Ever had a Bad character experience?

[radev104]

Well I kind of have two if you want to call them "bad." Both occurred during my sister's first trip to the Disney. She was 7 and I was 12..it was my second trip. We went to the MK and saw Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. My sister was terrified of Hook. I think he had his hook like he was going to cut her hair at the base of her ponytail. Mr. Smee was fine all he did was take our hats and played with them. The second occurred during our character breakfast at 1900 park fare. We had no problem with the characters coming to our table. But when the Mad Hatter came to our table my sister told him that she didn't like tea (since in Alice in Wonderland he drinks lots of tea at the unbirthday party) well his response was ok. I was in shock...at 12...and my parents were like um ok...watch the movies a little better before you are a character.

We had a really nice experience that year too. When we meet Cruella Deville at MK in the morning my sister was asked to get a dalmatian for her...they had a full blown conversation...and give it to her later. Well in Toontown later that day my parents bought my sister a dalmatian stuffed animal in case she sees Cruella again. And we did...in the parade Cruella picked my sister out to be in the parade when it stopped with the villains right near us. My dad taped the parade and all you hear on the tape is my sister yelling Cruella Cruella. It was so cute.
My best character experience was when I was 4...my first trip and my mom was pregnant with my sister. Again at 1900 for character breakfast. Mickey, Pluto and Goofy acted really nice to us. They rubbed my mom's tummy for the baby, messed up my dad's hair and just played around with me. If I remember that then it must be something special cause I don't remember much from that trip.

 

[Jupiter&Wolfe]

In response to Sleeping Beauty having no personality...


I wanted to balance out my bad story with a good one, although EVERY character experience I had besides that one was FANTASTIC! Even the villains danced with us!

But back to Aurora....when I met her in France at Epcot, she was great! She of course called me princess and asked where my kingdom was located. When I told her I was in MA she gasped and said, "Oh my! What a long walk for your horse! I hope you gave him LOTS of carrots!!" I laughed and assured her that I did. Well after she signed my book and took a photograph she turned to belle and beast, who were meeting next to us, and said, "Belle! Did you know this princess and her horse traveled ALL the way from Massachusetts?!" And of course Belle gasped and said, "Oh my! What a journey! It must have been filled with fun and adventure though!"

I got a nice hug from Aurora AND Belle after that and it ended up being one of the BEST character experiences....so Sleeping Beauty is a-okay with me!

 

[demonskrye]

I don't mean to pile all of this on you, but many of these supposed bad experiences just seem so petty. The evil characters are supposed to be evil, Chip and Dale are supposed to be mischevious, and Tigger is supposed to be kind of crazy.

I agree with you to some degree, but there is a line between what's fun and what's mean, painful, or ruining the magic. Kids are individuals and certainly what one may find funny, another may find terrifying. That's not the character's fault, so long as he or she backs off when it become clear that the kid isn't enjoying their antics. I don't know how much training goes into this job, but it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that they'll be working with kids and should have a pretty good idea of how to behave around them. People do have bad days sometimes and I agree that not everyone is going to have a wonderful magical interaction with every character and that's not necessarily a "bad" experience. But I think some of the stories here are genuine bad experiences. Again, though, they're probably a very small minority.

 

[Ashton7]

Y
Piglet however was clearly still having a bad day. As I went to get my lunch I was returning to my table and in classic Western showdown style Piglet appeared blocking my path, I laughed nervously and moved to my right........so did Piglet, I moved to my left...so did Piglet. Ok I think this is getting weird, is Piglet gonna start something here???? How embarrasing, I am gonna get taken out by a big pink pig!!

Anyway I thought what the hell am I thinking, its a man in a suit, how hard can his punches be.....Piglet obviously felt he had made his point, whatever it was, and stepped to the side. For all that it was a bad encounter its still something we look back on and laugh about

OMG. This has me ROFL. The Pig With No Name. The Good, the Bad and the Porklet. Feelin' lucky, pig? LOLOLOL

 

[mickaholic4077]

All these stories are great!! Keep 'em coming!!!

 

[CanadianImagineer]

Anyone here remember the lawsuit involving Tigger supposedly punching some kid? It was all over the news back in Jan '07. We were in Disney at the time and had seen that very same Tigger at DHS that day, so needless to say we were very intrigued by the news!

Onto a funny story... it was at Garden Grill around 7 years ago. Chip and Dale were up to the usual mischief, but it was the waiter who won the prize! This very very flamboyant man was very obviously hitting on my father! He was a great and quite entertaining waiter and it certainly was the highlight of the meal!

 

[inkkognito]

But back to Aurora....when I met her in France at Epcot, she was great! She of course called me princess and asked where my kingdom was located. When I told her I was in MA she gasped and said, "Oh my! What a long walk for your horse! I hope you gave him LOTS of carrots!!" I laughed and assured her that I did. Well after she signed my book and took a photograph she turned to belle and beast, who were meeting next to us, and said, "Belle! Did you know this princess and her horse traveled ALL the way from Massachusetts?!" And of course Belle gasped and said, "Oh my! What a journey! It must have been filled with fun and adventure though!"

