Adults and Characters?

[set1208]

Too old for Disney? No way! I have four kids and we are throwing down $3000 plus travel expenses for six days. You can guarantee that I am getting my picture taken with Mickey and every other character that crosses my path ! I'll wait in line, hug him, kiss him, smile like a goof ball and love every second of it!
Did I mention that I can't wait to be in Disney? Oh my gosh!!! I love it there!!

 

[afnaechiquita]

I had the most fun meeting characters when I went on a trip with just my aunt. She's a little more outgoing than I am so that made it more enjoyable. I think you really have to be willing to speak to the characters versus just going up and getting a photo and leaving to make the most of it as an adult.

I have noticed a big difference in trying to meet characters as an adult in a group with children versus just as an adult. It's been my experience that if there are any children in your group, the characters will zone in and focus on them. I know it technically should be a bigger deal for the children, and characters have limited time with each party so they try to move through quickly, but it is bothersome at times. For example, my aunt and I had dinner at CRT and the princesses took ample time talking to us, asking why we were there, what we were celebrating, what our wishes were, etc. We went the following year with my nephew (+ sister and cousin), and the princesses focused solely on my nephew. He is pretty adorable, and had the cutest interaction with Cinderella while we were waiting. Cinderella told the other princesses about him, which may be why they focused on him, but to ignore the rest of the table was kind of :/

 

[MADnNOLA]

Too Old for Disney?! NEVER!

Goofy is my favorite, and my trip last month, I made sure I had pictures taken with him!

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[nfrank]

I, like you, don't tend to wait in long lines to meet characters either. I don't have kids, so when I go to Disney World it's all for me. However, I have found that the way I best enjoy meeting characters is to do character meals! That way, you get to have a lovely meal and get those neat pictures with the characters! However, every now and then, even that doesn't work out well. During my last trip (which was actually only three days ago!) I totally got snubbed by Prince Charming at the 1900 Park Fare character dinner. He just sort of walked past my table, waved, and said "I hope you have a wonderful evening!" and just kept walking! What the heck?! And it is not like he could use the excuse "Oh, well, I doubt he wants to meet characters...." I had my camera out on the table! But I still met Cinderella, her evil stepmother, and both step sisters! I actually enjoyed my interaction the most with the stepmother and stepsisters. They were so funny!

 

[Swirly girls]

In January I was at WDW attending a conference for work. I had breakfast at Chef Mickey's and all the characters except Mickey came to my table. I didn't make a big deal out of it; but I did mention to Mickey's handler that I would appreciate Mickey stopping by - I did make the decision to attend a character breakfast after all. Daisy was hilarious, Timon kissed me, and dinner at 1900 Park Fare was such a terrific experience that I booked it for our family vacation in October. Even trips with my family I have stood in line without DS or DD to see Pooh and Eyeore.

We just got back from our amazing 11 day vacation. I had booked breakfast at the crystal palace on my birthday. Now, keep in mind I'm a 37 year old, and had all my girls with, as well as my husband. Pooh was the first character to make his way around. I THOUGHT I was all cool and calm about meeting him, but when he got to our table I beat my kids to him and gave him a big hug!
My husband and girls just laughed, and I think it actually got my kids even more excited about meeting him, as well as the other characters!
I've loved pooh since I was a little girl, and our nursery was always pooh theme for each child we had.
I calmed down after meeting pooh, and let my kids have first chance with other characters

 

[chimilady]

At our first MNSSHP last month my kids fell asleep, and I decided to go in and see Mickey and Minnie all dressed up in their costumes. No wait, and they were so darn cute! They were so funny with me. We got about 30 pictures on the Photopass. Looking at them now I was beaming. BEAMING!!!! After years and years of wanting to go and saving up, at 37 years old I finally made it to Disney for our first trip and I'm so glad I went to meet them. Made it very special for me.

 

[set1208]

After years and years of wanting to go and saving up, at 37 years old I finally made it to Disney for our first trip and I'm so glad I went to meet them. Made it very special for me.

That's awesome! My parents could never afford to take us as kids so once I was out on my own and my daughter was four, I saved up and the two of us went for a week. I was in heaven! I dragged that poor child to see Every. Single. Character. It was the best trip ever and I get equally excited every time we go now. I actually drive my family nuts with my exuberance! We're paying for it...why not suck every ounce of fun out of it!

 

[xoDevinxo]

I've never had any trouble with characters. My funniest photo was with Chip n Dale. They hid my then-boyfriend so all you see is his face peeking from behind the three of us.

my boyfriend and i will be traveling to Disney together in September i cant wait to get our pictures taken with the characters and see all the cute poses

 

[mickeyfan1226]

I love getting my pics with the character but my kids dont 18 and 19. This trip will be my son's (27)first trip. my granddaughter's (7) first trip so I am sure I can get them to take pics with me. lol

 

[lvcourtneyy]

My boyfriend and I went to WDW in January (ages 22 and 21) and we absolutely loved meeting the characters! It took a little convincing at first to get him on board but after a few interactions, he was searching out characters too! I even got the autograph book and the Mickey shaped (zebra print) pen and had Ariel and Prince Eric in love because apparently they were playing a zebra print game...

I agree that characters can interact with adults in different ways than children. When we met the princesses at town hall, he refused to be in the pictures with me but Belle, Cinderella and Aurora weren't having any of that! They all asked if he was my Prince Charming and so on! Aurora asked if he had slayed a dragon to win my heart and we told her we were still looking for one!

