meeting characters ! can we all lobby disney?

[stargatebarbie]

Hi ive been on this forum a while now and love that I can talk to others who are all so passionate about DLRP like me . Now the my biggest gripe and it seems to be manys others as well is that the character meets are just so badly organised it seems to be a main issue in many trip reports. my child is well mannered and not pushy and always seems to loose out and ends up disapointed . I did visit WDW many years ago myself B.C ( which stands for before children) and fromwhat I remember and what ive heard from others this is so well organised there . Does anyone know where we can Email disney and put our thoughts across ,if we all sent comments they may notice. Or if if any one else has any thoughts or ideas on this

 

[sjaakie]

You could mail Disney but I don’t think they can help you . Disney employees know off the problem but just can’t do anything about the manners of the guests.
There just impolite, rude and all focused on there own ,ore there kids.

I read off characters being beaten by kids !!! just for the fun. This is a sign of modern times and we just have to learn to live with it.

 

[DLPdaft]

Sorry, I can't agree that there is nothing the CM's can do at the "rugby scrum" sessions with the characters in the park.

There are usually one or 2 CM's with each character. They usually actively stand back and allow the melee to happen. I lost it around Chicken Little and walked over to the CM with him (who was standing right back at least 10 paces from him and behind the scrum) and insisted she do something, as it was little children who were being pushed out of the way. She didn't seem keen at first, but when she did do something, it worked. She went right over to Chicken Little, and pointed out the children who were next to get autographs/photos (like, this one first, then this, then this) etc.

To be honest, I think the only way forward is queue lines - at least everyone knows where they stand then, including the little ones.

Elaine

 

[maleficent_man]

CM form a queue. Simple, easy and would work.

 

[stargatebarbie]

I agree I think the cm should say no autographs unless in a queue ,im also sure it would be better for the !!!! charactors as well

 

[lojo]

I wholeheartedly agree with the OP, a group of like-minded people such as this getting together and lobbying Disney would have more effect than individuals just having a moan.

Couldn't we have a thread that is dedicated to gathering signatures (electronic, of course) that could be sent to the management with a statement of how much this detracts from the general enjoyment everyone (including the characters) should be having. A short sentence somewhere that indicates the possibility of the press being approached (in multiple countries) could also be persuasive.

Imagine how good everyone would feel if even a little improvement was achieved.

Just my tuppence worth
Lucy

 

[maleficent_man]

Hope I ain't breaking any forum rules here....but I'd also suggest getting some other DLRP sites involved as well.

I'm heading off on Wednesday - I'll pop my head into Guest Relations and just find out the formal way to go about doing it.......it needs to be done.

 

[miffy7]

this is truly a great idea.

 

[giuly09]

CM form a queue. Simple, easy and would work.

I agree. Just because we were a party of four adults we missed the chance with Uncle Scrooge, Donald and Daisy. We kept let the little ones go first and it ended that we couldnt get close enough for a picture

 

[dlpSteve]

I don't think standard queues would work simply because of the space and manpower needed. You'd have to have roped off and monitored areas which at various places in the park would detract from the look of the parks and impede traffic through the parks. It's ok to have a few areas like that, for example near Casey's Corner but if you had 10-20 characters in areas like that the park would look awful, especially near the Castle where the Princesses gather. Maybe they should use the areas they do have better and have a higher rotation of characters. They could change every hour and get through 9 characters a day on off peak days.

 

[sjaakie]

I’m on a board were there are several CM and Characters who actual work in Disney are also members of that board

The CM who are accompanying a character are only there for the safety of the characters.
They have to see that there not ran over by children and not get beaten by the mob.

To be honest if you were a CM and would threatened by angry parents would you just not let them beat the waiting queue?

The most people who are so rude have just one idea: ” it costs so much so I have every right to be first everywhere, and others ?? poeh they just have bad luck”. End of discussion for them.


There always will be such people and you would need a police officer at every Charaktermeet to make an end of all this.

 

[maleficent_man]

I've had many encounters with characters in WDW with no formal queue but one gets started by the CM. It's a question of wanting to do it.

