Do the characters really hug you ??

[Luvchefmic]

What a Happy Thread !

 

[Reto]

I can't believe this thread is still alive, love the photos, keep 'em coming!

Here's another one featuring my "Papa Bear":

Whoa! That looks like he gave me a kiss:

One last bear hug for my 1st trip. Love how Baloo smiles directly into the camera:

Tigger hugs are awesome, too!

And I definitely agree with previous posters: Talk to the characters! Make some comments or ask something related to their character/movie. They love nothing more than that! For example I often asked Baloo how Mowgli & Bagheera are doing, and on the last day of my trip when I said goodbye to him, I told him to always look for the "bare necessities". Got some good laughs from CMs and guests around.

Here's my last photo for this thread: I asked Tigger, who is among my very favorites, if he could teach me how to bounce. This is what that looked like:

 

[PoohsFan1]

What a Happy Thread !

That is too sweet.... I really wish they would bring Figment back for Meet and Greets. A couple of years ago both of my DDs saw him for the first time (DD6 loves the purple dragon) and were a little timid of him at first. Figment was so wonderful with them, and let them get used to him before coming over to give hugs. They played with him for quite a bit because there was no one around....that was probably one of the best character interactions that my DD's had and sadly he is now gone

 

[BabyEeyore]

Am I the only one crying at the photos of the kids hugging the characters????? (I really hope my boss doesn't walk in!)

I get very teary eyed when i see the pictures and read about peoples experiences. I'm a big baby with stuff like that. I love Disney because of the magic.

Crying like a baby over here. In a good way, of course. Can't wait to go in September!

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

Goofy tickeled my kids...

Pretty funny, he was all alone waiting with no line, dancing around and then we sent the kids up to dance with him and that is what he did. When I asked him to show us some more dance moves he did some disco finger pointing. Funny!

 

[Swimalie]

I love Tigger teaching to bounce, Snow White and the kiss (see mine below) and Figment. I would love to have Figment back!!

I'm more of a kid at Disney than my son is. I was in to the characters more

And what Snow White left on my son's cheek at Akershus. He was in love after this!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Sometimes when meeting the characters they like to look at the WDW pins I wear on my lanyard and they get excited when they see pins of themselves. They also get upset when I don't have any pins of them which has happened when I met Stitch.

 

[camnhan]

It took me a while to find these on my computer (I have a few pics loaded )...this is from 04...mom was taking pics with tears streaming down my face...my little guy has Down Syndrome and the CM's took us back and we got to spend time with all the characters by ourselves!! No one else in the room...he was so excited...he had only really started walking about 2 mths earlier (he was 3 at the time) and had a very minimal vocab but could say ALL the characters names..even his version of Cinderella...when she picked him up i lost it!!!!

 

[Luvchefmic]

How touching...thanks so much for sharing these

 

[1153rsmith]

WOW. That is an amazing story. I'm glad Disney will still go out of their way to make your trip special.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[ronnmel]

A few years ago, in a "how to teach art to children" class at university, I made a drawing of Stitch based on a plush toy of him that I have. I decided to bring it to Disney for him to sign. When he saw the picture, he couldn't believe it was him. He seemed very touched and I got a big hug.

Then he licked me just before he left!

Reading this thread has made me all excited about possibly meeting more characters on my next trip. It's not something I would wait in line for (at least not more than a few minutes), but I will definitely welcome (and be on the lookout for) the unexpected opportunities that might arise.

My only concern is about meeting Stitch again. Part of me really wants to see him, as he is my absolute favorite. But part of me is afraid of being disappointed, as our first meeting was so magical and it would be hard to top it.

 

[Foxhound3857]

(I hope everyone is a fan of thread revival)

Yes, the characters do hug you and interact with you. It's part of their training and their routine for mingling with the park crowd, especially children. Some of the characters will even pick up and hold your children if permitted, although they're usually not supposed to for safety reasons. It just depends on the person in costume.

They also know that some of the kids are afraid of them, and they're trained to deal with this too. Some of them go very easy and let the child make the first move (which is often more successful then you might think), some of them know to leave the child alone (and if not, they usually get the hint soon enough), and...unfortunately, some of them just don't care. Again, it just depends on the CM in the costume.

