Disney Celebrates Over 25 Years of Vacation Planning Magic in Tampa, Florida

Hi everyone!

This week, Disney celebrated over 25 years of vacation planning magic at the Disney Central call center (I know it as the Disney Reservation Center, I worked at the Orlando location many years ago). They also received new nametags and participated in a special volunteer activity,

Read below for more information in the Disney press release!

TAMPA, FLORIDA (May 12, 2023) – This week, Disney commemorated over 25 years of operations in Tampa, Florida, where more than 600 of its cast members (employees) support the Disney Central call center, answering calls, chats and emails from thousands of guests planning their Disney vacations. To mark the occasion, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor issued a proclamation declaring Thursday, May 11, “Celebrate Disney Cast Members Day” in the City of Tampa to congratulate the team. 

“For more than 25 years, our cast members in Tampa have made magic for millions of guests by helping them plan their dream vacations to Walt Disney World in Florida. We’re so proud of these cast members for all they do at Disney and in our community,” said Maryann Smith, Vice President of Customer Experience.  

These cast members make magic about 70 miles southwest of Cinderella Castle and were honored today with a special event with Mickey Mouse and Pluto themselves, who helped deliver one of the most iconic symbols of being a Disney cast member – new nametags. The newly designed nametag just for Walt Disney World cast will soon be worn by more than 75,000 cast members based in Florida. Nametags are treasured by cast past and present, and for Tampa cast there’s a special hometown connection. Many of the nametags have been manufactured just a few miles away in Tampa by a local business.   

The Tampa-based Disney team today also took part in a special volunteer activity through the Disney VoluntEARS program, working together to create a hand-painted mural of Disney characters through the Foundation for Hospital Art.

Once complete, the mural was delivered this afternoon to AdventHealth for Children, a part of AdventHealth Tampa to help bring some special Disney magic to patients and families.

This joins other recent efforts at the hospital like the delivery of a mobile movie theater unit which you can read about here on the Disney Parks Blog.