Walt Disney World has reached a major milestone with Mobile Cast Compliments. This shares that news, plus tips for how to appreciate Cast Members easily via the My Disney Experience app and extensive commentary about why you really should make the effort to praise the Magic Makers. It’s a win-win!
Let’s start with the news. Cast Members at Walt Disney World have received over two million Mobile Cast Compliments submitted by appreciative guests through the My Disney Experience App. This accounts for a total of nearly 2.6 million Cast Compliments across Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort!
If you’ve never submitted a Mobile Cast Compliment before, a ride on Cast Member Andrew Rubin’s musical parking tram might inspire you to do so. During just the first six months of his College Program, Andrew has received over 550 Cast Compliments! “When I get a Cast Compliment, it reminds me that I’m making this parking lot as magical as I can,” said Andrew. “If I can create magic in a parking lot, I can create magic anywhere.”
From singing announcements to creating his own parking-themed versions of Disney songs, Andrew’s passion for creating happiness has also made for some incredible guest moments that are a source of pride for his friends and family.
“Receiving compliments is awesome, but I do this because the guest experience is truly important to me,” he said. “As a parking cast member, I’m the first and last person guests encounter. I get to set the mood and meet the expectations that come with a visit to Disney World.”
Walt Disney World guests aren’t the only ones who take the time to compliment the incredible Walt Disney World Cast Members – they recognize each other, too! Over the last ten years, Disney Cast Members have exchanged nearly six million (!!!) messages of gratitude using RecognizeNow!, a digital tool specifically designed for them.
How to Leave Cast Compliments
The next time a Cast Member makes magic for you, consider recognizing them for the great work they do by leaving a compliment on the My Disney Experience or Disneyland Resort apps. We implore you to do this for the reasons discussed below in the commentary.
To send a compliment, navigate to the bottom of the My Disney Experience app’s menu screen and select the “Cast Compliment” button. Then choose a positive sentiment from the drop-down menu. After that, enter the cast member’s first name, hometown and click submit!
Make sure to spell the cast member’s first name and hometown correctly so the cast member will be alerted, and they can receive their personalized recognition from their leadership at Walt Disney World.
One thing to note is that you do not have to make Cast Compliments in real-time. Many readers have bemoaned the amount of screen time required at Walt Disney World these days, and there’s no need to add to that.
Simply write down or take a photo of the Cast Member’s name tag, and submit Cast Compliments later. You can do it at the end of a long day in the parks, or even after your trip ends. It’s a nice way to relieve the fun memories and magical moments that defined your Walt Disney World vacation!
(As a quick aside, it’s nice to see the number of Cast Compliments received by Andrew above. This confirms to me that the Mobile Cast Compliment actually works and amounts to anything. When this app feature first rolled out, it lacked the specificity it has now, and I was slightly skeptical/cynical about it. This announcement makes clear that Mobile Cast Compliments are every bit as worthwhile and valuable as the old fashioned ones!)
Why You Should Leave Cast Compliments
Cast Compliments are significant for internal recognition and career advancement opportunities within Walt Disney World. They ensure that the Cast Members who are living up to Walt’s legacy and making magic for guests are recognized and promoted, which is exactly what we should all want to see. The cream rise to the top.
For this reason, we’d recommend giving Cast Compliments not just to Cast Members who go above and beyond to add an element of ‘entertainment’ to a mundane experience, but those who deliver more straightforward-but-exemplary guest service. I would hazard a guess that Cast Members like Andrew above and the servers at Whispering Canyon, for example, receive a disproportionate number of Cast Compliments. Ditto the custodial CMs making gorgeous mop art.
Meanwhile, there are far more Cast Members who less visibly (or completely invisibly) ensure you’re having a great experience. Show some appreciation for them, too! We’re not suggesting you make 1,971 Cast Compliments per trip, but even a few would be higher than the average guest and go a long way towards Walt Disney World hitting 3 million Mobile Cast Compliments by 2026. (That should be our goal!)
Cast Compliments are also a nice morale boost and break the cycle of entitlement and negativity.
I speak from indirect experience. Not as a Cast Member, but as a Sandwich Artist. For a few years during high school and the breaks during freshman year of college, I worked at my hometown Subway. On the rare occasions when customers would say something kind to my boss, it absolutely made my day–those people probably had no idea how impactful they were. Customers being kind was positive reinforcement, whereas rudeness was the exact opposite.
To this day, Sandwich Artist is far and away the most demanding job I’ve ever done. (I was also exceptional at it. Apologies for bragging, but to this day I can execute a flawless v-cut and perfectly layer an obscene amount of toppings in a footlong, and do it quickly. I’m easily 99th percentile for sandwich-making skills.)
My experience also taught me that the entitlement people think a $5 footlong bought them was absolutely asinine. I can only imagine how much worse that is with a $5,000+ vacation. This is why I’ve written repeatedly that all Americans should work in a service industry so they “learn” how to treat others.
You wouldn’t think this is something that actually requires learning–that people should just know to treat others with respect because they’re fellow humans and it’s the right thing to do. You would be wrong. Way too many people consider the workers in customer service roles to be “beneath” them.
