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Disney parks have a feature that allows guests to submit compliments to the cast members that really made their trip

Cast members have received over three million compliments since the program launched in 2021

Some of the parks' most-complimented cast members Photographer Luis Sanchez and Kilimanjaro Safaris guides Charm Lerario and Angel Flores shared the lasting emotional impact of those messages with PEOPLE

For the hundreds of cast members who serve thousands of guests across the Disney Parks every single day, no compliment goes unnoticed.

That is especially true after the company debuted its mobile cast compliment feature on Disneyland and Disney World’s respective mobile apps in 2021. Since its inception, they've received more than three million compliments across both resorts. While these messages might only take guests 30 seconds to send, the impact they have on cast members lasts much longer than a vacation.

Luis Sanchez a PhotoPass photographer who received the most mobile cast compliments over the last year at Disneyland says there’s a feeling of “happiness” every time new praise appears on his app. It brings him back to the exact moment, the exact interaction that he had with those guests.

“I think I leave an impression on the guests because I give them the experience that I would want,” the La Miradi, Calif. native tells PEOPLE. “I’ll basically put myself in their shoes.”

“I always like to ask questions on why they’re here are they a couple, are these siblings and adjust the photos to the correct situation,” he says. “If they’re not a regular, I always love to take guests to the iconic locations first…And if they're a regular, I’ll find a little hole in the wall.”

It’s this type of catered treatment that earns Sanchez the most emotional reactions. About a month ago, Sanchez was doing a photo excursion with a family of four, which included a daughter who uses a wheelchair.

“All she wanted was one photo,” Sanchez says of the mother. “Within five minutes, the mom was crying.”

The mother informed him that their daughter had terminal brain cancer, and she has anywhere from one to three months to live.

“She goes, ‘What you’re doing here, it’s beyond words what you’re providing,’ ” Sanchez recalls of the excursion, where the girl was laughing and “having the time of her life.” The mom later described the moment as the “highlight of the trip.”

Over on the East Coast, two guides for the Kilimanjaro Safaris attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom earned the top spots on the resort’s list of most complimented cast members. Their playful, yet informative tours continue to leave a lasting impression on guests.

“It's so crazy,” Charm Lerario tells PEOPLE of the recognition. “You don’t really realize how much of an impact you have on people whenever you’re out there. You don’t realize that you’re making a difference in people’s lives, which is just the coolest part about it.”

The Kilimanjaro Safaris, an 18-minute expedition through the park’s Harambe Wildlife Reserve, takes an almost entirely different set of skills than other roles at the resort. Not only are the guides responsible for navigating the large open-air vehicles through rugged terrain, but they’re also tasked with sharing fascinating wildlife facts during their tours.

“I want [guests] to feel like I’m sitting next to them and explaining it rather than Wikipedia,” says Angel Flores, another most-complimented guide on the attraction. “I try to make it more digestible… Anybody can say, ‘Make sure you’re recycling. Bye!’ But we want to make you feel emotionally connected to it.”

These individual cast connections are exactly what Disney hoped to foster when it digitized the compliment process. Michelle Stewart, the manager of cast activities engagement & strategy, tells PEOPLE the ease of the mobile feature has transformed how the company “fuels” its workforce.

“They love it,” she says. “I mean how could you not love being told that something you did five minutes ago made a great impact. It fuels the fire.”

She adds: “We have a passion for what we do and this just helps reiterate that passion.''

Stewart promises compliments submitted by guests are seen by the cast members they're about every time.

“I think people underestimate the value in recognition. It’s free,” Stewart says. “There’s no cost to recognize anybody in any job, anywhere in the world.”