How is family of the day chosen?

[betsy918]

I'm just curious..How is the "Family of the Day" (first family onboard) chosen, and do they know about it before check-in?

 

[ppiew]

don't know about now but it used to be during or slightly after check in but obviously b4 boarding the ship (because they are first!!)

 

[jilljill]

Only DCL knows how they choose the family of the day. They are told about it at check in.

 

[kcashner]

We asked how it happens. We were told (by CM at terminal) that one of the CMs doing check in is randomly chosen each embarkation day as the one who will choose the family. They select one family who comes to their station before 11:35 (so they are briefed and ready when boarding starts at 11:45). There are no standards for choosing the family--it can be anyone that the particular CM thinks would like it. If a family declines (WHY?) the CM will choose another.

So...early check in, usually a family with a couple cute kids, often in matching t-shirts or other memorable clothing.

 

[Feistygirl916]

Ooh, I want to "win" this!

 

[3princessMommy]

We were chosen for the inaugural Baltic cruise. They told us that they chose us because our daughters were entertaining each other by giving their baby sister a ride around the terminal on their carry-on wheeled luggage. They thought it was cute!

They just came up to us while we were sitting waiting for boarding to start and asked us if we'd like to be first. Of course, we said yes! Unfortunately, we weren't actually the first ones on the ship. We got stopped at the photo spot - and with five of us, it's like herding cats. The family behind us only had two people and skipped the photos. So they were announced onboard first.

Oh well - we had folks stop us during the whole cruise telling us they had seen our daughters and how cute they were boarding first. And it was nice to get to start our vacation early - and our magical moments certificate is the first page of our scrap book!

 

[MrsMas]

Are there any other perks of being Family of the Day besides getting to be the first on the ship?

 

[ktjl92]

It sounds a lot like what we do (well, did in my case) as cast members at the parks to pick the first family for a particular attraction (Kilimanjaro Safari for me). One of us was tasked with going to the front of the park prior to rope drop and you just start talking to folks - hi, how are you, what are you hoping to do today, etc. And when you find someone willing to give you the time of day, you ask them if they're interested in being first family.

It's a fun job and a great way to start your (often very long) day.

 

[luvdmouse]

We just went on the dream in January. We were not selected as the family of the day since we checked in at the airport. We were the first "normal" family to board after the first family. The family of the day showed no excitement about being selected. We were standing right behind the CM at the rope. The CM told we were definitely more excited than the family of the day! As we boarded the empty ship, we felt like the family of the day!

 

[kmitchel]

I've always wondered how they were picked! I've seen some REALLY enthusiastic families and some that looked bored!

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

We were chosen as the Family of the Day for our Med cruise! We were at the port pretty early, I think 10 -10:30ish, but we were not the first there.

I was in line to sign the kids up for the clubs when a man approached me and said they were looking for the family of the day and were wondering if we would like the honor. He took our name and said we would be the first to board, so to listen for our name to be called.

While we were in line to have pics with Mickey a very sweet CM came up to us and told us she had chosen us because my kids were so cute and excited. We all had our Mickey shirts on and my daughter had her Disney Girl Doll dressed in her Minnie costume...I think all of these things helped.

We were the literally the first on and it was such a cool experience. We were also presented with a Family of the Day certificate with our name on it when we boarded and we were announced. My kids felt like rock stars. We got pictures of the Mickey Pool with NO ONE IN IT. Then our kids were the first in.

We did not hear anything about it again during the cruise though. We didn't care. It was a great start to our amazing vacation of a lifetime!

 

[HartNSoul76]

It sounds a lot like what we do (well, did in my case) as cast members at the parks to pick the first family for a particular attraction (Kilimanjaro Safari for me). One of us was tasked with going to the front of the park prior to rope drop and you just start talking to folks - hi, how are you, what are you hoping to do today, etc. And when you find someone willing to give you the time of day, you ask them if they're interested in being first family.

It's a fun job and a great way to start your (often very long) day.

Off topic a little but you sound like the answer would be yes ... do you like working for disney? I have a friend who was thinking of applying in CA and wanted to know what actual CM thought?

I always wanted to be the one chosen to pull excaliber out of the stone but never have maybe someday it will be one of my girls Have a Magical Day!

