“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.” James M. Barrie
What Is “Official” Pixie Dust at Disney?
Pixie dust is a customer service concept that abounds at any Disney resort, on Disney cruises and on Disney adventures. It’s a magical little sprinkle of happiness that cast members do to add to the enjoyment of guests’ experience with Disney. Some pixie dusting experiences directly from Disney I’ve hard of and experienced include special treats being given to children who are celebrating a birthday, hotel room upgrades, personalized performance from cast members to help calm an upset child, and cast members replacing a dole whip I dropped because I’m clumsy.
Who Gets Pixie Dust?
Anyone can be a target for a little extra magic and receive pixie dust. There’s no science to it, but often it’s people who are happy go lucky and trying to make the best of any situation. People celebrating life events, people who are ecstatic to be there and have a general “attitude of gratitude”, and people who handle the mishaps of Disney in a positive way tend to receive pixie dust.
Squeaky Wheels Aren’t Guaranteed Pixie Dust
Disney cast members do their absolute best to deal with complaints and concerns in a professional and positive way. They are incredibly accommodating to make sure guests enjoy their time, however, pixie dust doesn’t necessarily follow people who complain, rant and rave about things that don’t go their way. So when things go wrong, which they do from time to time, remember to be respectful and gracious to those who have to deal with the chaos.
Guests Can Pixie Dust Too!
Part of the southern experience is encountering hospitality and kindness from southerners. Hospitality looks different depending on where you go, but one of the most hospitable places on the planet is Disney World. Smiling, waving, welcoming people are everywhere. Cast members in the parks, resorts, stores and restaurants are all incredibly hospitable, and you’ll find that many of the guests are as well.
The simple acts of kindness from Disney cast members have been so so inspiring and impactful that guests who have witnessed or experienced Disney Pixie Dusting have started doing pixie dusting of their own. After all, it is better to give than to receive right? To us, this entire concept feels very akin to southern hospitality, so we of course have joined the pixie dusting ranks!
RAKs and Pixie Dusting
The idea of RAKs (random acts of kindness) isn’t new, and it is something we are seeing more of in our society today. Social media influencers are doing a great job at showing the joy of acting in kindness to strangers. There are entire channels and pages dedicated to RAKs and we love that this idea is spreading in a positive way.
When we go to Disney World, we want to be part of the magical pixie dusting crowd and we know there are tons of other people out there like us who want to do the same! We have found many ways to do this and continue to add to our pixie dusting bag of tricks on every Disney trip we take.
Share Love: Inspire Kindness (Slik)
Several years ago we started a challenge for our church kids to be slik. The goal is to be kind incognito. This goes against our instincts to seek out recognition, but is super fun for families who want to do some pixie dusting. It becomes a secret ops mission to spread happiness.
When Dhubs and I go on vacation, we try to do small acts of kindness to brighten people’s day just because it’s part of our daily life. We like doing nice things for other people no matter where we go on vacation and usually try to be slik when we do so. When we vacation at Disney and put a Disney twist on these random act of kindness, it becomes pixie dusting.
What’s The Point of Pixie Dusting?
Pixie dusting is just spreading joy and being a blessing to others for the sole purpose of brightening a stranger’s day. It can be a grand gesture like purchasing mouse ears or a bubble wand for a kid or it can be as simple as wishing someone Happy Birthday who’s wearing a birthday button. How and what you do is up to you.
Who Deserves Your Pixie Dusting?
There’s a misconception about people’s ability to afford a Disney vacation. Disney is expensive and for some families, it’s literally a once in a lifetime trip they’ve saved to take for years. Some people are there as a last hoorah before they decide to let a terminal illness run it’s course.
Some people get to go because a loved one passed away and left them the funds to do one trip as a way to associate their passing with something better than a funeral. Kids are often able to go for one day with a school band or team group during a competition and have fundraised all year to spend just 1 day at Disney World with their peers.
No Snap Judgements for Pixie Dusting
Yes, there are many families who go on Disney vacations repeatedly and who have the means to do so without it negatively impacting their financial stability. Does that mean their lives are without hardship? Of course not, so no matter what you may think someone’s situation is, your sharing of a little pixie dust will be just appreciated by someone who doesn’t “need” it as it is by someone who does. It may even inspire them to pass your kindness forward in a way that you can’t.
So, to all of our kindred spirits and the wonderful people out there who are Disney adults or Disney families at heart, remember to be kind when you encounter grouchy people in one of the “most magical places on earth”. Their magical vacation may be wrought with grief, stress or sadness mixed with happiness and hope. Remember when you’re in Florida or California, it’s hot, people are tired and your attitude towards other guests and cast members can make or break their experience too.
What Makes a Good Pixie Dusting?
Anything that could bring a little magic to someone else’s day. We often buy churros and cupcakes for people celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. I love handing out cold water bottles, bubble refills, organic fruit snacks, ball caps and kid umbrellas from Target when it was raining. My niece likes handing out coloring books and crayons on the ferry at the end of the day.
