Character meet and greets are the worst part of WDW now! My story..

[EMILAYLAY93]

When I was young, it seemed like we waited forever for autographs. I remember the days when Pluto came out and was mobbed by children. There was no line and I was pushed aside because I was smaller than some of the other kids. Now the lines are longer, but it does seem to be more organized with the character handlers. There also seem to be more people in line.

On recent trips I just picked my favorite characters and got their autographs.

 

[kevschickee]

When I was young, it seemed like we waited forever for autographs. I remember the days when Pluto came out and was mobbed by children. There was no line and I was pushed aside because I was smaller than some of the other kids. Now the lines are longer, but it does seem to be more organized with the character handlers. There also seem to be more people in line.

On recent trips I just picked my favorite characters and got their autographs.

That's how I remember it too

 

[mom2rtk]

I think more people carry cameras than ever before. Most have one on their phone. With a phone already along, there is more desire to take photos with the characters.

 

[World Showcaser]

But you usually didn't! Generally you would have 1 or 2 other families around. Nobody cared that much, the characters were just part of the scenery.

Really? I don't have a single photo from my childhood of a character and I that doesn't have other children in it.

 

[JenM]

Second was when we went to see Belle in France. We got there and the line was close and the CM told us no more people. It was the last M&G of the day for Belle and DD2 was completely distraught because Belle is her favorite princess. We told her that we would have to see her the next day at MK and she just wouldn't stop crying. The CM took pity on her and said that she would have Belle wave to her when she left and we could take pictures as she walked away. The line ended and the CM whispered in Belle's ear and as Belle started to walk away she waved to my daughter and my daughter excitedly waved back and then Belle came over and gave her a huge hug and posed for a moment so we could take a picture with our camera. The CM was urging Belle to move on since it was time to go but again, wasn't rude about it to us or to Belle. That was a special moment that we won't soon forget.

We had a great moment like that with Belle at Epcot too. My friend's son, who was 6, had a huge crush in Belle, so we asked when we got to Epcot, we asked a CM what the schedule was to see her in France. We found out she was there now (with the Beast), but would only be there another 10 minutes. We were right near Spaceship Earth, so we bolted over to France...with two six-year-olds in about a million-degree humidity.

We had just made it, but the Photopass guy was explaining that Belle would be staying, but the Beast would be going back inside just after...he was about to cut off the line in front of us, but he saw the out-of-breath, sweaty wreckage of a group that we were...and let us be the last group for Belle and the Beast instead.

It was so nice! We didn't think we were going to make it, and we would just try again during our trip if we'd missed them, and we didn't even ask, but he just took a look at us and squeezed us in. You can even see how red-faced and sweaty the kids are in the pictures. We always referred to it as the time we "ran to France."