character etiqutte

[AngieBelle]

Hi guys. I just thought I'd help make your character encounters more enjoyable with some sggestions.

1. Remember, characters' vision is impaired (some moreso than others) so please be patient! If a small child is directly under their noses or if anyone is standing directly next to them, they may not even know that person is there! This can result in tripping over a child or accidentally hitting someone in the face or elsewhere. They also can't see autograph books if they are held in their blind spot.

2. Their hearing may sometimes be muffled too. If the character doesn't seem to be responding or seems confused, try speaking a little louder, but of course, don't shout. If your child wants to share a story or something with a character, let them know to speak up.

3. Pleeeease don't force your child to go up to a character if they are clearly terrified. You'll end up with a horrible picture, and your kid may be tramatized. When introducing a child to characters for the first time, approach the character slowly rather than holding the child right up to the character's face.

4.Be respectful of the character, the CM, and other guests! Do your best to check for a line before approaching the character so you aren't cutting in front of others. Remember to use please and thank you. If there are a lot of people waiting, be courteous and take one group picture and not individuals for every person. Have autograph books open to a clean page and pens ready.

5. Remember that characters are on schedules! In most cases, they are out for 30 minutes at a time. They need a chance to cool down and relax. Please respect the greeter when they annouce it's time for the character to go in! If they stay out for that "one last picture" they'll never get out of there. Sometimes, they only leave for 5 minutes so ask the greeter when they will be back. Otherwise, if you have your heart set on meeting a particular character, plan ahead! In most cases, you will have other chances to meet them if you catch them just as they are going in.

6. When appraching characters that work in teams such as Chip and Dale, it comes in handy to have 2 pens. However, when multiple kids approach one character, only one pen is needed.

7. When character dining, remember that the character has a limited time to reach all the tables. Try to have everything ready to go when they arrive and don't keep them there too long. More than likely, they will return to your table at least once before you leave. Also, don't go to the character- let them come to you. They are following a pattern as they go around the resturant and can't go out of sequence.

8. Characters love hugs and love when adults get into the spirit too so don't be afraid to say hi!

9. Characters love to get little personalized items like drawings and photos from their fans!

[Soupermom]

BUMP! :Pinkbounc

Thanks! This is worth a trip to the top....

[Bambi5826]

great tips! thx

[gingermommy94]

I absolutely understand and totally agree! ::yes::

Thanks for the tips! :D

[shatzjsl]

Thanks for the tips!

[sullins5]

Thanks for the tips angiebelle!

Didn't I read somewhere that you knew some of the characters personally? Noticed you were from Germantown...we live in Southaven, but shop out 'east'!!!

Goin' on May 21-28th - maybe one day we'll meet!

[MPLsDad]

When we (myself, DW, & DS-3) were in DL last February, Pluto was behind BTMR trail looking into a pond all by himself and we stumbled upon him with another family with 3 of their own kids. Pluto pretended not to notice us and the other mom kept screaming, "PULL HIS TAIL!" You could almost see the look of desperation in Pluto's plastic eyes as if to say, "NO!" My son was devastated when Pluto would barely interact with him because of the other family's inconsiderate manners. Fortunately, they soon left and Pluto was more playful. Lesson for all: Don't yank on the characters!!!!!
P.S. This incident reminds me of another encounter I had with a family on a WDW bus that wouldn't give my wife a seat when she was holding a sleeping 1 year old - instead they just kept talking about those "Dang rude Yankees" that were all over the place at Disney World!

[AngieBelle]

Sullins- you're right. :) In the passed 3 wks, I've gotten very close with Chip, Dale, Suzy, Perla, Gideon, Mr. Penguin, and Rabbit (from 100 acred woods)! So my tips come from personal experience. hehe. I think I sorta know where South Haven is.

Today, Chip was exiting through Pizzafari at AK and had a young boy accidentally follow him backstage! Chip was very confused when he was asked for an autograph after already passing a cast break area....

[SonicLogic]

Originally posted by MPLsDad
This incident reminds me of another encounter I had with a family on a WDW bus that wouldn't give my wife a seat when she was holding a sleeping 1 year old - instead they just kept talking about those "Dang rude Yankees" that were all over the place at Disney World!

No one has to "give" you or your wife anything. Your expectations in this case were out of line.::yes::

[GrumpyC.Hook]

Originally posted by SonicLogic
No one has to "give" you or your wife anything. Your expectations in this case were out of line.::yes::


I grew up being taught that it is common courtesy to give up a seat for people who may be disabled, elderly, and in common sense someone who is carrying something precious like a 1 year old. No people don't have to give anyone anything but if you don't have a heart and think about how it would feel trying to hold a 1 year old on a moving bus you would see that gesture of not getting up as rude.



