Ember said:
Just wondering at what times during the day you can add characters... Can you have more than one, but have them out at different times...
Im going to speak in general terms here. I am no authority on this subject. Disney is. I can only relay my experiences in hopes that they might help someone else.
My family hosted a private party at the Grand Floridians Summerhouse venue a few months prior to my FTW vow renewal. I wrote about my event in great detail in a trip report here on the Dis:
click here. If you read my trip report, youll see how the planning of my event unfolded, as well as how my event turned out. It was truly a wonderful event, thanks to the hard-work of the Grand Floridian Resort and her Convention Services staff.
It is true that Disney has rules in regards to the hiring of their characters for private events. There are even rules for photographing and videotaping the characters. I wrote about my photo/video concern in my trip report:
click here to read the specific post. In that post youll see that I shared a little bit of my contracts legalese. It definitely made me sit up and take notice.
For my Summerhouse dinner party, Mickey Mouse arrived via boat:
click here. It was quite a memorable arrival (and also quite a surprise for my guests). Disney had to perform a run-through of Mickeys arrival prior to my event just to make sure that it could be done. Disney needed to ensure the safety of not only Mickey Mouse but also of the Cast Members who would be escorting Mickey to my event. Once the safety test had been passed, I was given the okay to book Mickeys arrival by boat. Everything worked out beautifully, thanks to the hard work that went on behind the scenes prior to my event.
There are many things that need to be considered when it comes to the hosting of a private event. While you and I might not understand completely Disneys reasoning for certain things, you can rest assured that their reasoning is always well thought-out. If they say no to something, they will usually tell you why, but sometimes they are a little tight-lipped about it. When I was planning the custom fireworks display for my FTW vow renewal, I gave a list of songs to Disney for their consideration (my custom fireworks display was going to be set to music). Disney immediately shot down my number one choice. Reason? Licensing/Marketing issue. To me, that was a somewhat vague answer, but I didnt push the issue. I wound up selecting another song, and Disney blessed it. Everything worked out splendidly.
The only advice that I can offer to anyone in regards to character usage is to ask Disney if characters are allowed at the event that you are considering hosting. Disney will either tell you yes or no. And if they tell you yes, they will tell you their rules. I have found their rules to be straightforward and easy to honor.
As to having one character appear at one time while another character appears at another time, it basically depends upon how much money you are willing to spend. In the past, Disney gave a little bit of a price break if you had multiple characters appear within a specific timeframe (Disney would stagger the appearances slightly). If you could live with the timeframe, wonderful, as it gave you a little bit of savings. However, if you could not live with the timeframe, that was okay too; you would just be charged for each character individually. That would be the more expensive option, but if that was how you wanted the characters to appear, Disney would usually arrange for them to appear that way.
I cant remember exactly what I was quoted for the Fab Fives (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto) appearance at my Summerhouse dinner party. In spite of the cost, I did consider their appearance en masse because the photos would have been darling. But when I remembered that there were only going to be nine people (six adults and three children) at my event, five characters became overwhelming. I chose to have only one character (Mickey Mouse) make an appearance. It worked out perfectly.
When it came to my vow renewal, there were going to be quite a few Streetmosphere characters in attendance. Believe me, during my vow renewals planning stages, I remembered the lessons that I had learned while planning my Summerhouse party. I sat myself down and tried to determine if too many characters would detract from my event. I didnt want my guests to feel overwhelmed; after all, my dinner party was to celebrate 20 years of marriage. That wasnt something that I wanted to take lightly.
Luckily for me, Disney had a specific timeline in mind for the appearance of their Streetmosphere characters. The Hollywood Producer would arrive first and welcome my guests to the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park. After the Handprint Ceremony, the Hollywood Producer would lead everyone inside the Great Movie Ride for the progressive dinner party. The first stop would be the Gangster Area. There, the Hollywood Producer would be joined by a Gangster and his Gun Moll. A honky-tonk pianist would play background music while the gangsters entertained everyone during cocktails. Afterwards, the Hollywood Producer would appear and lead everyone into the Western Area for dinner. There, he would be joined by a Cowboy and Cowgirl. A Western band would play background (and foreground) music (sometimes they sang) during dinner. When it was time to move into the Land of Oz for dessert, the Hollywood Producer would appear and lead everyone into Oz. There, he would be joined by Glinda the Good Witch. Glinda would entertain everyone during dessert. Once dessert was through, the Hollywood Producer would appear and lead everyone into the Black Box Room. Mickey Mouse would be waiting there to lead everyone outdoors for the dance party beneath the Sorcerers Hat icon.
As you can see, timing was everything and Disney had it down to a science. Because of my faith in Disneys ability to pull off a flawless event, I gave the okay for the Streetmosphere entertainment package and the Mickey Mouse appearance package. On the night of my vow renewal, everything worked out beautifully. I had no regrets. The evening was truly perfection.
My advice to anyone who is contemplating having more than one character appear at an event is to consider carefully the timing of those characters. Make sure that they wont detract from the event. And if Disney offers you advice, listen to it very carefully. They speak with the knowledge of many prior events, and they always try not to lead you astray.
Having characters, entertainers, or Streetmosphere performers at an event can truly make for a memorable time. I hope my post helped shed a little light on this.
I'm not sure if that's how it still works.
