What else to say to the characters???

[Kimmielee]

I'm planning another WDW trip - and this time I was able to get ressies for breakfast at Cindy's. I'll be with my DS (6) and we love intereacting w/the characters. I want to make this breakfast "fun" for him, because to be honest I was surprised that he agreed to a "girly" character meal - so I thought if we had things to say to the princesses it would be my thank you for going to the "girly" meal

Any ideas? Patty

Be prepared, my DS (5) was secretly IN LOVE with Cinderella and was so embarrassed (ok, Mommy induced embarrassment) that we missed the photo opportunity!! He asked Snow White which was her favorite dwarf... he asked Sleeping Beauty if she still takes naps... after that... Cindy showed up and he was a goner... ENJOY!!!

 

[DisneyFreq]

We've had our picture taken with Eeyore at Camp Minnie Mickey in AK...so you could look for him there. I remember it vividely b/c it was May and I was pregnant and EXTREMELY hot and I kept looking at Eeyore and thinking "wow, he's got to be hot!"

Rather than hunt around for him, find a character handler and ask them. They whip out their CB radio and call central command (LOL)...I mean the person thats in charge of character placement/schedules/breaks ect. One time we were in line at MGM to see Director Mickey and my daughter was bound and determined to meet Pochahontas (wow...shes really popular with that younger age set, huh?) and we'd tried to schedule a character lunch where she would be present, but they hand closed down the restaurant for refurbishment. I mentioned all this to the handler while we were waiting our turn and she got on her CB! I was impressed! She found out that the indian princess should be making an appearance in the courtyard (just thru that archway and to the right) just about......NOW. We rushed over just in time to see Meg, the Beast, and Clopin....but where is SHE? There she is, so short and skinny I almost missed her as she emerged into the courtyard...and DD3 was first in line to see her! I mentioned that we had rushed over just to see her and she was very flattered. She took her time and sat down with dd and chatted for several minutes. That was probably one our best character experiences (second only to dancing with baloo).

so...TIP: if you have a favorite character, ask a handler their location. Conversation starter? Just be sure to mention that they are YOUR favorite and you made a beeline to see them!

 

[DisneyFreq]

Also, someone mentioned wearing a Universal shirt to WDW. The opposite holds true as well. I saw several guests get singled out at universal last year for wearing Mickey shirts.....by both ride operators and charchters! Their employees are VERY adamant....LOL

Does anyone have any tips to help children get over their fear of the characters? My dd has never had a problem but my ds...one of the braviest boys I've ever met (I'm surprised he's not in traction from all the dangerous stunts he's tried) is scared of the characters....not terrified but he keeps his distance. I was hoping he'd outgrow it quickly but last year while at universal my DD and DH danced with Thing 1 and Thing 2 for about 5 min. b/c no one was around. My ds LOVES cat n the hat and loves those characters best of all...but adamantly refused to get near them! This year he says he intends to get pics and autographs and that he's not scared anymore....BUT...I was wondering if there were any good words of encouragement to help him follow thru??? (I mean, other than bribing....life gets expensive when that becomes a habit!)

 

[Pixiebell]

had to bump this, i am trying to write down all these great ideas, but will probably forget then the secong I get near a character.

I do have one encounter that was so sweet!
The day after we got married, we went to AK, and I was wearing a t-shirt with our names and wedding date on it.
We met Mickey, Minnie and Pluto, who all got excited about the shirt, and were asking if we had got married at WDW.
I had to shake my finger at Mickey and say 'Have you forgotten me already? You were there yesterday!'
Mickey went all apologetic, and insisted on writing a congratulations note in my autograph book! They also got the other people in line to say 'congratulations' too!

 

[forever-sunshine]

I am having so much fun reading these. I almost wish that this trip wasn't a surprise for DD5 so I could get her going on these. My hubby was Coal (the Bear) for the 2002 SLC Olympics so she knows that there is a person in the costume, but she will still play it up for her sister.

Amy

 

[bedgraynexl]

Big Bump on this one.

I have done some of the basic ones, Chip n Dale squirrels, singing Mickey Mouse Club to Donald, etc. My kids loved being called prince and princess by the face characters, but were too shy to go further.

It is easy to forget that the characters love to be interactive. Definately need to be more talkative next time!

 

[Cinderella94]

Aww! This thread is so sweet! I will have to remember allll of these when we go to DW in May.

