A Disney World Magical Moment at Oga's Cantina

A Cantina magic moment that left me in tears.

On the last day of our Ohio University class trip to Disney, our final assignment was to share a magic moment from our week. Typically magical moments are shared between a guest and cast member and can be defined as any experience that was made just a bit more special because that cast member went out of their way to create it. In the non-Disney world, these are seen as random acts of kindness. But for Megan and I, we unintentionally created a magical moment as guests for other guests.

We entered Oga’s Cantina and were placed at a standing space along the bar. While looking over the menu trying to decide what to order, I felt a tiny finger poke my arm. I looked down and was greeted by an adorable little girl no older than 10. She gave me a recommendation of what to order off the non-alcoholic drink menu, of course. She told me how delicious it was and that I needed to try it. I laughed, thanked her, and told her I will definitely consider it. Her mom realized that her daughter was talking to us and apologized and told her to leave us alone.

A few moments later, I feel the same tap on my arm again and see the girl smiling up at me. While we were waiting for our drinks, Megan and I started talking to the girl and entertaining each other. Her mom was very apologetic but we told her we didn’t mind one bit. The girl was very fascinated by our pins we wore on lanyards around our necks. We took turns showing her our pins and she showed us hers.

She started telling us her favorite rides and what she did that day. Eventually, her dad came to get her to ride Smugglers Run and she even invited us. We told her as much as we’d love to, we were going to stay at the Cantina. She waved goodbye to us and headed out with her dad while her mom stayed at the bar.

Later in the evening, I accidentally bumped into the little girl’s mom. I turned to her and apologized and she said, “Are you kidding me? You just entertained my daughter for what felt like hours. You are totally fine.” Megan and I started chatting with the mom and complimenting her daughter on how cute and outgoing she was. Her mom laughed a little bit and said that actually, she’s not outgoing at all. She further explained that her daughter is on the autism spectrum and while she’s high functioning, she usually has social anxiety and doesn’t interact with many people, especially people she doesn’t know. Her mom started tearing up and thanking us because she’d never seen her daughter interact with people the way she interacted with us. She told us we truly made her daughter’s night and it was even more special for her, as a parent, to watch.

When I left the Cantina that night, my heart felt so overjoyed to know what an impact I had made on a complete stranger's life. It was at that moment that I realized what Disney is all about. We get called childish when we say we're “Disney adults” but to us, Disney is a place to embrace your inner child and be who you are because you’re never too old for the magic. Disney put Megan and I, a couple of girls in our early 20s, on the same level as an elementary school girl. That gave that little girl the confidence to talk to us because she saw we had something in common: our love for Disney.

If this ever reaches the mother of this little girl from our December 2019 trip, I just want you to know how much of an impact that interaction has left on our lives. We’re still talking about it today and using it as our Disney Magical Moment.