 

[tennisfan]

I'm not disagreeing with the idea I think its a good one, but it is probably easier for the CM's to form queues in WDW then in DLRP due to the main language being English. In DLRP there tends to be more different nationalities which creates a problem and the fact that some people are just generally rude and would ignore requests.

 

[sjaakie]

I've had many encounters with characters in WDW with no formal queue but one gets started by the CM. It's a question of wanting to do it.

You can’t compare the guests of WDW with European people in DLRP.

Its a different world of view and politeness


I saw also the same problems in WDW and I will not point out from witch country they came but they came somewhere from Europe.

 

[Cyrano]

Please remember to stay on topic regarding DLRP, otherwise posts will be moved
Thank you

 

[jillrobinson]

I understand totally what you're saying but I agree with Sjaakie on this, there are people who basically don't give a monkey's about anyone else, they've paid for their holiday and are intent on getting as much as possible for it.

I've seen questions posted on this forum:
"Will my daughter get more attention in the park if she's wearing a princess dress ?"
Translation: How do I make sure Cinderella comes and talks to my kid and not yours ?
"Will we get special attention at the restaurant if we say we're celebrating a birthday ?"
Translation: Yeah we know you can pay for a birthday cake, but if we just mention it when we're there, we thought they might just give us one.
"What's the chance of us getting a free hotel upgrade"
Translation: We fancied the DLH but we're not paying that money.
These are the same people who might as well be asking:
"If I push my child through to the front, is anybody going to stop me ?"

I'm sorry if these comments offend anyone, but that is very often how I read it. I don't believe it's the CM's role to police people and I think they do an extremely good job under difficult circumstances and within the boundaries of their role, they cannot be expected to control guests, they can ask them to step back and that's it, whether anyone chooses to listen or not is a different matter.

During quieter times we've had some fantastic moments with characters inside the parks, I remember one time when DS2 was chased by a penguin around Fantasyland and when DS1 slipped and landed at Maleficent's feet, she was utterly charming and had us in stitches, we met Chip & Dale having a sword fight with Brer Fox (using long leaves, not swords) and the boys got to join in, Jafar swapping his staff for DS's claw, I though that was a good deal, DS wasn't quite so convinced, these moments may be few and far between but they're priceless and unexpected. If we start having to queue for all the character meets, that spontaneity and a lot of the fun will be lost.

To guarantee some quality time with the characters we always book a couple of character meals, if we see a character in the park, then I'm the one who's legging it across the park to see if I can get a photo, my boys got fed up of being pushed to the side on autograph hunts a long time ago which is sad I suppose but we still have a fab time.

 

[BRobson]

I would like to see more official meet and greets. I think DLP does need order more for the safety aspect-it can be very scary!!

It would be great if DLP would take some ideas from WDW. They have many designated rooms and areas where you are taken into the character area in groups of no more than 10 and you all have time to interact with the characters, get autographs and photos.

The Woody round up section may help in DLP but I agree they need to do something!

 

[DLPdaft]

Jill I do agree with you that there isn't the need, and would detract from the spontaneity and fun with the characters, to have roped off lines for all the characters in quiet times where there are no queues or scrums.

However, you also touched on another very relevant point. When there are scrums going on, its invariably the younger children who are jostled or jumped in front of, and it does put them off going anywhere near a character for a photo or autograph. Thats a real shame, and really does take the shine off the magic at DLRP. I've experienced it myself with DD, who was 5 when we first went there, and even just this month, when the park was practically empty most of the time.

I just think the CM's could be a bit more proactive with it all, and just try, when they can see that the characters are getting crowded and people are jostling, to make a line.

Elaine

 

[ynwa19]

I dont think that there is any real way that DLP can deal with this problem. There are alot of controlled Character meet and greets and this does help. The other thing that I was very impressed with was on October 6th and 7th, me and my wife counted 18 and 24 characters respectivley out at once by Its a small world. That amount of characters means that lots of people are spread over a larger area and it meant that everyone was having some fantastic photo's and fun with the characters

 

[Cyrano]

To guarantee some quality time with the characters we always book a couple of character meals, if we see a character in the park, then I'm the one who's legging it across the park to see if I can get a photo,