Here's just a little character-interaction story: I remember meeting Chip and Dale and Dale saw my pin of him on my lanyard! He trys to act so cool, and then he tries to steal my lanyard! It was very sweet.

Cinderella

 

[DVCajun]

More, more, more!!!

 

[Family Fun Mom]

We got a few good reactions ourselves...

I told Dale (at Chef Mickey's) he is my daughter's favorite chipmunk. He acted so honored and gave her several extra long hugs, and every time he walked by he would stop and hug her.

We asked Goofy if he likes roast beef (that's what we were eating) he made yummy-in-my-tummy gestures. Then we told him that he really cracks my son up with his silliness and he jumped up excitedly and hit his rear end on a table, then he grabbed it, jumped in the air and took off running across the restaurant. My son was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe.

I introduced my husband to Donald Duck. My husband's name is Donald. That got a great reaction. We got a great picture of the two of them, too.

At the Spectromagic Parade a whole section of kids waved their arms like a croc snapping at Captian Hook, his reaction was awesome.

I was most impressed with the princesses, though. They are so true to their characters. My son wanted nothing to do with those yucky girls so he hid behind my dh while my daughter met them. They all asked about the little prince that was hiding. They asked my daughter if he was "her" prince and commented on how dashing he is. It was adorable. He acted like he hated it, but I could tell he loved the attention.

The characters add so much to an already magical place. I wish we had more time to interact with more of them.

 

[Family Fun Mom]

Our last trip to WDW, my DS4 decided that he wanted to meet all the princesses(not sure why, but that was his plan). So while DH and DS6 were riding rides, we were introducing ourselves to the princesses. Anyway, they really fawn over little boys-probably because they don't normally have much of an interest in uckie girls. Parker would introduce himself and ask if he could have a kiss. When we met Ariel, he leaned over to kiss her and lost his balance and the photographer got a picture with him touching Ariel in a place little boys shouldn't touch-you should see the look on her face!

Here's the MAGICAL part of this story-the next day we were in MK again and Parker spotted Aurora on a hill. He ran right up to her and she bent down to him and asked him his name. When he answered Parker, she said "Oh, Parker Ariel told me she met you yesterday!" She then plastered a big pink kiss on his cheek and winked at DH and I, who had our jaws on the floor trying to figure out how she knew him. Turns out Ariel and Aurora were played by the same gal that week-I can't tell you how special that experience was, we will never forget it!

PRICELESS!

 

[kilee]

This is a great thread. I love the responses you get.

My DH and I were at Cinderella's castle for dinner and when we came downstairs we saw Cinderella. I said that I always wanted to be Cinderella and she said, "But you are a princess" turning to my DH, "I hope that you treat her as one." I got lots of mileage with that one!

This was just priceless!!

 

[whimsey]

All of these stories are just so great, perfect for a Monday morning. Our DD always wears a t-shirt with a black and white drawing of the Mad Hatter to breakfast at the Grand Floridian. It always gets a big reaction from both the Mad Hatter and Alice. MH made her stand up and show everybody, sat down beside her and chatted and made a point of passing by our table often to interact with her. The best was when he caught her dumping ketchup on her plate. He sat down next to her and asked if there was a ketchup shortage where she came from. Alice singled out our DGD, 7 yo at the time, and they gossiped about the MH.

 

[Cinderella94]

More please! These are so fun to read, but you guys are all making me jealous

Cinderella

 

[imagineerhopefull]

*bump*

 

[IWannaBeAPrincess]

Apparently it has been done a lot, but my mom asked Minnie "When is he going to make an honest woman out of you?" (very country like, not meaning anything bad by it) Minnie was completely taken a back and it took her a few seconds to react. She then shook her head, looked at her hand, pointed at it, looked at Mickey and started tapping her feet, like "Yeah, when are you?"

I was so embarassed that my mom said that, but looking back at it, it's hilarious now!

 

[BethanyF]

very fun thread.

We had great interactions with several characters. On our first trip, ds was a bit leery of the characters and I thought for sure we were in for a week of fearful moments. Anyway, we were at Chef Mickeys on our first morning and ds was sitting on dh's lap, refusing to go near Goofy. Goofy caught on that ds was nervous and kept trying to get him to wave or something, but never coming too close. Somehow Goofy assumed that the fears were lessening a bit and took a banana off the buffett and handed it to DS from a distance. Ds jumped up and gave Goofy a huge hug. From that point on he had no fear of any of the characters.