We’ve also left extras that we’ve purchased outside our hotel room for others to use when we’re heading home. We tend to over purchase snacks and water, so we often leave these outside the door and post a “Pixie Dusting Post” on one of the Facebook Disney Planning pages to let people know where to find it. It keeps us from wasting it and hopefully saves someone else a few bucks.
Do It Your Way!
Pixie dust doesn’t have to be expensive or specifically from Disney either. We have found so much inspiration through pixie dusting that we’ve started putting together pixie dust packs for people who have booked through Travel Triptastic to go on a Disney destination vacation so they can add the tradition of sharing joy to their vacation with less effort than we tend to put into it. As a travel advisor, this is a form of pixie dusting on its own.
We fill small backpacks with things we have found useful to adults and kids on our Disney vacations. We use small inexpensive backpacks and decorate them with our “Spread Joy and Pixie Dust” decal we make with a Cricut machine. These are not intended to be long term use items, but rather a means for carrying stuff to give away while at Disney.
Pixie Dusting Packs
We fill these backpacks with some great inexpensive items for folks to share with others. Most of the items are found at our local dollar store or big box stores. Other items are handmade by kids in a nonprofit kids artisan group we lead: Jaibird’s Worthy Works
20 Items In The Pixie Dusting Packs
Mickey/Minnie Coloring Book
Mickey/Frozen/Princess Crayons
Mickey themed Matching Cards game
Hair clips and ties
Fidget bracelets
Happy Birthday buttons
Mickey Activity Pack
Mini Disney Tsum Tsums
Princess Tiara
Light Up Sword (kind of like a lightsaber)
Glow Sticks with necklace ribbons
Poncho
Bubbles (sealed so they don’t leak)
Kid sunglasses
Mini battery powered fans
A mini notebook (can be used for autographs)
Stickers
Reusable water bottle (washed)
Handmade friendship bracelets (Jaibird’s Worthy Works)
Kid designed Disney quote bookmarks (Jaibird’s Worth Works)
What Does A Pixie Dusting Pack Cost?
Depending on the items in the bag, it costs around $40.00 to fill a bag. This allows a Pixie Dusting family to spread joy to 10 or more people during their Disney trip. It’s an awesome thing to witness someone’s mental state change because you did something as simple as offering them a little fan or your child offered them a pair of kid’s sunglasses for their little one.
10 Extra Things In Our Personal Pixie Dust Packs
In addition to all the things above, we carry some of the following in our park day packs to share with others.
Cooling towels
Frozen gatorade to give away in the afternoon (it thaws within an hour or two in the parks)
Disney charms
Thank You cards
Blister bandaids
Aloe vera
Organic sunscreen for kids
Disney hand sanitizers (small)
Disney hand wipes
$10.00 Disney gift cards *we use shopkicks to get a $50.00 gift card for Disney, and then break that gift card up into 5 $10.00 gift cards at Disney Springs. This is something we have done for years and will keep doing because it doesn’t cost us a penny, but we still get to bless someone else.
Pixie Dusting for Free or Next To Free
There are great ways you and your family can be pixie dusters without spending hardly anything. Simple acts of kindness are always appreciated and often unintentionally influence people to spread joy in their own journeys. It creates a chain of kindness that can impact many more people than any one person can on their own.
There was a time when our trip to Disney World was at the expense of someone else (thanks mama) and weren’t in a financial position to spend money on anything other than necessities for the trip. That didn’t stop us from spreading joy and pixie dusting others and it doesn’t need to stop you either! Here are some great ways to pixie dust others at little to no cost.
16 Inexpensive Pixie Dusting Options
Congratulate someone wearing a “Celebrating button” on their birthday or being newly weds etc.
Take a photo for someone trying to take a family selfie
Give up your seat on the bus or a bench to someone who looks like they’ve had a rough day
Offer to share your umbrella in the rain
Offer to share spray on sunscreen
Hold someone’s spot in line that has a child who needs to go to the bathroom
Play a game of Heads Up with strangers waiting in line for a ride
Play a game of Eye Spy with people waiting in line at a snack stand
Play rock-paper-scissors with random kids
Compliment people on their Disney shirts/outfits
Give out stickers to kids being patient before the fireworks or waiting on a ride (less than $.02 per sticker when you get a pack of 96 from the Dollar Tree)
Blow bubbles while sitting on a bench for people to catch as they walk through the park
Use your misting fan to cool other people off
Give out pennies for the wishing well or fountains
Grab a few extra park maps and pass them out to people who are struggling to find things
Share knowledge: what restaurants to go to get a cup of ice water for free, where to find rides, how to use the Disney Genie app etc.
What are Big Pixie Dusting Options?
When we have the opportunity to do something huge, we do it. Of course, if you want to go full on Disney dream maker, do it! For us, anything that costs more than $5.00 is a big ticket item. We realize that’s not a huge amount to many people, but to a kid who is giving up 25% of their weekly allowance of $20.00, it’s a lot!
