The Ayn Rand Man's Character Observations

[Frank_Bullitt]

For those of you who have just joined this thread, Aloha, and welcome to the Ayn Rand Man's musings of his 1/25-2/1 WDW trip.
To introduce myself, I am the 'bang beat, bell ringing, Big haul, great go, neck or nothin, rip roarin, every time a bull's eye salesman' to quote the Music Man. I head up the sales department of a large software development firm in the Midwest, I have all the outer trappings of a thirtysomething affluent yuppie, but also, thanks to this trip, am in love with characters and all things Disney. It was a long journey.

To start with, I was very reticent about meeting characters, especially face characters. Which is silly because I have been in sales for over 10 of my 30 years, and have never met a stranger in my life, even up to the 1st day at the parks I still couldn't get over the fact that I would be the only solo adult in line to meet characters. But enough musings, on with the show!

The first observation with characters comes on Monday, the first full day of my trip. I had just spent the late afternoon in the Magic Kingdom, still wearing my sport jacket and conference lanyard. I decided on a whim that the only way to experience the characters was to jump in and learn how to swim, so off to Toontown Fair I went. Understand that at this time the Pixie Hollow craze is still in full swing, the wait time at any given point was no less than an hour, some times as much as an hour and a half! Bad for those who want to see tink, good for those who want to see the Princesses, because the princess room's wait was only 15-30 minutes. So I go in line and chilled, struck up a conversation with the father of a family and became quick friends. He was even being very supportive of meeting the characters. The Yellowshirt (Character handler) was very nice, although she saw right through my 'its just for my nieces' excuse. Apparently they get that alot. Now, for those of you who haven't been in this area, you queue to a door, and then are lead through a door to a nicely themed room with the princesses, where about 3-5 families wait for their turn to interact with the three princesses. There were little kids laughing and squealing, parents and young girls getting autographs, and me 30 years old solo in a houndstooth sports jacket looking as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slide of angel food cake. Here is where the stupid rational adult in me played devil's advocate and ruined the experience for me. Rather than suck it up and take the plunge, I chickened out, asked the Yellowshirt if she could just pass my autograph book around while I wait around the corner, then jumped out of line. I don't think a scalded cat running from the stove would have moved quicker or more ungracefully then I did. And I did feel angry at myself for doing the cop-out. The Yellowshirt did return my autograph book, and the princesses did sign it very nicely (Sleeping Beauty put 'love, Princess Aurora') and I resolved to do a better job next time of quashing the stupid rational adult side.
Coming up next, a solo dinner at Akershus; just me with 4 princesses, and this time there's Nowhere to hide!

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

To Explain the circumstances surrounding my next Character Encounter, you have to know the backstory on how the day went at the conference. I had an hourlong powerpoint presentation to give, followed by a 'breakout session with input and Q&A. I had made the ADR at Akershus for 7:50pm which would have given me plenty of time to finish the presentation, run back to the hotel and change out of my conference suit and back.
Unfortunately the presentation was pushed back to late afternoon instead of morning, and with the setup issues and delays I didn’t get finished with it until almost 7pm.
By that time, I was exhausted and more than a little peeved (I was hoping to have enough time to go back to the hotel, change and get into the ‘mood’ for character dining), so I walked straight from the conference to the Norwegian pavilion in my conference suit. Wednesday evening I would have been easy to spot, just look for the guy in the gray suit with a black cloud over his head
When it came time to check in, I was still in ‘work mode’ and was actually giving serious consideration to cancelling dinner in favor of going to one of the bars at the Boardwalk and get blitzed with the other conference-ites. Fortunately I resisted the temptation and co confirmed my reservation. Inside, one of the 'perks' of paying 30 bucks for this meal is that you also get a free Photopass pic with Belle in her formal gown. I was still in '&$^#@ Exec mode’ versus ‘Guest at WDW’ mode, so I tried to resist getting my picture taken with Belle, the Yellowshirt was insistent, so I did, grumbling as I did. But when I walked into the room where Belle was, it was a change, she was very pretty and and flashed a smile that would have stampeded the biz conference, and all my irritation was gone. She complimented me on being such a ‘well-dressed prince’, and took my arm to pose for the pic. The pic didn’t turn out that well, although that was my fault for grimacing at the camera instead of smiling...not the fault of the Photopass CM or Belle. Once seated, Veronica was my server and she was very nice, and the Yellowshirt did approach me and asked if I wanted to see the Princesses. The princesses were Aurora, Jasmine, Ariel and Cinderella, all of which were very sweet and were able to make me smile and forget the troubles at the conference. The stupid rational adult tried to sabotage the experience again, and in a moment of panic I left for the Koldbord they approached. Fortunately it didn't work; Aurora doublebacked and said something like 'aha, there you are!' and was in completely love with my pink Hermes tie, saying it matched her dress. Ariel called me 'sailor' and was very sweet saying I should go out and have fun, Jasmine was very sweet too, Cinderella asked if my conference was a ‘royal conference’. All signed the autograph book, it was very neat to see some of the variations and flourishes in how they sign (Ariel writing ‘hugs and fishes’ and so forth). All in all, considering I wasn't in the best of moods, all of them went above and beyond the call of character duty to make this Ayn Rand Man smile.

