Belle, Aurora & Snow White switcharoo

[mlittig]

I am extremely disappointed to hear how the Tales with Belle show is being run I was hoping it would be a meet and great opportunity for everyone

[mm522]

I don't have any insider information but I seriously doubt that there is a shortage of friends of Belle or her wardrobe. She's one of the most popular characters so I don't think that's the reasoning in removing her from TST and CRT. I believe it could actually be them attempting to preserve some character integrity but that's just a crazy guess. However the whole set up for ETWB is just confusing, it's a character experience, but not everyone is guaranteed to meet the character, and the interaction is the most rushed of any character experience currently available.

[ladeeesquire]

I agree the "meet and greet" part is very poorly set up. If your child is shy, young, or has special needs etc its pretty unlikely they're going to want/be able to participate in the show. And I think its really unfair that they don't TELL people that if they're not in the show they won't get to do the picture. Also, because of the way its set up, most people are not going to have a chance to take their own picture forcing them to either settle for a rushed one from the back of the room or wherever they end up sitting, have no picture or pay for the photopass photo. I really don't like any of these options very much. The lighting is very bad in there too.

We were there in the first day or two of testing. I was hoping that by the time they got to the official opening they would have these issues addressed.
They've got smart people at disney, not sure why what all of us are seeing so clearly is not being seen by them.

[twodogs]

Originally Posted by ladeeesquire

I agree the "meet and greet" part is very poorly set up. If your child is shy, young, or has special needs etc its pretty unlikely they're going to want/be able to participate in the show. And I think its really unfair that they don't TELL people that if they're not in the show they won't get to do the picture. Also, because of the way its set up, most people are not going to have a chance to take their own picture forcing them to either settle for a rushed one from the back of the room or wherever they end up sitting, have no picture or pay for the photopass photo. I really don't like any of these options very much. The lighting is very bad in there too.

We were there in the first day or two of testing. I was hoping that by the time they got to the official opening they would have these issues addressed.
They've got smart people at disney, not sure why what all of us are seeing so clearly is not being seen by them.

Sorry off topic, but WHERE do you get a M&G with the seven dwarves?? Your picture is So cute!!!

[sazzlynn]

We did the testing when we were there in September. My almost 5 yr DD (who's favorite princess is Belle) was being unusually shy with the cast member assigning parts so she wouldn't do a part. I knew from the Dis that she wasn't going to get a picture with Belle unless she did a part and tried to encourage her (she's normally very outgoing), but explaining that fact to a child is a different thing entirely. At this point they were letting anyone who wanted a part have one, but I expect that will change once people figure out that you only get a picture if you participate. The story part was cute, but when it was time to for Belle to leave my DD was super unhappy that she couldn't meet Belle. She was not the only child freaking out about only getting to wave at Belle after being in the same room as her. I figure that since it was still in the testing stage that some of that would change so I was surprised to heard that it's pretty much the same. At least at the time we say it, Belle was still meeting in the Town Hall so we were able to promise a meet later on so I was able to appease my DD quickly, but if they are taking all proper meets with Belle out of MK, that's crazy to me. I will definitely be writing Disney once we see STWB after the official opening b/c if it's still the same this is something I would completely skip to avoid the melt down from a disappointed DD.

[MUDisneyCouple]

Originally Posted by mom2rtk

I think they keep a very tight schedule. I can't think of any other reason. Which is fine as long as she's available somewhere else in the park to meet. Which she's not. Which is why it gets the label "colossal miss" in my book.

Once again, please write Disney if you are not happy with this. I bet they'll be watching closely to see how this goes over:

WDW Guest Communications
PO Box 10,040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040

or

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

For the princess with the new village to be the only one you can't meet seems very silly to me.

Thanks for the info. I plan on making my opinion heard. As another poster stated, I want to avoid a meltdown at all costs, and I think this could be a difficult one to explain to my DD.

[ladeeesquire]

Originally Posted by twodogs

Sorry off topic, but WHERE do you get a M&G with the seven dwarves?? Your picture is So cute!!!

Thanks! That was actually taken at Disneyland, about 2 yrs ago when they were doing these some special character meets on the weekends. The day the dwarfs were there also had complete character groups from alice, peter pan, etc. It was awesome and I wish they'd repeat it but, so far, they haven't.

Otherwise, the only way I know of to meet the dwarfs is at the halloween and christmas parties.

[WickedDreamer]

Originally Posted by mesaboy2

I know the loss of a traditional M&G for Belle is a blow to some, but at least it sounds like Snow will be a little easier to find.

Snow was easy for us to find on our recent trip, both in Magic Kingdom and in Epcot World Show case. How ever we are both disappointed about them moving Beast to MK and now you will have to make a reservation just to be able to meet him, he is our family favourite and we had met him 5 times on our recent trip.

