How important is it for you/your family to meet characters??

[SGMCO]

We have filled one orignal Blue Autograph book completly
and one newer Red with Mickey Autograph book.
I have now created an autograph book that has many pages
and hope to also fill this one (it's about a forth full already from last
trip).
I try to spot characters that are rare and unique. Love it!
Once you get hooked it's hard to stop!!
It sure makes for nice pics in a WDW Scrapbook.
I am bored with the basic main characters, the fun
is the hunt for the rare Characters that are from my
favorite Disney Movies.
I thnk Meeting the Character adds to the Magic
you should try it sometimes.

 

[Stitchfans]

I'm the only one really into the characters. Yes, I know I am an adult. Oh well... to be honest I don't think DD would care one way or another if we ever saw any characters. I think she is more into the rides.

 

[AmandaSparks730]

We had the Photopass, so we said "what the heck?" on this trip. With two teens (myself and a friend) and two adults, we ate at 3 character meals (O'hana, Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's). We did the Visa meet-and-greet, the Toontown meet-and-greet (princesses), and many others. Lots of fun, even for teenagers!

 

[nessz79]

Somewhat important for us, but it's due to my boys being so young. Without the kids we would only take pics w/ characters if we ran across them and there was no line.

 

[suzimar57]

we're completely indifferent to the characters - have never gone out of our way to see them or get photos/autographs, but we'll sometimes smile at them as they pass by

 

[Big Daddy Incredible]

Heck yeah the characters are important for us - check out my signature.

We are expecting to go back in August. Before we go back, we want to organize all of our past character photos to see who we have visited and who we still need to meet. The kids have always enjoyed visiting with the characters. It is especially great when the characters don't have any other visitors and the characters get to goof around. Buzz was hiding from the kids when they first approached him. After that, he was showing off his dance moves. You haven't lived until you see Buzz Lightyear do the moonwalk and the hustle.

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

I voted Somewhat Important.

The kids love 'em. I like to see the princes. We are definitely on a mission when we're there, but no waiting in long lines. Luckily, we've had low crowds each time we've gone, so that hasn't been an issue.

We booked all character meals for their first trip, but they still liked to stop every time they saw someone.

This will my first grown-ups only trip in March. I just realized we will have so much extra time without the M&Gs!!

 

[JennyMP03]

I voted Somewhat Important based on the description because I didn't really go out of my way to find them, but I do consider it very important, or at least I did when I last went.

I was desperate to meet a Princess, but they have such long lines. Oh, and I had no kids with me-- just me and my husband, on our honeymoon. I bought an autograph book just for myself!

I lucked out and caught Mulan just as she was walking into China at the World Showcase. I was thrilled! My husband said I acted more excited about meeting characters than anything else, and I guess he's right... I found myself breaking into a run when I saw them about.

 

[Stitch_Is_King]

We enjoy meeting the characters but will not stand in very long lines to get pictures with them. When I took my wife in 2002, it was her first trip to WDW and I loved watching a woman in her 30's chase characters like she was a 6 year old. We try to a few characther meals so we get more personal time with them. One of the reasons we love Disney so much is because we can become kids again for the time we are there.

 

[ms*mountaineer]

We really enjoy meeting the characters. I may even enjoy it more than my kids do! On our first trip - I was very aware of where the characters were and we tried to meet all we could. But we didn't wait in too many long lines. On our last trip - we met our princesses in character meals and met others as we found them with short lines.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

Not important to us, but our kids are still little so that may change once they are more aware. We schedule a character meal or two to get photo ops with the biggies (it's not a trip to WDW without a photo with Mickey) but I will not stand in line or go hunting for a character.

 

[DisneyDadof3]

It is critically important for us. We try to get as many as we can on each trip - typically 80-100 without any special events. Have found more if you include MNSSHP or Star Wars weekend characters. We try to eat at the Grand Floridian as that is typically the only place you can meet Prince Charming, but the rest of the character meals are characters you can find anywhere else. We are always looking for the rarer or newer ones. We were fortunate enough to get Brer Rabbit on Dec. 31st in the last character showing for the day in front of AK. We've been to WDW 11 times with the kids and this is the first time we've seen Brer Rabbit. We also got for the first time - Prince Caspian, Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, Iridessa, Rosetta, Tinkerbell, Silvermist, Fawn, and Scrooge McDuck plus many of the usual suspects.

