Character interactions during recent trip

[TeamUrsula]

Ok, I'm writing trip report for our recent trip (check it out!), but wanted to post here about character interactions.

I wonder if I'm the only one who likes them a little more now???

I did really miss Minnie's character breakfast, which we skipped this time as they don't come to the tables. I would like that to return. But my daughter is a huge fan of character meets and I feel like in previous trips we would wait in that fantasy fair line for a while, and only see the princesses once we made our way through. Or often we would see a character and try for their line only to be told it was closing. This time we saw a bigger variety of characters, especially by Fantasy Fair or near Pixie Hollow, and we had no wait or short waits to interact with them, get a wave, or with a face character have a conversation. This is a photo of Tiana talking with my daughter for a couple minutes. Other times this trip we walked up, got a wave, turned for a photo, and kept moving.

It felt more casual, more fun, and I think the interactions were as good if not better. We miss the hugs and my daughter missed the autographs, but I think I'd take this trade. We all walked right up to Rapunzel on the balcony in the Fantasy Fair courtyard and took turns showing her our shirts and getting a photo. I know if she was meeting in that area next to the princess meet and greet where I've seen her in the past we would have to wait a while or be told her line was closed. So, am I crazy? Is there a way to keep some of this casual, low wait fun and get back to autographs and hugs?

 

[Dawnie]

We were just at WDW and as an adult without kids with us...I loved it. I got to see so many characters I never would have waited in line for. We are going to Disneyland next week with the grandkids, and I think it will work out good for our shy granddaughter. It seems way less intimating than the up close meet and greets.

 

[mdmost]

I think the at a distance meet and greets are great. The only downside is I will miss the up close conversations and fun we had with some of the walk around characters like the Queen and Dr. Facilier.

Tiana might be our favorite character. We went once in 2017 for Halloween and got the most magical photo I can think of. Our girls are now 14 and 12 so the time for being super excited about the princesses is long gone. But at the time they were into it fully. We got on the Mark Twain Riverboat, which was sadly something we never made time for before. We go up to the 2nd level where we see Tiana standing around. We got up and talk to her and she poses for pictures. We said thanks and then walked over to observe the shore as we were going along. Tiana then walked up to our girls and stood next to them just chatting about her favorite parts of the River and pointing out things to do them. Pure Disney magic.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I waited nearly an hour and a half to meet Raya. I actually don't think it has much to do with removing autographs and hugs but more to do with the types of people in the park right now. There are basically zero international guests who often made up a good percentage of the character lines. Magic Keyholders focus on new things which explains the Raya line vs the lines for princesses who have been around for a long time. There's also fewer families who visit infrequently because they're likely waiting for shows and may not know how to deal with reservations. These families are likely the ones with kids who are screaming to meet that one character and will wait however long it takes to do it.

The other factor is character mobs. In the past, there were fewer characters in the park and some roaming characters would not stop for photos and autographs. Even if they did, you may have to waste a lot of time tracking them down. Now that there are characters all over the park in designated spots and it's relatively easy to just join the mob in front of the rope/barrier for a quick selfie, most people can get their character fix relatively quickly. So they don't feel the need to wait in line for other characters.

 

[TeamUrsula]

Oh that may be true, maybe the lines will return even if the more close 1 on 1 interactions don’t. We also waited a bit for Raya one night. She was great though and as good of a character meet as we’ve ever had in the “before times.”

 

[tenneycjt]

Im an adult and i miss the up close conversations and autographs, Anna and Elsa and Tinker bell were so great with me and my mom, teh pictures were great, and they were so personalble, i definately miss it. On my last trip i felt more shy with them out in the open for some reason, and i dint go up evn though i wanted too.

 

[PiratePixiePark]

I'm so glad the character interactions are still magical! I do wish that autographs and up-close pictures were back, but any character interaction is better than nothing.

 

[Kit Jackson]

I am hoping someone can clarify the current situation. I understand this may well change before my trip because of the world we live in, but this is information I would like to have. I hate the way I look in selfies, so on previous trips pre-covid my friend (who hates having her picture taken at all) would play photographer if a PhotoPass person was not around. Is it possible to do something like that with the current character meet and greets? I stand there in front of the character and then my friend can take the picture? Thanks to anyone who can help.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I am hoping someone can clarify the current situation. I understand this may well change before my trip because of the world we live in, but this is information I would like to have. I hate the way I look in selfies, so on previous trips pre-covid my friend (who hates having her picture taken at all) would play photographer if a PhotoPass person was not around. Is it possible to do something like that with the current character meet and greets? I stand there in front of the character and then my friend can take the picture? Thanks to anyone who can help.

