Best Character Experience

[HouCuseChickie]

Dear Lord...where do I begin???????????????????????

I have a bunch from when I was a kid, but I'm going to stick with our modern era trips...since I don't think anyone needs to hear about the multiple times Goofy and Tigger tried to drag me off.

We'll start in 2010

This is one of two really great Pooh moments from this trip. This Pooh was all about hunny, hugs, and making me feel better about spilling stuff all over my younger one. The other (at 1900PF) stole our pics and went running around the restaurant showing them to everyone. He was a riot.

CRT was the girls' first princess meal ever. Cindy greeted our younger one with open arms as she bear hugged her and then she twirled our older one - since fellow princesses do like to dance.

King Louie and Baloo were a riot. Baloo hid in the bushes and then bear hugged the girls while here they're getting big rocking crazy monkey hugs.

Not their first Mickey meeting of that trip, but their first time dancing with the Mouse.

We were just hitting a big Toy Story phase. We were first on line and before we were even given the green light...the younger one just went running to greet them...and clearly, she was greeted with open arms.

I have quite a few other pics and experiences...but this is all for now as I really need to decorate a cake and clean. Fun, right?

 

[jmv5010]

Just searching through some of the meet and greets my wife and I got to experience when we went to Disney in December 2012. King Louie had some fun with me, my hair and a fan; and Goofy and Pluto were great to meet.

 

[Dragonrider1227]

It's a good thing I didn't see this thread until just now, because look who I found last week!

View attachment 38268

*gasps* Is he back? :O
Was he hiding from me and the drawing I wanted him to sign? XD

Anyway, while I had a lot of great experiences last week (especially Prince Philip, who saw my beard and went off on a killer tear about princes and facial hair- "Charming over there can't grow a beard or mustache, so he doesn't let the rest of us do it, but Flynn Rider's new, so he doesn't know about that rule yet"), my favorite came last December when I went down with my mom and my sister for Christmas. Family tradition has it that the last day, we do the breakfast and meet the characters there. Alice comes over and takes a picture with my sister, then she comes over to me and begins to suggest a pose. "You look like you do a great deal of thinking and reading..." My sister then interjects with, "Yeah, he's a nerd." Alice then turns on my sister. "Well, THAT'S a terribly rude thing to say! I for one do a great deal of thinking and read a good many books, and I'd never refer to myself as a nerd!" Back to me, she says, "She's quite mad, isn't she? She'd best be careful, or the Queen will take her head!" I minded my tongue, and got a picture where we both looked like we were deep in thought.

View attachment 38269
After Alice left, I looked at my sister with a bit of smugness. "Oh, you got scolded by Alice!" My sister can be a bit of a pain at times, so it was nice to see her get a bit of comeuppance.

LOL Flynn Rider doesn't apply because he's not a prince. he's a thief

 

[Matt_Black]

*gasps* Is he back? :O
Was he hiding from me and the drawing I wanted him to sign? XD

No, he's still rare. That was for the informal, unlisted mass meet and greet you get at DHS on days when there's a Fantasmic show. Google "characterpalooza" for more details, but, in short, they have a rotating stable of characters they cycle through for that, and occasionally, Pinocchio comes up on the ol' character slot machine.

LOL Flynn Rider doesn't apply because he's not a prince. he's a thief

So's Aladdin, but they both married princesses, therefore they are both princes. Anyway, Philip's beard theory DOES explain why Phoebus isn't spotted more often in the parks....

 

[Dragonrider1227]

No, he's still rare. That was for the informal, unlisted mass meet and greet you get at DHS on days when there's a Fantasmic show. Google "characterpalooza" for more details, but, in short, they have a rotating stable of characters they cycle through for that, and occasionally, Pinocchio comes up on the ol' character slot machine.



