Characters as an Adult - Should I feel bad?

[Lothlórien]

I have no issues meeting characters all by myself

If somebody wants to complain, that is on them. Hopefully they do not let it ruin their day.
I paid for my vacation just the same as they did and the entertainment is there for everybody to enjoy.

 

[Dormouse.]

I'm happy to report that I don't think about this happening at all anymore!

In fact, the boyfriend and I have already booked our flights for this year's trip. When we found out Flynn meets for MVMCP, he didn't even hesitate. <3 I plan on writing my first ever trip report and everything.

 

[Rosie13030]

I am so glad to see this post, I am going on my first solo trip in 2 weeks, and I really want to do some meet and greets. but wasn't sure. I feel much better now!

 

[Meg29Vanderpoel]

I'm so glad I found this!! My husband and I are having an anniversary trip this fall and I was wondering about this same thing!! I'm a huge Disney fan, and I'm all about the princesses and the one character I didn't get to meet.. Goofy. I won't be meeting the characters that I meet a year ago with my kids, I just want the ones that I wanted to meet last year that my kids had no interest in meeting. But I'm glad there are a lot of people that don't mind the adults having a good time too.

 

[angie.a]

When my daughter and I went last June for her 18th birthday (the first time we'd been since she was 9), we hadn't really considered doing character meet and greets other than lunch at CRT. I took her picture with all of the princesses, but none of me because I also was under the mistaken idea that it was somehow "for the children". And then...we saw Marie on Main Street and that was that. That 5 minutes with Marie remains one of my favorite memories of that trip.

We went back for my birthday in November and bought auto books and did all the character m&g's we had time for! No one ever made us feel odd about being "grown up" and meeting the characters. At Epcot especially I had an amazing time interacting with Chip & Dale and Goofy and Minnie. The cast members really do make the experience magical.

 

[disneydude365]

first off that lady was the problem she was just mad there was a line and wanted to just have her way and since she showed up after the line started of course she was at the back. in my signature is a link to a thread of lots of interactions with characters i too felt a little awkward about my love of characters but so many people told me their memories and stories and i got over it. Everything at disney is for children and children at heart. check it out if that lady is still bothering you. all i can say about her is she should have been better prepared everyone knows with disney planning and being on time can make your trip even more magical
i love meeting peter!

 

[cherrybomb11]

I just came back from my first solo trip, and I went to the Mickey & Pals spot. I felt a little weird about it but I wasn't the only kid-less person there. This was my first character photo probably since I was a kid. The character had their arm around me, first on my shoulder, then the hand moved to my ribcage and I felt him/her deliberately tickling me, which made me laugh both from being tickled but because it was a total surprise. I didn't feel violated, I just thought it was weird especially considering how close that hand was to my boob. So uh, is tickling a normal thing or what?

 

[lustergirl]

OP: don't feel bad. That lady was being a jerk and didn't want to have her little snowflake wait very long. Nice generation being raised.

 

[brb1006]

When my daughter and I went last June for her 18th birthday (the first time we'd been since she was 9), we hadn't really considered doing character meet and greets other than lunch at CRT. I took her picture with all of the princesses, but none of me because I also was under the mistaken idea that it was somehow "for the children". And then...we saw Marie on Main Street and that was that. That 5 minutes with Marie remains one of my favorite memories of that trip.

We went back for my birthday in November and bought auto books and did all the character m&g's we had time for! No one ever made us feel odd about being "grown up" and meeting the characters. At Epcot especially I had an amazing time interacting with Chip & Dale and Goofy and Minnie. The cast members really do make the experience magical.

I don't know why but there's something about Marie that even makes guests waiting to meet her look entertaining. I remember before I meet her again on my final day at WDW. I was in line, and I remember seeing one guests asking something about adjusting her bow and she reacted by turning back and patting her bow and go back to facing the guest she meet.

 

[kitnrose99]

Obviously you've gotten more than enough positive feedback but thought I'd add my own - last trip I was disbounding as Cindy and so HAD to meet her and it was amazing. The kids in front of me were being pretty normal - they'd walk up, hug her, smile, she'd say something while signing their autograph book while they got all shy, and then it was one more picture and on to the next kid. Then it was my turn and she got SO EXCITED and we had a whole conversation to the point where I started feeling a bit bad for holding up the line except, at least, those after me seemed to really enjoy watching us. And it was entirely Cindy's doing. From what I saw, the average kid just doesn't give the characters much to work with. They go quiet, do that shy dance, and quietly answer yes or no to direct questions. Having an adult to play off seemed to make her day and she was obviously loving it, possibly even more than I was and, trust me, I was in heaven.

