Quality Character Time!

[disneyluvr913]

For those of you who have gone during all different parts of the year, I have a question for you.
Do you notice a difference in the quality/length of character interactions during the busy times like Spring Break, the slow times like January, and--especially--hot times like August?

 

[JRawkSteady]

Well during the slowest times, the characters have a lot more time to interact with the guests. Characters always stay out for 30 mins. at a time unless there's a problem. Sometimes face characters will stay out longer, but it's completely up to them. Regardless of heat, characters will be out in 30 min. increments though. I hope this helps.

 

[Mecha Figment]

speaking from a birds eye view on this subject. unfortunatly it is the characters job to try to see as many people as possible on his set. As a result the character interaction between guests and characters sometimes is cut short. especialy with character that don't know how to manage time as wisely. I would say the best place to meet vip's durring these buisy times are at Camp Minnie Mickie

 

[shatzjsl]

In my opinion, it all depends on when and where you meet the characters. Last June we were hanging out around the back of UK and Mary Poppins was heading to the backstage area. I called her name so we could wave at her and she came over to talk to us. We stood and talked to her for about 15 minutes by ourselves. The fun thing is she never, ever broke character. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

 

[mytwotinks]

I think that there are a lot more characters out during busier times. When we were there in june they were everywhere! I think that we felt a little more rushed when we had 20 families in line behind us, but we got a lot more autographs than we did in Oct.

 

[bleeps]

I really think it depends more on the mood of the character (having a good day or a bad day?) and the chemistry (or not) with the guest. We've been during all different kinds of weather and crowds, and from our experience I would say that a happy, having-a-good-day character, when paired with a happy, appreciative, not-expecting-the-world or demanding 25 different poses with 20 different combinations of family members guest, creates a wonderful experience any time of year. Finally, we have been just utterly amazed at the loving, warm reception our DS, 7, gets, merely by remembering to say 'please' and 'thank you' -- the characters' reaction makes it clear that many guests forget those basic courtesies....

 

[disneyluvr913]

I think that there are a lot more characters out during busier times. When we were there in june they were everywhere! I think that we felt a little more rushed when we had 20 families in line behind us, but we got a lot more autographs than we did in Oct.

On our last trip, we ended up getting quite a few autographs. So now in our tentative trip this August, I was hoping to get more long, nice character interactions since last time we basically just got the autographs and went.
But then I starting thinking about the heat and the crowds in August... and wondering how it affected character time.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

On our last trip, we ended up getting quite a few autographs. So now in our tentative trip this August, I was hoping to get more long, nice character interactions since last time we basically just got the autographs and went.
But then I starting thinking about the heat and the crowds in August... and wondering how it affected character time.

This is the main reason I think I would never go in the summer. I (obviously) love the characters, and I can't see many random characters being out in such brutal heat. On a summer trip, I think I would be hot and miserable, with hardly a character to look for! Even though it's busier in the summer, I really wonder if more characters are out then or not. :

I was just at Disney in January and found lots of characters out. My absolute worst character trip was during Hurricane Wilma - but I guess CM's efforts were needed elsewhere.

 

[Punkin's Mom]

We just got back last weekend and we saw a lot of characters but it seemed to be the same characters. Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins. Do they not have much variety during the slower seasons?

My daughter was pretty shy and wouldn't talk to the characters - I think that affected the length of the interaction more than anything.

 

[dmk1021]

One character tip I noticed that can be applied any time of year:

If you go to a character breakfast (I've specifically noticed this at Ohana), try to go at one of the earliest times, say 7:30 or 8. The first time I had the breakfast buffet at 8am, the characters really took their time interacting at my table (and it was just me -25, and my mom -40 something ). There are a lot less small kids at these times, and the characters aren't so rushed to get to each table. The next time I went, I had PS for 9:30, and I barely saw any characters, and some had to go so fast I didn't even get a picture.

It's definitely worth getting up early for character breakfasts, in my opinion. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[tjmouse]

We have had great character interaction in Character Connection at Epcot, Camp Minnie Mickey and the character meals. Sometimes it's chaos though, kids running everywhere.

We like the train station in Toon Town as well. I heard those were characters in training so we always stop there. Just did my scrapbook page of those pics! They were really good.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

We just got back last weekend and we saw a lot of characters but it seemed to be the same characters. Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins. Do they not have much variety during the slower seasons?

This has been my main complaint recently, too. It seems everything has turned into a Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Chip, Dale, Goofy, with an occassional Donald meet. When you walk into MK, those common characters are out, with a small handful of others. The Character Connection at Epcot has these common characters, maybe with two of three others in the back hall. The Big Hat at MGM is mainly these characters. Over and over again everywhere! There is some variety but it seems far less than years before, and you have to hunt for it sometimes. The other characters I seem to see everywhere are Prince John, Baloo, Stitch, and King Louie.

I totally agree there should be some more variety! I guess the common classic characters are the ones people know and line up for, so that's what who comes out all the time (over and over and over).

 

[AngieBelle]

During the summer, the characters only stay outside for 20 minutes at a time, but in most cases they come right back out due to a little Disney magic.

A bigger variety of characters are around during the busier seasons.

And you are right...the better the character's mood, the better your interaction. And some are better at interacting than others.....it's really the luck of the draw.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

In october, in addition to the biggies we were able to see
Stitch.
Mulan
Baloo
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
White Rabbit
Rabbit (from Pooh)
Terk
Rafiki
Buzz
Koda
Brer Rabbit
Genie
I keep forgetting his mame but the bad Lion.
Stanley

We bypassed Lilo (our mistake, we never saw her again)

We don't see some of the lesser characters in the tents or in camp Minnie Mickey, but they're around at various places.