More old school ways

Image: DisneyOkay, you may prefer tweets today (I’m getting to those!), but a couple of other old school ways are still effective for thanking cast members. For starters, you can always call Disney’s Guest Relations phone number. At Walt Disney World, that’s 407-824-4321. At Disneyland, it’s 714-781-7290. You will need to explain why you’re calling and what you hope to accomplish, which is to make sure that the department head, the immediate superior, and the cast member all know what a great job the cast member did.

Alternately, the easiest way I’ve found to leave a cast member compliment is to send an email. At Walt Disney World, you would email [email protected]. At Disneyland, fill out a form here. Remember to be as detailed as possible about your experience. You want the Disney employee to get all possible credit.

The quickest way today

Image: DisneyThe hashtag that you need to know is #CastCompliment. Grab your phone while you’re at Walt Disney World, and pull up Twitter. Then, tweet your compliment using that hashtag. A couple of sites run by Disney cast members collate these tweets. They pass the information along to the applicable worker as well as their leadership team.

When you tweet, remember to name the cast member, the place where you encountered them, and what they did so well. Since I’m verbose, I usually don’t use Twitter for cast member compliments. The 140-character limit is too challenging. If you’re more concise, you can do a full cast member compliment in a matter of seconds.

Image: DisneyAs an aside, you can accentuate the tweet by taking a picture with the cast member. I’m informed that cast members get a kick out of doing this, as long as they get to do it with the theme park tourist. When you merely ask to take a picture of the cast member, they sometimes feel a bit uncomfortable due to the possible creeper vibe. Besides, two smiling faces is better than one, right? When you tweet, add the photo so that the cast member knows exactly whose day they made!

Complimenting a cast member is such a rewarding thing to do. You show gratitude while offering positive reinforcement. The tips listed here are the best ways to offer your thanks. That doesn’t mean these are the only ways, though. If you come up with any special suggestions, feel free to detail them in the comments section!