Waiting in Line to Meet Characters...

[Joanna71985]

As an example, we were in line to meet Jo Jo and Goliath and the CM cut off the line behind us. My son likes them and knows who they are but this little girl in a Tink costume came up and the CM said no more. She was SO upset and they were getting ready to leave for the day. I tapped the CM on the shoulder and asked if that little girl could have our spot and we'd bow out since our son wasn't *as* excited about Jo Jo but was just in autograph collecting mode. Anyway - she said "sure, what a nice thing to do" and ended up letting this little girl in front of us and STILL letting us bring up the end of the line. She gave me a little wink.

Common courtesy and respect goes a long way in my opinion - rules or no rules.

Aww, that was very nice of you!

 

[Belle1962]

This is no different than people who use the "relay" method described in some tour books (how to pass of a child so they can ride twice in a row) or families who "hold spots" and say parent/children are at the bathroom, etc. The main difference is that in line for a ride/attraction the other parts of the party have to push their way through everyone else to get up to the person in line. In an outdoor character greeting line they can usually just walk up to the person in line.

That being said, where do you draw the line? Yes--we all may think a group of ten may be "rude" or "extreme" but do you "allow" a family with two or one? I have always advised groups that travel with only one or two children and several adults to have each adult stand in a line and walk the child to each new line. The time it takes to snap a picture of the one or two children together and get autographs is no more than if the person who was waiting in line had done it. Ten??? Unless they did a group shot and had one autograph book IMHO that is extreme.

In my own personal opinion--if it takes no more time away from those behind us it is ok. I would never do it with a large group. I actually tee'd off my cousin when we went with him, his son (same age as my DGS) and two sets of grandparents. The grandparents would each stand in a line and we would walk the kids to each line. When he complained about ALWAYS having my DGS in pictures with HIS son I simply told him---we only had one spot held. If you want separate pictures we need two adults standing in line and not one.

 

[missesdisney]

I think it's all degrees of rudeness and there is some threshold that annoys us more than others.

I will say in that type of situation for Power Rangers or at the Hat at MGM DH and I will go to separate lines but I never felt like I was taking away because we have one child who would be the only one to see the character so if DH was in the line, now DS is there Instead - we didn't hold up anyone more than they thought. This is different in my head than someone bringing a ton of people up there - but I do agree that it is very difficult to determine where we are putting someone out.

 

[MMmomto5]

I was at MNSSHPon the 21st of Oct.I was waiting in line for Snow White(I was alone). I was maybe 10th in line and there was a woman and her 4 year old behind me. We had been waiting a while and the little girl was telling her mom she had to go potty bad. I heard the mom tell her that she couldn'tget Grandma on her phone to hold their place, so could she wait a few minutes, or should they leave the line? I volunteered to hold their place while she ran her to the restroom. I think she was worried that I would leave and they would be in the very long line that had gathered. She accepted my offer and made it back very quickly. No one complained, and I felt that I was doing something nice.

On the flip side though, I have 5 kids and would never hold a place in a character line for my family while they did something else. A family our size with that many autograph books and pictures could mean multiple families getting cut off, and I would be embarassed about a situation like that.

 

[GoHerd1028]

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.

I did not think it was Jersey Week yet!

 

[ireland_nicole]

O.K., I waited, and waited, but just wanted to bring up one other reason some families "save" places in character lines. I have two children w/ multiple disabilities- you wouldn't necessarily notice it to look at them, but believe me, they're very real. My children cannot stand in a long line, and cannot tolerate being touched by others. If they try, they will melt down and potentially injure themselves, me, or others. We only go to parks during the least crowded weeks, we only go for 4-5 hours in a day, we use character meals whenever possible so that we can keep the stimulation controlled. (And if anyone wants to say my kids Autism and other genetic based diagnoses are bad parenting, go ahead... I can take it.)

But sometimes my kids want to see a character when it's not "scheduled" or the character isn't available in a meal. When that happens, DH or I will wait in line while the other occupies the children nearby (in shade, b/c DD can't be in the sun much.) When the waiter gets close, the other will bring the kids and help control and protect them until their turn. They each have one autograph book (which I keep ready) and we take a group photo with the two of them.

Some of you will say this is fine, others will say this is cutting. I'm not saying this is the case w/ everyone you see, but it could certainly be the case with some.

Just my perspective.

 

[jtlund]

I understand all points, I really do. Like I said, if it's a parent holding for one child, great - I know the parent in front of me isn't waiting for herself for the PW, it's the 10 kid thing that ultimately got my goat, not the holding a single spot thing. The parent I had words with wasn't the one holding a spot, it was another family (of 4 or 5) and this rude woman was someone they knew and the rude woman was teh one that brought the additional 10 over.