We love WDW for many reasons including the rides, how it makes you feel like a kid etc., but the characters (particularly the character hunt for newer or harder to find) are what does it for me.

I really wish they would have a rare character weekend or add the rarer ones to the parties - would definitely find a way to fly down for an event like this. We stayed for characters in Bloom last year and NOTHING!!!! Usual suspects - EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED!!!

 

[fall08CP]

We don't do characters. We (the kids) never went to the parks until we were teens and by then we weren't interested. We'll do the occasional character meal but it's for the food, not the characters.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I wouldn't say it's my main priority.. for example, I will NOT wait in hours-long lines in Toontown for meet and greets, but I will try to visit and have pictures with as many as we can.

I book alot of character meals for that very reason. Then if there are character meet and greets in the parks and we happen upon them, I'm always happy to take the opportunity, IF the line isn't outrageous.

I voted that they were "very" important to us.

This is us too!

With a 3 year old princess obsessed little girl it's VERY important. The 9 year old boy cares too but not as much as the 3 year old.

I refuse to wait in long lines so I book a character meal everyday for this very reason!

 

[hiwaygal]

It depends on who you ask...

Me - I like the characters but don't need to spend a long time waiting in line to get a(nother) pic of Mickey in this outfit or that outfit.

DH - I discovered on our most recent trip is a character stalker!!! He absolutely LOVES getting pics with the Characters.

Knowing this, it will probably be a little more important for us next time we go.

 

[tkitty]

Our grandkids are who we go with, and my DGS (now 7) will not stand in line unless its for the Power Rangers, or maybe Mickey. This year, he may be interested enough for any Star Wars characters and even POC characters.

This will first WDW trip for DGD, (now 2) and, although she was afraid of most non-face characters at DL last year, she is pretty into the Princesses, faries and, definately, Mickey and Minnie.

I see a few lines in our future, that we would otherwise skip..

 

[teach22180]

We don't do characters. We (the kids) never went to the parks until we were teens and by then we weren't interested. We'll do the occasional character meal but it's for the food, not the characters.

I had a totally different experience when I took my 19 year old for her first ever trip to Disney World. I had no idea we would need to spend that much time of our trip standing in line for characters! And, she had to look pretty for each picture, so it also meant a trip to a restroom to freshen up before the line.

One of the reasons I'm going on a solo trip is to do all the fun things we didn't have time for because she doesn't do coasters or wild rides. I was happy to have the last two trips be about her, but honestly I can't wait to see some things I wanted to ride or see in the parks that aren't animals or characters!

 

[monosgrande]

When my daughter was much younger, even she was not interested in characters. We'd ask if she wanted to go meet one as we passed a long queue waiting to meet (Boo, Goofy, etc.) , she'd look at the line and ask to go to Splash Mountain. Made me sooo happy everytime.
Having said that, once, while walking through MK, we passed Snow White as she was heading off to where ever it is characters head off to. She must have overheard me talking to my daughter and as we passed she said, "Hi Emma." You could have knocked my daughter over with a light breeze.

God I love Disney.

 

[EnnEss]

I really liked seeing them as a kid on the street. I liked them just walking around. I think its silly the way they do it now.

I find it funny that parents are so intent on getting a picture instead of living in the moment with their child that disney felt they had to change how its done. There's some pics of me with a character or two, and there are other kids in the picture, im not posing im just looking at the character or whatever. I think they're great pictures in that they bring back memories. Those were some of my fondest memories, waving at them walking by and that kind of thing. I found everything about it better than standing in line and getting some '1 on 1' photo op.

 

[Quasi123]

When my kids were little seems like we spent a lot of time looking for characters. Now they don't care about it. For us its all about the rides.