Ever Witness a CM Break Character?

[PeoplemoverTTA]

We went to 1900 Park Fare in 2000 and we were in a smallish room from the main one. My sister and I were returning from the restroom and Mary Poppins was gearing up to head into our room. Apparently she was far from "practically perfect," because she muttered, "God I hate this," before waltzing in with a fake grin on her face...

so that family photo was awkward a few minutes later!

 

[nowsheflies]

I love reading all of these stories! I'm not sure I'd want to see a character break character because, even though I'm an adult, when I'm in Disney they are REAL! But if they did I'd definitely want it to be for a better reason than my nephew threatening them!

 

[JIMINYCR]

Never saw a character break character... but have heard attraction CMs grumbling about guests which I thought was inappropriate to voice where others could hear.
Two year olds are really quick pick up on things we wish they hadnt heard, repeating them and embarrass parents at the most awkward times. My DS did it at times and once they have it, its difficult to get them to stop. Unaware, I swore one time in the presence of my 3 yo DS. He came in the house and kept saying it to my DW... boy was I in the dog house for a looong time.

 

[seahawk7]

Wait you think the CM is to blame bc your daughter was twisting her hair? Really

No the stepsister was twisting her own hair and stopped talking in the voice of a stepsister. She broke character when my daughter talked to her. I was off to the side and saw the whole thing. The stepsisters joke around and rib the guests because thats how the stepsisters interact with the guests. This stepsister didn't. Her voice changed and her mannerisms changed. She broke character. Tap. Tap. Is this thing on?

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

N but I saw one break a pen doing an autograph.

 

[Matt_Black]

Oh, it was unclear who was twisting who's hair.

 

[EOD K9]

On a Disney cruise and saw Jack Sparrow come stumbling out on to deck four early one morning. I shouted to him..."walk of shame"?...he smiled and continued on.

 

[Tom Morrow]

In the Tower of Terror library, before the Rod Serling part, the CM tells us to look around, playing up the grim bellhop routine. She notices me inspecting everything carefully, and comments on that.

"Oh, I'm trying to find the Burgess Meredith broken glasses."

At that point, she dropped the act a bit. "They took those out!"
"No way! That stinks."
"Yeah."

At Tower of Terror (and any non-performer role, really), being in character is pretty much 100% optional.

 

[TubaGeek]

This one spits in the face of character integrity...

Spoiler

Back in my Beasting days, I once challenged my favorite Belle to make as many Book of Mormon or Avenue Q references in one set as she could. She got four. Yet, she managed to make them all WITHOUT breaking character.

 

[seahawk7]

I thought that the stepsisters' shtick was that they were kind of mean.

and that's what my daughter was expecting. Instead she got someone who broke character because the stepsister (I have to be very careful here so people know who I'm talking about) started talking in her regular voice.

 

[Matt_Black]

I don't consider a character laughing necessarily breaking character. Maybe some of the villains. But other characters? That's fine. Disney protagonists aren't a dour, humorless bunch. Certainly, I've managed to elicit a chuckle from Cinderella.

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

I don't consider a character laughing necessarily breaking character. Maybe some of the villains. But other characters? That's fine. Disney protagonists aren't a dour, humorless bunch. Certainly, I've managed to elicit a chuckle from Cinderella.

I don't think that was out of character. I thought jasmine was going to full on pee herself/have to walk away.

 

[Amyleigh]

I'm an elementary teacher so I have an endless supply of large, child friendly markers. I chose fat Sharpie chart paper markers so the characters could handle them easily. They don't bleed through paper and have a fat tip. When Jessie and Woody were autographing my daughter's book, Jessie held up the marker with one hand and pointed at the marker with her other. She nodded her head at me and gave me a thumbs up. I took that as a sign that she liked my marker choice!!

 

[tinkerblonde11]

On our last trip, we ate at Chef Mickey's...Minnie's underwear fell down to her ankles. She tripped because she was unaware they had fallen down. The handler did a very good job of helping Minnie pull up her briefs, but they wouldn't stay up. I really felt bad for the CM because even through the costume, you could tell she was embarrassed. She tried to hide her face and not look at anyone....she bolted for the kitchen, with her handler trying to catch up to her, before she tripped again.

I had a similar wardrobe malfunction experience. Mickey and Minnie were taking photos together with guests, when Minnie's underwear fell down. She covered her face with her hands and her handler had a tough time getting them back up. Mickey walked into the line of waiting guests and put his hands up as if to cover the eyes of all the men. The way it was handled was very cute, especially on Mickey's end. We felt bad for Minnie but it ended up being a really funny memory!

 

[DVC91]

I put this in another thread a few months back:

I went down last November and attended MVMCP. People were finding their place for the parade as other guests were filtering into the park, as other non-attendees were filtering out. I don't know what happened prior to the situation by the time it had relocated to behind me, but I can only guess.
It appeared as though the guest (daughter on his shoulders) was either not supposed to be there for the party (I don't recall seeing or even looking for a band), or was asked to relocate because of a handicapped section. The guest didn't take too kindly and had apparently said or done something to cross the line, earning the ire of the Main Street USA cast member, an older guy (maybe late 40s-mid 50s) who had begun scolding the guest. Next I heard the GUEST call the CM the N word, which caused said CM to really lose his temper. He followed the guest all the way down the street, assuming to get him out of the park. About 10min or so later the CM arrived back near my area, working himself back into character

 

[TubaGeek]

I'm an elementary teacher so I have an endless supply of large, child friendly markers. I chose fat Sharpie chart paper markers so the characters could handle them easily. They don't bleed through paper and have a fat tip. When Jessie and Woody were autographing my daughter's book, Jessie held up the marker with one hand and pointed at the marker with her other. She nodded her head at me and gave me a thumbs up. I took that as a sign that she liked my marker choice!!

YES!!! But the absolute BEST were clickable Sharpies!

 

[Figaro928]

I mentioned this a while ago but back in the 90's there was a M&G with Aladdin & Jasmine in MGMHS. Jasmine TOTALLY lost character saying with an attitude that we had to be her last guest because she was going to be late for the parade. She also said something along the lines of missing her break.

I was a teenage and related to the angst and rebellion but I'm sure my younger brother was traumatized.

 

[Gullywhumper]

I'm not sure if this is really breaking character, but when I last went to Disney my parents and I were waiting for a show to start in one of the Theater's and my parents were leaning on a guard rail talking. They said to move down, but my parents didn't hear them, I guess. The CM said over the loudspeaker "The two people in the grey shirts please move down." But again, my parents didn't hear them. I told my parents to move down and then the CM said over the loudspeaker "I think someone is trying to tell you to move down." My parents heard it then, but they seemed angry, and I was just angry at my parents. Again, I'm not really sure if this is breaking character, but I hide to tell this story anyways.

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

YES!!! But the absolute BEST were clickable Sharpies!

I don't know why I didn't even think about those.

 

[Mike S]

Ok, I've got a good one. I was at Epcot late at night earlier this year with my brother, his friend and his friends girlfriend. On a whim we decided to go to the character spot. When we left Mickey to go over to Goofy my brother's friend thought it would be funny to tell him that he was going to steal Minnie as his girlfriend. Mickey leaned over to look at us and made binoculars with his hands to spy on us. My brother's friend told Goofy to protect us from Mickey and he agreed When we got over to Minnie, Mickey walked over before we could even take a picture. Goofy too. Mickey got between my brother's friend and Minnie to make sure there was no funny business and we got a picture with all of them. Not sure if they were breaking character but it was funny nonetheless and I thought I would share the story