Lobby Characters?

[conandrob240]

I thought I remembered reading something last stay at AKV that on certain days, a group of characters (Mickey & friends) arrived by bus and came through the lobby. Do they do this certain days of the week or am I dreaming?

 

[TeenaS]

I thought I remembered reading something last stay at AKV that on certain days, a group of characters (Mickey & friends) arrived by bus and came through the lobby. Do they do this certain days of the week or am I dreaming?

Okay, this is how I remember it and I might be wrong on some aspects so please, if you have a better memory, correct me! Back a million or so years ago (it seems that long), they did away with extra magic hours. If I remember correctly, back then, it was actually "E night" or something like that. You had to pay for it and only a limited number of tickets for that night at Magic Kingdom were available. I believe they also had the extra magic hour in the morning and they did away with both. Instead, as a magical experience, they came up with the character bus which came to the different resorts on designated mornings with different characters. It didn't go over well (compared to the extra magic hours) and they took it away and brought back the extra magic hours.

 

[daisyduck123]

We've stayed at AKV three times in the past 2.5 years & I don't recall that ever happening.

 

[madalex]

Okay, this is how I remember it and I might be wrong on some aspects so please, if you have a better memory, correct me! Back a million or so years ago (it seems that long), they did away with extra magic hours. If I remember correctly, back then, it was actually "E night" or something like that. You had to pay for it and only a limited number of tickets for that night at Magic Kingdom were available. I believe they also had the extra magic hour in the morning and they did away with both. Instead, as a magical experience, they came up with the character bus which came to the different resorts on designated mornings with different characters. It didn't go over well (compared to the extra magic hours) and they took it away and brought back the extra magic hours.

Very close, but not exactly correct. Following 9/11, when tourism was way down, Disney did, in fact, get rid of EMH (morning and night) to save money. (I don't recall there then being the ability to pay extra to go to the MK at night.) In the place of the EMH, they did have characters visiting the resorts during the day (usually first thing in the morning). Once tourism started coming back, the character visitations were ended; I don't think this went on for very long - a year at most and maybe not even that long.

 

[goofy4tink]

Okay, this is how I remember it and I might be wrong on some aspects so please, if you have a better memory, correct me! Back a million or so years ago (it seems that long), they did away with extra magic hours. If I remember correctly, back then, it was actually "E night" or something like that. You had to pay for it and only a limited number of tickets for that night at Magic Kingdom were available. I believe they also had the extra magic hour in the morning and they did away with both. Instead, as a magical experience, they came up with the character bus which came to the different resorts on designated mornings with different characters. It didn't go over well (compared to the extra magic hours) and they took it away and brought back the extra magic hours.

Yep. Disney used to have E-Nights, where you paid about $12 pp, and could get an addtl 3 hrs in the parks. Then, they took those away and brought out the character caravans...they would appear in the resort lobbies in the morning. Disney 'said' that guests wanted more character interaction vs addlt park time...that was the reason for doing away with E-Nights and bringing in the characters. BUT.....people complained, a lot. They wrote and emailed Disney. Disney finally ended the characters in the lobbies and brought back EMHs. Personally...I would love to see E-Nights come back. They were basically for MK though. I don't recall doing those for any other parks.
And this all did happen right around 9-11. We were there in '99 and they had E-Nights. I don't remember if they had them in '01, but it was right around that time that they brought out the morning characters in the resorts.

 

[conandrob240]

Hmmm, interesting. I have only been staying at AKV past 4 years or so and I would almost swear, I saw this advertised in the past few years.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Personally...I would love to see E-Nights come back. They were basically for MK though. I don't recall doing those for any other parks.
And this all did happen right around 9-11. We were there in '99 and they had E-Nights. I don't remember if they had them in '01, but it was right around that time that they brought out the morning characters in the resorts.

All this. E-nights kept open the ten or so most popular Magic Kingdom attractions for three hours after the park closed to the public, for about, yes, $12, once or twice a week. There were characters in the parks, and rumor has it only 10,000 tickets were sold per night!!! Without researching, I want to say the Character Caravans ran from late 2001 or early 2002, to some time in 2004.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Very close, but not exactly correct. Following 9/11, when tourism was way down, Disney did, in fact, get rid of EMH (morning and night) to save money. (I don't recall there then being the ability to pay extra to go to the MK at night.) In the place of the EMH, they did have characters visiting the resorts during the day (usually first thing in the morning). Once tourism started coming back, the character visitations were ended; I don't think this went on for very long - a year at most and maybe not even that long.

I know there was a time when both E-nights and the character caravans were taking place. In January 2002, when I was at AKL, I went to an E-night (I swear it was the coldest one ever) AND saw the characters in the morning in the AKL lobby. The reason I remember it so well is that I only got to stay at AKL because Dixie Landings (POR) was closed and the CM who called me offered me a super rate to stay at AKL.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

This was not at the Animal Kingdom Villas but in August 2009 at the Contemporary lobby for they had Mickey Mouse there taking pictures with guests and an hour later Minnie Mouse was there. Then in December 2009 once again in the Contemporary lobby they had Mickey and Minnie together in their Christmas clothes taking pictures and they also had Donald and Daise in their Christmas clothes taking pictures.

 

[WEDWDW]

All this. E-nights kept open the ten or so most popular Magic Kingdom attractions for three hours after the park closed to the public, for about, yes, $12, once or twice a week. There were characters in the parks, and rumor has it only 10,000 tickets were sold per night!!! Without researching, I want to say the Character Caravans ran from late 2001 or early 2002, to some time in 2004.

 

[mickey&minniealways]

Don't know about character caravans or anything like that but sometimes you get lucky and meet up with a character or two at the resorts. (not just character meals) This was actually our first dose of Disney Magic back in 76. We had just arrived and Dad was doing the curbside check in thing at the Poly. We were sitting on our suitcases waiting for him to finish up. My younger brother was in the 3rd grade at the the time. He was sitting there with his chin in his hands looking bored. When along came Pluto. Put his hands on his hips and looked down at him shaking his head. Well he went right up to little brother hooked an arm around his shoulers and started dragging him off. We all started laughing. Brother ran back to the suitcases and Pluto followed. They went back and forth like this for about 10 minutes. Finally Pluto left shaking his head with his hands in the air. Anyway it was a great start to a great vacation and we are all major Disney fans to this day.

 

[Deb & Bill]

When they first opened the villas at AKL/AKV, they did have some characters for opening day. Years ago they did the character caravan in lieu of EMH that was suspended for a while.

 

[WEDWDW]

Very close, but not exactly correct. Following 9/11, when tourism was way down, Disney did, in fact, get rid of EMH (morning and night) to save money. (I don't recall there then being the ability to pay extra to go to the MK at night.) In the place of the EMH, they did have characters visiting the resorts during the day (usually first thing in the morning). Once tourism started coming back, the character visitations were ended; I don't think this went on for very long - a year at most and maybe not even that long.

Actually,Evening Extra Magic Hours were not around originally.There were Morning Extra Magic Hours,but it was called Early Entry.

When Early Entry was brought back,the name was changed to Extra Magic Hours.At first,it was just Mornings,and then,after a while,EMH was expanded to include Evenings also.