So, see, you meeting the characters as an adult isn't selfish - you're there to make their day a bit better! Totally unselfish and the least we adults can do for the characters that spread so much magic.

And sorry you had that one run in with a crazy parent that last day. If it helps, if it wasn't you it would have been something else. There's something about having kids that tells an already entitled person that they're RIGHT and NOBLE for demanding special treatment for their kids. You know that the same lady would be the one who, in 10 or so year's time, would throw a hissy fit if her now-adult snowflake wasn't allowed to meet characters. Sorry you ran into that person and PLEASE don't let her ruin your vacation memories. She's SO not worth it.

I work retail and, trust me, when I say that she would have gotten her knickers in a knot one way or another ... I know. Oh how I know.

 

[Dormouse.]

Obviously you've gotten more than enough positive feedback but thought I'd add my own - last trip I was disbounding as Cindy and so HAD to meet her and it was amazing. The kids in front of me were being pretty normal - they'd walk up, hug her, smile, she'd say something while signing their autograph book while they got all shy, and then it was one more picture and on to the next kid. Then it was my turn and she got SO EXCITED and we had a whole conversation to the point where I started feeling a bit bad for holding up the line except, at least, those after me seemed to really enjoy watching us. And it was entirely Cindy's doing. From what I saw, the average kid just doesn't give the characters much to work with. They go quiet, do that shy dance, and quietly answer yes or no to direct questions. Having an adult to play off seemed to make her day and she was obviously loving it, possibly even more than I was and, trust me, I was in heaven.

So, see, you meeting the characters as an adult isn't selfish - you're there to make their day a bit better! Totally unselfish and the least we adults can do for the characters that spread so much magic.

And sorry you had that one run in with a crazy parent that last day. If it helps, if it wasn't you it would have been something else. There's something about having kids that tells an already entitled person that they're RIGHT and NOBLE for demanding special treatment for their kids. You know that the same lady would be the one who, in 10 or so year's time, would throw a hissy fit if her now-adult snowflake wasn't allowed to meet characters. Sorry you ran into that person and PLEASE don't let her ruin your vacation memories. She's SO not worth it.

I work retail and, trust me, when I say that she would have gotten her knickers in a knot one way or another ... I know. Oh how I know.

This is exactly how I think about it now! Looking back at my favorite experiences that I've seen on the internet, they almost always revolve around adults. Adults are more likely to be their on their own volition as opposed to just going because their parents want them to, etc. It's nice to think about the fact that adults doing meet-and-greets offer a bit of a break for the characters.

I used to work retail, too, and this was totally one of those parents. I worked at Gamestop, so it was almost always things like "Well, why DON'T you have this game on this system?" for games that were never made on that specific system, or parents who didn't care for the ESRB rant we had to go on for "M" rated games but then got angry at us when they heard/saw something they didn't like in their children's games. I think, looking back, it was more shock that people could act like this at the "happiest place on Earth" than anything else. The thought that I had ruined someone's magical time was horrifying to me.

 

[kitnrose99]

The thought that I had ruined someone's magical time was horrifying to me.

I suspect that lady never had a magical time in her life so there's no way you could have ruined that. Hey, yelling about something probably made her happier than anything else so you were helping her! Her poor kid, though ... nothing you could have done short of adopting her on the spot could have helped. Her mom was going to make sure her day was ruined one way or another. One of the saddest retail things I had was a grandmother throwing a fit because we wouldn't return something at full price. She'd bought it four months earlier and it had gone on sale since then. Anyway, her granddaughter was with her and wanted to exchange the item for something else and was so obviously embarrassed as her grandmother shouted louder and louder and threatened us with legal action and started telling other people in line how horrible we were ... all over a price change of $14. You could just see that the granddaughter would never be able to look at her exchanged item without remembering the drama and embarrassment. Way to ruin it, grandma. Same with the little girl. If her magic was dulled, she had no one but her mother to blame.

And think of all the magic you made! With the characters and with the kids in line who got to realize that growing up doesn't mean they have to give up on the magic! I'd guess that most people, if they even noticed you were meeting the characters without a kid, thought you were awesome and wished they could do that and were inspired to let their inner kid have a bit more freedom while in the World.