Coming up next: a Curiouser Character Encounter in the English Pavillion...

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

Believe it or not, if someone were to ask me "Where in the `World is the best place to meet characters?" I would respond without hesitation: The World Showcase. Not only is it a great place to meet popular characters like Belle in France or Snow White in Germany, but because its the world showcase, the lines are much shorter.
Any WDW guide book will tell you that the character meet and greet in the England Pavillion is at the toy shop. And this is true, there is a meet and greet for Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. What they don't tell you is that there is also a Kodak photo spot opposite the fish and chips counter service place on the outside of the tea shop. This photo spot is also host to a Meet and Greet for Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins, which I found out about just as they came on. And when I mean, just as they came on, quite literally I was walking down the side street from the toy shop to the main drag and saw Alice skipping merrily past me. Needless to say I followed her and found the meet and greet without any line to speak of, so naturally I pulled out my autograph book and trusty Mont Blanc pen and stood in line.
Both characters were very nice and spent almost 5 minutes interacting with me.
Mary Poppins was very sweet and remarking that it might rain and that I shouldn’t be caught out in the rain, Alice was in the middle of talking to the flowers when I approached and became very friendly. She asked where I was from, to which I replied 'Kansas' and she said "Goodness, that must have been a long ride down the rabbit hole". Both signed my book, although she did give me a knowing wink when I used the excuse that 'it was for my nieces.'
The only thing that really ruined the ‘magic’ was after I said goodbye to the characters as I left there was some redneck off to the side in the street who asked me if I got (Alice's) number but anyways it was a very welcome surprise to meet with Alice and Mary Poppins.

Coming up next, Meeting with the Duck, 1900 Park Fare, Akershus part Deux...

 

[sand2270]

you going to share any pictures?

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

you going to share any pictures?

Soon, I have some sweet Photopass ones and some others that need to be scanned in, then I have to get them uploaded onto here.
But I will, and they will be worth it!

 

[sand2270]

Soon, I have some sweet Photopass ones and some others that need to be scanned in, then I have to get them uploaded onto here.
But I will, and they will be worth it!

cool...these are so much more fun with visuals

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

In Frontierland just opposite the Golden Horseshoe Revue, Donald Duck does meet and greets in his 'Davy Crockett' getup. And, in the first hour of the park opening, he usually doesn't have much of a line. So I did what any fan of the Duck would do, and got his autograph and a pic. The Donald was very much in character, the kid before me when he got his picture, Donald covered up the mouse ears on the kid’s hat, and was jokingly 'hopping mad' that the kid had 5 mickey pins on his lanyard but no Duck ones. I got in the Duck's good graces because I was wearing a donald duck pin on my sportjacket lapel, and by saying that I preferred his cartoons to Mickey's as a kid, he got very animated (no pun intended) about that. After the pic and the autograph I said “Remember the Alamo!” as I left.

