Why Chip & Dale?!

[gila]

why are chip & dale so popular for character meals? they seem relatively minor, in my perspective, in disney's history. one character meal, i could see, but they appear at several--second only to mickey & minnie it seems. why is there such a limited number of characters available for character meals? i would think the toy story characters would be popular, as would jiminy cricket, tink, the dwarves, muppets, characters from the robin hood movie (a personal favorite of mine). does anyone have any insight on this?

 

[GatorLady]

The only place you will be able to dine with Chip and Dale after the beginning of January is the Garden Grill for dinner. A lot of little kids like them. For some reason they are my DD6's favorites. Not sure why, she didn't have a lot of exposure to them, but she loves them nonetheless.

 

[The Sweetness]

In my experiences, C & D have always seemed to go otu of their way to be cute and fun (trying to eat DDs plum, one afternoon in the MK for instance) Maybe this is why the little ones seem to love them so much. They are very playfull

 

[Lynn5700]

Aww Chip and Dale are awesome and so much fun! They are popular.

 

[hotdogmj71]

C&D were the 1st characters my son met. All the others would sort of intimidate him but for some reason they were different. He just walked right up to them & laughed out loud like he has with no others since. They are still his favorite characters.

 

[gila]

hmmm....guess i'm making the mistake of not viewing C&D through a child's perspective--something i'm not very good at, i'm the first to admit. but, gatorlady, you say they'll only be at Garden Grill after january? i'm looking at the 2009 TUG and it lists them appearing at CM (just chip, for breakfast), GG, Cape May, ((okay, i see that LTT stops in '09)), but they also appear at Mickey's BBQ, i think. i'm just wondering because i have a trip in may, taking my nephews (9&5), and i'm not sure they even know who C&D are. they like buzz & woody, the pirates, star wars, the cars (i guess that would be tough for a character meal ) and the Monsters, Inc and incredibles and so forth.....yeah, the Pixar generation. once they get the reservation system working again, i'd like to do some character meal reservations. i was just a bit...in don't know...surprised, i guess, to see the same characters listed over and over again when there are so many disney characters to choose from. but....again, i guess i'm not thinking from a child's point of view. i guess you don't have to know anything about C&D to have fun with them, right? oh, also: do they still do mickey's ice cream social?

 

[Fantasmiss]

I used to think the same thing, as they used to be appearing at a lot of character meals...

I do think Chip and Dale are better and more obvious choices than the dwarfs, muppets and Robin Hood would be though.

But I DO want the VILLAIN character meal back at 1900 Park Fare, or anywhere in WDW really! Toy Story could be cool I guess. Personally I'd love a "Little Mermaid" character meal for lunch in Coral Reef, but I doubt may would agree with me. And a "Beauty and the Beast" character meal, not sure where...

I discussed something similar with my DH earlier, if it was up to me I'd change Cinderella's Royal Table to a character meal with the most iconic WDW/Disney characters, like Mickey, Donald, Snow White, Pooh, Jiminy Cricket, Maleficent, Peter Pan, Stitch, Tink and Cinderella.

Or I'd just choose my own favourites: Mickey, Donald, Belle, Beast, Ariel, Tink, Maleficent, Sulley, Scrooge and Scar +My husbands favourites Stitch and Wall-e.

why are chip & dale so popular for character meals? they seem relatively minor, in my perspective, in disney's history. one character meal, i could see, but they appear at several--second only to mickey & minnie it seems. why is there such a limited number of characters available for character meals? i would think the toy story characters would be popular, as would jiminy cricket, tink, the dwarves, muppets, characters from the robin hood movie (a personal favorite of mine). does anyone have any insight on this?

 

[jwfla422]

Actually as some other posters mentioned they won't be so "easy" to see at the character meals anymore.

My dd who is now 10 and has been to WDW MANY times loves them as well. They're probably popular with the little ones because they can be very silly and they seem to spend the most time with the kids. They just love my dd's ponytail..LOL!

We're disappointed to see that they're getting eliminated from most of the character meals.

Donald was recently swapped out with them at Cape Maya's breakfast and we mentioned to the (character) lady who walks around behind them that we were happy to see Donald but really missed C&D. Interestingly enough she mentioned in the short time they made that change MANY people have mentioned that to her.

So I'm guessing that you won't be able to see them at CM's either?? Boo hoo--just GG and they are only opened for dinner now, oh well...we got to see them at Hollywood Studios in the morning but 11:55 was their last greeting for they day! Since they have the HSM3 show the character greetings aren't going on in the afternoons there.

Gila, since GG no longer has lunch I doubt they're doing the ice cream social either. Actually I think they discontined that a while ago.