I remember when I was 4 or 5 years old, during my second trip to Disneyland, I was approached by Roger Rabbit. Although I was a fan then and was even wearing a Roger Rabbit shirt and hat, I was mortally terrified of the characters at the time and I almost ran screaming from him. But he was trained well and went easy on me, I warmed up a little bit, and it turned into a magical 15-minute experience that I'll never forget. It ended with me being picked up by Roger and given the biggest, most affectionate hug I'd ever received, with the crowd behind me going "AWWWWWWWWW..." in turn.

So yes, don't be surprised if a character comes up to hug you or your kids. It's what they're trained to do, and most of them are very good at it.

 

[Finally08]

I know I posted earlier in this thread but now I have stuff uploaded.

They were sitting together for a few minutes before I started filming. This is from almost 3 years ago, and dd just realized watching it the other day that Dopey made a little "heart" with his hands as she was walking away.



This is from our last trip and cracks me up because it looks like dd is trying really hard to get away...

she's under there somewhere....

 

[glammadiva]

Yep!! I got hugged by Mickey 2-weeks ago.

 

[Missytara]

I have a funny story over being "hugged" by a character.

At Epcot, I sat on a bench and was loading film in my camera - I am dating myself here. Out of a side door near me comes Smee and Captain Hook. I was thrilled. The CM motioned me over.

Now I am known if my hair looks especially good that day - which it did - that I don't want anyone to touch my hair.

Well, Smee reaches out and begins to put his arms around me, and instinctively, I blurted out, "Don't touch my hair." Ugh.

He reeled back in horror with his hands over his mouth and shook his head. I laughed and apologized, but they weren't about to allow me to get away with it.

Captain Hook lifted up his left hand and with his right hand took his two fingers and gestured as if "walking." I didn't get it at first, but Smee laughed and started walking as if he was trying to keep his balance and then took four steps and looked in horror as if he was looking way, way down.

I realized it meant that Captain Hook thought I should "walk the plank" for that little outburst. I hung my head in shame, and laughed and laughed and laughed.

What a wonderful memory.

 

[Reto]

(I hope everyone is a fan of thread revival)

Absolutely. I love positive threads like this.

Yes, the characters do hug you and interact with you. It's part of their training and their routine for mingling with the park crowd, especially children.

It's not just for the kids - or as I prefer to say: We are all kids when we are at WDW, no matter how old we are. Meeting the characters is actually one of my very favorite activities in the parks.

I have noticed, that if you a) tell a character he/she's your favorite and b) visit that character often, you're definitely in for some good interactions. I had the feeling Baloo seemed me to remember many times when I went to see him. He would often walk up to me and take me by the hand, or when he noticed me attending the Move It Shake It Celebrate It parade in the MK, he always waved me for an extra-long time from his float, or even stopped twice to pose for photos.

So here are some more of my photos. Let me start first with a big hug from none other than Pooh at the Crystal Palace:


Winnie the Pooh & Me at the Crystal Palace - Magic Kingdom - Walt Disney World by Reto Kurmann, on Flickr

The Beast is huge, almost too big for a hug. But I love him anyway:


Me Meeting the Beast - Epcot French Pavilion - Walt Disney World by Reto Kurmann, on Flickr

Hot tip: Bring a prop for some more-than-standard character interaction. For my favorite bear friend, I had a copy of my favorite Disney story with me. Got quite a few comments from guests and CMs. And Baloo was very excited about it. He even signed some of the pages.


Me Reading The Jungle Book to Baloo - Disney's Animal Kingdom - Walt Disney World by Reto Kurmann, on Flickr


Me reading The Jungle Book to Baloo at Disney's Animal Kingdom - Walt Disney World by Reto Kurmann, on Flickr

Like Pooh, Baloo is one of the best huggable characters:


Me Meeting my Childhood Idol Baloo - Disney's Animal Kingdom - Walt Disney World by Reto Kurmann, on Flickr


Me Reading The Jungle Book to Baloo - Disney's Animal Kingdom - Walt Disney World by Reto Kurmann, on Flickr


Me Meeting my Childhood Idol Baloo - Walt Disney World by Reto Kurmann, on Flickr

Ever dreamed of walking through the jungle with your favorite character at your side? That came true for me - just another great example of magical character interaction. I also remember I talked to Baloo while we walked through the Animal Kingdom. When I asked him how Mowgli is doing, he gave me a thumbs-up. Therefore: Talk to the characters and talk about things from their movies - they absolutely love that.