Yes. This is allowed. As is asking some stranger to take photos for you.
For some teams, the "no CMs touching guests' cameras" rule has been relaxed so CMs are allowed to help but are also allowed to refuse. In practice, very few CMs will help guests take photos but a few do.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I’m looking forward to this. I’ve never been patient enough for character lines.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I too enjoyed the new character interactions. This was the first time in many years that I actively sought out characters. All my other trips I just never had any interest in the wait in line say hello get a photo, next person please production line character meets. It just seemed very impersonal and like you were just part of a factory line.

These new interactions seem much better to me. Adults and kids can choose how they interact with the characters. If you don't want a photo, you can just talk to them, if you don't want to talk to them you can just see them. How many times over the years have we all seen character meets where the child doesn't want a photo or a hug but the parent insists because we have waited all this time in line to meet them and everyone else is getting a hug.

As for Raya, the trick is to rope drop the meet and greet. I found out what time the meet and greet would open and got there about 30 minutes before and made sure I was at the top of the line. I beat out all the Disney moms and Magic Key people to be the third person to meet her!!

 

[DodgerGirl]

I think this is a new way for Disneyland to promote the characters and this might be what the character meet and greets for Disneyland will be like in the future. Because although I like getting character autographs from characters I find them an annoying pain for people to do and this new style of character meet and greet might work for people. Because let's say you want to meet Hawkeye for example and the cast member or character handler might ask you this "Does your son want a photo with Hawkeye and say hello or would you just like a photo with Hawkeye and your son" and most likely you would say just a photo because who knows your son might be shy talking to a character and if this new style meet and greets continue to work they might even add character hugs and autographs might be added soon in the future. Because Disneyland has always wanting to try different experiments with character meet and greets even before the pandemic began and this might be one of their big experiments for character meet and greets. As you may have guessed what makes Disneyland a whole lot of money is the sales of autograph books and because of the character meet and greets Disneyland thinks that these new style meet and greets are huge hits and garner a huge audience to the park. But when full meet and greets with full interaction and hugs return Disneyland will gain bigger attendance and make tons of money and autograph book sales will skyrocket through the roof. Because there is something magical about getting a character hug whether it's from Mickey Mouse or Chewbacca it just makes you feel good inside

 

[mouschievous]

I have always preferred when I just randomly spot the characters. Some of my favorite photos from our 2018 trip are the ones when the kids just stumbled onto a character. Our very first day, walking down main street, and there was Pluto just hanging out in front of the fire station (and with a photopass photographer even!) Then a while later we were in Fantasyland and Alice and the Mad Hatter were just mingling. A bit later, we stumbled onto Peter Pan and Captain Hook who were drawing with the kids! Those are my favorite character moments, when you just happen upon them, there's no line, it's not formal, they're just hanging out as if it's the most natural thing in the world.

 

[Wesley815]

I enjoy the new setup too. Previously it felt like an 'assembly line' with the autograph books being shoved in character faces one after another. I have no clue why so many parents went insane over getting autographs when most kids don't even care- they just wanted the fun interaction without being yelled at to look at camera.

IMO- most pics look so much better with families or children interacting with characters instead of the standard looking straight forward staged pose.

You can stop by Disney property hotels and CM's will magically help get your favorite character autographs anyways.

 

[ktlm]

DD is a teen now, but still loves the characters, so we really liked the way the meets are going now. We got to talk to and interact with the characters and get pictures with virtually no wait- or at most 5 minutes. BUT- I will say that for the young kids it is very hard not to be able to get close to the character for a one on one or get hugs and autographs. I was talking to someone last week who had just gotten back from her grandkids' first WDW trip and they were unaware the characters were not doing autographs now and the little ones were really disappointed. They had heard about all the autographs etc. and even had autograph books. I also talked to another family whose preschool girls cried because they didn't understand why they couldn't get closer to Mickey and Elsa and Anna. I think for the 2-6 year olds, the distance meets are a little rough. For us, we love them.

 

[TsWade2]

I hope we can high five and hug the characters soon. I don't want this to be like that forever.

 

[Kit Jackson]

I like autographs, but it's not a dealbreaker for me. Thinking about my last pre-pandemic trip, there were some characters that couldn't/didn't autographs and that didn't bother me, as long as I could get a picture with them. I will miss getting to touch them. I have a vivid memory of getting to touch Dug and being amazed at how soft he was and how much he reminded me of a plush stuffed dog that I own.