Help me improve character interactions

[DVCcurious]

I have a DS4 and DD6. We've done lots of character meets but I've never tried any of those "say X to Donald Duck" ideas on the internet. The thing is, the Internet (Kenny the Pirate, etc) never tells you what's going to happen and I want to know before I do it.

One idea I had was that I want to meet Donald Duck and tell him that I chose him instead of Mickey because his line was 10 minutes while Mickey's was an hour! Then I want to give him my autograph book and say "can you please sign it 'Mickey Mouse'?"

I also have wanted to meet Gaston for like 4 years. Whenever we've gone he's not on the time schedule and when I ask a CM they just say "Gaston just comes out whenever he wants there is not schedule". Once I waited 90 minutes at Gaston's tavern and he never showed up. So if you have any ideas on how I can meet Gaston I'd really appreciate it. It's the only thing I REALLY want to do this trip.

If I call Chip and Dale squirrels what will happen?
If I tell Donald Duck I like Mickey better what will happen?
For the princesses, what's a good thing for my daughter to say or do to get more interaction. She loves all of them and wants to meet all of them all the time. The only idea I have is for Belle. My daughter is learning french in school and I want her to say "Bonjour, je M'appelle Christine" .

I won't do any of this stuff until I know what the characters will actually do and/or say. So please give me some specifics on how characters respond and what are the best things to say/do with them.

 

[Mark P.]

Not sure if I'd go with the name mixes, liking one over the other, etc.

A couple of tips that we did with characters were: Instead of a high five, you give Mickey a "four", as he has four fingers. Our kids were both pretty shy, so we'd ask Mickey for a "four", and he'd always make a gesture that, yep, four not five.

Getting Chip & Dale's names correct was pretty cool, too. Chip had the "chocolate chip" nose, and Dale has the gap between his teeth. They always seemed to appreciate the kids knowing their names, pointing to one another and nodding as affirming "yep, they know us all right".

Our kids are older now, but I sure do miss the character interactions they had. We always kept them positive and appreciative. Good memories

 

[krm222]

What happens is going to be different every time since different people play the characters. There are plenty of fun things to say: sing your favorite song of theirs for them, high "four", we always have lots of fun with Goofy who likes to cover our faces during pictures and my son high fives him but pulled his hand away at the last minute.

My kids have autograph books that I put stickers of the characters in. For the last two trips we have asked Donald to sign on a Daisy sticker page and he always likes that.

 

[rpb718]

 

[Graciegirl5]

You didn't mention Rafiki, but when we met him at our last visit, my son brought his stuffed Simba. Rafiki hugged the stuffed animal and held it up in the air just like in the movie. My son loved it. My only "regret" was the PP photographer did not get that shot. Fortunately, my daughter was taking pics with her ipod and got a decent one.

 

[AngiTN]

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I won't do any of this stuff until I know what the characters will actually do and/or say. So please give me some specifics on how characters respond and what are the best things to say/do with them.

Why? The fun of interacting is the spontaneity of it.

 

[AngiTN]

You didn't mention Rafiki, but when we met him at our last visit, my son brought his stuffed Simba. Rafiki hugged the stuffed animal and held it up in the air just like in the movie. My son loved it. My only "regret" was the PP photographer did not get that shot. Fortunately, my daughter was taking pics with her ipod and got a decent one.

We met rafiki in DL at Minnie breakfast and he did that with her stuffed pegasus

 

[TexasKiwiPrincess]

The best character interactions we have experienced happened when the character realized we weren't just casual autograph hounds, but actual fans of that character. This past January we met Chip and Dale at AK and my girls were star struck and speechless, again! I started singing the Rescue Rangers theme song, Chip and Dale started dancing, my girls started dancing with them and suddenly it was this awesome little dance party! So many great pictures of smiles and general silliness!

Invariably, the interactions are better when the girls have an item of character merchandise for that character. When we visited Disneyland and had breakfast at PCH with Stitch my DD8 wore her Stitch shirt and carried her baby Stitch plush. It was the BEST character experience and made her a fan for life. Stitch took her baby plush and put him in a high chair with extra napkins (since Stitch is messy!) among other shenanigans. Peter Pan made a fuss over my DD10 pins on her lanyard (90% of which are Peter Pan!) However, it doesn't have to be licensed Disney items. For example, we met Daisy and my DD10 had a cute bow in her hair that Daisy liked, so we talked about the Bowtique that Minnie and Daisy have. My DD9 wore her Ninja costume from Target to meet Mulan and had a great conversation.

For suggestions, it's always fun to twirl with the princesses! Trade baking tips with Snow White, ask Rapunzel if she prefers to swing a 10" frying pan or something more portable, or if she prefers to work in oils vs acrylics for painting, ask Cinderella if she still catches new mice friends in the Castle (scene with Gus in the trap trap), there is an entire Ode to Chocolate conversation that can happen with Anna and Elsa.

The characters will always respond in character. When we met Aurora, like a total newbie I asked if she ever gets to wear her blue dress anymore! She politely corrected me and reminded me that it's the same dress and Merryweather must be lurking around the next corner waiting to "make it blue!" again!

Hope this helps!

 

[lovethattink]

My son loves the characters! But he doesn't go scripted. He also doesn't use an autograph book. He's had some really great interactions!

He was dressed as Olaf when he saw Cinderella. She asked him if he saw the castle lighting. As she asked she did an Elsa type hand gesture. So I got a picture of Cinderella imitating Elsa with DS as Olaf.