Me Walking with Baloo to his Meeting Place - Disney's Animal Kingdom - Walt Disney World by Reto Kurmann, on Flickr

Even at the Move It Shake It Celebrate It parade, he took some time for a hug:


Dancing with my Favorite Baloo at the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party - Magic Kingdom - Walt Disney World by Reto Kurmann, on Flickr

 

[Foxhound3857]

I know, I said "especially" for the kids, not "just" for the kids. I say especially because, outside of organized meet and greets, the children are the ones that random characters on patrol tend to notice. I'm not saying that they don't interact with adults too, I'm just pointing out the trend.

Sorry if that comes off as a bit brash or cold, I don't mean to be that way.

Awesome pictures though. :3

 

[ChrisHartman]

My DS just kept telling princesses and fairies that he loved them...he got lots of hugs and kisses

He was even so excited when Goofy's opened for the day that he hugged the CM. LOL

I have more, but I won't bore you. LOL

 

[DisneyFamily123]

It is a little funny, odd sometimes when I think about it... a 46 year old adult kidding around with costumed characters, getting autographs and photos.... hard to explain but it's kind of like I let go of being an adult and it doesn't seem odd at all. Maybe that's the magic of Disney... or I really am weird!!! One has to be a kid at heart...

....but I've hugged characters....at age 46.... more playing it up for DS. When DS was 3, I made such a big deal out of the characters for him... "Look, there's Baloo!!!!! Let's Go!!!!" Grandparents started joking (in a fun way) that I was doing it more for myself than DS... (some truth to it).

The next 2 trips, we went character crazy --- regular greetings, character meals, the Halloween and Christmas parties at MK, etc.. In 2009, we met over 60 characters, in 2010, even more!!!! not counting repeats!

A special treat this year was I took DS5 to meet the princesses. And Aurora gave him a kiss which he tried to wipe off later! In Epcot, Snow White gave him a kiss too and he immediately tried to wipe it off. Snow White told him, "you can wipe away the lipstick, but a princess kiss stays there forever!". When he is older, he will appreciate those kisses more! But it was fun.

DS does most of the hugging. But we all do high fives, knuckles (touching fists), etc.. The most fun with characters is when we talk to them, ask questions and are expressive.... besides hugging, here's a few things that worked for us... just off the top of my head.

Offer the animal characters food.
Go on and on with Donald Duck about how you love Mickey Mouse.
or.. bend down and praise Donald Duck "Oh...#1 Donald Duck.!!!"
Refer to Chip and Dale as squirrels.
Show Tigger how high you can jump.
Sing a song with Mary Poppins from the movie.
Try to scare the Mad Hatter or give him an evil stare.
Strike a pose with the characters. We have some great shots with the power rangers, and the incredibles doing this.
Make silly faces with the characters in your photos.
Do something funny, stand on 1 leg and spread your arms out.


Sometimes characters do fun things all on their own. At Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, DS4 only wore part of his Capt. Hook costume.. and when asked by Drizella and Anastasia, DS said he didn't want to be a pirate. Well, D and A went on and on whining non-stop, repeating "I don't want to be a pirate...." DS laughed his head off.

I've also seen characters at the character buffet meals grabbing a plate and trying to get food at the buffet!

 

[giftcard]

Character interactions are my favourite thing at Disney!!! I'm not a huge fan of face characters. I just want my picture and want to move on. Had a slightly awkward experience with Prince Caspian. He kept talking and talking and talking. I finally told him I just wanted a picture with him to use as my Facebook profile picture. He looked quite perplexed and said "what is this Facebook?". It was pretty funny but my favourite character interactions involve hugging the "fuzzy" characters. Especially Pooh Bear.

Had a great "hug" with Goofy when he actually dipped me backwards. It was totally unexpected. My sunglasses went flying off my head. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

But Pooh Bear hugs are the best.