Who was the best/worst cast member you ever came across

[pink]

Best- The CM who had the whole line sing Happy Birthday to my mom at the TSM ride and read my mom's name off her birthday pin to know who to sing to and yet, to this day, my brother still believes he was "magic" and just knew her name.

Worst- Probally the one who made fun of me waiting to load Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I wasn't feeling well that day and was holding my stomach (I'm not well often because of my condition) and the CM said to my brother (who I am waiting with) well she is going to be fun to ride with, she is sick already and rolled his eyes. I don't know if he was joking or not but it still annoyed me. :mickey:

[faline]

Best - on one trip, my daughter developed an ear infection and fever. We needed to be seen at a clinic and didn't have a car with us. A cast member drove us to the clinic, and even though it was his lunch break time, waited at the clinic with us until my daughter was seen. He even gave my daughter a pin not available to the general public. We were scheduled to fly home the next day but the doctor said my daughter could not fly until 48 hours later which meant another day at Disney with no reservation. The cast member who waited with us at the clinic, drove us back to our resort cabin (We were staying at Fort Wilderness). By time we called the front desk to inquire about an additional night, the front desk had aleady been informed about our need and had already made arragement for us to remain in the cabin for one additional night! This was a number of years ago. I've never forgotten the cast member who brought us to the clinic or the wonderful person at the front desk who extended our stay. Upon our return home, I wrote a letter to Disney praising both of these folks and received a lovely letter in return.

Worst - fortunately I don't have many to speak about here. The only one who comes to mind right now was a woman at Carousel of Progress who was rude and sarcastic when I got turned in the wrong direction and was heading to an incorrect location to load on the ride.

[kakn7294]

The best is my "adopted" little sister Jessica who works at the parks! I miss her terribly and can't wait to see her again!

[mom2morgan]

Best - Bus Driver who went out of her way to get us to Chef Mickey's on time after my son had totally sabotaged our morning. She asked the other passengers if they minded her stopping at the Contemporary to drop us off!

Worst - the bus driver who yelled at me for trying to cut through an area I wasn't supposed to go. He was RIGHT, by the way - but I was confused and made an honest mistake, and he was really pretty nasty.

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

Best-the CM who took my 4 year old and 7 week old nephews and my sis & I in the back way to the Great Movie ride so sis & baby didn't have to go through the whole line.
And the front desk/security people at the Dolphin who offered to take us to the medical center when my other nephew was sick and then sent him and his brother up little stuffed dolphins.
Worst-the bus driver who had the wrong resort listed on the front of his bus and we ended up going to the S&D, but we were actually staying at POFQ. When my other sis pointed this out to him, he said, and I quote "tough"! And we were not the only ones who were confused by his signs on the bus. Luckily sis called transportation and they rerouted us to POFQ. No apology from the bus driver, just sullen silence.

[Morpheous]

Funny I was talking about this with family just recently...

Best: We had gone to the Concourse Steak House at the Contemporary for breakfast. My Grandma who is an especially picky eater wanted a specific meal but with smaller portions of something which they didn't offer. Our waiter who was an extremely nice man from Morocco, when she asked if he could possibly do something like that instead. He smiled and said "This is Disney World we'll do everything we can to make sure your stay is perfect!" and he brought her exactly what she wanted.

Worst: Unfortunately later during that same trip we went to the Concourse Steakhouse for breakfast again and Grandma asked this very unpleasant and VERY grumpy woman for the same thing she had asked just a day or two ago. The Woman gave her the nastiest look and said "Is that what's on the menu? No? Then no I won't do that for you." and acted like we were clearly wasting her time. The woman did not receive a generous tip.


I am very happy to say that on our trips to both Disneyland and Disney World the majority of our encounters with Cast Members has been positive! :)

[joanna71985]

Best- I've had so many great encounters with CMs. But one of my favorites happened a couple of years ago, on my birthday. I was at the Studios, and I was asking a CM at the Indiana Jones show questions about the best way to try to get picked as an extra. He went one step further then just answering the questions, and put me in the VIP seating area! And the best part is, all his suggestions worked. I was able to get picked as an extra, the "casting director" had the audience wish me a Happy Birthday, and after the show I got my picture with Indy and Marion. Such a great birthday!