One thing I’ve noticed over the last few years is that we’ve received more complaints about Cast Members from readers. And you know what, painting with broad strokes, this is accurate. As a whole, guest service is worse now than it was in 2019. But there’s a lot more nuance to it than that.
The labor market is tighter now. This is especially true in Central Florida, which is rapidly growing in terms of employment opportunities in the hospitality industry without a commensurate increase in the labor pool due to a variety of real world factors. This is precisely why the Disney Look was relaxed a few years back–not whatever excuse Disney gave at the time. It needed to happen to help resolve staffing shortages. (It’s the same reason the Yankees are doing it now–so they can lose the World Series to the Dodgers again.)
It was also a rough few years for Cast Members. They were tasked with playing adult babysitters and rule enforcers when health safety protocol was in place. On top of that, think of all the highly unpopular changes made by Walt Disney World. Frontline Cast Members, who made none of those decisions, bore the brunt of ever-increasing guest complaints about those things. Morale was the lowest we’d ever seen it in mid-November 2022, and it has taken time to rebound since then. But thankfully, it has.
At this point, the biggest problem is guest entitlement.
This is not an issue unique to Walt Disney World; entitlement is at an all-time high. We’ve witnessed countless Cast Members subjected to adult meltdowns at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. These happen for any number of reasons, but the underlying reasons mostly relate back to the sense of entitlement at the core of the Disney Parks Pet Peeves post, or the stresses and pressures that many adults feel when going on a Disney vacation.
Many of these rants invoke the cost of the “expensive vacation.” Unsurprisingly so. Guests pay a lot of money and have certain expectations as a result. But I can assure you that Cast Members neither set those prices nor have any control about corresponding policies, attraction maintenance, wait times, Lightning Lane availability, or any number of other things that upset guests.
Again, frontline Cast Members do not make policy–as is probably obvious to anyone reading this. But guests aren’t always as rational in the heat of the moment when they’re “cracking” under the stress of visiting Walt Disney World, Florida weather, etc.
I know this is probably preaching to the choir, but it’s a small miracle that Cast Members are able to deal with belligerent guests while essentially becoming a punching bag. Not only that, but once the unpleasant interaction is over, the Cast Member is expected to resume their role as if nothing happened, putting on a smile and going out of their way to be pleasant to other guests.
If they are simply human and fail to quickly set aside those emotions so it doesn’t negatively affect the experiences of other guests, people take to the internet and complain about Cast Members going downhill. I’ve seen and heard enough to have fully abandoned my dream of a ‘retirement job’ at Walt Disney World. I couldn’t do it. I’ll go back to making sandwiches in comparative peace.
The point of all this is that if Walt Disney World fans want “better” Cast Members, we need to be part of the solution. To help break the cycle of negativity and help cultivate a positive feedback loop instead of a negative one. It’s time to reverse the vicious cycle of lower employee satisfaction and lower guest satisfaction.
Being kind and gracious to Cast Members is one way. If you interact a less than cheerful Cast Member, you can give them the benefit of the doubt. You never know what their last interaction was before you, or what else has happened in their day. One thing our Cast Member friends who have worked in guest relations pride themselves in is their ability to “turn” guests from upset to pleased; we could all embrace that same attitude, in reverse. If not for kindness’s own sake, remember that (selfishly!) you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
Another way is taking a few seconds out of our days at Walt Disney World to give Cast Compliments. Doing so makes a big difference for that Cast Member’s career, and probably has an outsized impact on their morale. You’re probably NOT the audience that needs to hear this–and it’s probably preachy, but I make no apologies for that. This is the right hill to die on. We can all be part of the solution and help Walt Disney World reach 3 million Cast Compliments in record time!
In the wise-words of dearly-departed former CEO Bob Chapek, Cast Members are the “secret sauce” and the key to a great guest experience at Walt Disney World. He said that around 99% of the positive guest feedback he received when running Parks & Resorts was about Cast Members. “You have to make sure the Cast is at the center of everything you do,” Chapek reflected.
We don’t say this very often: Bob Chapek was right. Cast Members are the heart and soul of Disney–the people who breathe life into the parks, making them truly special places.
We can’t point to a single moment or trip that made us lifelong Disney fans. Included among those events were a series of little interactions with Cast Members that left a lasting impression long after our trips were over. We know we’re not alone–the outsized impact of Cast Members is probably why many of you are on this blog in the first place.
The parks wouldn’t be what they are without your hard work and dedication. Cast Members carry the torch of Disney’s legendary guest service are Walt’s most enduring legacy. “You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” Let’s all do our part to help keep that reality alive, and get Cast Members to 3 million Mobile Cast Compliments by 2026!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your thoughts on the Mobile Cast Compliment feature? Will you be using this liberally going forward to appreciate the magic makers who add something special to your Walt Disney World vacations? Thoughts on our commentary or “goal” to reach 3 million Cast Compliments by 2026? Have any magical memories made by Cast Members? Agree that they’re the heart and soul of the Disney magic, and the true stewards of Walt Disney’s legacy? Hearing your feedback is both interesting to us and appreciated by other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