1900 Park Fare was an experience I was dreading, for starters I was a bit fragile from the previous night (I had taken some clients out for a night on the town, and we all went to Margaritaville till the wee hours of the morning)
I had a 10:10 ADR for 1900 Park Fare, and debated cancelling it because of my current condition and how I had heard that it was very loud.
As it was I just went, figuring it was my last full day and I would kick myself if I didn’t. I posted a review of it in the Dining section of the Forum, but I’ll re-cap. I had heard how boistrous it could be ('organized bedlam' was the term most used) but it was surprisingly low Key. I arrived about 5 minutes early and was seated very quickly in the main room with the calliope and the buffet area. Lynette was my server and was busy but very helpful. I was surprised that it was much lower key than I was expecting, but I was in the main room, and it was fairly empty at 10:10, still it was a pleasant surprise. And that morning I was feeling somewhat fragile from the previous night so the Spicy Bloody Mary was a welcome addition, after two of those I was ready to tackle the buffet. The food is top notch, I have eaten at buffets in higher end hotels like Hyatt-Regency and Le Meriden and so forth, but this is better. It has the unique offerings that adults like but I also saw kid-friendly offerings, usually it's one or the other, so the wide variety was welcome. I would like especially to single out the lobster benedict (poached eggs with lobster meat in a hollandaise sauce) the strawberry soup was delish and the bacon was done just right. They also had a create your own omlette station.
The Characters were nice; that morning it was Pooh, Tigger, Alice and the Mad Hatter, and Mary Poppins. They were all very friendly, in spite of me being a 30 year old solo guy wearing a gray sports jacket and jeans and somewhat hungover.
Tigger ribbed me gently about working on my Blackberry and 'tasted' my drink, Pooh high-fived me and was happy to hear that I liked watching him when I was younger.
Alice was very energetic and friendly, she asked me where I was from and when I responded ‘Kansas’ she said “Really, do you know Dororthy?” Which elicited a chuckle from me and she told me that someone mistook her for Dorothy that morning, to which I replied, “Clearly they don’t know, Dorothy was a brunette.” She probably stayed at my table the longest, when she saw my Bloody Mary she said “Good Heavens, did they put something in your drink?” (referring to the celery), I replied “Well, that is the only thing you can keep down when you’re hungover.” She then said, “Oh, so you mean hungover like the chandelier?” There was more but I forgot most of it. By far it was the best character interaction I had on the trip.
Mary Poppins was very sweet and complimented me on being so well-dressed for breakfast. She asked if the conference I was attending was a “Nanny conference,” and she did call me on the 'just getting autographs for my nieces' excuse, but was very sweet about it, something like "You know, you don't have to pretend, we don't mind seeing nice well-mannered gentlemen like yourself." The Mad Hatter seemed someone sullen, probably because he had seen me shamelessly flirting with the ‘female’ face characters, I also was messing with him by asking server if he was an hallucination brought on by the DT’s, but it was a good experience.
Coming up: Akershus, part deux...

 

[Sleepless Knight]

The only thing that really ruined the ‘magic’ was after I said goodbye to the characters as I left there was some redneck off to the side in the street who asked me if I got (Alice's) number but anyways it was a very welcome surprise to meet with Alice and Mary Poppins.

I'm convinced that those who make of adults for enjoying seeing the characters either have some real problems in their lives, so they have to make fun of others to feel good about themselves or they're just jealous that they grew up and grew old.

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

how do you do that? I've downloaded some of my Photopass pics, but can't find where to upload `em

 

[jadedbeauty14304]

I love your report so much!!!

Open an account at www.photobucket.com and upload them there.. it is fast an easy!!! Then you just copy and past the img code into your post! I want to see your pics so bad! LOL

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

I had acquired a last-minute ressie at Akershus for 4:25pm, and all of the CM's remembered me and said “Welcome back!” I even got Veronica again, and she was very happy to see me, she asked for my advice for what to take in college (she wanted to major in international business). Tony the executive chef stopped by my table and greeted me as an old friend, and offered to treat me to a shot of Aquavit.
All of the princesses remembered me from the first time, and were every bit as sweet. Jasmine remembered me and when I apologized for being in a “fowl mood” she said “That’s alright, Jafar puts me in a bad mood, too. Maybe he put a hex on your presentation!” Ariel was an absolute dear and even remembered my name (I vaguely remember giving her my name the first timie) remember giving it, but it was still cool!) and offered to get a picture with my ‘flashy memory box’. She also recommended the chocolate cake as it was her favorite, and made me promise to go and see her friend Nemo. Both Cindy and Aurora said 'welcome back, handsome prince", and the head host delivered me a shot of the Aquavit on a tray “With the compliments of the Head Chef.” Then Paul the Restaurant Manager stopped by my table to chat me up and make sure everything was satisfactory. I guess not too many ‘suits’ show up to the Princess Storybook Dining, but it was all very nice. And as the princesses left they all said goodbye to me, Ariel called me by my name and said to see her when I have another conference…needless to say between the wonderful service, the lovely princesses and the shot of aquavit I floated, rather than walked out of, Akershus on cloud 9.