Chip & Dale are always fun. DS was standing between them and Dale kept covering DS's face. I reprimanded him and it only made matters worse, LOL. Finally I got a good picture, but then they stole my pen and proceeded to pretend to color each other's teeth with it.

Dale and Goofy played keep-away with DS at Ohana...although DS was the 'ball'. They kept pushing him back and forth between each other.

The Tweedles had a blast 'belly bopping' ds between them. They both took him by a hand and they danced around in front of the tea-cups.

Kenai tried hitching a ride in DS's stroller..it was hysterical. Still amazes me that he got that costume to sit in the AK stroller.

We have met tons of characters but these interactions are the ones DS remembers the most. He remembers the other ones, but he talks about these all the time.

 

[Joanna71985]

This is a great thread! I just got back from Disney, and the character interaction was great! Let's see:

1. I went to the MK EMH on New Year's Day. The characters were great! I got to see Mickey and Minnie together. I asked Mickey why he hadn't given Minnie a ring yet (I know- everyone asks that right. ). Mickey started frantically putting a finger to his mouth going "shhh" and Minnie was like "what are you talking about?"! It was great!

2. There was no line for Chip and Dale at the EMH. So they were fooling around. Chip started pushing Dale in one of the Disney strollers! It was soooo funny. Everyone was laughing, even the Photopass person.

3. I went to the 4 pm Sword in the Stone show on January 4th. When I told Merlin that it was my last day, he gave me one of the medallions so I could be a honorary ruler of the realm. How sweet!

4. This isn't really a character (per say) but I did the Frontierland Hoedown several times. This is my dancing partner.

 

[bellarose23]

I love these stories! I had to show this thread to my dad, because he thinks i'm silly for getting so into the character experience at my age (26). At CRT, I bow when the princesses come by, and I always tell Cindy thanks for hosting such a wonderful meal. A few others from recent trips:

I asked the Mad Hatter what his favorite tea is. His response was chamomile, because it's so calming.

I told Aladdin and Jasmine that their story is one of my favorites. He asked what my favorite part was. I said the prince ali number since I love the song, but I love them all. My first voice recital in high school I sang A Whole New World, my other fave song.

My cousin and I met Peter Pan last month. I asked him if he would mind taking a pic with a few kids who never completly "grew up". When we were leaving, "I said thank you, Mr. Pan", out of habit from addressing people at work that way (it was day one of the trip). He scolded me and said don't call me mister! I promptly apologized, and he laughed.

At Chef Mickey's, when they dance around while everyone waves napkins to Celebrate, Mickey came by our table. My then 9 yr-old twin sisters were dancing, and he joined in. I was dancing in my seat, and he came by me. I told him he really knew how to throw a party, and he gave me high 5 and a hug. Chip and Dale also flirted with my mom and I alot that meal!

Same trip, my dad took the twins on the barnstormer. Goofy was standing nearby, and my mom and i were the first to spot him. We got a good 5-10 minutes in of "goofing" around, as he danced with us, played hide and seek, and took pics.

There's many more, and each one I cherish. I almost have more fun with the characters now that I'm grown, because it's a window back to the wonders of childhood, away from bosses and grad school, and surrounded by pixie dust.

 

[Perdie]

My husband and I brought our mini Goofy with us to DL (we have no kids and are 27 and 29) but we did carry around a stuffed animal : ) Well, Goofy got a BIG kick out of it and tried to steal our Goofy!! And then we saw Rodeo Goofy and someone yelled "Hey there's Goofy" Well, Goofy looked around looking for Goofy, spotted our stuffed goofy, grabbed him and as if to say "Yeah, here's Goofy!" It was hilarious...people probably thought we were crazy!

 

[MiknMinMouse]

When my DS was 3 1/2 we took him to a CB that had Donald. The second Donald Entered the Room (it was on the boat at DTD) my son started singing the "Quack Quack Quack Donald Duck, he's my little pal" song from his Disney Sing A Longs. When Donald got to us, my son was still singing. Donald LOVED it, he kept pointing to my son and doing thumbs up.

Also, I know the characters love when kids wear shirts with them on it. When Doug was still at MGM my son was wearing a Doug shirt, he went up to Doug and said he was his biggest fan, Doug made such a to do over my son that it made the rest of his day.

I love seeing the conversation starters though, I've never thought of that.