 

[cadeesmom]

We were chosen on January 28 for the Eastern Caribbean. We were among the first at the port (totally a freak thing, too! Weren't supposed to be on the early shuttle because we checked in to CI&S around 2 am that morning. We literally found out they could accommodate our family on the Carnival Dream shuttle about 15 minutes before it departed. Talk about throwing some things in a suitcase in a hurry!). Anyway, we got there and went to check in and a CM approached us and started a conversation with us. This CM was not who checked us in, but one who was guiding people into the line. She informed us we were Family of the Day and took us back to the Platinum Castaway Club lounge, where we had a reserved table with coloring pages for the kids. We also got to check in for kids clubs here. A few minutes later we got to meet Mickey AND Minnie when they were doing the character switch. After that, we were taken back to get our embarkation picture taken then we were introduced to the terminal. I'm not sure how anyone wasn't over the moon after getting chosen...it was one of the best moments of my life. Truly "magical."

After getting on the boat and going to guest services to book Tea with Alice, we were informed that we had been randomly chosen as Family of the Week! Two amazing experiences on one cruise. We did buy a lottery picture after getting off the ship....the luck didn't transfer!

 

[NWmom]

I always wanted to be the one chosen to pull excaliber out of the stone but never have maybe someday it will be one of my girls Have a Magical Day!

My son got to do this for his 6th birthday. It was perfect as we had been studying castles and knights that year as well.
NW

 

[Elfinjojo]

We were chosen as family of the day on the magic Christmas cruise. We put it own to the fact that the four of us turned up a the terminal wearing funky christmas Disney hats that we bought at Disneyland Paris a month before. I wore Minnie ears that were red with White spots and holly in the middle, DH wore a Santa hat with huge stitch ears, DD wore a Santa hat with Mickey ears and flashing snowflakes and DS wore an elf type hat with long goofy ears! I guess we looked pretty excited about our trip.

We checked in asl normal and as we left the desk a lovely CM called Michael introduced himself, asked us how we were, admired our hats and declared us FOTD. He explained that once we had checked the kids into the kids club program, we were to have our photo with Mickey and Minnie in front of the model and then we would be waiting in concierge lounge.(no one else got the double character photo)
after a short while we were taken thru a secret door to have our kttw cards swiped as the first official guests, have our photo taken and then waited to open general boarding. Concierge guests get to enter the ship before we do but with out the pomp and circumstance

Once we were announced to the terminal as FOTD we were then lead on board and announced as the family of the day to an almost empty atrium lol the CMs present were great. We too got a certificate and apart from being recognised onboard for the rest of the day(due to the hats lol) nothing more was done/said for the rest of the week.

Such fun

 

[Melissa S]

Still wondering how the family is chosen. While we were waiting to check in the morning of our cruise I looked around to try to guess who the family of the day would be. There were so many people in festive outfits. Whole families with matching outfits. Cool homemade tee shirts, etc. After check in we were waiting to board and noticed a family being escorted by a crew member. They were dressed like the just rolled out of bed. They did not wear anything festive or from Disney. The WHOLE time they complained that they "didn't want to do this". The mom was especially annoyed because she doesn't like to be the center of attention.

The funny part was that our boarding number was 3 and we boarded before them! The whole time my husband and I thought choosing that family was such a waste. This Magical Moment was wasted on people that didn't appreciate it. Another family would have been thrilled to have that honor. I'm not saying everyone has to go crazy wearing Disney themed outfits- we didn't. But it's very easy from a Cast Member to choose a family that would appreciate it by simply looking at how much effort they put into their festive outfits or homemade tee shirts or even their level of excitment.

 

[jlwhitney]

Still wondering how the family is chosen. While we were waiting to check in the morning of our cruise I looked around to try to guess who the family of the day would be. There were so many people in festive outfits. Whole families with matching outfits. Cool homemade tee shirts, etc. After check in we were waiting to board and noticed a family being escorted by a crew member. They were dressed like the just rolled out of bed. They did not wear anything festive or from Disney. The WHOLE time they complained that they "didn't want to do this". The mom was especially annoyed because she doesn't like to be the center of attention.

The funny part was that our boarding number was 3 and we boarded before them! The whole time my husband and I thought choosing that family was such a waste. This Magical Moment was wasted on people that didn't appreciate it. Another family would have been thrilled to have that honor. I'm not saying everyone has to go crazy wearing Disney themed outfits- we didn't. But it's very easy from a Cast Member to choose a family that would appreciate it by simply looking at how much effort they put into their festive outfits or homemade tee shirts or even their level of excitment.

Are you sure the family you saw was the family of the day? They always annouce it over the speakers and such and board first.

 

[Melissa S]

They were. I asked the Cast Member since they were standing right next to us and then attempted to congratulate the family. This is where I heard them say they didn't want to do it and didn't like the center of attention, etc. There was a miscommunication because the headsets weren't working and thus they didn't board first. They realized this as we (and quite a few people) were boarding and the first family was not.