The face characters are great! My husband still talks about his experience with John Smith years and years ago when they used to have a Pochahantas breakfast at Wilderness Lodge. DH said he had come from Chicago, and John Smith said, "That's a many day wagon ride, isn't it?" They had a nice chat, and John Smith was totally poker faced and in character. It was so funny, my grown-man hubby having such a blast with a Disney character.

 

[SCHBR'smom]

Thankfully we've had no bad experiences. In fact, we've only had one character meal and it was at CP and it was great. It was my DD's 1st b-day. We saw all the characters many times, too the point that I wanted them to skip us so we could eat. Pooh even came to our table just in time to sing happy birthday to our baby girl. Very special.

 

[Berlioz70]

This is in no way meant to defend ANY bad character experience at the CP, but being that I'm very familiar with the place I wanted to mention a couple things that hopefully will help improve future experiences there.

First the math: there are more than 130 tables at the CP. When Guests arrive they are told that it could take an hour and twenty minutes to see all characters... that means that the characters have to hit each table in less than 40 seconds.

In reality, characters are told to go as fast as possible in order to make it around in a target hour... the knocks down interaction time to 27 seconds - YIKES!

In order to get this done there are certain guidelines that have to followed at that place...

- Do not go back to a table, even if someone wasn't there. The only way Tigger is allowed to return is if an attendant tells him to go back, or they may have the family stand in the lobby area to grab a quick picture before Tigger gets a snack break.

- Try to avoid taking more than two pictures... snap, snap and go! The time it takes for families to get up and down can really slow down the rotation. If you can be there and ready once the character arrives you may be able to get more than 2 pics, but preparation is the key here!

- If the Guests do not indicate that they see Piglet, don't ask for his autograph, or don't ask for a photo... Piglet may "gloss" over.

You'd be surprised the number of people who eat at character dining who could care less about characters, so instead of killing time with them, Pooh has to make a quick judgement on whether that table is interested in taking a picture. A lot of people will sit and wait for the character to start something up, but if the restaurant is busy the character will just stop for a quick second, make the judgement call, then may move on. Talk to the characters - let them know what you want! Verbal cues are obviously better then pointing or facial expressions.

And the hardest part about CP - the SMALL walking room. Poor Eeyore can hardly walk that place without running into chairs (even if it's empty). There are certain areas of the restaurant that are just not made so the character can play, they have to be aware of the servers, main areas where Guests walk with their food, etc. Most should be able to figure something out... but the DREADED area is next to those mirrors... NO ROOM!

And of course... because of the sheer number of tables at the place the rotation is a little confusing (especially when servers are telling guests the wrong thing). If a character does skip your table, and then leaves your general area, just let an attendant know. Just indicate that you saw him hit the tables on both sides of you and waited, but he must have just missed you by accident. If you're nice to the attendant (and don't start blaming the character right away) they will more than likely be more flexible.

Hopefully some of that informaiton helps - I just think families forget that the CP is not the best Character Dining in terms of time with the character... if you want a lot of time then I'd say go to the Garden Grill - there are A LOT less tables and it's next to impossible to be skipped!

 

[pktbMouse]

Two wrongs don't make a right. Maybe she had hurt her back, you never know. There is a real person there in front of you, not just a princess who you should expect to perform to your standards.

Im sorry but you cannot be serious...hurt her back or something???? Enough of the hero worship and lets get real here, yes there is a real person in front of her that I might remind you should be doing her job...if she dosnt like it she should go work in wallmart stacking shelves at night. There are a million kids that audition every day just waiting to step into her shoes for that job all be it low payed or not. Its her job to be NICE at all costs even if there is a snotty nosed spoiled brat wanting a photo with her ( no offence ment to anyones kids here). What she did was out of order and wrong, I completely agree with the lady when she commented about if she wanted to keep her job etc...some people save up a lifetime for vacations and only get that one shot to make their kids dreams come true. It certainly should not be spoiled by a "princess" just because she is having a bad day. And yes mabey she didnt want to bend down for fear of exposing herself...she could have hunched down or something like it. I run a wedding business and even on the days where I am not feeling myself or a bit crabby, I still make the effort to be considerate and nice to all my brides, why?? because its my job.

 

[Princess Sleepy]

We had a great experience at GG this winter. We were one of the later seatings and the characters came around three times. The first time was just the standard autographs and pictures, then after that they got silly. Pluto made "faces" at my DDs (2 and 5) and leaned over and gave them big slurpy puppy kisses. Chip and Dale teased them and kept asking them (in pantomime) if they could tell which was which. The girls loved it. They are big princess fans, but they left Chip and Dale and Pluto fans.

 

[CLR4321]

I would report any CM for being rude on inappropriate. Characters are not exempt! LOL! I would be reporting it in person on the spot, because Characters are supposed to be the most people friendly. They are put through an indepth training that teaches them how they are supposed to act. My brother's girlfriend's sister is Mickey at DL.