Worst- don't have any

[c&d]

Best, the bus driver who pulled out of the bus stop and stopped once the bus was loaded so another CM could pick up the lens cap that I dropped. It fell off on my way into the bus and I just said forget it, but they didn't.

Worst, CM who served us at
Concourse Steak house. Walked by the table and dropped the steak knives on it. I just received my appetizer when she came by with my main course and then when dessert time came, she never cleared any plates from our table. We just stacked them up.

[diz_girl]

Worst, CM who served us at Concourse Steak house. Walked by the table and dropped the steak knives on it. I just received my appetizer when she came by with my main course and then when dessert time came, she never cleared any plates from our table. We just stacked them up.

It sounds like you and Morpheous may have had the same waitress at the Concourse Steak House.

[Scott C]

Best and worse -- the Chinese Jungle Cruise Skipper who could not speak English.

Thanks
Scott C

[Fangorn]

I've posted this before (a little over 2 years ago), but the best CM experience has to be the one described in this letter I sent to WDW management:



WDW management,

I want to take the opportunity to make you aware of the fantastic experience our family had at ‘Ohana on Sunday, September 30, 2007, and to praise two of your Cast Members – Patrick McNally and Chef Greg Chase. These two gentlemen went way beyond exceptional and provided, without a doubt, the absolute best Disney experience we have ever had.

A bit of background so you can understand the significance of what Patrick and Greg did.
My wife and I have visited WDW many times in the past 10 years and we’ve experienced the Disney magic before in many small ways. On this trip, we were accompanying our daughter, her husband and his parents. It was the first trip to WDW for our son-in-law’s parents and his second trip. The parents do not go out to dinner much, aren’t particular adventuresome and generally don’t do well with new things. They only agreed to come on the trip if my wife and I would go along to act as tour guides, and right up until they got on the plane they were trying to figure out how to get out of it. They just couldn’t understand the point of going to WDW. They’d been to Disneyland, that was enough.

The trip was a good one. The parents commented that they’d had a really good time and were glad they’d come. They didn’t figure they’d ever come back, but it was a great time. That was before we went to ‘Ohana on our last night. Knowing that they didn’t get out much, we had all along planned on treating everyone to a special dinner. ‘Ohana seemed like the perfect place.

Back to Patrick and Greg

Patrick was our server for the evening and he was wonderful. He was warm, witty, and engaging. He even got the in-laws to participate in the banter (something they never do). We were seated in the perfect table. In the corner, facing the Magic Kingdom. We didn’t realize it, but there was a Halloween Party that night and we were just finishing our meal as the fireworks started. Wonderful. Patrick was amazing as a server – we never lacked for anything, and he provided a fun dialog all evening long. Everyone at the table commented about how much they enjoyed the meal. Not just the food, but Patrick as well. At one point our son-in-law, who had purchased one of those electronic reader board pins at Fantasmic the night before, programmed it to read “Patrick Rocks”. When Patrick saw it, he just beamed and said he needed to borrow it for a minute. Our son-in-law gave it to him and Patrick scampered away.

A couple of minutes later, Chef Greg came storming out of the kitchen and headed toward our table. As he approached, we noticed that he was holding the pin. His first words were “look, Patrick has a big enough ego as it is, we don’t need you feeding it anymore”. We all cracked up! That started a conversation with Chef Greg that went off and on for the rest of the evening. He talked with us about the food, the recipes (which he gave us copies of), the Food and Wine Festival, and of course Patrick. Chef Greg even brought us a trio of non-‘Ohana desserts for us to sample. All the while, Patrick is continuing to meet our every need, and provide more good humor to the conversation.

