What Was Your Worst Character Greeting Moment?

[mmtska]

I feel bad for those who had bad Sleeping Beauty experiences. She is my absolute favorite Disney Character and we found her quite a few times at the World. Each time she was lovely, and when we were at the Akershus meal, she fawned all over me because I was wearing an Aurora shirt that I had made. She even promised to tell Meriweather I prefered her blue dress lol.

My 'bad' experience was at the Garden Grill. Mickey, Pluto and Chip ROCKED! Chip was really funny, and kept trying to steal my autograph book, and my fork hehe. But Dale was nowhere to be found. We saw him once on the upper level, but he never came down to ours. So I have Chip's autograph, but not Dale's. I love those 2, but my book is so not complete now

 

[RitaFaye94]

These are great!

Mine aren't really terrible, but just a bit disappointing. Last year I took my DD15, DS2, and DD's best friend on our first trip to the World. It was my first trip too, so I was living the magic right along with them.

At Chef Mickey's, everyone was moving pretty fast so we snapped our pics and went on. Only pics of the kids, none with me. I thought that was the usual.

That evening at CP was the same way. Snapped pics of the kids and went on. Tusker House was the same. I finally chased down the CM and asked for a pic of me with Mickey.

Our last day there, we dined with Stitch - my FAVORITE!!! I told my DD that I ABSOLUTELY want pics with him, so when he came over I made sure to get one. The thing was, at Ohana we had amazing characters! Pluto stayed at our table for at least 5 minutes letting my son scratch behind his ear and kicking his leg - that was my favorite character moment of all!

 

[mom2rtk]

Keep in mind that the experience you have with the character meals is directly connected to how busy the restaurant is. We went once to Chef Mickeys in the late morning, just before closing and the characters came by several times, messing with the kids. It was one of our favorite character meals ever! If the restaurant had still been packed, it would have been completely different. We were there this fall on a busy Saturday night, and it was quick picture and move on.......

 

[DramaQueen]

I had one interesting experience at WDW with Ron Stoppable, I think I was 17 at the time (I'm 20 now), and he was just really hitting on me a LOT. I didn't have a huge problem with it, I know he was just in character but I was sooo embarrassed because my dad was bugging me about it for the rest of the day!
That was probably the only negative experience I've had at WDW with a character.

BUT I remember once at IOA (same trip, I was 17) my DSis & I went to line up to get out pics with Rogue & Storm from X-men and man Rogue was the BIGGEST witch I had EVER encountered. She was yelling at kids to get out of the way, she was REALLY snippy with my sis & I, yelling at people to pose and hurry up and stuff. Boy it was unpleasant. Didn't ruin my day or anything but man was she rude!

I have to include a positive one as well because I can't stand being a debbie downer when it comes to disney!! @ Garden Grill when my DSis & I were probably 10&11 Chip & Dale were a HOOT! They were sliding down the ramp on food trays and had me & my sis do it with them (not sure if the waitresses appreciated that or not) but we had so much fun playing with them in the restaurant!

 

[Evi]

Not a bad experience but a bit embarrassing though funny. While at a cape may char breakfast a few years back with Fiance I had an interesting interaction with chip and dale. We chose to sit away from all the action because there were alot of kids running back and forth between the characters. It was a late breakfast and when we got there they were changing from breakfast to a lunch buffet so they told us we could wait and eat from the lunch if we wanted and we did. As it began to thin out hubby went up to grab lunch I was drinking my coffee and reading over our plans for the day and told him I would be right up (they hadn't finished setting up the food and I don't do multiple buffet trips) anyhow while he was getting food Chip came over and started emoting hearts and kisses and hugging me then he motioned for dale to come over and both of them were fawning all over me it was super funny when fiance came back he kinds stopped and had that look (all of you married women know that look lol) and he asked chip to excuse him while he sat down) but chip began to shoo him away lol and they kept fussing over me at one point pointing towards my cleavage and referring to them as nuts (kinda my fault had a bit of a lowcut top on that day). I even had them play a gentle tug of war with me one grabbing each arm and pretending to pull. It was probably one of the most fun experiences I've had with characters but DF didn't think it was so funny. When we left they were blowing kisses and df was asking how old I thought the guys in the costumes were lol. I teased him all week about it saying how we need some chip and dale stuffed animals for the house and such.

Sadly we also had anot so fun experience that ended well on the same trip. DF is a huge goofy fan so much so that he can imitate goofy's laugh perfectly. While in Epcot in the morning we had the opportunity to find goofy virtually alone and so df walked up to him for some char one on one he tried to show goofy his laugh and goofy just shrugged his shoulders put up his hand and walked away. Df looked crestfallen like the little kid in him had gotten shot down I felt so bad but I wasn't the only one who noticed pluto came over immediately and gave an amazing performance. Brushing up on DF like a dog does pushing his hand for a pat. Honestly it was a hot day and char has to sit like a dog and he was laying on his back at one point and giving his paw it was really cool and totally made up for Goofy's brush off. Now we love Pluto ps. if you have kids and they find pluto if you ask if you can read his dog tag and flip it over it says if found please return to mickey and when I asked him if he wanted me to find mickey he nodded and gave me his paw to walk him over to mickey who thanked us and gave me a hug lol so all is all it ended well though I dont think DF loves goofy as much hehe.

