One of the best lessons I have learned at WDW is to be nice to the Cast Members.The Cast Members always have smiles on their faces and always greet the guests with a friendly greeting.Instead of just a friendly nod or, even worse, speeding on by as you rush to your next ride, take a second to smile back, say something nice, like “What a beautiful day!” as you make your way along.I do this because being polite and acknowledging these hard works and letting them know you appreciate all they do to make Disney World such a magical place is important to me.
However, I must say that being kind can work to your advantage as well.Cast Members often have the ability to make your trip extra special.Many guests have found out special information like the location of Hidden Mickey’s, special events that are going on in the park, and tips, stories, and history lessons about Disney when they have stopped to talk to Cast Members.A friend of mine recently told me that her family and she were walking down Main Street when a Cast Member started up a conversation with them.He asked them where they were from, how many times they had been to WDW, and other such small talk.She said that she was torn between basically blowing him off to continue on track with her 5 kids to their next ride or to stop and chat with the friendly man.She let her manners take over and kept talking to him for a bit before he said goodbye.She said just a few moments later he found them again along their way and told them that he had the honor of choosing the Grand Marshals for the afternoon parade and invited them to be the Grand Marshals that day.In her many, many trips to WDW, it is her favorite memory.
My own Cast Member perk came back in 2007.My brother and I were walking around Adventureland in Magic Kingdom without too much of a plan, we were taking time to enjoy the scenery.A Cast Member was standing along the path and we said hello as we walked by.He asked us if we were enjoying our day and we stopped to say what a wonderful time we were having.He asked if we knew the Pirates of the Caribbean Movies, and since Dead Man’s Chest had just come out, the movies were VERY popular at the time.We told him we were huge fans and that we loved the two movies (that were out at the time) and the ride. He asked us if we had a moment and invited us in a side door to a room with a few other people, no more than ten, waiting to visit with a new character they were trying out.We were so excited to find ourselves meeting Jack Sparrow.He was not in the park at the time, and we had never heard of anyone meeting him before.We had no idea we would get so lucky! The Captain was a perfect replica of Johnny Depp, down to his voice and body movements.Because there were so few people and he was obviously in the practicing stages, he spent a good five minutes with us asking us questions and letting us ask him questions.Needless to say, our Disney fan friends were very jealous when we posted our pictures after our trip and we felt like we had just had a special Disney moment that very few other guests would ever have.
Being nice is always the best way to go, but when it comes to being nice to Disney Cast Members, you never know what a little kindness could get you!
It always pays to be nice!