Gifting Characters and CMs ?

When I was a cast member if someone tried to tip me or give me anything we had to say no three times before we could accept it. This may have changed, but that's how it was in 2004.

Only some positions are tipped and I believe we aren't supposed to take gifts. For the cms who aren't in a tipped role, are supposed to say no three times or if the person forces us to take it then we can.

Aurgh man I wish I knew about the saying no three times thing, I tried to take British snakes for the British cms in Epcot as a care package but they said no so I just kept it.

Awe we were thinking of making a birthday card for Mickey since we'll be there on his birthday

I am glad you asked this..I had wondered the same thing....we have done this on our cruises but wasn't sure if we could for Disney. Such we will be there for the holidays...I wanted to wrap mousekeepings tips up with little gifts?....

I have seen several videos on youtube where people bring the Evil Queen gifts....she gets very excited and opens them....It doesnt show what she does with them...I assume the Handler takes them to carry but I dont know if the EQ actually keeps them personally.

So just a thought....

It's nice to bring gifts, but if everyone brings a gift to a character or to Mousekeeping, they are going to end up with a ton of stuff. And what you think is a great gift, others may just consider to be clutter. I think it's sweet that you want to honor these individuals, but regardless of whether they can accept them or not, I am willing to bet a LOT of these type of items are stored in the trash bin.

I hope I don't sound too harsh, but you are going to put time, effort, and money into these little gifts, and I think sometimes less is more (a few green dollars in an envelope with a mouse sticker on it is probably appreciated as much as a lovely little dust collector!!). I used to have a job where the people I helped would give me a little gift to show their appreciation. Many, many, many times, we politely thanked them, expressed the appropriate ooos and aaahs and then shoved them in an office junk drawer. We appreciated the sentiment, but did not need any more tchotkes in the office. We received just as much satisfaction from a heart felt "Thank you!" and a hand shake or hug (depending on the situation - I don't recommend trying to hug random CMs - may find yourself in Mouse Jail!).

Just my 2 cents. And if you didn't get 2 cents worth, I owe you change!

A guest did leave a purse in the one room saying that they really hated it and my manager told me I could keep it if I wanted to but that was after the guest left. To the roles that can't accept tips, going to guest relations (theme parks and DTD) or front desk and saying you want to recognize a cm would be appreciated a lot more then a gift. I have accepted a card that had pictures on it and saying thanks for all you do since this one family was handing it out to all cms. Don't put a ton of time in them.

I wish more people would do this. Usually the only time people contact managers or head offices is when they have a complaint. As a manager I would LOVE to hear compliments about my staff.

Mandy! I'm glad to hear what you said. When we travel, I almost always leave a bunch of stuff behind that I don't want to pack for the return flight home (gotta fit in those souveneirs!!). Almost full bottles of hair product, lotions, body spray, and so forth. I've also left sunglasses, bags, or things I bought for the trip that I thought I'd like but I didn't when I got there.
I always leave these types of items on the bathroom counter with a note saying something like, "Please help yourself to whatever you'd like and dispose of anything you do not want."
It makes me feel better that these items may have gone to someone who would enjoy them rather than just being tossed out.

I also worked in retail for a long time and I make a point of regularly seeking out a manager or writing a letter to corporate when I have good service. I've also been known to write a nice note on my checks at restaurants for servers who worked hard for us. Retail workers and wait staff are amongst some of the most under appreciated workers in my opinion.

I found this from someone that had asked this question out on yahoo. Someone responded with this and it sounds in line with what is being said.

Tipping of CMs, especially in the Parks, is strongly discouraged, (other than servers in restaurants and mousekeeping). It is much better (from the standpoint of a CM) that you write to

WDW Guest Communications
PO Box 10,040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040

or

Make sure you include the date, time, park or resort (and location) and cast member name from the name tag. The office that gets these can research to see exactly who the Cast Member was, and will send the correspondence, through managerial channels, to the direct supervisor of the CM. Usually a copy will also go in the personnel records.

Often, favorable comments will be read at a pre-opening team meeting.