But I wanted to thank the orignal poster for giving those tips. It will help make everyones time with the characters enjoyable.

[SonicLogic]

Originally posted by GrumpyC.Hook
No people don't have to give anyone anything but if you don't have a heart and think about how it would feel trying to hold a 1 year old on a moving bus you would see that gesture of not getting up as rude.

No. There are other options. The mother holding the 1 year old could have waited for another bus to insure that she would be able to sit down with her infant rather than boarding a bus with standing room only.

Common sense dictates that if you desire to sit down with your infant on a bus, you should not rely upon the kindness of strangers.

[MPLsDad]

I should have used the word "offer" instead of give. And I should have scoped out the bus to make sure my wife had a seat before we or any of the other 10 people behind us got on no matter how much it disrupted an entire bus load of people's ride - now that's a plan I'll have to remember ;)

[WDWLVR]

Great advice Angie - thanks for sharing with us.

[Disney Freak Numero Uno]

Please don't assume that if a person is rude, he or she must be from New York. The rudest people I have ever met in my entire life were residents of the Florida condominium complex where my father has a condo.
I used to bring my family there for one week in the summer so that my kids could enjoy the pool. Because of the rudeness of the residents ( who were from everywhere except NY), we have not gone there in about 10 years. We now just go straight to Orlando.
Sorry to leave the topic, but it is unfair to us New Yorkers to be thought of as rude.

[MPLsDad]

I totally steered this topic of course by mentioning my family's incident on the bus! It went so far that it's getting ugly in here! I'm truly sorry!

Anyhow, back to character etiquette!

One thing you should always do is acknowledge handlers. A good handler makes a character experience wonderful! Thank them when you get to the front of the line. A good handler will keep an orderly line and advise when to stop lining up because a character must leave.

[slo]

I couldn't agree more with all the tips in this thread. In fact...we have taken DD at the ages 2,3 &4 and when we return in Sept. she will be 6yrs old. This will be the first year I will allow her to participate with the authograph book. I always feel sorry for the characters in large costumes (Mickey, Pluto, etc.) that are not handed the pen correctly and the cap is not off, and the autograph book that is not prepared because a child is to young to understand and the parents are naturally feeling rushed when the line to see the character is very long behind you.

My philosophy is, if the child can't read, then don't mess with the autograph book. Just let your small child hug and cuddle the character and take your nice photo. This year my child will be able to read her autograph book and she will be able to correctly participate in the whole autograph book activity. She is really looking forward to doing this.

This is Saturday 4-10-04 you all have a nice holiday tomorrow:wave:

[princesstommi]

Thanks for the tips Angie! I'm so glad you finally got into the job you wanted, and I hope you are having a blast!

I have found that a little etiquette, courtesy and politeness at WDW - to CMs, to other guests, to children, to characters, etc. - goes a long long way. Something as small as saying thank you, offering your seat or opening a door for someone who needs it, or just being friendly can make the world of difference and create a Disney Moment for a complete stranger. The reason I love Disney Magic so much isn't only for what I can get out of it, but the whole atmosphere of being there with others.

Whew...aren't I cheerful today? Happy Easter! :hyper:

[FatCow]

Many times, the handler should be more sensitive too.

During our past trip, I was wearing my knee braces and the handlers can clearly see them. Although there were no more than 3 people behind us, when I was slowly kneeling to take picture (yes, ONE picture) of my daughter, all they can say was "quickly, quickly, there are other people waiting".

One handler was so rude to the point the person next in line said "are you blind? can't you see he's wearing braces on both his legs?"

[MPLsDad]

Originally posted by FatCow
Many times, the handler should be more sensitive too.

During our past trip, I was wearing my knee braces and the handlers can clearly see them. Although there were no more than 3 people behind us, when I was slowly kneeling to take picture (yes, ONE picture) of my daughter, all they can say was "quickly, quickly, there are other people waiting".

One handler was so rude to the point the person next in line said "are you blind? can't you see he's wearing braces on both his legs?"
:earseek: :earseek: :earseek: That's horrible! Sorry to hear about that happening. I've had only positive experiences with characters and handlers alike!

My philosophy is, if the child can't read, then don't mess with the autograph book.

I politely :earsboy: disagree. We print out a sticker for each character when we go home and put it on the corresponding page. My DS (3) loves going through his book and telling us who signed it by looking at the picture!

[Hippychickali]

I have no problem with wee ones having autograph books. I didn't even realize that this was an issue for some people. I can understand that they would want to participate just like everyone else. I think that the sticker idea is wonderful. I'll have to file that away for when I have kids someday.

