Character meet and greets

[Sinderelli]

Our trip in Sept. of last year was ideal all around. It seemed as if the character lines moved so smoothly. Many, many times as we entered a line we were told, "___________ will only sign autograph books for 5 more minutes so you may not get a chance." We took it upon ourselves to take that chance. Sometimes the CM would "close" the line and not let anyone else in. This way, you knew you were not standing in line for nothing. Fast forward to our trip in Feb. Not once did we encounter this. We stood in many lines, only to have the characters leave when we were next. I always prepared my kids for this, as I knew it could happen. We were standing in line for Lilo and Stitch, received their signatures, and they were replaced by Chip and Dale. The woman in line behind me started screaming at the CM (which I do NOT condone). I knew she was disappointed for her children, but she handled it wrong. It just seems like a lot of problems could be solved if they "closed" the lines and did not allow anyone else to get in line if the characters are finished.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

This is a tough thing for the little ones to understand! I know at one time at MGM (like 2004ish), the CMs were trying to close each character line by giving a balloon with the character's name on it to the official last person in line. Guess it was too much work, or guests never noticed the balloons, as I don't see it done anymore. And sometimes a CM is working with many different characters, and can't be right there to tell everyone the line is closed. I had it happen so many times, too, where a line closes right in front of me. I actually quite expect it nowadays, as I am usually solo in the character lines so I am an "easy" one (no kids to upset) to shut the line down on. Oh well!

 

[Stitchfans]

In spring 2005 we where handed one of those balloons when we were in line for Piglet. To make sure no one else got in line behind us there was a handler/CM standing right by us telling guests that Piglet was going on break. That CM was in charge of letting guests know about other characters going on their breaks too.

 

[eeyoreiscool]

From what I have seen, the majority of the time the same characters come back out so the handler may have been surprised themselves to see someone different. It seems that about half of them let the people know that the characters have to leave for a moment but I haven't seen people get angry about it.

 

[nickeymouse]

It's much better when the CM's stand in line, then telling you, "8 more minuets". It also saves time!!!

 

[bctripp]

I was proud of my DD's, they handeled it well when the characters went in, partly because they knew that most likely the character would come back out. We were left hanging a few times, but the CM's we encountered handeled it well.