 

[GatorLady]

hmmm....guess i'm making the mistake of not viewing C&D through a child's perspective--something i'm not very good at, i'm the first to admit. but, gatorlady, you say they'll only be at Garden Grill after january? i'm looking at the 2009 TUG and it lists them appearing at CM (just chip, for breakfast), GG, Cape May, ((okay, i see that LTT stops in '09)), but they also appear at Mickey's BBQ, i think. i'm just wondering because i have a trip in may, taking my nephews (9&5), and i'm not sure they even know who C&D are. they like buzz & woody, the pirates, star wars, the cars (i guess that would be tough for a character meal ) and the Monsters, Inc and incredibles and so forth.....yeah, the Pixar generation. once they get the reservation system working again, i'd like to do some character meal reservations. i was just a bit...in don't know...surprised, i guess, to see the same characters listed over and over again when there are so many disney characters to choose from. but....again, i guess i'm not thinking from a child's point of view. i guess you don't have to know anything about C&D to have fun with them, right? oh, also: do they still do mickey's ice cream social?

They haven't been at CM for a couple of years, Donald has replaced them at Cape May and Mickey's BBB (they might be there), but from the reviews I have read it is not set up like a regular character meal. The characters don't come around for pics and autographs. Someone correct me if I am wrong on this one. So the only traditional type character meal is GG which is for dinner only now.

 

[carmiedog]

I was worried the first time we took a trip with all our kids since they didn't know who Chip & Dale are. But we've done a lot of character meals, and Chip & Dale have the absolute best interaction. They sat and colored with my kids. They sta down on the floor with them and played games (patty cake or something? can't remember). My kids still haven't seen any cartoons with Chip & Dale, but the LOVE them.

We went to the zoo last month and saw a chipmunk running through some bushes. My 6yo ds named him Chip. Later when we were asking the kids what their favorite animal was, ds's answer was the chipmunk.

 

[gila]

i think a "Beauty & The Beast" dinner would be fabulous: Be Our Guest
plus it's my wife's favorite movie. and i didn't mean to sound so negative toward Chip & Dale--i was only wondering why they appeared at so many venues when other characters don't appear at any character meals, but i guess recent changes nullify my question as they will only appear at one meal now. now, i couldn't help but notice that TUG listed characters at hollywood&vine that i had never heard of: jojo, goliath, june, and leo. i was excited at first, thinking that it was Goliath from Gargoyle's but a little research revealed that they are all from some disney channel children's program that i've never heard of.

 

[Lynn5700]

Oh I would love to see a Little Mermaid character meal and Beauty and the Beast. Toy Story would be cool too!

They could do Beauty and the Beast in France.

 

[Fantasmiss]

Great
I thought of France too, but Ideally I think it should be in a brand new restaurant made to look like the ballroom in Beast's castle! I'd love that! Likely to happen though

Oh I would love to see a Little Mermaid character meal and Beauty and the Beast. Toy Story would be cool too!

They could do Beauty and the Beast in France.

 

[looo33]

My DD calls them Chip and Dip!

 

[kmk1180]

why are chip & dale so popular for character meals? they seem relatively minor, in my perspective, in disney's history. one character meal, i could see, but they appear at several--second only to mickey & minnie it seems. why is there such a limited number of characters available for character meals? i would think the toy story characters would be popular, as would jiminy cricket, tink, the dwarves, muppets, characters from the robin hood movie (a personal favorite of mine). does anyone have any insight on this?

Minor? I disagree. Would say they rate just behind the Big 5 of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto.
Afterall, they appear in numberous cartoons, of their own and with Mickey, Donald and Pluto. They helpled build the studios image in the first place.

Toy Story is everywhere, why have a meal..MK-Buzz, Woody's Roundup, HS-TSM and Pizza Planet,

The Muppets are not much more than a purchase and not true Disney Characters, plus a walking Kermit might be akward to go form table to table.

Tink is being pushed everywhere as is in case you hadn't noticed lately.

And most kids don't relate to Jimney or Dwarfs, they didn't grow up with them like we did. (Pinoccio isn't even on DVD yet) Disney wants to sell what kids know. (that's the whole reason MK is the way it is, Walt designed it to sell his show and movies, ie Frontierland-Davey Crocket)
Plus I think its nice having some of the classic characters only seen in parades or special events. Keeps them from being overexposed. ie Buzz, Princesses.

And Robin Hood? (it's nice that it's you favorite) but really that's a minor character.
Personally I like Fox and Hound. But there's just too many character to have meals with all the characters from all the minor movies. I mean can you see a Black Cauldron meal? Or a Home on the Range?
And Disneys want you to buy so they sell what's most popular.