The net result of all this was that our daughter’s in-laws were absolutely blown away – as were we all. The quote was “this is the best dinner I have ever had. Probably ever will have.” The care, attention and magic that these two guys gave to us, MADE the entire trip. Two weeks later, we’re still talking about the experience.

The Disney Company should be proud to have Patrick McNally and Chef Greg J. Chase as part of the organization. It is cast members like these two that provide the magic of Disney and make people want to return. By the way, the in-laws are now talking about that possibility, and we will be returning in May.

Our thanks to Greg and Patrick for the experience. It may have all been in a night’s work, but they left an indelible memory. Please express our gratitude to them both



The worst would be the housekeeping manager at ASMu who, after a series of less than acceptable events over several days, claimed he had personally inspected our room to assure that it met standards. Despite the fact that as he was telling us this, one bed was completely unmade and there were dirty towels in a heap on the floor. The GM ended up reducing our bill to almost nothing.


Steve

[ransam]

The best is hard, because there are so many....there's a bus driver who came to get us when we got lost at the boardwalk late at night and asked a CM how to get back to the all-star music resort. a bus driver who turned off his light and took us directly from the animal kingdom lodge to the pop century so i wouldnt' have to transfer w/ my evc. a waitress at Tony's who was able to get my sister to stop crying by making her laughat her stupid jokes. a young man who took my mom by the hand and led her off the snow white ride when it broke down and we were on it.
so yea, that's hard. I've noticed that not only the cm's, but people in general are always so much nicer at Disney. It's kind of a culture shock to come back home.

the worse was last chritmas. I was at the bus stop at Downtown Disney. i was going to just go check out some of the decorations at other resorts. i was the only one in line for one of them, i honestly don't remember which one, and a bus came, and the bus driver asked me if i was staying ther, and i told him no, i was at the pop century, and he said he couldn't take me then. I kind of argued w/ him why not, and then a lady came up, i guess she was like the organizer of the busses, and she started telling me to go to the Pop line. I was telling them, i dind't want to go there...but they wouldnt' listen. i'm sure they misunderstood what i was trying to do, but they were very rude, and wouldn't let me explain. the lady even yelled at me as i was walking away "good, we didn't want to take you anyway".

[lettripp]

The worst cast member I ever encountered was an older woman working on the Honey I Shrunk the Audience attraction who yelled, in English, at a group of non-English speaking individuals and then snarled about them while they were standing in front of her. Not very Disney at all!!!!

The best cast member my family ever encountered was working in the The Land pavilion on New Years Eve. Even with all of the craziness around, he took the time to talk to my mom and even gave her a graduation pin because she told him 2 of us were graduating that year. It was so nice to see that good CMs don't get bogged down by crazy atmospheres!!

[snowflakegirl]

Best -- I've had many, many wonderful experiences with Cast Members of the years of visits, but for some reason, this is the one that popped into my head when I read this thread. In 2002 my parents offered to send me somewhere for my 21st birthday present. Being the Disney fanatic that I am, I decided I wanted to go to Disney World and a friend who was more like family who had never been decided that she would come with me. While there we met a college program cast member named Meg who was working in Tomorrowland running the queue and doors for Alien Adventure. It was our first day in the theme parks and I had been extolling Disney's CMs and attention to detail and somehow we struck up a conversation with Meg. She was fantastic. Made a long wait seem nearly quick and ended up letting my friend and I push the buttons to open the doors. We took our pictures with Meg and exchanged an email address so that we could send her a copy of the pictures. A few days later we ran into her again after a mishap where someone had run into us, knocking our drinks all over the cookbook I'd just purchased. Meg helped us get a new cookbook and new drinks and was just generally pleasant and cheerful. Made what would have been an annoyance seem like a good experience. After we got back and I e-mailed her the pictures, she and I actually kept in contact for a few months.