So's Aladdin, but they both married princesses, therefore they are both princes. Anyway, Philip's beard theory DOES explain why Phoebus isn't spotted more often in the parks....

aww, Pinoc still can't catch a break. Gonna start debating if I want to keep bring my drawing on the off chance of finding him

LOL About the beards

 

[AdventureHasAName]

Mine was in 2005 - ended in a Santa Monica date to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Cruella de Vil.

 

[real mad hatter]

I was in stitches when I heard Jasmine tell Aladdin about some kid who was getting out of control, I just took the photo of them in conversation..I was too scared to ask her to pose incase she thought I was the kids father..LOL...

 

[Matt_Black]

aww, Pinoc still can't catch a break. Gonna start debating if I want to keep bring my drawing on the off chance of finding him

LOL About the beards

Well, the good thing about "Characterpalooza" is that on the days they do it, there's quite a few characters out, at least 5, and maybe 10, but not much more than that (I didn't do a proper count on the 3 times I witnessed it over the course of 2 non-consecutive days). Furthermore, they have a good mix of common and uncommon characters- in addition to Pinoke, I also got my picture taken with Mr. Penquin, Genie, Meeko, and the Wicked Queen, who are fairly tough to run into outside of special events like the parties, if I'm not mistaken; I also saw Bolt once, but he had quite a long line.

Also, speaking of the Genie, he was with Jasmine, who also found my beard to be quite sharp.

Anyway, one more really great character experience, equal to Alice. Belle was meeting at Epcot, so I sauntered to a good spot in line. But I didn't want to do just a regular picture, heavens no. My favorite animated series was Disney's Gargoyles, and last week was Halloween. Now, for those of you that don't know, in the Halloween episode, the lead heroine Elisa Maza goes on a date to a costume event with Goliath, because that's the one day of the year that our big gargoyle can go out and not freak people out. Anyway, Elisa dresses up as... yup, you guessed it.

Well, I had brought the trade paperbacks of the Gargoyles comics for the sole purpose of seeing if I couldn't get a shot of Belle and I reading them. I kept the book ready to open up to a good shot of Elisa so Belle would get an idea of who I was talking about while explaining, and that just so happened to be the cover page for the third issue, so when I show it to Belle, she says, "Oh, Chapter Three! That's usually my favorite chapter of any book." So, uh, yes, that part was totally intentional. And here is the result...

Belle said that was very clever, so yay! Also, I tweeted the picture to Gargoyles creator (and all-around nice guy) Greg Weisman, who also loved it.

I did something similar with Aladdin & Jasmine, as Aladdin: The Series and Gargoyles both played on The Disney Afternoon, and Elisa dresses up Jasmine in the comics, and got this exchange...

Al: "You know, I think Abu might like these... Hey, does anyone ever dress up as me?"
Me: "Uh... no."
Al: "D'ah! Man."

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Various including; Rhino trying to steal my DW
Mickey trying to steal my DW
Gaston trying to ..... hold the phone is the universe trying to tell me something

Oh and Jessie trying to steal me from DW

 

[shakes20]

Years ago we went to MK with another family that had a child with special needs who was in a wheel chair. We were waiting at the exit to use the handicap entrance when we saw Jasmine was there greeting guests, but we noticed that it was ending. I was disappointed because I knew Jasmine was my 3 yo daughter's favorite. Jasmine must have seen us looking at her because as she started away, she turned, pointed to herself and then to us and I immediately nodded. She came over and spent time with all of the children and then came to my daughter. My daughter couldn't say anything she was so in awe, so Jasmine sat down on the ground and lifted my daughter onto her lap. Soon, my daughter started playing with the jewel's on Jasmine's top. I was horrified as I was essentially videotaping my little girl "feeling up" Jasmine! Now I'm sure that this sort of thing happens way more than I think, but I was so impressed with how composed Jasmine remained as she simply distracted my daughter with the jewels on her waist.
One of the weirder moments was when we met Esmeralda in Epcot, and I swear she had a Bronx accent!

