We just got back from Orlando last weekend. Now that I've had a week or so to digest our experience I wanted to pass along something that REALLY surprised me about or trip and also the one and ONLY thing that infuriated me to the point of a verbal exchange with another mom.
First, the good - One thing I was nervous about before we left and turned out to be NO BIG DEAL was the lines for characters. My son didn't mind at all waiting in line for autographs and pictures with ANY character. In fact, he chose waiting in line for them over doing ANYTHING else (food, parades, etc). He has no patience so this really surprised me. The same happened with our friends' daughters - they NEVER complained about waiting. Most lines didn't take long at all. I do have a boy so we didn't do many of the Princesses - I heard Ariel wait was an hour or so. My friend and her dd's did this and she said she got really tired of waiting but that her girls were beyond excited and never once complained about the wait. We got alot of character autographs at Hollywood Studios - we never waited more than 15 minutes or so (maybe 1/2 hour for Buzz and Woody).
Anyway - on to the bad - I am just curious if anyoen else has experienced this on a trip. Maybe not because these characters were the only ones who did this type of Meet and Greet. It was the Power Rangers at Hollywood Studios. Our son's 5 year old mission was to get all of their autographs and pictures. So - first time around we did 3 and second time around we were getting the other two. When it's almost time for them to leave, an announcement comes on that they only have 5 more minutes. So - we're in our last power ranger line. My husband, son and I were up to #4 in line when the announcement came on. This woman walks over with her son from another line and cuts right in front of us saying "Oh, Hi" to whomever it was in front of us. We didn't know either of them. I mentioned something loudly to my husband abuot cutting in line and this woman turns around and rudely says "THEY WERE HOLDING OUR SPOT". Long story short - she ends up calling over the other 10 kids they knew from the other line over into our line because they hadn't *met* this PW either.
By now it's been 4 minutes (at least). Instead of 2 kids in front of us, there were 14 (I'm NOT exaggerating). She rudely said to me that her friend could hold as many places in line as she wanted to and to "Relax". Ugh - I was FURIOUS. End of story is my 5 year old got his picture but no autograph because it was taken as he was running back to the car. I would NEVER do that to someone - especially a kid. I had my friend in another line and I many times went to the same line she was in and went to the BACK. Someone tell me this has happened to them?!?!?! I have never been a confrontational person but for my KID on his trip to DISNEY - I was ready to sock this lady. Don't worry, I didn't.
First, the good - One thing I was nervous about before we left and turned out to be NO BIG DEAL was the lines for characters. My son didn't mind at all waiting in line for autographs and pictures with ANY character. In fact, he chose waiting in line for them over doing ANYTHING else (food, parades, etc). He has no patience so this really surprised me. The same happened with our friends' daughters - they NEVER complained about waiting. Most lines didn't take long at all. I do have a boy so we didn't do many of the Princesses - I heard Ariel wait was an hour or so. My friend and her dd's did this and she said she got really tired of waiting but that her girls were beyond excited and never once complained about the wait. We got alot of character autographs at Hollywood Studios - we never waited more than 15 minutes or so (maybe 1/2 hour for Buzz and Woody).
Anyway - on to the bad - I am just curious if anyoen else has experienced this on a trip. Maybe not because these characters were the only ones who did this type of Meet and Greet. It was the Power Rangers at Hollywood Studios. Our son's 5 year old mission was to get all of their autographs and pictures. So - first time around we did 3 and second time around we were getting the other two. When it's almost time for them to leave, an announcement comes on that they only have 5 more minutes. So - we're in our last power ranger line. My husband, son and I were up to #4 in line when the announcement came on. This woman walks over with her son from another line and cuts right in front of us saying "Oh, Hi" to whomever it was in front of us. We didn't know either of them. I mentioned something loudly to my husband abuot cutting in line and this woman turns around and rudely says "THEY WERE HOLDING OUR SPOT". Long story short - she ends up calling over the other 10 kids they knew from the other line over into our line because they hadn't *met* this PW either.
By now it's been 4 minutes (at least). Instead of 2 kids in front of us, there were 14 (I'm NOT exaggerating). She rudely said to me that her friend could hold as many places in line as she wanted to and to "Relax". Ugh - I was FURIOUS. End of story is my 5 year old got his picture but no autograph because it was taken as he was running back to the car. I would NEVER do that to someone - especially a kid. I had my friend in another line and I many times went to the same line she was in and went to the BACK. Someone tell me this has happened to them?!?!?! I have never been a confrontational person but for my KID on his trip to DISNEY - I was ready to sock this lady. Don't worry, I didn't.
Another time, Alice and the Mad Hatter actually walked away from a family once while we were in line, because more of the family (it started with one child and went to 8) just kept showing up. The Greeter did nothing. 
In this situation, I figured there'd be no problem - we would have been up there and done by the final whistle. With an additional 10 kids/families, not so much.