Worst -- Thankfully there are very few that pop into my head for worst experiences. I would have to say the experience I had with a CM at guest services at the Animal Kingdom in 2005 would probably be the worst. She was rude, sighing deeply at anything we said, speaking sharply, and made it very difficult to deal with the fact that my friend had realized she'd forgotten to pick something up at Epcot the previous day at package pickup. There wasn't a line at guest relations, it wasn't busy, we weren't taking her away from dealing with anyone else. But from the second we began speaking with her, it felt clear that she would rather be doing anything else but helping us. Eventually another cast member came over, and gave my friend the phone and said that she would dial Epcot's package pickup for her because it was a simple problem and we would be able to solve it quickly (mind you, we'd been with the first cast member for 15 minutes at this point). It took less than 5 minutes on the phone with package pickup at Epcot for them to locate the package and arrange to send it to the pickup at DHS which was where we would be the next day.

[mouseketeer mom]

BEST-Allison from IPO. The night before we were supposed to leave for WDW, plans changed, and we were able to make our trip longer. This required scrambling on our part. (airline, hotel, ME you name it)..Allison stayed on the phone with me until after 11pm (she was supposed to go home at 10pm)..she made sure every little detail was handled. In such a happy, amazing way. I called the next day to let management know how amazing and helpful she was. She also told me that night she put us in a special room with a wonderful view. She sure did. Front and center facing the castle at the Poly. Allison received Kudos from management and actually called us during our trip and came to our room to thank us, and meet us.
Worst-During YOAMD, an elderly cast member stopped us to say, right in the spot we were standing, 5 mins earlier, he gave away the stay in Cinderellas castle, too bad, could've been us. My kids were devastated, as my one daughter asked to ride Buzz one more time, and she was young and thought it was "her fault" we weren't in that spot 5 mins sooner. That was awful. Why stop us to tell us that?????

[MissMaryPoppins]

My family and I have encountered many wonderful cast members over the years. One of my favorites is a waitress we've had twice at the Brown Derby. I think her name was Mei. She was funny and very sweet. She kept walking by our table and saying random, funny things to us. The second time we had her we told she had waited on us before and that we really enjoyed having her as her waitress. She was so happy that we remembered her and was just as sweet and helpful as the time before. It also helped that she told us we were all beautiful! haha

I can only remember one negative experience with a cast member in all the times I've been there. My best friend's favorite book is "Alice in Wonderland" and I wanted to get her something special with Alice on it. I had mentioned it to my family and my brother found a watch on Main Street and took me to see it. I knew she loved it, it was cute and came in a cool box. I asked a castmember to see it and asked the price. He said "It's expensive". That immediately ticked me off. So I asked him exactly how much "expensive" was. He told me and I said I'd take it. Once I took out my debit card he got really nice to me which just irritated me more. I think he did that because I look young and he might have thought I was just wasting his time, but that doesn't make it right either.

[bxrluv]

We just returned and it's so hard to say because there are so many who are so wonderful. I think when the bus drivers are, though, it really takes a lot of stress off especially at the end of the day and we had one of those who was so entertaining all the way back from DHS to POFQ. He said he was guest starring from his usual roll as an Animal Kingdom driver. The wonderful ones are why it's so shocking when you come in contact with a nasty one.

My Dad was trying to find a bathroom before Spectro under the train station and was having a hard time due to a slightly embarassing issue. According to him, the CM was quite rude about directing him to the bathroom. My dad was so mad, that I found out the next day he dropped a not so magical bomb the CM's way. I told him that he really should have just gone to guest services :blush:

[magicalmom]

Best: DD1 was three, and on her first trip to WDW. Her dad took her down to meet Donald in front of the the Mexico pavilion. They stood in line for a while, watching Donald interact with other kids, and, just when DD was at the front of the line, the CM escort said Donald needed to take a break and would be right back. Of course, three-year-olds don't know from breaks, all DD knew was that it was her turn, and Donald walked away from her, so she dissolved into tears. Donald stopped the other CM, turned around, came back and took a picture with her, and in her autograph book, wrote "Dear Allie, don't cry. I love you. Donald Duck" It still makes me all sniffly.

Worst. I don't have one. Seriously.