 

[ToyStoryMiss]

I've had a few..
I was around 4-5, and we were at Cinderella's Royal Table. (I actually haven' been there since then..) And I met the princesses, didn't really talk to them, but once Cinderella came around, that's when it all started. She asked me a question (that I don't remember), and it sparked up this whole big conversation. We talked for 20 minutes! And a cast member that was escorting her came about and said, "Cinderella, you have to go." And you what Cinderella said? "But I'm talking to her!" Every now and then she'd go to another kid real quick and come back to me. That was the best!

Also, I finally met Gaston this trip! I WAS SO EMBARRASSED! At first, he held out his hand, and he lifted my hand up. I was like "oh god he's gonna kiss my hand!"..no, he kissed his own hand. And we chatted for a few minutes..he liked the bracelet I was wearing. (a multi-color Mickey head one) He said "Oh, what lovely colors you're wearing. I like wearing colors. Very BOLD colors." *cue the flexing of le muscles*
Other interesting/funny experiences are these:
I kissed the Bowler Hat Guy on the cheek and he hid behind a tree.
Tigger made me bounce around with him this past trip, and he jumped about when I gave him a hug.
Captain Hook hugged me twice this past trip, when he was out for the Pirate Week thing. (We were there at the right time!) Now, believe me, I've never EVER gotten a hug from Hook, let alone two.
Alice, Rapunzel, Aladdin inlove, and Mickey all complimented me on my hat. (Which looked like this!) http://img.hottopic.com/is/image/HotTopic/600235_hi?$newht_product_lg$
Well, Mickey made me bend down a little to fully see my hat..he loved it! And Dale also took it..he took it off of my head and put it sideways on his.
I met Aladdin and Jasmine this past trip, too, and they were very fun! Aladdin more than Jasmine (which is normal), but it was such fun meeting them. They complimented me on my outfit, and Aladdin just LOVED my name. (not gonna say what it is, for reasons.) He also asked if I had an alias, and I didn't..so I decided to take a letter off of my name.

I guess that's it! There's probably a lot more, but I can make a thread about that myself.
You know...Out of all these stories, only 2 have been from past trips..well, maybe because this was the most perfect trip yet. I've had a whole new outlook on life this year, and I guess it made me enjoy Disney more!

 

[ToyStoryMiss]

Oh, I forgot the best one from this trip! This deserves a whole new post instead of editing it to the already-long post above. ^

So, we were waiting in line for Woody and Jessie, and these were probably the best character performers I've ever seen.
They had to go in for a 5 minute break, and when they came out, Jessie started to act mischievous. She ran back to her spot (and I mean RUN!) and Woody was trailing behind, shaking his head. And I think she put a leaf on his back.. After she did that, they started playfully fighting. (like the slapping hands kind) And soon they stopped a while after, and met the little family that was in front of us. (They had the cutest kids!) So they met them, blah blah blah, and just as I was about to go up, Woody grabbed some hay from the wooden crates behind him and threw it on Jessie's hat.
The whole line was laughing! I've never seen characters do that, and I was laughing so hard when I went up to meet them.
And after I met them, a lone leaf fell down onto the ground. So, of course, Jessie went to pick it up. (She was probably going to throw it into Woody's hat, if she could reach.) Woody looked at her and pointed to the ground, as if saying, "PUT. THE LEAF. DOWN."
Best character experience, right there.

 

[TheBeastMom]

Being adults at WDW all our kid's memories are on photo paper (They are that old)

I was horridly upset when BEAST only appeared with dinner guests....so when I finally made it to BOG this March I got my photo. My husband wasn't jealous....or at least I don't think so.

I was tickled that it was just Beast, because years ago I think Belle was surprised when I just wanted photos with Beast.....

 

[Cathryne]

For valentines day, I went to see the princesses in the hall and the princes were there. It was amazing. The characters got along, played the part and made it feel like we were in the movie. It was fantastic.
I also love the fact they now allow Peter Pan to run around New Fantasy land, I found this out last Thursday when he started playing with my hair and saying up up and away. I love what Disney is doing with the characters.

