It’s a completely anonymous, global program across Disney’s theme parks. Cast members (Disneyspeak for employees) nominate each other and submit testimonies, with tens of thousands of nominations globally. The identity of nominees is kept under wraps, and it all culminates in a secret ballot.

This is the voting process for one of Disney’s highest honors, one that goes to fewer than 1% of park employees. It’s the Walt Disney Legacy Award, the highest recognition a Disney cast member can receive. Cast members awarded the honor receive the coveted blue Legacy name tag; on any given day, you might only spot a handful of cast members wearing one.

Rick Henson, cast activities engagement manager at Disneyland Resort, is one of those cast members. It was a long journey to the blue name tag: He began his career with the Walt Disney Company over four decades ago, receiving the Legacy Award in 2022.

“It’s something that’s a passion of mine,” Henson told SFGATE via phone. It’s now his job to bestow those name tags onto his fellow cast members. “It is one of the things that I treasure doing; it’s one of my favorite parts of my job.”

The prestigious honor began in 2011, an evolution of previous achievement programs at Disney parks around the world, like the Spirit of Disneyland and Partners in Excellence programs. Every few years, Legacy Awards are awarded to employees globally, including cast, crew and Walt Disney Imagineers.

“We took a lot of really important steps to make sure that we were evaluating Walt’s visions of how he saw the company,” added Henson, who’s been with the program since its inception and is sharing the selection process publicly for the first time with SFGATE.

They choose recipients based on three pillars: dream, create and inspire. Dreamers are “optimistic thinkers,” creators are “driven by curiosity” and inspirators are “exceptional character[s] of great integrity.”

While cast compliments, a function within Disneyland’s mobile app, are a way for guests to acknowledge outstanding service, the Walt Disney Legacy Awards are extra poignant in that they are entirely peer to peer.

Once the winners are chosen from tens of thousands of nominations, that’s when things get exciting: Disney develops carefully tailored “notifications” for each award recipient that reflect their personalities, letting them know that they’ve won the award. Only then do cast members even find out that they were even in consideration.

“That really is the very exciting part of this whole process,” Henson said. “These are heartfelt. These are very personal to each individual.”

These surprise moments vary from quiet reveals backstage to full-blown confetti celebrations with friends and family in attendance. “There’s lots of happy tears,” said Henson. “I’ve gone to a few of these this year and I cry every single time. It’s just a very emotional moment.” These have taken place all across the resort and even at the D23 Expo, the annual Disney fan convention.

For the 2025 announcement season, 92-year-old Disneyland Resort firefighter Henry Ameen, known affectionately as Hank, earned his blue Legacy name tag. Ameen is the longest serving employee of the Walt Disney Company, celebrating his 62nd anniversary last fall.

His Disneyland roots go back to 1955, when he and his wife visited on their honeymoon. He began his career as a Jungle Cruise skipper in 1958, and worked under Walt Disney, once having lunch with the man. “He started walking towards my table, but I never thought that he would sit with me,” Ameen told the Disney Parks Blog. “He pulled up a chair and he asked me questions like, ‘How do you like working here? How do you like the food? What can I do?’ It was maybe a 10-minute conversation. That was a wonderful memory.”???

Today, Ameen’s one of the most recognized cast members, often greeted by guests as he strolls along Main Street, U.S.A.

“That was really exciting to see him receive his notification,” Henson said. Ameen, along with three other members of the fire department to be honored this year, were surprised in an auditorium, with their friends and family all in attendance.

“Seeing the entire audience in tears is a true testament that we’re creating these Legacy recipients, and everybody is really appreciative,” added Henson.

Other recipients at Disneyland this year include longtime Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar servers Kelly Merrell and Melissa Nickoloff.

At Walt Disney World, its most complimented-by-guests cast member, PhotoPass photographer Willie Jackson, earned his name tag. Jackson has a record-setting over 1,000 mobile cast compliments from visitors. More than 100 of his fellow photographers and Disney leaders surprised him at his notification celebration.

Henson knows the feeling well. When he received the honor in 2022, he found out in the place where his career began: at the Disneyland Hotel. His colleagues pulled off the ultimate surprise, bringing him there under the guise of a team-building exercise.

Henson, who runs the program on the West Coast, was impressed with how well his colleagues kept it hidden from him. “That was really special for me,” he said. “That was my moment.”

Because anonymity shrouds the process, the award notification often comes as a complete shock to its receivers. “It is something that people don’t always strive to be,” added Henson. “I think a lot of our Legacy recipients would tell you they never thought in their wildest dreams that they would be a Legacy recipient. I think the majority of them think, ‘Oh, this is just how I live and what I do with my life, this is how I do my job.’ For me, it was really special because that’s how I feel.”

After recipients are notified, they come together for a celebratory bash. Each castle park around the world hosts its own event that includes an elaborate dinner and live show. This year, a little over 2,000 cast members have become proud blue Legacy name tag holders throughout the entire company.

“It is remarkable, the experience,” Henson added. “And I know the other cast members are always thrilled to see their co-workers who they admire and who they feel are deserving of this award. [They] are just as emotional.”