We are going back this January and we both fully intend to search out characters and are determined to find the ones we missed last time and have started thinking of questions to ask them!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I actually have been debating whether or not to do a character meal while we are there. Have any of you done them with only adults? Are there any which might be more appropriate than others?

I would love to do Cinderella's Royal Table and actually found an open breakfast reservation for 8:15 while we are there but can't decide whether to cancel it because I know I'll be in heaven but can't help wondering if we will seem out of place.

 

[xoDevinxo]

I actually have been debating whether or not to do a character meal while we are there. Have any of you done them with only adults? Are there any which might be more appropriate than others?

I would love to do Cinderella's Royal Table and actually found an open breakfast reservation for 8:15 while we are there but can't decide whether to cancel it because I know I'll be in heaven but can't help wondering if we will seem out of place.

You should do it! if you don't you will probably be kicking yourself later for not going... as long as you have fun who cares what the other people think! my bf and i will be going to one when we visit in sept.

 

[t_daniels]

I actually have been debating whether or not to do a character meal while we are there. Have any of you done them with only adults? Are there any which might be more appropriate than others?

I would love to do Cinderella's Royal Table and actually found an open breakfast reservation for 8:15 while we are there but can't decide whether to cancel it because I know I'll be in heaven but can't help wondering if we will seem out of place.

I've done CRT and Ohana. At CRT we had great, but brief interactions. Ohana, everyone but Mickey spent a great deal of time with us. Lilo and Stitch giggled over my Stitch plush.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Thanks guys! I ended up canceling CRT and booking breakfast at Crystal Palace. After reading the reviews about food quality and hearing about the extremely brief princess interactions at CRT, I decided I couldn't justify the cost to myself this trip.

Crystal Palace is much more in our price range and we love Winnie the Pooh! Plus I figure we can fill up on the breakfast buffet and spend less time and money eating in the park later on!

 

[Ellsbells]

I had such a great time meeting all the characters. Before going I said to myself to play it cool and just seem whatever about it all but as soon as I got there I through all that to the wind and even got a bit teary meeting Mickey and Minnie.
And Buzz Lightyear was so much fun as he kissed my hand and pulled me in for a hug.
I'll be just as excited when I got back this year to meet them all over again.

 

[Oshawott501]

Of course you're never too old for characters. I'm 21, and I love characters. I've met so many this year. 61 to be exact. I went for my birthday, MNSSHP & MVMCP. Characters love when you write notes to them. For MVMCP I wrote Phineas & Ferb a letter (They're my favorites), and they gave me a huge hug. I've met them at the 2 parties and had great interactions with them at both. I absolutely love them. I had a great interaction with Ariel at MVMCP as well. Characters are for all ages.

 

[Couchy]

DH and I had many character pics taken ! And why not ? We love WDW and that includes all the characters

 

[gules]

I agree that character meals are a great way to meet them without having to stand in line. I have a horrible time finding characters I'm looking for, so almost the only way I manage are those meals!

One year, DH and I did Ohana, and Stitch is absolutely my favorite. When he finally made it around, I got down on one knee and proposed to him. He gestured frantically at DH like "but what about this poor guy?" and I told him that it didn't matter, STITCH was my true love! Then he made a big show of running away from me. I had the table beside us (family of 4 with 2 young ones) rolling with laughter. He came back later dragging Lilo to show her that I was crazy, then he ran when I tried to get a hug! He came back finally, but it was great.

Another year, we stood in line for ages to see Rapunzel and Flynn. We let a Make A Wish family skip ahead of us, and they were totally worth it. Flynn let my DH "see what was in his bag" and I convinced Rapunzel to smoulder at me, since she must have learned from Flynn. Then Flynn also offered me a peek, and I have him the "oho!" look. I don't think he knew if he should "oho" back or if that was totally inappropriate, so he ended up turning around to get his bag. A lot of fun for such a small amount of time (the line was wicked long)!

 

[Heididisco]

On our most recent trip I made it my mission to meet Cinderella. Having been to the parks 13 times and never actually meeting her (I have 2 boys) I was focused! I waited on line by myself for 20 minutes at the Princess Meet & Greet while my guys rode Space Mountain, and when I got up to her, I was so choked up and happy she actually asked if I was okay! I'm sure they thought I was hilarious, but I replied "I've waited 13 trips just to finally meet you and it's such an honor!" and she was so gracious about my stumbling over the words! Then she introduced me to her friend Belle and the pictures of me with these princesses are priceless. My DH says he has never seen me so happy! What a great experience!!

 

[ckpoodge]

Never feel like you are silly for taking photos with the characters. That's what they're there for, right?

My husband (42) and I (41) stop for any characters that we see, regardless if we have photos with them yet or not.

Our favorite story is that we had breakfast with Mary Poppins at the beginning of one of our trips. About a week later, we saw Mary Poppins at Epcot. She is my husband's favorite, so I told him to get in line again.

A young boy behind us was giving his mother some problems about taking a picture (she's for girls, she's for little kids.....). My husband (6'4", football type) turned around and said "But I'm not a girl, and there are no little kids around me, but I still want to take a picture."

Would you believe that Mary Poppins told him "didn't we have breakfast together earlier this week?" This grown, big man broke down in tears. Best story ever. And we wouldn't have this story if we felt that we couldn't take photos with the characters.

Do it, and have fun with it. It's not like anyone around you is going to know you and go home and tell everyone you know "look at this silly person". Besides, if they're so intent on worrying about what you're doing, they're obviously not having enough fun.