Hello All,
I just wanted to share my experience from a very exhausting but enjoyable holiday to Orlando we had last year. In toe we had a 14 year old wanting extreme rides and my 5 year old daughter who wanted to really embrace the love she has for Disney (especially the princesses). SO this thread I will focus on the CHaracter greetings to those of you that wish to take it to the extent we did! The main focus was to meet all 10 Disney Princesses which of course was a challenge
1 - Get a daily timetable at every park you visit - this is usually kept where you will find the park maps if not ask an assistant. On this it will tell you timings of when and where the characters will be available to meet. Some of these will be specific however there is also a general area where a mix of characters will come out. NOTE : The timetable does change from week to week, however if you are on a two week vacation I don't anticipate much change between weeks.
2 - Arrive at meet times 10 minutes before - the meets can get crowded especially when the kids all see there favourite characters walking around they charge towards them. However the assistant will lead the character to the designated place, so be in that queue
3 - Prepare for disappointment - Sometimes if you are not in the queue when the character arrives there is a chance that you will miss out on seeing them. This can be frustrating as you could be next in line but as adults we need to appreciate how hot they must get in costume! so try and play down the greet until you are confident that you group will be seen, otherwise prepare for tears
4 - Queueing in the Sun - When we met Jasmine in Adeventureland we made the mistake of having my daughter queue with me. This was in the direct sun and we were not prepared to protect her from the sun!. When we saw Buzz & Jesse in Frontierland the sun was as fierce but we kept my daughter in the shade whilst we took turns to queue in the sun. Also drinks hats sun cream are all essential. A childs health is more important than seeing a character
5 - Prepare to lose time - Seeing the characters can be time consuming. If you are planning to goto a park to see all the characters and go on all the rides in one day forget it! you will spend your life in queues so be prepared to stand it out
6 - Character breakfasts / lunches - We did two of these and is a good way to meet a group of characters. We did breakfast at Cinderella castle (which we found a disappointment due to the little time the princesses gave us) and we did Hollywood & Vine (where the characters we much more friendly and interactive - Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso, Little Einsteins)
7 - Magic Kingdom - As well as the main timings for characters there is always a handful of characters around the entrance when the park opens. On the day we hung back for this we met Pinnocchio but also out was Snow White, Pluto & Mary Poppins. Also the town hall hosted Mickey & Minnie and three princesses (Cinderella, Aurora and Belle) this is a good thing to do if it is raining or you need a break from the sun
8 - Epcot - This was the best place for characters! - There is an area to greet the famous 5 (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy & Donald) however this has a long queue. Around world showcase there is a character based in each country and this we a very successful area to visit. Around the lake we saw Mulan (China), Snow White (Germany), Aladdin & Jasmine (Morrocco), Belle & Beast (France), Marie (France), Aurora (France), Mary Poppins (England), Alice (England), Pooh & Tigger (England). Then walking towards the Golf ball from England you will spot some large gates on the left and IF you are as lucky as we were they will open with a handful of characters to meet (we had Mickey, Donald, Brear Bear, Brear Fox, Chip n Dale)
9 - Animal Kingdom - We did not go up to Rafiki's planet watch where I expect we missed a few characters, however we did get to see most around the Camp Minnie-Mickey area so aim for that area. Also sometimes you get characters just inside the entrance however we were not lucky on our visits
10 - Hollywood Studios - This park is more staged with areas to meet Incredibles, Monsters Inc, Mickey, Pooh Bear etc.... Best area is around the hat where random characters come out at different times (which are on the timetable)
11 - Missing one?? - The only character we really wanted towards the end of our trip was Piglet and after following a rumoured sighting in England at Epcot we simply asked and was told to goto Hollywood Studios around the hat. We did this on our final day and also got DOnald & Daisy , Minnie, Goofy, Tigger, Eyeore, Chip n Dale. Assistant can help you however am not sure if you can DEMAND a specific character such as Jafar and then they can set this up for you....
SO I hope this helps someone feel free to ask any questions
And for info I would really like to know how it all works behind the scenes and would love to take a background tour of there costume departments and training labs.
If you are travelling out to Disney good luck and have fun!