Ali

[kild]

Great tips!


The sticker idea is a great one, even if you can read.

[MPLsDad]

I go to disneyclipart.com, save what I need, import them into a label making program, and print them out. We go through the signed book and my DS picks the sticker and puts it on the page. At bedtime, he likes to go through his book and all of his "Remember whens..."

Cost of Autograph book = $6.95
Cost of Fat Pen = $2.00
Cost of Vacation = $3000
Cost of Remember whens = PRICELESS!

[slo]

I just want to compliment the idea of stickers in the autograph book. Even though for my family, we don't do autograph books with very young children I do like the stickers for those young children that have the autograph books and not be able to read.

As I said earlier my DD will be 6yrs old when we return and will be doing the autograph book for the first time and I will absolutly use this idea for her book. She will be able to read, but I think she will have fun putting the character stickers by their autographs to decorate the pages.

Thank you very much for such a creative idea.

Happy Easter to all!!:wave:

[Tiggerlover91]

Thanks Angie! GREAT TIPS!!

[philaround]

Thanks for the tips Angie, and great to hear from you.

As far as the autograph books, I found one last spring that had a plastic slot on each page that would hold a photograph of the character making the signature real easy to figure out.

The best one we got this time was Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

[Belle1962]

Thanks for the tips Angie and glad to "hear" from you again. I especially agree with the tip about not forcing your kids to interact if they are scared. We took DGS for his first trip in December--he about choked his Dad to death trying to "escape" from Mickey at the Garden grill. Whenever we were in a line and he would change his mind, we wouldn't force the issue. 1--it wasn't fair to DGS since he was honestly afraid--you can't "reason" with a 2 year old--if they're afraid-they're afraid. period; 2--it wouldn't have been fair to the families behind us to take up TONS of time trying to get a picture when the characters are only out for a short while. 3--unlike many other families we knew we'd be making return trips. If you are not able to make return trips but have to have a picture of your child 'with " a character I'd suggest the photo shops where they take a picture of your child and insert it into another picture. When you get home most people won't be able to tell the difference and you'll have a picture. By the end of the trip he was a bit warmer. We just came back from a long weekend in March and what a difference a few months makes--he couldn't wait to meet the characters. He bounced with Tigger, danced with Cinderella, had Peter Pan and Hook fighting (they were re-enacting DGS's t-shirt picture) and had a blast. After each encounter he'd look at me and go "Who's next???".

[my3princes]

are wonderful. We take a picture of our children with the each character. We have the character sign on the right page of the book and use corner tabs to place the photo on the left page. They get to see themselves with the character and know which character signed the book. I agree that photos should be taken as a group rather than individually in most cases, but if it is your child's favorite character than by all means take an individual shot because that is a photo they will cherish forever. We have 3 DSs and do one autograph book for them to share.

[MPLsDad]

I think that since each child in my group waits in line, it is fair that each child gets an individual picture. It makes it special for each when they return home. A group picture is fine too!

[FatCow]

I agree, if there are (say) 10 people in the group and they are all waiting in line, why can't each of them take a picture? What's the difference between 10 people in a group taking 10 pictures vs 10 separate individuals taking 10 separate pictures?

[wdw_writers]

Also, if your child wants to go up to a character but is too scared, I have two suggestions.

- Try to make a compromise. DD (13) has been scared since she was 4 years old. However, she really really wanted an autograph. While dining at Crystal Palace for DS (9), we requested a booth where she could just sit and hand her autograph book over without actually being next to the characters.

- also, if its the masks they're afraid of, like DD, try someone like Cinderella or Peter Pan!

[tjmw2727]

Great tips - unfortunately sometimes in excitement and haste manners get forgotten. I agree that taking a minute and helping someone else enjoy the magic increases ours!

I must mention that my girls have LOVED having the autograph books since before they could read. In fact my 2yo knew each signature in her book by heart even though she obviously could not read them. The sticker idea is a great one, as are the pictures on the opposite page of the autograph.

For us the autograph book helped as an ice breaker when my dd's were a bit shy to approach the character. Even Cinderella whom they had dreamed of meeting made them shy and uneasy to approch her. The autograph book game them a reason - and something to say, would you please sign my autograph book? IMHO if they wait the line they are entitled to the autograph, picture whatever they choose. I do always help with the pen and book though.

TJ

[disneyjunkie]

I think these tips are great. We just got back late last night. During our trip, my son, niece and nephew hit the character jackpot. They each got 25 autographs.:bounce: :Pinkbounc

We came across many upset kids and parents because the character had to leave before they'd had a to chance to see them. When we came across the characters,I'd asked the CM how much longer they would be there before getting into line.