Also why move Belle into a spot where you will need to take part in an attraction just to meet and have a photo, and she has been taken out of CRT now completely. There is no where else to meet them together and this kind of sucks, they were such a crowd favourite, with people lining up in Epcot up to 30-40 minutes before their scheduled meet.

[tiki23]

It seems to be a lot like how the Jedi Training Academy used to be set up, leaving many disappointed kids and parents.

Ollivander's at WWoHP is the same way - I just don't get why they didn't have two shops set up to help accommodate the crowds.

Hmmm...makes me wonder if Disney has something up their sleeve with the new fastpass system, or who knows what. It's getting harder and harder to meet characters, it seems. And I think most people would like to be able to also meet characters other than the Fab 5 and the Princesses.

[Disney_Princess83]

I wrote to Disney already over this, so did a few other people I know! We were excited for this new area but Belle is a top priority to us. Having to watch the show and even be IN the show just to get a photo, no autograph, no interaction is just wrong. Now she isn't even going to be at CRT and it looks like you need a BOG reservation just to meet Beast now. We are not happy campers and told them already! Hopefully if enough people write, it will be fixed.

Belle and Beast are obviously so popular that they got an entire section dedicated to them and their story and yet Belle is nearly impossible to meet now at MK and you need to pretty much pay extra to meet Beast!

Originally Posted by mom2rtk

I think they keep a very tight schedule. I can't think of any other reason. Which is fine as long as she's available somewhere else in the park to meet. Which she's not. Which is why it gets the label "colossal miss" in my book.

Once again, please write Disney if you are not happy with this. I bet they'll be watching closely to see how this goes over:

WDW Guest Communications
PO Box 10,040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-0040

or

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

For the princess with the new village to be the only one you can't meet seems very silly to me.

[mom2rtk]

Originally Posted by JamieJo23

Bummer for us...we're going to be there during the CM previews so we're not going to get to see Belle at MK at all Hopefully we'll be able to find her at Epcot

And some families with very young kids don't even plan an Epcot day. I hope you'll write in. It only takes a moment by email.

Originally Posted by BrookeMQ

That stinks about meeting Belle. My kids are really shy and I don't think they would participate in the show. They wouldn't like getting up in front of a lot of people. But they would like to meet her.

They seem to totally forget about the shy kids. And that's what has always made the one on one interactions so special for them. So sad they seem to be tinkering with this.

Originally Posted by RachaelA

It was the same way today. And while they say anyone else can have a part, my 1 year old can't go up and participate therefore she can't meet Belle. I guess technically I could have just followed her around so she didn't run off, but that would have been really distracting to everyone else and I wasn't going to ruin it for everyone.

And it was pretty much 99% children that were given parts (except the 2 Knights) therefore adults don't get to "meet" her.

Plus they don't let your family come up and take a picture with Belle even if someone in your group has a part.

Its just a really weird set up. With how popular M&Gs are, you think they would have planned it better. Most kids who want to meet characters could care less about the special effects.

For starters, it was so considerate of you to not want to distract other guests. It's just NUTTY that they are putting people in this position to begin with. Just wait until word actually gets around about this. Every single person in the groups will want to participate. I just don't see how they don't "get" how stupid this is.

Originally Posted by bjakmom

A DISer posted this video of Enchanted Tales with Belle from the other day http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3007414 that shows the quick and crazy way they do the pics at the end.
Yikes! This creates a problem for me, too, as DGrDs are 9 and 1 and I really wanted a picture of them together with Belle. I guess I will ask for a part for the baby and participate with her in order to get a photo.
Perhaps they are pulling Belle from all other locations so that people will have no choice but to go see ETwB to even see her - cause once everyone sees that there is no real chance to meet and greet with Belle and get good family photos or autographs, they might never go there again.
This was just crazy thinking IMHO to build a whole village for Belle and have people stand in most likely long lines to sit through the story presentation and THEN realize they are not going to get a pic/autograph with Belle.
Hello?!!! Was this planned by the same person who put the bathroom sinks at BLT back to back with the kitchen sink and counter??

Thank you so much for posting that link. When I saw a clip shortly after they started soft opening it, my jaw hit the floor. It is the most idiotic thing I have ever seen. I thought I must have hit the fast forward button by mistake.

And I absolutely agree with your summary of the situation. It seems incredibly crazy to build this entire village for Belle, then make her nearly unmeetable. Don't these people making decisions ever ASK people what they like about the parks?

Then throw in that they are considering taking Belle and the Beast out of MVMCP and I'm about to just throw my arms in the air and give up.

Originally Posted by mlittig

I am extremely disappointed to hear how the Tales with Belle show is being run I was hoping it would be a meet and great opportunity for everyone

I hope you'll follow the earlier link from this thread and let them know how you feel.