Nicole - our 5 year old has had four open heart surgeries, has a 3 chamber heart and also can't stand in long lines and in the heat. We could have taken our trip through Make A Wish and gotten the FP and never had to stand in a line but I figured as long as it wasn't a super long line in the heat, we'd be fine - and we were. If your husband had been single in front of me and you and your two kids came up I honestly wouldn't have thought twice about it. I would have figured from the get-go that he wasn't standing there for himself. This was totally different, one family letting another Brady Bunch (+4) was too much and not at all expected. I guess I was shocked on top of the fact that I heard the tock clicking that last 5 minutes. All's well - out of 8 days at Disney - that was our only experience with something like that.

 

[ireland_nicole]

I completely understand that 1 person "holding" a place for multiple families is in most people's minds, excessive.

There are no fast passes for character meets. The Tinkerbell meet was, according to a report from a fellow dis'er, 140 minutes yesterday. There is no alternative if you want to see Tink, families with children who have disabilities are being told to have one person stand in line for them, so you may see this happen more often.

 

[Goofy Guy]

I'm just going to chime in and give kudos to Jtlund in the way she handled it all. Even as she looks back at the situation, you can clearly see her kind heart. I can't imagine enduring a line and watch 10 people cut in front of me. I probably would have handled it differently if the group was rude about a complaint but I do like the suggestion of calling a CM over to referee that situation.

But much credit should go to Jt for her patience and presence of mind to let it go, shake it off and continue on with a great trip. She set a fine example for her kids. Nicely done.

 

[christa112]

I don't like how they do the Power Ranger photo/autograph signing to begin with. It is like a free for all, complete craziness with kids running everywhere hoping to meet their fav PR. I am really sorry to hear that happen to you and I am also glad my kids have grown out of PR's LOL

 

[larryz]

That's what I had to do, when I read your post.

Now that I've calmed down a bit, I can dispassionately commiserate with you on your experience.

<rant> Audacity, rudeness, selfishness, and lack of common courtesy will be the downfall of Western civilization. You're just seeing the symptoms of a much larger social problem.

Ironically, I blame Hollywood for most of it. And the NEA for the rest. </rant>

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> <rant> ... I blame ... </rant>
Regrettably Disney deserves some of the blame. Allowing cut-ins is a flaw in policies and procedures. Not only does it detract from guests' experiences but it encourages more and more rude behavior.

 

[jtlund]

I really appreciate all of your comments because I like to see things from opposite sides too. Really.

I did have one HUGE realization during our trip. There is not enough $$ in the world they could pay me to be a Disney CM who had anything to do with being a character or escort. No WAY! Kudos Kudos Kudos to those who are or who done this job! I love children and people in general but OMG every day, all day, different personalities, etc. I see the worst in a lot of people because I work for a divorce attorney but I bet these people have some kid/parent stories that would make our jaws drop and make MY experience look like nothing. That said, I could do it if I was riding on a float waving from above but never, ever, ever could I do the meet and greet/autograph thing.

ALL Disney CMs that we encountered were unbelievable! SO nice and helpful and just all around great people. I chatted with a bathroom CM for about 5 minutes outside the restrooms while waiting for my husband and son. He was 65, retired and SO sweet. He always loved Disney and decided to get a job there doing whatever they'd hire him to do. He worked 35 years for Chevrolet. COOL.

 

[disnut8]

Anyone remember when all the character greetings were like the Power Rangers? No lines, no order, no nothing. The lines were instituted and that works for the most part. The next step, I guess, would be to have character greetings be an attraction in itself. So no more characters out in the front of the Animal Kingdom entrance. No Beauty and the Beast in France. No Snow White and the Dwarfs in Germany. No Mary Poppins or Alice in the United Kingdom. Just have them all in one place and rotate them throughout the day. If your child wants to see Belle, you'll have to check the schedule for the fifteen minutes she'll be at the attraction.

The thing is, the character greetings are supposed to be fun. Disney cannot and (in my opinion) should not start policing their guests to the point that getting a character autograph is such a structured and rigid event. What's the fun in that?

Yes, there will be rude people out there. Rude people exist everywhere. I've found the best way to deal with rude people is to be sickening nice to them. You'll never see them again.

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> ... getting a character autograph is such a structured and rigid event. What's the fun in that?
But what's the fun in getting no autograph at all despite having gotten there early?

 

[Joanna71985]

I did have one HUGE realization during our trip. There is not enough $$ in the world they could pay me to be a Disney CM who had anything to do with being a character or escort. No WAY! Kudos Kudos Kudos to those who are or who done this job! I love children and people in general but OMG every day, all day, different personalities, etc. I see the worst in a lot of people because I work for a divorce attorney but I bet these people have some kid/parent stories that would make our jaws drop and make MY experience look like nothing. That said, I could do it if I was riding on a float waving from above but never, ever, ever could I do the meet and greet/autograph thing.

It really isn't that bad. I love my job, and love seeing people of all ages meet their favorite character(s). Yes, it has its moments (what job doesn't). But the good far outweighs the bad.