Donald was by far my best friend on my college program and one of my favorite places to hang out with him was at the Mexico Pavilion in Epcot. Not only did I get to experience some pretty interesting people there with him, I also got to take extra time with the guests there since there was hardly ever a substantial line waiting to meet him. Here now are just a few short stories of the most memorable times I have ever spent with him.
1. First, if you don't know already, there's a challenge by Epcot fans to have at least one drink in every country. While a lot of people would start at the Tequila tasting bar in Mexico, some guests would start in Canada so by the time they got to Mexico they were fairly wasted. Donald got to see some of those people and they were usually a source amusement for him. One time a lady who had been holding an alcohol drink approached, and you are not allowed to be near a character with any form of drink by Disney policy, so Donald politely gestured for her to set it down. However, this particular woman was out of her mind drunk. She thought that he was trying to take the drink for himself and started screaming "YOU CAN'T HAVE MY DRINK! YOU CAN'T HAVE MY DRINK!" while running away from him and her family towards the forbidden backstage area. Her husband and Donald's character attendant ran after her to try and explain that he wasn't trying to take away her drink from her. Eventually she came back to take the picture with Donald and the rest of her family, but I don't think believed them entirely about the drink because when she walked away she called him a "filthy drunk duck."
2. One of the best things you can do to make a character's day is show them how much you love them. Donald is probably the most cocky duck out there so all you really have to do to make his day is show and tell him that you think he's number one (as he writes in ALL of his autographs). One guest took it a bit further than just telling him they love him. Not only was the little girl decked out in Donald Duck clothes (and possibly a hat but I cannot remember exactly what she wore), but she also showed him her Magicband that had her name as Mrs. Duck. It takes a great amount of effort to have your Magicband's name to be labeled as Mrs. Duck so of course Donald was very impressed. So impressed, in fact, that he tried to take the adorable little girl home with him. Too bad he was stopped by his attendant. :(
3. Later on I will go further in depth about the amazing experiences I had with Make a Wish children, but this one story is just a sample of what it was like to meet them. Make a Wish kids always have priority when it comes to meeting characters so they seldom have to wait more than a few minutes to meet the characters. One particular family comes to mind because while not all families were very appreciative of their trip nor respectful of their ill children, this family had the most interesting approach to their clearly visible child. Their little boy, could not be older than 5 years old, was in a wheelchair and had a few tubes sticking out from him. The poor little boy seemed like he was not all the way there judging by his very blank expression. However, that didn't stop his brothers and parents from pushing him towards Donald because he was his favorite. The brothers were very helpful and loving saying "look at him! He's really Donald! He's so soft! Feel him!" while grabbing Donalds hand to try to him to touch him. Donald getting the quoue from the family's love towards the little boy, he grabs the boy's hand and kisses it and the boy smiled!! It was the reaction of his mother (she started crying) that made him tear up and spent a lot of extra time with the little boy and his brother. It was then he learned that the boy had a very large brain tumor and had been fighting the battle for more than a year which left him terminally ill and partially brain dead which is why he had that blank expression on his face. While the boy only had a few more weeks to live, they made a wish to see him smile again, since he hadn't before the surgery that left him expressionless. "What better place to take him than the place where magic is real and miracles happen?" After the family left, Donald had to excuse himself while he tried to compose himself after hearing the little boy's story.
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