How are character meets and greets handled?

[mimmi]

It's been a few years since I was in DLRP and I rememeber pure chaos whenever a character appeared. No lines, no character handlers (or how are the assistants in Orlando called?) just people all around the characters pushing and shoving.
Has the situation improved since? I would think it would be better for everybody if there were lines so that people could be in a photo with the character only and not everybody else who is visiting...

 

[zinderella]

Sorry to say little has changed, unless you queue for meeting a princess (hours!) or go to Woody's Round Up where it is more organised. A few people here rely on a meal at Cafe Mickey for some quality character interaction!

 

[mommy2ash]

there are queued meet and greets. those are the ones on the schedule. currently there is one for mickey, winnie the pooh, rapunzel, belle, tiana, goofy and santa in the main park. mickey donald and buzz in the studios

outside of that the characters that just pop up or come from the train do not have a queue. you can be lucky and be there at the right time or find a character quite alone but other than that it is a free for all. i avoid those types of scums they scare my three year old ever since she got hit in the face by a grown man during our trip in march

we do a couple of character meals as well. cafe mickey is one of our must dos as well as the auberge

 

[rottie155]

I've found that it varies by day and by character...

There are a LOT of scheduled meet and greets throughout both parks as mommy2ash stated and these are fantastic, however - personally I don't feel you get much of an interaction in these (a snap and go kinda thing).

Character meals are brilliant as you get fantastic photos and interaction.

I do feel like the park situation has changed slightly through the years. I remember the early years of DLP when it was utter chaos. On my most recent visit I noticed that the characters themselves started making a bit of a stand. For example, Donald Duck "threw a tantrum" whenever people crowded him, and he actually decided to point to people to come over to him one by one - and each time anybody pushed in or tried to get there without his say-so, he threw another tantrum. I thought that was excellent!
Stitch, Goofy, and all the villains did the same... There are cast members with the characters and they do try and keep order as much as possible, but it's not always possible for them to watch over everything.

So I guess it really does just depend on the time and place...

 

[Happy Tappy]

I noticed a massive improvement on my last trip. We stumbled across Jafar, Rafiki, Aladdin and Jasmine in Adventureland and despite the fact that there was only 1 CM with them all, it was very well handled. The characters would point at who they wanted to go next.

One of the kids tried to push in with Jafar and he held the stick out and warned them off so that another kid could go first.

I did also notice the usual scrum in other places though.

If character interaction is important to you, a trip to Cafe Mickey is essential.

 

[DLPdaft]

As others have said, outside of the scheduled queued meet n greet and character meals, its still potentially a scrum around characters at DLP.
My DD is happy enough to join scrums (but not if they're huge), but I stand close to her and if there are folk pushing and shoving in front of her, I usually say to her in a voice loud enough for the character and the CM nearby to hear "if you wait nicely you will get to meet (insert name of character here)" This usually works, and the character or CM will point to my DD to come forward before their timeslot is up and they have to leave.

 

[MinnieVanMom]

I had asked where the characters that I wanted to meet come out and we stayed there. I stood off to the left while facing the haunted mansion and the characters came to me. I did follow the shadow man to get more interaction.

There was a mom who was pushing her little girl up but I knew there was a child before me, then me, then her, so I just said that the other girl was there first, and would they wait. It went well.

There was a queue for Jack and Sally but only for 2 minutes if that.

We did a lot of character greets in our hotel and watched as they did them too. It seemed rather civil.

 

[maleficent_man]

This is a pic of Donald and Goofy getting pinned against a railing in Fantasyland last week. I'm also good 'friends' with Peter Pan and he was out one day in the Studios and asked several times for people to move back.

 

[mimmi]

Thanks for the answers, I've booked the character breakfast at Café Mickey and as we are four adults the character encounters are not top priority. It still amazes me that people are ruining their own photo opportunities , queuing is not that complicated after all and should be possible without a cast memebr telling everybody how to do it.
We will concentrate on the rides.