 

[Heidijs]

These are sooo funny! I have a feeling my DD4 will basically shy away from all the characters, even her favorites. She doesn't like being confronted and dressed up people freak her out sometimes!

 

[kiwicassie]

I haven't had my picture taken with many characters but fortunately I've never had a bad experience with them.

 

[hopefor4]

Last Christmas at 1900 Park Fare...My DD has allergies, so the chef came out to discuss her meal. Just then Cinderella come by. I asked if she could start with the tables next to us (they were with us, we had 16) and she said, "I have a pattern and only come around once" I said I needed to talk to the chef, she shucked her teeth, and stomped off.

As for the only coming by once, she was there 3 times during the dinner, including dancing with my son and 2 year old DD. I did thank her, and in character this time told us it was her pleasure to spend time with such noble guests. I always wonder if the Chef said something...

Not going to 1900 this time around, but doing CRT for Breakfast and Dinner...

 

[Alexis Green]

These are great! I've been lurking around this thread for a while. I haven't had any bad experiences, yet. I'm going in a week so we'll have to see!!!

I need more laughs! More stories please!!

 

[ireland_nicole]

Most of our character interactions have been at least adequate (rushing through character meal, etc.) to great; one negative stands out in my mind, not with the character, but the "handler". DD has autism, and we let someone know especially for character meals; i.e., it's noted on the ressie, etc. We also tend to wear autism awareness shirts and ribbons. Both kids have major food restrictions because of their disabilities, so we meet w/ the chef at every meal, too (and btw, Disney is amazing for this; particularly love the chefs at Boma and CM's.) Anyway, we were at CM's for dinner. The first couple of characters came and went w/ no particular problem. Then it was time for Pluto. DD is sensory seeking, she needs sensory input, and is always touching everything. We work with her on this, but it's one way she makes sense of the world around her. She reached up to touch Pluto's nose- not quickly grabbing or pulling, just bringing her hand toward him. The handler literally jumped in front of her and yelled at her. She completely panicked, started flapping and cringed away from him. After I got her calmed down, I went and talked to another handler and explained the situation. She was very apologetic, said it never should have happened, offered to send pluto back, etc. Pluto did come back later, but DD was too scared to interact with him.

It didn't ruin our trip, so many CM's were absolutely wonderful, and the magic was alive and well, but it did put a damper on the evening.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Not a bad experience but a bit embarrassing though funny. While at a cape may char breakfast a few years back with Fiance I had an interesting interaction with chip and dale. We chose to sit away from all the action because there were alot of kids running back and forth between the characters. It was a late breakfast and when we got there they were changing from breakfast to a lunch buffet so they told us we could wait and eat from the lunch if we wanted and we did. As it began to thin out hubby went up to grab lunch I was drinking my coffee and reading over our plans for the day and told him I would be right up (they hadn't finished setting up the food and I don't do multiple buffet trips) anyhow while he was getting food Chip came over and started emoting hearts and kisses and hugging me then he motioned for dale to come over and both of them were fawning all over me it was super funny when fiance came back he kinds stopped and had that look (all of you married women know that look lol) and he asked chip to excuse him while he sat down) but chip began to shoo him away lol and they kept fussing over me at one point pointing towards my cleavage and referring to them as nuts (kinda my fault had a bit of a lowcut top on that day). I even had them play a gentle tug of war with me one grabbing each arm and pretending to pull. It was probably one of the most fun experiences I've had with characters but DF didn't think it was so funny. When we left they were blowing kisses and df was asking how old I thought the guys in the costumes were lol. I teased him all week about it saying how we need some chip and dale stuffed animals for the house and such.

To be honest though, the "guys in the costumes" were most likely girls as Chip and Dale.

 

[eastcarolinafan]

The same thing happend to us at Tusker House in July, except with Donald, AND Goofy. Our kids were upset and confused why they wouldnt sign . It really upset us all. Yes, our kids have alot of the same autographs in the books, but they love it and there were plenty of extra pages, which we had open to and ready. Our bad we didn't say anything though...

could it have been the character simply didn't want your children to see the same character names signed several different ways? I mean, that would certinaly break any illusion. Just one possible explanation.

As for the Peter Pan everybody is grousing about, a few weeks ago -- entirely inadvertently, amazingly enoguh -- my daughter and I literaly stumbled onto the Spectro Magic Parade. We were trying to get to another land, but didn't beat the parade, obviously.

It was a chilly night and attendance was sparse. Here come all the characters, right in front of us. it was cool. But then comes Peter Pan -- THAT SAME Peter Pan.

