Ever had a Bad character experience?

[pixiegoose]

DH and I had a bad experience with characters (or lack thereof) at Crystal Palace. We were skipped by every character. The table next to us (a family with kids) was skipped as well but when they complained that we had all been skipped, the handlers sent the characters back to them but not to us. We spoke up to the handler that "hey! They skipped us, too." and the handler just said "sorry" and ushered the characters away. This happened multiple times- they'd come back to see the table next to us and then skip us, even though the family kept telling them they had skipped us, too. Finally our server could tell how absolutely furious mad I was getting and essentially dragged Pooh over, who arrived on his knees begging forgiveness. I was still not happy- it should not take me getting that furoius to get a character (any character!) to actually visit our table at a character meal! Our server was great though, and gave us numerous fastpasses good for any MK ride.

We will not be returning to Crystal Palace. Now Liberty Tree Tavern character interaction was awesome and I'm sad they did away with it. Hopefully they will bring the characters back.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

I have to say that I've had many FANTASTIC character experiences over the years. I've been literally dragged skipping down the street by Pluto, I've had a "conversation" with Donald about my ravioli at Chef Mickey's, and even had Donald stop me in the middle of Frontierland and demand a picture of us, with me wearing my Donald Half Marathon medal.

However, there is one instance of a "bad" character experience that my family will never forget, even though it happened back in 1994. It was our first trip to WDW, and I was 11, and my brother 9. We saw Mary Poppins in the MK, with a short line waiting to meet her. My brother and I got in line with our autograph books, but when we got to the front, Mary Poppins simply said, "Sorry, it's time for my break." We were stunned; Mary Poppins was on her break and couldn't spare a moment for some children? Though it was clearly something that would have gotten the CM fired, my family thought it was HILARIOUS and still joke about it to this day.

Anyway, that's our only bad experience, and it makes for a great story!

 

[twokids0204]

Bad Character Experience - Not really a bad one, but we were at Crystal Palace, and Eeyore came to the table, my daughter pulled his tail, and he left rather quickly, not allowing a second picture. I couldn't blame him.

But I had a worse service experience the same night, the waitress never came by to clear the plates (I had to pile them on the side counter), we saw her standing at the door to the fountain driks doing nothing, while we were waiting for coffee. Also at the beginning, after they sat us, and the waitress took our drink order (lemonade and Sprite), my wife and kids went up to get a plate, the returned and I went up to fill a plate, and I came back and the drinks still were not there, we had to remind her that we were still waiting.

Another Bad Character experience - not really a bad experience with the character, but the line - over 2 hours for Tinkerbell and the Fairies.

 

[Beehn]

I wonder what this kid did to Pluto in the first place to get this kind of response.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvlzkdxad-A

 

[ilovejsparrow]

I never had a bad experience,Just a funny one. when I was at LTT for dinner one night while on my honeymoon, Minnie Mouse while posing with DH for a picture ,did Pass Gas really, really loudly and made us crack up laughing.She made gestures like she was so embarassed.

poor Minnie!!!!! That is hilarious.

The only bad experience I had was when I was 7, and OBSESSED with Beauty and the Beast. I waited in the longest line ever with my mom. As we were the next ones in line, I walked up with my autograph book and both Belle and the Beast just started walking away waving, I was heartbroken.

 

[bweagle]

Sorcerer Mickey knocked my 4 year old DS over at the Animation Studio in DHS. He wanted son a little closer for the picture I guess, so he grabbed at him to pull him over and knocked him right over onto his back. Needless to say, DS wasn't too happy in that photopass picture.

The only other "bad" experience I can think of was not with the character, but with the handler...also at DHS. We had been looking for Daisy in her "regular" clothes all week and saw her near the hat so we hurried to get in line. Handler apologized and said Daisy would have to go in, and we wouldn't get a chance to meet her. No problem....I understand those suits can get hot and they need a break, so we stood aside so we could wave to her when she left. In the meantime, another family joined the line. I waited for her to say something to them...she didn't. She shoo'd several other families away, and then noticed this dad and his daughter. She said "well, techically I shut the line down with the family behind you, but I'll let you through...no one will need to know". Hearing that I approached her and asked why that family was allowed to be added to the line, but ours wasn't. She responded "oh, you're still here?" So I asked if we could still meet Daisy since she'd permitted another family to get in line and she responded that we couldn't because as she said before the line was closed. I asked why the other family was permitted .... she muttered around for awhile and then said "fine, but no pictures and no autographs". I didn't push the autograph issue, but made sure to take pictures as my kids approached. She responded...."I thought I said no pictures" and then immediately escorted Daisy away.

 

[praline3001]

I have had some WONDERFUL magical moments with characters and my children. Just to be fair I will tell my BEST character story and the One REALLY bad character story!

