The rules

There were some unusual rules for those working at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. "When checking people in we had to greet guests with 'Dumela! Welcome home! My name is Mary, how can I assist you today?' We could also never say 'help' - it was 'assist'. 'No problems/worries' is always 'my pleasure'. It sounds silly, but these little things Disney think of make all the difference. As the Lodge is based on Africa we had lots of themed language we had to use but it makes all the difference I think!"

The upsides

There were a number of plus points to working in a Disney hotel, as Mary remembers: "Making guests happy by maybe upgrading their room, sending a gift to the room and even just simple things like giving kids stickers and making a fuss over them. I was also involved in the MagicBand implementation so that was really great to see how it was rolled out.

The downsides

Inevitably, there are some downsides when dealing large numbers of customers. "On some rare occasions, guests were angry and frustrated and we were trying to resolve the situation - but the guest may continue to be angry. I always worked to the best of my ability to resolve the situation and go above and beyond with guest service recovery. It was great if you resolved the situation and the guest was really pleased with the result. "

Tips for visitors

Mary has a few suggestions for those staying at Walt Disney World: "If you put notes on your reservation for any particular things you want/require we will do our hardest to try and fulfill them, it is always worth a quick phone call to request anything for example if you are travelling with other parties and want to be close to them, a certain floor etc. However we only assign reservations five days out which is worth remembering."

"If guests are really nice and chatty at check in Cast Members are more likely to try and get them a free upgrade - I think that’s just human nature of wanting to assist nice people, rather than people who ask straight away for an upgrade. Also, if guests ever need a hand with anything we are always happy to assist there is no request to big!"

Happy memories

Mary's happiest memories of her time at Walt Disney World are of helping guests in tough situations to enjoy their vacations. She recalls: "I checked in a family with a child who had got really sick on the journey down and unfortunately couldn’t go to the parks. He was sad he couldn’t go out as he was really looking forward to visiting the parks."

"I upgraded the family to a room with a great room with a view of the animals, so he wasn’t missing out fully. I also went to the gift shop and bought the child a number of items. I then went to the room and told the child Mickey Mouse had stopped by and even though he didn’t have enough time to come by and say hi he’d heard he was ill and wanted to drop off a few surprises to make him feel better. The child was over the moon."

"Later the parent came down to the from desk and hugged me for making the effort, I love how little things like that can make a difference between a not great holiday due to a sick child to a magical one."

"Another story was when I working in the back office I had a phone call from a guest who unfortunately had a smell in their room. I apologised and upgraded them to another room straight away, he was very grateful and we got chatting due to him. Being English he was shocked to hear an English voice down the phone and found out it was his honeymoon. We chatted some more and he seemed happy by the end of the phone call."

"Whilst he and his wife moved rooms, I called private dining and asked them to send a bottle of champagne and some chocolates. Private dining normally has to have 12 hours to process the order as they get a large number of orders, but I managed to speak to the manager and got the champagne there in the next 15 minutes. The guest called me the next day saying it was a lovely surprise and it had made his and his wife’s night. I actually saw that guest over the next few days of their stay and we chatted a great deal. It’s lovely when you get to know guests and they get to know you."

"Working at Disney, as cheesy as it sounds, was truly magical; I met some amazing people and had some amazing experiences. The amount of training and detail Disney go to is incredible and I truly felt everyone who worked there really cared, I know I did. I would recommend it to anyone, which is strange as before I went to Disney I liked it but wasn’t really bothered. After working there I love it and want to spend years going there with my family when I have one!"

Thanks to Mary for sharing her memories with us. If you'd like to learn more about Cast Members' roles and experiences at Walt Disney World, sign up now to be notified when Creating the Magic: Life as a Disney Cast Member is released.