 

[RubyLee]

View attachment 36730

So Adorable!

 

[RubyLee]

So Adorable!

As I continue reading the thread, I wholly agree that there are a lot of adorable WDW Magic kids!

 

[5thGenTexan]

aww, Pinoc still can't catch a break. Gonna start debating if I want to keep bring my drawing on the off chance of finding him

LOL About the beards

You need to go on a cruise.

 

[EricJ]

I'm not a suit-character kind of guy, but my two best character experiences were with Lilo & Stitch.

- One time, when they still met on the big open Hat court at the Studios, was giving my camera to the photographer to get my "own" picture, and it was taking too long to explain the right buttons to him. Lilo gave an impatient look and came over with her hands on her hips. Got autographs (love character signatures, and it would always become a "scavenger hunt" if I was going with anyone else), and Stitch signed first--Whenever I tried to peek over at what he was writing, he looked up with a "Hmph!" and turned the book away. Next as Lilo signed, Stitch was practically at eye level with the loyal old Casio data nerd-watch I still wear (what? How could something that useful go out of fashion? ) Being a gadget-hacker by nature, he curiously tried pushing a few buttons...A few more buttons?...Mash-mash all the buttons at once?--"Now cut that out!"
- Other time was during the Year of a Million Dreams, when I knew I was probably not going to win the night in the Castle suite (never win anything anyway), but I did find CM's holding up a crowd trying to get into Rafiki's PlanetWatch. We all thought there was some technical problem, but turned out we'd all won a lanyard of FastPasses. On the way out, as L&S were meeting at Island Mercantile, Stitch saw my lanyard and gave me a "two thumbs up!" So naturally, I had to get a picture. The Photopass photographer was having a little trouble with one of his settings, so I innocently joked, "Well, give it to Lilo, she knows cameras." I don't know what they thought I meant, but Lilo sat herself on the side, and waved "(Uh-uh, I'm not getting a picture with HIM!)"
But things worked out in the end:

Runners-up:
- I'd, um, coincidentally managed a Disneyland trip the day Tinkerbell and Pixie Hollow opened, and since the first movie wouldn't hit shelves until after the weekend, I could go as an "old-school" Peter Pan-era fan, and get away with not knowing any of her friends. (Silvermist liked the fact that I was wearing blue, though.
So, when I was greeted, I could do the obvious first-timer's joke about "I never heard you say that before!"--Think she recognized that I wasn't a Disney Fairies fan, and greeted me with snapping a smart Peter Pan-like handshake.

I've kept that as my iPad wallpaper ever since. Even though I'm on it.
- A good Cinderella knows how to be nice...That's her character. One time at the Fantasy Faire court in Disneyland, she noticed I was still wearing my Disney World cap, and we got into a conversation in and out of character about the problems of adjusting from East Coast to West Coast for the first time. She ended it with "Well, I'm glad you also came to visit my friend's castle," and we got the nice photo.
- Call me a bit slow on the draw from "stage fright", but Jasmine at Epcot Morocco had to cue me a couple times when Aladdin did the joke about "Want me to hold your backpack for you?" ("Yes...er, NO!"--That's 'cause he's a street-thief, y'see.)

On another trip, at one of the evening parties, had a solo photo-op with Jasmine, and the photographer on my camera hit the zoom instead of the shot, and first got a closeup of Jaz's face, cutting me out of the picture completely. Jasmine did a perfect indignant act of thinking the photographer had done it on purpose.

(There--Those are the only few photos where I'm actually looking at the camera, rather staring up and out into space, since I'm too tall for camera eye-contact when the photographer's aiming for short characters. Yes, I photograph awful, but at least I was still on my feet.)

 

[Csmith041177]

Gaston is awesome!!!!

 

[Matt_Black]

Gaston is awesome!!!!

No one is awesome like Gaston!