It was at GG. My daughter had dressed up with chip n dale bows and chip n dale shirt ... This was a LATE LATE dinner~ like last seating... well Chip N Dale fell IN LOVE wITH MY DD
They stole her bows and ran around the GG and wouldn't give them back to her
They could tell we were "in on the fun" as we were laughing so hard! Then my DD, who is a DARLING of a sweety, gave chip her chip bow to keep and Dale her Dale bow to keep ~ ohhh they love them! By this point the place was EMPTY~ we were the only ones in the joint...sooo mickey comes by and has a seat at our table and puts his legs up
Then Pluto shows up and sits down too at our table
SOOO the chip N Dale decide to have a food fight with pluto and turned plutos nose into an icecream sunday!!! Ice cream and sprinkles and syrup was ALLLL over the costumes~~~ and US!!!!!!!!The handler was laughing so hard she couldn't stop them and kept apologizing ~ I thought she was going to pee her pants AS WE WERE TOO! The whole thing was one of the best nights we have ever had ~ of course we were covered in ice cream and I guess some would be mad at that but it was all in good fun!
Here are pics of the night~ I have video of the food fight i would have to upload though

they used my DD autograph book and kept writing messages to each other (the munks) about who was better My DD had such a kick out of this~ it was worth the entire book LOL

NOW my worst~ CRT lunch... the princesses had been in the castle a little too long I do believe. I usually LOVE this meal but one particular lunch they were soooo rude~ I asked sleeping beauty to bend down just a little so I could get both her and my niece in the shot and she told me PRINCESSES don't bend down ~ and began to walk off
I kind of laughed and said they do if they like their job ha ha ha OHHH she turned around and smiled for the pic but she was soooo rude to EVERYONE that day..not just me!

 

[RichmondTiggerFan]

Although the Crystal Palace is my favorite restaurant on property, I have had one of the characters skip or 'gloss over' my table during several visits. In every case, I notified my server or the character handler & I was able to have a do-over with that character.

My advice, if a character skipped or 'glossed over' your table, let your server and/or the character handler know. If that doesn't work, let the manager of the restaurant know.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

If his schedule was so tight, Tigger's handler should have went to a surrounding table until your bother came back. And once she saw he was back, she could have sent Tigger over to you. That's so rude that the handler acted that way!

I am in no way shape or form defending what the attendent, however I did work as an attendent there when I was doing my college program. The characters must follow a very strict schedule because not only do they have to answer to entertainment management, but they also have to answer to the restaurant management. One morning while I was working there, the restaurant management yelled at me ON STAGE about the characters not making their way around CP fast enough. Not only is there an attendent there, there is also a captain, who is basically like an area manager. The restaurant manager knew who the captain was, I still don't know why he yelled at me.

Like I said, I'm not defending the attendent, but at the same time I know the fast pace that the characters must work at in order to see the guests. As I'm sure you can guess, CP wasn't one of my favorite places to work.

 

[Joanna71985]

I've been lucky. I've not had any bad character experiences so far (and hopefully it stays that way).

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

I've been lucky. I've not had any bad character experiences so far (and hopefully it stays that way).

I have had more funny character experiences than anything else! I'm sure you have some stories just like I do! Have a great trip!

 

[java]

Well we had one awful one- that was the result of the horrible way they handle- "the character needs to go now"

I don't understand why they can't handle it the way other parks do- tell the last person that they are the LAST person so nobody stands around waiting to see a character.

Well my daughter was in love with eeyore. She was walking around with a huge stuffed eeyore. She was 3. We had been waiting in line for 15 minutes to see eeyore. We were next. The handler decides it's time to go. My 3 year old was crushed. She started crying. I was upset that she was upset. I voiced my annoyance at the handler- who then ran with my daughter and us after them. They came over to say hi to her but she was in melt down mode(or so we thought.) she proceeded to throw up. She was exhausted. All in all I learned not to build up the characters. I felt so bad about the whole thing. Oh and Eeyore was no longer my daughter's favorite after that day.

 

[JWolverineXII]

Before I went my friend told me "Don't take any pictures with Captain Hook"

I guess he grabbed her butt

 

[kadesha]

I have had some WONDERFUL magical moments with characters and my children. Just to be fair I will tell my BEST character story and the One REALLY bad character story!

It was at GG. My daughter had dressed up with chip n dale bows and chip n dale shirt ... This was a LATE LATE dinner~ like last seating... well Chip N Dale fell IN LOVE wITH MY DD
They stole her bows and ran around the GG and wouldn't give them back to her
They could tell we were "in on the fun" as we were laughing so hard! Then my DD, who is a DARLING of a sweety, gave chip her chip bow to keep and Dale her Dale bow to keep ~ ohhh they love them! By this point the place was EMPTY~ we were the only ones in the joint...sooo mickey comes by and has a seat at our table and puts his legs up
Then Pluto shows up and sits down too at our table
SOOO the chip N Dale decide to have a food fight with pluto and turned plutos nose into an icecream sunday!!! Ice cream and sprinkles and syrup was ALLLL over the costumes~~~ and US!!!!!!!!The handler was laughing so hard she couldn't stop them and kept apologizing ~ I thought she was going to pee her pants AS WE WERE TOO! The whole thing was one of the best nights we have ever had ~ of course we were covered in ice cream and I guess some would be mad at that but it was all in good fun!
Here are pics of the night~ I have video of the food fight i would have to upload though

they used my DD autograph book and kept writing messages to each other (the munks) about who was better My DD had such a kick out of this~ it was worth the entire book LOL