[DVC2004]

Best- a sweet Cinderella who appraoched my boys when they were very small. They were too shy to go to her so she came to them, gave them some extra special attention and lots of kisses! She really made a special moment for us!

Worst- A CM at the CR. I was very sick with a stomach bug and stayed in while DH took the kids to dinner and Fantasmic. My oldest got sick at dinner and my DH rushed back to CR in the rental car to bring him back to stay with me while still trying to make it to Fantasmic with my youngest. He parked at Valet and was urgently trying to get my son out of the seatbelt before he threw up again. The vlaet or bellman or whoever the CM was was arguing with myt husband over the fact he insisted would have to park the car if DH planned on running up to our room- just then my son threw up all over the backseat and floor. My DH wa mad because he had been telling him- how do I know you'll be right back and even mentioned a TIP! He said Oh everyone says they'll be right back...then when my son got sick he quietly apologized and offered to get it cleaned up.

[biodtl]

The best - there are two - our server at WCC who was wonderful - I know that's their job, but she was above & beyond. Not only was she a good server, but she had my kids laughing and playing along with her antics. And when she found out it was our anniversary, she brought us champagne and strawberries. The other best would be the travel specialist (Audra) our trip was booked through. When I got a terribly rude & mean CM when i called to make ADRs (and I mean MEAN - she stopped just short of calling me stupid and refused to answer simple questions). I spoke with Audra and she said she'd take care of it. And not only did she help get is what we needed, when we checked into our rooms, there were awesome Halloween treats waiting for us!

The worst would either be the horrible CM I just mentioned or the CM in Epcot who - upon seeing DD (then 4) dressed in Belle's blue & white dress - thought she was Alice. Easy mistake. But when DD said no she was Belle - the CM said (rudely - no in a joking manner). Ewww...Alice is better! My little Belle-loving DD cried.

[Ms. Mode]

Best: The CM working the late shift at CBR January 2010 (the last night of our trip) who gave me a Soar'n pin because I couldn't find one to trade for, he had been asking me what pins I was still looking for and when I told he said, "Good Luck" and about 15 minutes later as we were getting ready to head back to our room he came up to me and said, "Here you go" and handed me the pin. I asked if he wanted one of the pins I had, he said, "Nope, this is a gift" :mickey:

[jyln6]

Best- My son was 4 yrs old and I was travelling with my parents as well. It was late in the evening and we were getting on the monorail to head back to the Poly. A CM got on and sat down and kept looking up at my son who was twirling around those light up things from the parade. My son was in his stroller and my dad was standing behind him. He kept looking at my son and smiling and then he'd look down and was scribbling something on his clipboard that he had. On one of the stops, the CM got up and just handed my son the paper and winked. He got off and we looked down at the paper and it was a caricature drawing of my son with that light up toy and my dad standing behind him. It was great and so special.

Worst - none that I can think of.

[MarknTara]

Best - There've been so many wonderful CMs in the times I've been to Disney, from the CM at Splash Mountain who helped me and my mom find Hidden Mickeys on the ride to the CM at the Haunted Mansion who kept sneaking up behind me to scare me (and remembered me when we came back an hour later and got me again in the stretching room!) However, the one that I remember the most was a street performer in Italy (Epcot). We were there with my parents and my baby brother. It had been a really hot day, and my brother was getting tired and cranky. He was crying and we couldn't calm him down. We were really upset because we were thinking we'd have to take him back to the hotel and miss an afternoon of Disney fun. However, just as we were deciding this, a mime came up to my brother. Without saying a word, she wagged her finger at him. This quieted my brother. Then, she proceeded to calm him down and even make him smile by miming with him. We then had an excellent afternoon and still remember this experience almost ten years later!