21 Big Ticket Pixie Dusting Options
Pass It Forward: Buy a treat for a future customer at a treat stand in the parks
Disney Snacks: Dole Whip, churro, Mickey ice cream bar, popcorn , soda etc.
Disney Popcorn Bucket
Disney Bubble Wands
Disney Trading Pins
Disney Plushies or Action Figure
Disney Gift Cards
Mouse Ears
Disney Mouse Head Balloons
Disney Bag/Wallet
Disney Action Figure
Disney T-shirt
Disney Hat
Disney Ornament
Disney Art or home decor’ piece
Disney Jewelry
Disney Magnets
Paying for someone’s meal who is celebrating an anniversary or birthday.
Pay for a game of bowling or movie tickets at Disney Springs
Purchase Cirque Du Soleil tickets for someone you meet on your trip
Purchase a family the Amphicar Tour experience in Disney Springs
Pixie Dusting Cast Members
We LOVE Pixie Dusting cast members! These incredible individuals go above and beyond to make sure you have a great time with Disney. No matter what the weather is like, no matter how busy the parks are or how many complaints they have to resolve, cast members are constantly trying to make people smile.
Last year, one of the cast members helped me figure out what mouse ears I wanted for myself and told me the best place to find them. She was planning on getting her daughter a pair, but hadn’t had a chance to because they were always gone by the time she got off work.
We were able to purchase the last two pairs (score!) and give her one pair for her daughter. She was ecstatic and it felt amazing to be able to do something nice for someone who has to be “on” all day long during a time when Disney World was incredibly understaffed. It doesn’t take much to make somebody’s day.
Disney People LOVE Disney
Something to remember is that people who work at Disney most likely love Disney. It’s a hard place to work if you don’t buy into the magic. I’ve talked to a lot of cast members about this and repeatedly they say the same thing, “it’s just nice that someone notices we’re doing our best”. They appreciate the little things like a thank you note and gift card, a Disney snack or Disney gear.
4 No Cost Ways To Pixie Dust Cast Members
Say Thank You for something specific
Cast Member Digital Compliments: Be sure to get your favorite cast members’ names, their hometowns listed on their name tag and where they are working if you are leaving a compliment in the MDE app! Leave compliments for every awesome cast member you encounter in the My Disney Experience app if you can. Scroll to the bottom of your welcome page when you open the app and click on “Cast Compliment” and fill out the form.
Go to Guest Relations and leave the information about the cast member in person
Make a video of them doing a great job or take a pic, get their name and post it on social media and tag it with #. Tweeting works best apparently so the info gets to their leader and placed on their record
5 Other Options to Pixie Dust Cast Members
Ask your favorite cast member what their favorite Disney treat is and find out when their break is. Order their snack at a stand nearby and have it ready for pick up around the time they go on break or get off work. This is a surprisingly big deal to some cast members.
Gift cards to places in the park (restaurants, stores, Starbucks)
Trading Pins
Gratuity for housekeepers, lifeguards, or front desk staff who were super helpful during your resort stay.
Contribute via Venmo to the Cast Member Pantry: This is a charitable organization dedicated to helping cast members in need purchase groceries so that no cast member goes hungry. You can read more about this awesome organization on the Cast Member Pantry Facebook Page
The Dos & Don’ts
There are of course some things to keep in mind about how to do pixie dusting the right way. Rules of social engagement are tricky to navigate for many of us and the way we approach others can make or break an experience like this. Here’s our list of what to do to ensure your pixie dusting attempt is a success!
Always ask a parent’s permission before handing anything to a child
Give age appropriate items: if a toy is for 3 & up- avoid infants and small toddlers
Add a little note or tag so people understand the concept
Avoid items that could pose a choking hazard for children
Avoid gifts that could be offensive (specifically political items)
Approach people calmly and with a smile if you are handing them something
Avoid food treats with allergens or a lot of food dye
Avoid second hand items
When pixie dusting cast members, do so when they aren’t swamped
Always stay close by your child if they are approaching a stranger to give them something
Accept the “no” if someone is uncomfortable
Remember metal items set off the metal detectors in the security line and require a bag search
Be sure batteries are packed with an item that requires them (personal fan for example)
Don’t give anything you wouldn’t want to receive
The Pixie Dusting Wrap Up
We love pixie dusting and hope you find ways to take part in pixie dusting on your next Disney trip. We recognize the blessing we have and share them because being grateful and generous are two of the most important things we can do. Whether it’s something we do during our daily life or while on vacation, it’s important to be generous with our time and our resources.
We also believe that southern culture inherently promotes simple and random acts of kindness and are happy to include any southern destination that thrives on these ideas. So, for those of us who love all things southern, we love that Disney’s created this culture of spreading joy.
If this concept is new to you, we hope this article give you a good starting point for your own pixie dusting tradition. We’re happy to share more information about our pixie dust packs. Reach out through our Contact Us page. If you want to know more about how we ”Do Disney”, check out our Best Disney Planning Tricks & Tips. We hope you experience pixie dust on your next Disney vacation and are blessed with random acts of kindness in your daily life.
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