NOW my worst~ CRT lunch... the princesses had been in the castle a little too long I do believe. I usually LOVE this meal but one particular lunch they were soooo rude~ I asked sleeping beauty to bend down just a little so I could get both her and my niece in the shot and she told me PRINCESSES don't bend down ~ and began to walk off
I kind of laughed and said they do if they like their job ha ha ha OHHH she turned around and smiled for the pic but she was soooo rude to EVERYONE that day..not just me!

We had a similar experience at GG! We were also one of the last seatings of the night! The characters were wild, it was so fun! Chip sat at our table and colored with our kids and Mickey and Pluto were chasing each other around. Mickey, for some reason, was pretending to ride a broomstick. Lots of crazy antics that night! Garden Grill is my favorite character meal!

 

[Joanna71985]

I have had more funny character experiences than anything else! I'm sure you have some stories just like I do! Have a great trip!

Oh I do! I have some great character stories.

Thank you! I will probably post a report when I get back.

Well we had one awful one- that was the result of the horrible way they handle- "the character needs to go now"

I don't understand why they can't handle it the way other parks do- tell the last person that they are the LAST person so nobody stands around waiting to see a character.

The character attendants are supposed to tell the line when the character leaves. If the character will be right back after getting their snack, they are supposed to say that (in that case, the character leaves but comes right back, so the line doesn't close). Or if the character won't be back right away, they are supposed to close off the line and keep telling guests that the line is closed and the character will be back at ___. The attendant made a mistake there.

 

[Keegansmommy]

When DH and I were on our honeymoon, we went to CP and LTT and barely had the characters stop long enough for a picture. No one offered to take any pics for us. It was a little disappointing.

When we went w/ our 14-month-old in Dec., the characters were really good about stopping and playing w/ him. The only exception was CM where it was very rushed. I was disappointed for other families though that had older children that the characters just stopped by for a quick pic and moved on. I think they should spend an equal amount of time at each table.

 

[luvthemouse71]

We've been lucky, no bad character experiences yet. We went to CRT and they were great...we were 2 adults too and if anything, they paid even more attention to us. Especially the Fairy Godmother...I asked if she could work her magic and find me a Prince..she was great.

We actually had a cute experience with Chip and Dale in 2007. We saw them at AK and had our pics taken. I mentioned that they were
the favorite of both my sister and I from when we were kids. Dale gave me a great big kiss on the cheek. Then 2 days later in Epcot, we were at Garden Grill and I swear it must have been the same Chip and Dale from the way they were acting.(they recognized a C&D pin I had on my lanyard)

And we've had nice experiences at CP also..But, we don't go nuts with the characters either so maybe that's why. Some people really are into the characters so I think their standards are very high and plus, it's hard for kids to understand that they are under a time constraint in many cases.

 

[uncleleo]

Remember "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey"? There was one that went something like this:

I've always been afraid of clowns. Maybe it's because of that time in my childhood when we went to the circus, and a clown murdered my father.

 

[praline3001]

We had a similar experience at GG! We were also one of the last seatings of the night! The characters were wild, it was so fun! Chip sat at our table and colored with our kids and Mickey and Pluto were chasing each other around. Mickey, for some reason, was pretending to ride a broomstick. Lots of crazy antics that night! Garden Grill is my favorite character meal!

I cant find my CD with the video on it!! I uploaded it awhile back and had it on here but then took it down and now I can't find it!

But your right~ those characters were NUTS! There was icing all over poor plutos nose ha ha ha ha.. and eyes and my DD hair when they were done
The munks were so grateful that my DD gave them the bows to keep~ they got a huge kick out of wearing them
They did write to me a couple of times on the autograph book attempting to tell me they were munks from Toyko Disney
They asked what resort we were at and took our names and sure enough there was a card from chip thanking us with a toyko trading pin a few days later
Those 2 munks were a RIOT that night! My DD still talks about it all the time and it was a year ago!
They were chasing each other and my kids around the place with huge spoons of icing, ice cream and anything else they could find!
Then they played tug of war with my DD as they both wanted her to be thier #1 fan~~~ they tried to play wish bone with her we must have hung out playing with those munks for a good 45 minutes ... and pluto and Mickey to but mickey got tired and laid down in our booth and took a nap
We did attempt to leave but the munks kept kidnapping my DD and bringing her back in side and hiding her from me

 

[praline3001]

Here are more pics from that night~ I wish I knew where I put the video as its hysterical! I will look tomorrow..you can see my DD hair is all messed up but by the time they really got going, i had pulled out the cam corder