Worst - I've honestly never had a bad experience with a CM. :mickey:

[Amy_617]

BEST ~ From the cast member who gave my then 1 year old DS a mickey balloon for no reason other then to share the Disney Magic.......to the MANY CM's who at various resorts checked us in SUPER early (6 am) because we had been driving all night......to my DS having a tantrum and Pluto playing peek-a-boo with him to get him to calm down......so many WONDERFUL CM's that made each of our trips memorable in one way or another! :thumbsup:

WORST ~ My husband and I went to Disney for 10 wonderful days for our Honeymoon. It was when we REALLY got into going to Disney, So we wanted to get pictures taken with different characters. Everyone was so great...even the villians....except for Mulan @ Epcot! We waited in line....no kids with us, just me and DH in our early 20's. As we walked up to her she looked at me and said "Aren't you alittle to OLD for this!!" I was blown away! One of the reasons us ADULTS go to Disney is to act like a kid again! Only bad experience...but still gets under my skin to this day!

[Euby]

Best - One of the bellmen at Paradise Pier at Disneyland (wish I could remember his name). He noticed that I was a pin trader and met with me once he got off work to trade pins (especially CM pins). Then the next day as a special bonus took me and some other guests he had befriended on earlier trips to the CM-only store. :thumbsup:

Worst - Nothing so far... :fingers:

[azcavalier]

Interesting question. I don't think I can come up with one "best" CM, because on the whole they're pretty much all aces in our book. In other words, they are so consistently wonderful that one doesn't stand out for greatness.

On the other hand, the worst encounter i've had was indeed precipitated by my DW and I for breaking the rules. That said, it wasn't that he did his job by stopping me from crossing the parade route (I understand why he did what he did), but it was the way he treated me *after* I was doing what he had told me to do. He was not just forceful, but was sarcastic and nasty, even though I humbly admitted that I had done wrong. But that one encounter is probably the only truly bad experience i've ever had with a Disney CM.

[DisneyOtaku]

BEST: I have two that come to mine. Once, when it was a trip with just my mom, sister, and I when I was still in jr. high, we were trying to get to Disney's Wide World of Sports to eat and required us to make multiple transfers from where we originally were. Well, we were heading for our first stop, and we were the only ones on the bus. The driver was very friendly, and as my mom told him what we were doing, he smiled wide and said he would make it easy for us and dropped us off at the Sports Complex! My mom was so grateful for that.
The other one would be a College Cast Member who was working at Mission: Space's shop. Epcot had just opened and my friends/family went to ride it (I skipped because as much as I love it, it gives me chest pains) so I waited for them in the gift shop. I was the only one there and he just started talking to me since it was probably obvious that I was waiting for someone. He made the wait more enjoyable and I think he pin traded with me.

Worst: The woman who was working at Pecos Bill's the night we went to MNSSHP taking orders. Most of it wasn't he fault (machines breaking down and whatnot), but she did snap at my dad when he asked her what the hold-up was (we honestly had no clue at that time).

[Jim&AngieMarriner]

As most of you have said, there have been sooo many Awesome CMs. One really stands out however. Our last trip back in Dec 08 we were in Epcot and in the World showcase by the American Adventure. We were celebrating our delayed Honeymoon and my recent return from Iraq after 15 months and have ing a great time. We were wearing Bride and Groom ears and getting a lot of attention. Out of the blue this nice CM whos name I cant remember came up to us, called me by name (I think he got it from our Candlelight recessional ressies) and said we had a phone call from a Disney Exec and to follow him. Well we thought one of our kids might have done something that might have required "attention" but it wasnt. We were led to a phone and told to push an extension and our call was put through. It was Mickey and Minnie wishing us well on our honeymoon!! It was great!. We both got a little choked up and laughed. He then took us over to the Fife and Drum tavern and announced us to the whole place, gave us a certificate that he called our Disney Marriage Licence and then gave us each a free apple Cobbler. We were just over the moon. We had our picture taken with him and its framed in our living room.

The worst would have to be a young CM who was operating a merchandise cart. I noticed a little kid (perhaps 8yrs) stealing pins from her cart while she was on the other end of the cart. I stopped the kid then told her about it. She said it didnt matter if they stole her blind, it didnt affect her paycheck.