Originally Posted by mm522

I don't have any insider information but I seriously doubt that there is a shortage of friends of Belle or her wardrobe. She's one of the most popular characters so I don't think that's the reasoning in removing her from TST and CRT. I believe it could actually be them attempting to preserve some character integrity but that's just a crazy guess. However the whole set up for ETWB is just confusing, it's a character experience, but not everyone is guaranteed to meet the character, and the interaction is the most rushed of any character experience currently available.

I can't imagine it's a character integrity issue, especially if Belle was in Town Square Theater indoors at the very front of the park and indoors in Enchanted Tales in the back of the park.

She used to do Storytime in Fairytale Garden right around the corner from the castle where she appeared for lunch, AND in the Princess Room in Toontown. And it didn't seem to be a problem then.

Originally Posted by ladeeesquire

I agree the "meet and greet" part is very poorly set up. If your child is shy, young, or has special needs etc its pretty unlikely they're going to want/be able to participate in the show. And I think its really unfair that they don't TELL people that if they're not in the show they won't get to do the picture. Also, because of the way its set up, most people are not going to have a chance to take their own picture forcing them to either settle for a rushed one from the back of the room or wherever they end up sitting, have no picture or pay for the photopass photo. I really don't like any of these options very much. The lighting is very bad in there too.

We were there in the first day or two of testing. I was hoping that by the time they got to the official opening they would have these issues addressed.
They've got smart people at disney, not sure why what all of us are seeing so clearly is not being seen by them.

I think a LOT of us were hoping that was just some oddity that would be worked out in the testing phase. But this seems to be moving full speed ahead in the insane form it is.

I do think there are some very smart people at Disney. Unfortunately it's pretty clear there are also some very NOT smart people at Disney. They need to hear from their customers on this one.

Please follow the link and let them know how you feel.

Originally Posted by MUDisneyCouple

Thanks for the info. I plan on making my opinion heard. As another poster stated, I want to avoid a meltdown at all costs, and I think this could be a difficult one to explain to my DD.

I'm glad you're going to write. They do need to hear how this will be very hard for some kids.

Originally Posted by WickedDreamer

Snow was easy for us to find on our recent trip, both in Magic Kingdom and in Epcot World Show case. How ever we are both disappointed about them moving Beast to MK and now you will have to make a reservation just to be able to meet him, he is our family favourite and we had met him 5 times on our recent trip.

Also why move Belle into a spot where you will need to take part in an attraction just to meet and have a photo, and she has been taken out of CRT now completely. There is no where else to meet them together and this kind of sucks, they were such a crowd favourite, with people lining up in Epcot up to 30-40 minutes before their scheduled meet.

Well, you used to be able to meet them together at MVMCP, but now even that seems questionable. It just seems like they put a bean counter in charge of the creative division. It's pretty obvious they really see any character meet with more than one character involved as a big drain of resources.

I wonder if they feel like they're putting something over on people when they do this dumb stuff?

Originally Posted by Disney_Princess83

I wrote to Disney already over this, so did a few other people I know! We were excited for this new area but Belle is a top priority to us. Having to watch the show and even be IN the show just to get a photo, no autograph, no interaction is just wrong. Now she isn't even going to be at CRT and it looks like you need a BOG reservation just to meet Beast now. We are not happy campers and told them already! Hopefully if enough people write, it will be fixed.

Belle and Beast are obviously so popular that they got an entire section dedicated to them and their story and yet Belle is nearly impossible to meet now at MK and you need to pretty much pay extra to meet Beast!

Thank you for writing! Please keep spreading the word. We really had planned an entire Belle theme for this trip and have watched the movie several times in anticipation. This part of it is really sucking the fun out of it for me.

I think the bottom line is that one on one character magic is an expensive commodity for them to deliver. It's what keeps a lot of us going back, but they want to find a way to minimize it.

Sorry folks. I'm going to say it again.

COLOSSAL MISS. Someone chase the bean counters out of the creative department please.

[sephorachick]

Originally Posted by czmom

Do you know if Belle still appears at CRT?

I saw belle at CRT last week

[mom2rtk]

Originally Posted by sephorachick

I saw belle at CRT last week

My understanding is that has changed just within the last few days.

[Disney_Princess83]

Originally Posted by mom2rtk

Thank you for writing! Please keep spreading the word. We really had planned an entire Belle theme for this trip and have watched the movie several times in anticipation. This part of it is really sucking the fun out of it for me.

I think the bottom line is that one on one character magic is an expensive commodity for them to deliver. It's what keeps a lot of us going back, but they want to find a way to minimize it.

Belle and Beast are our favourites by far! It's disappointing so far. If we have to have a BOG reservation to meet Beast, honestly, I will make a reservation, meet Beast, buy a bottle of water and leave. We will eat there once but we always meet Beast several times during a trip. We like to get different photos and different combinations (all together, each have a photo with Beast ect) and don't like to hold the line up too much so we set aside time to do a few meet and greets with him when he was with Belle in EPCOT.

[kennythepirate]

Originally Posted by sephorachick

I saw belle at CRT last week

These changes just occurred yesterday