Sophie’s birthday is given the special attention that it deserves!
When we check-in, the first thing that the Cast Member does is create a special birthday button for Sophie, with her name written on it for everyone to see. It should be noted here that rarely does the name last all week for us, but last year, we were able to get Sophie’s birthday button redone by one of the Disney Artists over at Hollywood Studios! It was really cool, and made Sophie’s day when he re-did it!
Another really cool thing that Disney does for the birthday person is to give them a free dessert when you eat at a table service restaurant. For Sophie, it was always a special brownie or cupcake that she could decorate herself. In addition, for our character meals (which we love to have, by the way, but that’s a different post), the characters always give Sophie a signed birthday card for her to keep.
The Fantasyland Woodwind Society playing Happy Birthday
Another special thing that Disney has done for Sophie on her birthday include the time that the Fantasyland Woodwind Society played “Happy Birthday” for Sophie and another lady who was also celebrating her birthday while we were in line for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Lastly, one of the coolest things happened to us when we were visiting Disney during Sophie’s birthday one year. That year, we came home from the parks to find our room had been decorated with a special balloon, birthday card and picture from Minnie Mouse! Sophie was so excited, and so were we!
All of these special touches have added up to some wonderful birthday memories for Sophie and us, and plans for more birthday memories to come!
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Sorry if this seems dumb. I was excited to see a post about this as we are going to Disney World for the first time this Thanksgiving and my son will be turning 4 while we are there. So you put in your article that the “cast member” creates a special birthday button…..what is a cast member?
A cast member is a Disney employee and no it was not a dumb question.
We will be there for my son’s 5th bday in Nov and I am soooo excited! Question, the balloon/card in the room…did you prearrange that? I’ve seen the bday packages that can be ordered from Disney but they are way pricey.
Hey Chrisi! No, we didn’t pre-arrange that, it was done for us, but we only had that happen one time. I think the key was that it happened because I had notified them that we would be there on her birthday before we checked in, and also again when we did check-in. I think that the CM must have put something in the computer about it because of that. Thanks for asking!
You can also contact Disney before you arrive and get their birthday package. For an extra fee, the hotel staff will decorate your room while you are at the park with presents from Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. We had adjoining rooms last trip and they put the boxes throughout the room. There were even white feathers all over the room, so it made it seem like Donald really was in the room. It was great.
What kind of proof do they require when you come for your child’s birthday?
I’ve never shown proof. Disney’s policy is that you can celebrate your birthday as long as you are within six months of your birthday — either before or after! The key is to make sure that you note it at all of your advanced dining reservations.
Does anyone know what, if anything they do for adult birthdays?
We often go in conjuction to one of the kids birthdays (first week in March is a great time for light crowds, Aug to get that last trip in before school and Oct for Not So Scary). And we have loved the little extras that come along with the little button. Sometimes it’s a line skip, sometimes a song played or sung, an autographed picture in the room and one of the best is so many of the CM’s making a point to say “Happy Birthday!”. Such a little thing but it really makes them smile. Although it seems the 16 old liked it best! He got some good pictures with the Princesses, he was waiting with his baby sister when they all ganged up on him. It was so wonderful!
I celebrated my 40th at Disney last October. I was treated with a decorated cupcake and card autographed by the princesses at Akerhaus. I also got the birthday button when we checked in and an autographed picture of Mickey wishing a Happy Birthday. My daughter celebrated her birthday their last summer. She received similar treatment. We were at the Magic Kingdom parades that day and several of the characters wished her a Happy Birthday from the floats-including Tinkerbell which is her favorite. My boys keep asking when they can go for their birthdays and get the special Disney treatment.
Any special occasion you celebrate at WDW the Cast Members will go out of their way to make special. My husband and I went on our honeymoon to WDW and every place we went a cast member would stop us and say Congradulations or when we ate at one of the many resturants we always got a free desert. Last year when we went back for our third anniversary and my sons first visit he was 20 months and my moms birthday we stayed at Pop Century they gave us another room for free! the entire seven days. We also had balloons delivered to our room and a Mickey Mouse for my son. It was just an awesome visit.
We always made a birthday shirt for my niece everytime we went to Disney during her birthday. Also we would stop at the customer relations at the front of the park and got the birthday pins. We would make it a birthday week while we were there. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge for her 5th birthday and the cast member gave her a lanyard with pins, plus 6 extra pins. We had dinner at 1900 park fair and Cinderella and Prince Charming brought her birthday cake out and sung happy birthday to her. One year at Hollywood studios the whole park sung Happy Bday to her before the parade. Sometimes you can ride a ride without getting off, jump the line, special fastpasses, vip seating for fireworks and parades. Even if you’re an adult make sure Disney knows it is your birthday.
We are going in November, it will be the first trip for my kids who are 11 and 14. It also happens to be my husbands birthday. I know the add-ons you can purchase tend to be pricey. I looked into purchasing a celebration cake ($21 for a 6 inch cake) and decided against it since we have free dining that includes dessert. What will they do for an adult birthday for free??
Hey Jo,
Some people have mentioned that they get cupcakes for their adult birthdays just like the kids do, I haven’t experienced an adult birthday at WDW, so I don’t know for myself. Make sure that the Cast Members know when you check in, and also make sure that you get a birthday button as well, with your husbands name written on it. If you go to Hollywood Studios look for one of the Disney Artists inside one of the gift shops and see if they will do the button like they did for my daughters (at the top of the post). It was really cool!
They have really cute birthday mickey ears. I wore them when we went for my birthday in 2009. I also got a button and when we went to 1900 park fare for dinner that night I got a placemat with all the signatures from all the characters that appear there.
Ok this is for the older kids :)
My Sister’s bday, Sept 16th (30th bday), was actually the day we spent our 1st whole day at Magic Kingdom. My mom’s bday was the 21st, so we celebrated hers as well. They both received a birthday button with their names written on them, and managed to swindle one birthday cookie (Mom) and one ice cream dippers container (Sister) for their birthday. By the way you can get free water, just for asking, even if it’s not your bday from the restaraunts around Disney. Woohoo! Also, be prepared to HAPPY BIRTHDAY all day long if you wear the button.