Plan of Attack: Meeting as many charecters as I can in 1 day

[starlitsinger88]

I'm going to be int he land for one day (Dec. 7th - a Monday) and I have only one goal - meet as many new characters as possible (pictures and autographs). I've met mickey and all his friends , most of the princesses (missing Pocahontas and Esmeralda) and most of the Fairies. I plan on going to Pixie Hollow, the Princess Faire, and the Princess and the Frog area. But, I'm really interested in meeting less common characters. Any advice? Attack them at the end of parades? Ask staff? And insider staff tricks?

 

[kingLouiethe1]

I have been told that by going to City Hall on Main Street they can tell you which characters you can find where on any given day.

 

[laura&fam]

We checked with City hall a few years back and they were able to tell us about characters. They are sometimes off by a few minutes and sometimes the characters make an appearance but don't sign autographs or do photo ops, which can be frustrating if you've been waiting. But it's better than no information at all.

 

[pixiewings71]

I would say City Hall, but know that Esmerelda is not in the parks any longer and Pocahontas is usually found at Ariel's Grotto in DCA. Also know that we've only seen Pocahontas once in our probably 8-10 visits to AG.

 

[Vala]

Pocahontas was out at the Animation Building in DCA in November.

I'm not entirely sure if City Hall can tell you the DCA appearances too (they never could help me when I asked), but it may be worth checking at whatever place has the schedule for DCA.

We were lucky, a very nice Photopass lady took a liking to me when she saw me around for a while and helped me out a lot with appearance times.

 

[laura&fam]

Pocahontas was out at the Animation Building in DCA in November.

I'm not entirely sure if City Hall can tell you the DCA appearances too (they never could help me when I asked), but it may be worth checking at whatever place has the schedule for DCA.

We were lucky, a very nice Photopass lady took a liking to me when she saw me around for a while and helped me out a lot with appearance times.

That's a good idea. I hadn't thought about the photopass photographers knowing about character appearances, but it makes sense. There is often a photopass photographer with them.

 

[Vala]

Yeah, if a cast member is wearing a badge "ask me about characters" they should usually be able to help you, at least for the area they are in.

I've seen those badges with character assistants, Photopass photographers and other CMs working in areas like PFF.

 

[pixiewings71]

You can stop in Guest Services inside DCA for appearances there, I didn't even think of that.

 

[kailuagirl]

In June we saw Pocahontas in Princess Faire, she was the 3rd princess there. Good luck!! I wanted Mary Poppins autograph and photo so bad when we were there, she's my fav. and I never could get it, I was so bummed

 

[starlitsinger88]

Okay, so pretty much I need to question staff members and city hall. But what about parades? I'd love to get a chance to meet people who are pretty much only in parades (Price Eric is my dream). If you stand in the right place and make extra noise is there a chance of stuff like this?

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I doubt you'd be able to get your picture taken with any parade characters. As each parade unit is finished in the parade, it goes backstage with the characters on it. Now if you want to meet obscure characters, you could try timing your meet and greet turn at the PFF during the parade. Because there's only "one" Aurora, she can't be in the Disneyland parade and the PFF at the same time, so since the main princesses are in the parade, you might find some obscure ones at the PFF during the parade.

As for the princes, good luck. The last time I heard of anyone seeing a prince out and about was when Phillip and Aurora were near the castle right after the walkthrough opened last December.

 

[PoohBearFriends]

What is the walkthrough?

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Last December, they reopened the castle walkthrough. You can actually walk through the castle and see the story of Sleeping Beauty retold in a series of dioramas. It's a well done and charming re-addition to Disneyland.

When the walkthrough first opened in 1957, it marked the pioneering use of some legendary effects that were later used on a larger scale in the Pirates of the Carribean and Haunted Mansion attractions. The walkthrough was refurbed in the late 70s. The artwork was replaced by dolls (think Main Street window display) and closed in 2001. The 2008 reopening restored it to the artwork and added some new bells and whistles such as Flora and Merryweather fighting over the color of Aurora's dress in the picture at the exit.

 

[PoohBearFriends]

Thank you that is neat. We have only been going to DLR since 2003 so I have heard about the castle walkthrough but not seen it. We will put it on our to do list in Feb. My girls will be excited.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

They included the walkthrough as it was when first opened in 1957 on the Sleeping Beauty blu-ray/dvd. It's almost identical to what it is today, but they made some nice changes for the new one.

 

[Vala]

In June we saw Pocahontas in Princess Faire, she was the 3rd princess there. Good luck!! I wanted Mary Poppins autograph and photo so bad when we were there, she's my fav. and I never could get it, I was so bummed

It took me four years and 5 visits until I finally met Mary Poppins.

 

[Dizneydaz]

OP, sounds like you got some good advice.

To me, it seems like more of "less famous" characters at DCA in Hollywood. I've seen Handy Manny, Goliath (from JoJos) The Incredibles (Mr. and Mrs.), Frozone, Sully, Queen of Hearts. I've also seen Rolie Polie Olie and Zowie (it was a few years ago) and Max, Goofy,'s son.

You do know that DL is closing at 6 on the 7th, right? DCA will be open until 9. DL is having one of their CM partieson the 7th (and 8th). Good news is DL is opening at 8 a.m. both days.

You can get pictures with Lightning and Mater across from Soarin' and also pictures with Kodi and Kenai (certain times) at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.

 

[AmericanItGirl]

Max can also be found in ToonTown and I've seen the Queen of Hearts in Fantasyland.

At City Hall, you have to ask after specific characters.