When i was 8 I took mickey a picture I drew with a letter about how I wanted to be a cartoonist, to my suprise 3 year later he wrote back to me I got some cool how to draw mickey work sheets, the letter said something along the lines of "keep working at your dreams pal' It was cool. I wrote him back last year and told him how I was now a full time illustrator, I am waiting for my reply lol

Awww, that's cool Phil. I'm willing to bet, when it comes to children, the rules go out the window! I can't see any character turning down a gift from a child.

I always leave money with or without gifts..as I agree- money can go a lot farther in a person's world. Last year we wrote several "great job" notes and dropped them off to the office to make sure the Disney employees were given recognition for the great things they do to make our vacation magical. After reading everyone's thoughts, I am inclined to forgo the tips & gifts and just add a few more dollars in the tip envelope.

I'll have to remember to do this on our upcoming trip thanks for sharing the address!

If we have a really great experience I leave one of our "Magical Moment" cards commending them on their work. They can take those and they even get kuddos from management when a guest does something like that. We make a bunch up before we leave for our trip and hand them out when we think a CM has gone over and above.

I just did this the other day. I had a major synchronization problem with My Disney Experience and my passes & reservations and I want's too concerned until I got a notice that we were selected for MAGIC BAND TESTING!!! I had already called to try to get the problem fixed twice and the CM I talked to each time partially fixed the issue, but it still wan't working properly. The third time I called, the CM was fantastic. She was not able to correct the problem immediately, so she promised to call me back when she had it fixed. Not only did she fix the problem, but she actually did call me as well. Unfortunately, I couldn't thank her personally because I missed her call and the caller ID was the general help line number, so I tried sending a general feedback email through the contact us form online. A few days later, I got a call from her supervisor thanking me for contacting them. The cast members really do appreciate when you recognize them and their supervisors are DEFINITELY paying attention to the feedback that you give.

Regardless of how you choose to do it, let's keep up this campaign to recognize magical customer service in a meaningful way. This is a sure-fire way to make sure that the great service continues. Even the most enthusiastic customer service people get run down and depressed when they don't feel appreciated, so let's all do our part to build these great people up!

This is the absolute best way to recognize a CM for appreciation. I heard this same question asked to CM's this trip multiple times and I have written e-mails myself about CM's going above and beyond what they had to do, or what was expected of them. yes go to guest services in the parks or at the resorts and there is a card you can fill out but try to give as much detail as possible.

When I worked for Universal Orlando Resort from May 2012 to August 2013, any time a guest would send in a compliment at Guest Services, you would know about it within a month normally. You would get a thank you letter with a copy of the compliment from the guest and a $5 worth coupon (applause buck) as a reward. Those applause bucks are great for gas cards, eating at the cafeteria, collecting them and buying stuff from a catalog. Honestly, in my year and a half, being there, I received no less than 7 of those. I felt very accomplished because I knew some coworkers who had been there for three years and longer, and only got one. So I did something right. So if you ever go to Universal, and you feel a Team Member did something great for you, please do stop by Guest Services. TMs feel great about themselves and get a small reward.

Now as for Disney CMs, I don't know how that works really. I know that when I worked there, when a Guest would offer compliments, they would receive a letter stating that a guest complimented them. I don't know if they still do that. This was back in 2006. But I would hope that something similar to Universal happens as this definitely is more "worth" it than a small gift. It has monetary value and honestly, the letter that states the compliment is a great gift in itself.

I recently made a point of writing an email to DLP recently about an excellent CM who went over and above to help us out, I feel better knowing that he will get some form of recognition for his efforts.

I like the idea of having some preprinted cards with us on our WDW trip, with a space to write exactly why we are thanking the particular CM. I know when we were last in WDW in 2011 there was a brilliant CM at Guest Services in DAK, he rearranged several ADRs and since we had missed our preferred viewing of Wishes and it wasn't available again before our departure, he arranged for us to have preferred viewing of the evening illuminated parade. I wrote down his details with the intention of emailing/writing in later, but lost the piece of paper before I had chance. So having something immediate that we could give out would be much better.