 

[BigGoofy44]

My brother's girlfriend's sister is Mickey at DL.

Mickey's a GIRL???

 

[mickaholic4077]

I would report any CM for being rude on inappropriate. Characters are not exempt! LOL! I would be reporting it in person on the spot, because Characters are supposed to be the most people friendly. They are put through an indepth training that teaches them how they are supposed to act. My brother's girlfriend's sister is Mickey at DL.

 

[DisneyDayTripper]

One time while doing the Character meet and greet at Epcot, it was almost closing. There was one character (can't remember which one) who you could tell was VERY ready to get out of there. Literally they were pulling people over to get their picture taken if they didn't come over fast enough, and literally pushed us away after our picture. We were very rushed by the character. Sadly it was my In-Law's first character experience/interaction so hopefully they didn't notice *too* much.

It was Pluto...it appeared if it had been awhile since he had been taken out to the nearest fire hydrant or tree....

 

[hulagirl87]

Mickey's a GIRL???

yup. they have to be small enough to fit into the costume. I remember when I worked at the Disney store. We had a character visit for the opening of our store and they flew up a character visit to promote it. We had Mickey and Minnie and it was 2 girls and they were so snotty! I remember them saying that they didn't want to touch the door handles with their white gloves and they did not want to stand in the back hallway waiting to come out because it smelled. But once they were fully in costume it was as if everything was fine with the world. Good thing they had those heads on. You could only imagine what their faces were saying underneath. 2 years later we had Aladdin, Jasmine and the Genie for another promotion. They were fantastic!!!!! loved them!!!!!

 

[vicb]

Sorry to hear some had trouble with Mary Poppins, she and Bert were actually one of our most memorable interactions in Toon Town. DS was 6 and very uncomfortable with "face characters". He hovered in the back ground while DD age 9 met Mary and Bert, Bert asked why DS didn't step up? We explained he was a bit shy around the face characters so Bert stepped over to DS who backed himself upagainst the wall, literally with a big thump. Bert bent down and tried to shake hands with DS who wouldn't put his hand out and Mary sweetly called out from across the room "Bert, perhaps the young man needs a spoonful of sugar?" OMG we all about died laughing!


Another interaction that was frustrating but I wouldn't call it bad was with the Mad Hatter. He stayed totally in character but that upset a bunch of kids including my DD and my DH was about to blow a gasket. There was a line to meet Mad Hatter, right when DD got to the front MH started running around the area shouting "there is no line people, there is no line". All the kids started chasing him and he was laughing madly and greeting random people. I was a bit concerned that DH would do something inappropriate but finally the handler got a line back together and DD got her photo. It was weird.

I might be in the minority but the year we went to WDW just following 9-11 we had wonderful character interaction with the Character Caravan in the BWI lobby, wonderful things with the Queen of Hearts, the Fox from Pinocchio, and other unusual characters. I made the mistake of saying the Queen was kind of ugly while we waited in line and she heard me and made me pay!

 

[bonybroad]

Goofy took our autograph book and wrote all through it, saying how he was so much better than Mickey, Goofy is the man, etc. It was hysterical. When I got to Mickey, Goofy came running over, stood between us and pretended to fight over me. It was my honeymoon, and my first trip, and it was GREAT!

At Chef Mickey's (I think), same trip.. Taking a pic with Chip. We had our arms around each other. I realized after the fact that my hand was in a personal area on Chip. I am still embarrassed every time I look at that picture.

Finally, our trip last year with the boys. My oldest was determined to see if Eeyore's tail would fall off. He made the characters REALLY mad. I tried to pull him out of line, and I couldn't get to him, and I have pictures of the characters holding his hands up so he couldn't grab them. I was so mad at him. I apologized to all the characters and their handlers and took him back to the hotel until he was good and sorry.

So the only bad character experience was OUR fault, except the time I felt up Chip, and that was an accident!

 

[praline3001]

So the only bad character experience was OUR fault, except the time I felt up Chip, and that was an accident!
__________________

You molested a munk?~? HOW DARE YOU!!!

 

[praline3001]

Finally, our trip last year with the boys. My oldest was determined to see if Eeyore's tail would fall off. He made the characters REALLY mad. I tried to pull him out of line, and I couldn't get to him, and I have pictures of the characters holding his hands up so he couldn't grab them. I was so mad at him. I apologized to all the characters and their handlers and took him back to the hotel until he was good and sorry.

When my DD was 2 her 2 big brothers taught her to sing "Winnie the POOP" ~~~ you can get the rest =/
So there I am with my adorable little 2 year old princess all smiles at CP and she starts singing VERY loudly WINNIE THE POOP WINNIE THE POOP~ you need some toliet paper.. winnie the poop~~~ you get the idea
I turn soooo red and wanted to hide under the table when everyone was looking at me like I was the crap mom of the year
of course her two older brothers thought it was a RIOT until I got my hands on 'em