I just wanted to share my experience from a very exhausting but enjoyable holiday to Orlando we had last year. In toe we had a 14 year old wanting extreme rides and my 5 year old daughter who wanted to really embrace the love she has for Disney (especially the princesses). SO this thread I will focus on the CHaracter greetings to those of you that wish to take it to the extent we did! The main focus was to meet all 10 Disney Princesses which of course was a challenge
1 - Get a daily timetable at every park you visit - this is usually kept where you will find the park maps if not ask an assistant. On this it will tell you timings of when and where the characters will be available to meet. Some of these will be specific however there is also a general area where a mix of characters will come out. NOTE : The timetable does change from week to week, however if you are on a two week vacation I don't anticipate much change between weeks.
2 - Arrive at meet times 10 minutes before - the meets can get crowded especially when the kids all see there favourite characters walking around they charge towards them. However the assistant will lead the character to the designated place, so be in that queue
3 - Prepare for disappointment - Sometimes if you are not in the queue when the character arrives there is a chance that you will miss out on seeing them. This can be frustrating as you could be next in line but as adults we need to appreciate how hot they must get in costume! so try and play down the greet until you are confident that you group will be seen, otherwise prepare for tears
4 - Queueing in the Sun - When we met Jasmine in Adeventureland we made the mistake of having my daughter queue with me. This was in the direct sun and we were not prepared to protect her from the sun!. When we saw Buzz & Jesse in Frontierland the sun was as fierce but we kept my daughter in the shade whilst we took turns to queue in the sun. Also drinks hats sun cream are all essential. A childs health is more important than seeing a character
5 - Prepare to lose time - Seeing the characters can be time consuming. If you are planning to goto a park to see all the characters and go on all the rides in one day forget it! you will spend your life in queues so be prepared to stand it out
6 - Character breakfasts / lunches - We did two of these and is a good way to meet a group of characters. We did breakfast at Cinderella castle (which we found a disappointment due to the little time the princesses gave us) and we did Hollywood & Vine (where the characters we much more friendly and interactive - Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso, Little Einsteins)
7 - Magic Kingdom - As well as the main timings for characters there is always a handful of characters around the entrance when the park opens. On the day we hung back for this we met Pinnocchio but also out was Snow White, Pluto & Mary Poppins. Also the town hall hosted Mickey & Minnie and three princesses (Cinderella, Aurora and Belle) this is a good thing to do if it is raining or you need a break from the sun
8 - Epcot - This was the best place for characters! - There is an area to greet the famous 5 (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy & Donald) however this has a long queue. Around world showcase there is a character based in each country and this we a very successful area to visit. Around the lake we saw Mulan (China), Snow White (Germany), Aladdin & Jasmine (Morrocco), Belle & Beast (France), Marie (France), Aurora (France), Mary Poppins (England), Alice (England), Pooh & Tigger (England). Then walking towards the Golf ball from England you will spot some large gates on the left and IF you are as lucky as we were they will open with a handful of characters to meet (we had Mickey, Donald, Brear Bear, Brear Fox, Chip n Dale)
9 - Animal Kingdom - We did not go up to Rafiki's planet watch where I expect we missed a few characters, however we did get to see most around the Camp Minnie-Mickey area so aim for that area. Also sometimes you get characters just inside the entrance however we were not lucky on our visits
10 - Hollywood Studios - This park is more staged with areas to meet Incredibles, Monsters Inc, Mickey, Pooh Bear etc.... Best area is around the hat where random characters come out at different times (which are on the timetable)
11 - Missing one?? - The only character we really wanted towards the end of our trip was Piglet and after following a rumoured sighting in England at Epcot we simply asked and was told to goto Hollywood Studios around the hat. We did this on our final day and also got DOnald & Daisy , Minnie, Goofy, Tigger, Eyeore, Chip n Dale. Assistant can help you however am not sure if you can DEMAND a specific character such as Jafar and then they can set this up for you....
SO I hope this helps someone feel free to ask any questions
And for info I would really like to know how it all works behind the scenes and would love to take a background tour of there costume departments and training labs.
If you are travelling out to Disney good luck and have fun!
however I decided that the wait for some of the princesses was far too long for a baby and the boys were not keen to sacrifice their fast passes for a princess m&g!!! 
