Characters In Epcot - The only characters we saw were in the World Showcase; Alladin, Jasmine, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Beast. There were also Santas from every country that told stories and hung around for photos. We were in Innovations a couple of times but didn't see any characters.
Crowds - Fairly light to moderate all week except Friday at Epcot (busy). Best tip is to get there as early as possible, ride the popular rides, and spend the rest of the day on the less popular attractions. FastPass is great for rides like Test Track and Soarin' in Epcot, where wait times were usually 50 minutes + by noon.
Weather- Sunday and Monday were almost hot (low 80's). It rained in the morning on Tuesday but cleared up in the early afternoon. A cold front came through on Wednesday, and it was pretty cold in the mornings and evenings (40s-50s) and only warmed up to the high 60's for the rest of the week. Still it was beautiful, as Wed-Fri it was very sunny but cool.
MVMCP - we went the last 2 years and skipped this time. It always seemed to be more crowded during the party. The parade is nice, but not worth the extra expense IMO.
ToT broke down while we were on it on Monday. They turned all the lights on and we had to take a regular elevator back down to the loading area. We went back on Thursday afternoon and lines were backing up. They were only using 2 of the 4 elevators due to technical problems.