 

[Dug720]

I'm in the "let spontaneity happen" camp! That's where the magic is.

A few things that have happened with me and/or my family before - none of which was scripted (besides my sister and me telling our dad - not a Stitch fan - to behave around Stitch and not let on that he wasn't a fan)...
* solo breakfast at 1900 - Tigger was there that day (can't remember if he's a regular or if he was "there for his friend who wasn't feeling well" per Alice to a child nearby) and had great fun playing peek-a-boo around the door frame with me
* family breakfast at 'Ohana - Stitch really played things up his second time around (we were towards the end of breakfast and some made repeat visits), grabbing the coffee carafe (empty) from the table and trying to drink it; when he discovered it was empty, my dad said "It was me Stitch. I drank it all" to which Stitch did a classic "Talk to the hand!" pose
* family breakfast at Cape May - we were at one of the tables with booth seating on one side and chairs on the other and my sister and I were on the booth side; Goofy decided we needed to sit thisclose to each other and even sat on the bench to push me all the way over to her - then would stomp back over if he looked over and we had split apart; fantastic times
* solo Marathon Weekend - Merida was absolutely fantastic improvising about my medal - she said "I tried to do the race with Angus, but they said I couldn't have a medal because I didn't run it!"; she was also amazing with all the kids and adults in front of me. That was the first time I've gone directly to guest services to fill out a compliment card for ANY CM because she totally went above and beyond
* Marathon Weekend - with a friend went to Pete's Silly Side Show for the heck of it and were in line for Goofini and Donald; well, it was my turn with Goofini and after posing and directing me what to do, he tucked my hand under his arm and proceeded to walk all the way to the exit door with me, waving at everyone as we went; he even crossed us between Donald and the photographer (who was not taking a picture at that moment) which eventually started a "tiff" between them. It was totally amazing and I have no clue why he picked me to do that with.
* on the Disney Dream and the following day on Castaway Cay - Captain Jack Sparrow... that alone should be enough, but he was AMAZING. When we did the on-ship meeting, I went first and he was all "Oh darling. Let's see..any rings?" I shook my head and he winked and said "Just how I like them." The next day he appeared sauntering along the shore at Serenity Bay (I am pretty sure he also hits the family beach) and we ALL cleared the water to go see him. He grinned at me and said "Darling, about that ring..." to which I shook my head and said "Still bare" he looked puzzled and said "I don't know what happened to it. I shipped it to you!" CLASSIC!!
* on Disney Fantasy on Pirate Night, Donald and Daisy came out together, and then she completely blew him off going to her spot. I happened to be first in his line, and he looked so sad I said something about Daisy being silly and he nodded and kept hugging me and kissing my hand and pranced me in front of Daisy.

Again, none of that was planned (and how Captain Jack recognized me the next day when I was in a swimsuit rather than skirt and blouse I have NO clue), but it was totally magical. Just be open to whatever happens!

 

[Malibustyle23]

Nobody can tell you what will happen because nobody knows. It all depends on who you have, what mood they are in, how many people are behind you in life, the bond between your kid and the character and all the other variables of life.

Either do it or don't. Experiences will always vary though.

 

[Pesky]

I agree. Just see what happens. I think you might be able to see more from some trip reports with character interaction than anything. And if the kids are familiar with the stories and willing to play along a bit, that helps. My kids really loved being with the characters but we let the kids and the characters take the lead and followed along. Some commented on their homemade autograph books, what they were wearing, bits from their own adventures and so on. One of our best interactions was with the Evil Queen who looked at DD, who was just grinning and saying nothing, and said "Am I your favorite? Well, of course I am -- don't know why I asked." DD talked about that for hours afterwards.

 

[DVCcurious]

Well if no one can tell me what's going to happen we'll just keep doing what we're doing. I'm not going to do or say something to a character if I don't know what's going to happen after I say it.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Give them a hug, smile, and say something that references their movies and you can't go wrong.

 

[BaltimoreLauren]

I like to tell Donald he's my favorite, and that always goes over super well! At Akershu's last June, I told Belle she was my favorite princess, which turned into a discussion on books. I've also had super awesome interactions with every Aurora I've ever met!

 

[DVCcurious]

I don't want to run the risk of them getting upset and yelling at us. It seems like it's safer to just say nothing at all if you don't know what type of reaction you're going to get. I saw this video once where a teenage boy tried to put his arm around Tigger and Tigger like pushed a teenager because Tigger didn't want him to do that. I don't want to cause an altercation in front of my kids. Calling Chip and Dale a squirrel or telling Donald you like Mickey better could upset them and cause a problem.

 

[AngiTN]

The characters will never, ever get angry (real angry, not pretend angry like Donald could do) or have a negative reaction in front of a guest. They will not break character. So you do not have to worry about that

Even the villains won't get nasty to a guest

 

[AngiTN]

Interaction with characters is one of the top things that sets Disney apart from all other parks. It's very fun.

Try something easy like asking Rapunzel that last thing she painted
Or
Ask Merida how many targets she hit in a row the last time she had practice
Or
As Tink about some of her favorite last things

That type of thing. Something easy to break the ice for you

 

[1girln3boys]

The characters are NOT going to get angry. I called Chip and Dale the wrong name and all they did was shake their heads.

 

[1girln3boys]

OH and when we told Tinkerbell we were friends with Wendy, she acted mad but wasn't really. She acted like Tink would have acted in Peterpan if someone came up to her and said they were friends with Wendy. It was really cute and me and my daughter had a good time