On my last day, I stopped by the Princess Room again at Toontown Fair, and smiled. It had been 6 days previous that I was the arrogant jerk who felt like he was too old to be getting his picture taken with princesses, and now I was a changed man. The line was 30 minutes, so I waited in line, oblivious to the weeping and gnashing of teeth that was going on in the “Pixie Hollow” line (105 minute wait!!). It was Aurora, Cindy and Belle in her yellow dress. All of them were very sweet, referring to your Humble Friend and Narrator as a “Handsome Prince”. Aurora showed me how to pose like a prince, Cinderella was very friendly and Belle loved my pink Brooks Brothers shirt. Photopass did an excellent job of taking the pictures (JoJo, one of the photo pass CM’s said that she had taken 1700 pics that day)

Yeah, I admit it, I liked it, and that smirk is mostly due to the expressions on the little ankle-biter's faces wondering why their beloved princesses are getting their pics taken with some GQ-jerk

Anyways, th-th-that's all folks, I'll try and get the rest of the pics uploaded (these were photopass and highly recommended, too)
So until then, Mahalo, and have a magical day

 

[sand2270]

Great pictures. I am sure those princesses were thrilled to take a picture with a man who wasn't in shorts, crocs and wearing a fanny pack, "who's the guy in the jacket...ooh".

 

[rebecca06261]

1. Any man who adopts Ayn's name into his user name is a friend of mine
2. As a matter of fact, it's the only reason why I checked out the thread
3. I'm glad I did check out the thread as it's been a long while since I read a tr... I am especially finding this one amusing since it's from a single's perspective.
4. "Yellowshirts" Priceless. You know this is how we're all gonna refer to the cm's now!
5. Welcome to the Disboards!

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

1. Any man who adopts Ayn's name into his user name is a friend of mine
2. As a matter of fact, it's the only reason why I checked out the thread
3. I'm glad I did check out the thread as it's been a long while since I read a tr... I am especially finding this one amusing since it's from a single's perspective.
4. "Yellowshirts" Priceless. You know this is how we're all gonna refer to the cm's now!
5. Welcome to the Disboards!

Heheheh, thanks! I know that people who are fans of "Atlas Shrugged" and Walt Disney are a very exclusive club LOL

also, I have posted a more detailed Trip Report here
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2082323

so chekkit out.

Thanks again for the replies!!

 

[Floydian]

First of all, great reports! This should do plenty to ease the minds of adults when meeting characters.

Heheheh, thanks! I know that people who are fans of "Atlas Shrugged" and Walt Disney are a very exclusive club LOL

Aha! I knew the name sounded familiar! I've had a copy of that (huge) book for a few years now, given to me by a friend, and have yet to dig into it. Given that I read at least one book a month as it is, I would think that would've gotten done by now. Then again, I prefer light reading that I can keep in the glove box of my car, or stuff into a bag, with little or not thought required.

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

Aha! I knew the name sounded familiar! I've had a copy of that (huge) book for a few years now, given to me by a friend, and have yet to dig into it. Given that I read at least one book a month as it is, I would think that would've gotten done by now. Then again, I prefer light reading that I can keep in the glove box of my car, or stuff into a bag, with little or not thought required.

heheh, yeah at 1066 pages it ain't exactly light reading

Glad these observations can help aspiring solos meet characters...

 

[gokenin]

heheh, yeah at 1066 pages it ain't exactly light reading

Glad these observations can help aspiring solos meet characters...

it may not be an easy read but it tends to be one of those books that you either love or hate. First read it in high school and now on my third copy of it

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

it may not be an easy read but it tends to be one of those books that you either love or hate. First read it in high school and now on my third copy of it

Yeah, I read it for the first time in college and now its one of those books I can a passage any time regardless of my mood.
I definately can see that its one of those books you either love or hate...Glad to know that there are other 'John Galt' folks out there in the Disney fandom