He was so nice, coming over to my daughter and talking to her and asking questions. He called over several of the Dwarfs who were walking alongside Snow White's carriage. The Dwarfs made a big deal. It was a really nice thing to do on a night that was less than ideal weather-wise.

Hugs all around from Peter and the Dwarfs, and they moved along, my girl grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Great moment.

I don't know, everybody has bad days, even Disney characters. It just seems more unforgivable because it happens to OUR kids sometimes, and our children are so special to us.

I can tell you for sure that same Peter Pan, the one who creeps those people out, the one who needs a shave, the one nobody seems to like, was a great Peter Pan for us. He made my daughter really happy and gave her a memory she will have for the rest of her life.

Not a bad day's work, if you ask me.

 

[T16GEM]

This past january we waiting for DD to meet the princesses and Belle was terribly boring and didn't show that much interest in my DD. Sleeping Beauty and cinderella were fantastic teaching her how to courtsey and twirl, Belle didn't even bother to get up off her bench!

 

[PrincessKida]

Deleted

 

[SalmonPink]

I've just read through this whole thread and wanted to add my own experience with the 'creepy' Peter Pan - I was last in line to meet him and Wendy in May. He was yawning constantly (with no attempt to hide it) and kept leaning against the window sill behind him. The young son of the family in front of me was really excited to show off the Peter Pan action figures his parents had just bought him but Peter barely even acknowledged them, just turned the boy towards the camera and posed. I'm pretty sure the only actual words he said to me when it was my turn were "hello" and "goodbye". My mum and I decided he must be recovering from a rough night out with the Lost Boys. Wendy was incredible though. She was just lovely and personable and was telling me I had to visit her in Kensington Gardens (I'm English myself and even I found her accent delightful). I think she was working extra hard to make up for Peter. I wonder how he's doing now he's meeting without her...

As for the bland Aurora stories, the Aurora we saw in Epcot was achingly beautiful and incredibly sweet but when we saw a different Aurora in the Princess Room at MK both she and Belle seemed kind of blah. However, I'm pretty sure that was all to do with the Cinderella we saw - she had so much personality and she kept up a constant stream of chatter with every person who visited her. She really put everyone at ease, she had this lovely soothing, slightly husky voice. I think a lot of princesses are very aware of being photographed and that if they're talking a lot they're going to be making odd faces in the photos but this Cinderella was a total breath of fresh air. Compared to her, Belle and Aurora just couldn't compete.

I think every one of my not-so-great character interactions has been balanced out by a good character nearby. Even when Mushu accidentally stepped on my foot and whacked me with his tail, Mulan was an absolute gem and made up for the pain.

 

[Grunches]

Gotta stick up for Peter Pan!!! We had a wonderful one last December and again in May (not the one in the pictures in this thread). My DD has a complete crush on Peter Pan, so she was very starstruck. He was absolutely wonderful with her on both trips. He played with her and on both trips got down on the ground to be at her level to have a conversation with her. In December when she was 2, he sat on the ground with her in his lap for pictures. In May, as we were walking away, DH whispered in my ear "If I didn't know better, I'd think he was the real Peter Pan". We ran across some great characters and he was one of our favorites!

Do you have any pictures of this Peter Pan?

 

[glenpreece]

She is a nannie after all.....sit up staright dear and elbows of the table, I wasn't there soooo, but it sounded like she was in character

She did the same thing to me in Epcot, totally her character.

 

[natcat117]

I just finished reading this thread and I have some comments to add...

My worst experience was probably at 1900 Park Fare. We were there for dinner and Lady Tremaine walked by us and asked, "Do you even care?" and walked away. It was just my sis and me (age 18 and 23). She was definitely in character but it was just weird being blown off because we were older. Prince Charming was awesome, though. He was very cute and talked to us for a long time when he found out we live near San Antonio. He kept going on about how he's so familiar with it. Small world.

Also at Chef Mickey's Mickey almost blew us off. We had to ask him if we could take a pic. All the characters were really nice but asked most of them for pics or else they would have just walked by us.

I've always wanted to meet Peter Pan. I spent my last day at MK on a mission to meet him but we never found him. He moves too fast during Spectromagic so we never even got a pic. I think my expectations of him are too high. I've seen tons of YouTube clips with a specific Peter from Disneyland. He looks PERFECT! There are tons of videos of him.

Here is one.

Found an even better one! HERE

 

[tlenzendorf]

Do you have any pictures of this Peter Pan?

I have a picture of him on this thread someplace.

 

[Nicole&Becker]

I'd just be interested to hear about your character experiences that you'd rather forget. Was a character ever rude, boring, a waste of time, etc. Are there certain characters you wouldn't waste your time on again?

The first time I went to DL in high school, I was told to **** Off by Winnie the Pooh! It was horrible! I was so mad. I hope that never happens to one of my kids. I was 15 and it really ruined my day. Oh well, at least that was a long time ago. I have had better times since then.