Ever had a Character Refuse to .......

[LilDucky]

The characters at DL are not much different then the ones at WDW, I go to both WDW and DL just about every year and characters at WDW turn down kids just like DL. Have you ever been to Goofey's kitchen at DL? It's so much better then Chef Mickey's and the characters actually interact with the kids.Belle at Goofy's kitchen sat down at our table and talked to my 7yr old daughter for 5 min. I have never seen that done at WDW

We did the Plaza Inn character breakfast at DL this past June, and it was by far the best character meal we have ever had. It wasnt because of the food (although it was good... comparable to Crystal Palace) , but because of the characters. Present were: Present: Minnie, Eeyore, Pooh, Tigger, Hook, the Fairy Godmother, Chip, and Dale. The characters stayed at our table for a good amount of time, and we were six adults (the youngest at the table was 19). They took their time to pose with everyone, multiple times, and after that, they would stay to interact and good off! We had an awesome time!

Dont get me wrong... we love WDW character meals, but we were blown away by this one!

 

[joanna71985]

it's part of the reason. I know the exact reasons, but I shouldn't really say.

but to put things on topic, there are certain things characters are not allowed to sign. there are certain outfits that people wear that characters have to be clever to cover up when a photo is taken.
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I have a feeling what they are.

Yup. People always ask to get clothing signed that is on their bodies.

 

[Mecha Figment]

it was more like an altercation but i'm not getting into it.

 

[Magic Maker]

I know that the friends of the chartacters at DL have entirely different rules than at WDW - unions.

 

[Magic Maker]

My husband and I were at Chef Mickeys and Donald refused to take a picture with us he just shook his head no and walked away...I still am not sure why.

If I character, like Donald says no it is usually because they are let's say not feeling well. Even ducks get sick.

 

[autumndawn1006]

Maybe Donald had the bird flu.

 

[MMP]

I do know that characters are not supposed to stop for pictures or autographs when they're headed off set. Because if you stop and give one autograph you'll have to stay and give me and the set time is already over.

 

[WaltzingMatilda]

Hope this fits the topic...

On the official Disney site and of course the commercials, you always see people randomly running into Cinderella, etc, and there are these glorious spontaneous moments of magic. I realize of course that this is a marketing strategy, and naturally the moment a character appears a line would form, but has anyone ever experienced just turning a corner, and BAM, there's a Princess (or Mickey, or whoever)? I'm so used to scheduled meet and greets - the only time I've ever seen an unexpected character was at MGM, when Megara just showed up. Baby Girl was only 3 at the time and hadn't yet seen Hercules, so we failed to take advantage of the opportunity.

 

[crazycalf]

Hope this fits the topic...

On the official Disney site and of course the commercials, you always see people randomly running into Cinderella, etc, and there are these glorious spontaneous moments of magic. I realize of course that this is a marketing strategy, and naturally the moment a character appears a line would form, but has anyone ever experienced just turning a corner, and BAM, there's a Princess (or Mickey, or whoever)? I'm so used to scheduled meet and greets - the only time I've ever seen an unexpected character was at MGM, when Megara just showed up. Baby Girl was only 3 at the time and hadn't yet seen Hercules, so we failed to take advantage of the opportunity.

In 2000 my now wife got to skip with Pinocchio in the countries in Epcot. But the character experience has changed now, there are time guides and icons on the maps for when and where the characters will be now. I have heard that DL is more like the way that WDW used to be. I'll find out in two weeks :sohappy:

 

[drew81]

Hope this fits the topic...

On the official Disney site and of course the commercials, you always see people randomly running into Cinderella, etc, and there are these glorious spontaneous moments of magic. I realize of course that this is a marketing strategy, and naturally the moment a character appears a line would form, but has anyone ever experienced just turning a corner, and BAM, there's a Princess (or Mickey, or whoever)? I'm so used to scheduled meet and greets - the only time I've ever seen an unexpected character was at MGM, when Megara just showed up. Baby Girl was only 3 at the time and hadn't yet seen Hercules, so we failed to take advantage of the opportunity.

When I was at Disneyland once Pinocchio came skipping out. I knew Pinocchio so he made me come get a picture with him. Its happened more at the Studios for me. Back when F! area was there you could just be walking through the park and there would be a character.

 

[drew81]

I do know that characters are not supposed to stop for pictures or autographs when they're headed off set. Because if you stop and give one autograph you'll have to stay and give me and the set time is already over.

very true and I've seen guests go off on greeters for not letting the characters do pics or autographs on their way out. That's the rules and usually the characters will be back at another time.

 

[Edeyore]

I only had a character outright refuse to give me an autograph. He is in the unmarked grave at the Haunted Mansion. Think of a character you have not seen in a while. Now you know why. :lol:

 

[Atta83]

i am soooooo bitting my tounge on this thread...........

 

[PintoColvig]

i am soooooo bitting my tounge on this thread...........

Careful, you may hemorrhage to death.:hammer:

I once bit my tongue due to a "character" encounter. It had more to do with the Friend/handler, though. In Oct. 2003, we were attending our first and only MNSSHP and came upon the 7 Dwarfs in FL. Knowing that they're not out for autographs as often as other characters, we quickly started getting their autographs. My daughter had 5 of the 7 autographs when the Friend suddenly said that the Dwarfs had to leave but that they would be back in 5 minutes. We understood that this was normal practice so we kept our spot and waited patiently. After ten minutes, the Dwarfs had not returned. That's when I spotted the same Friend about 40 yards away. I went over and asked her about the Dwarfs returning. She told me that they would be right out in the spot she was now standing. I went and got my family and we waited patiently again. This time for 15 minutes. That's when Snow White showed up but by herself. When I questioned the same Friend about why the Dwarfs hadn't come out, she denied that she said they were coming. Needless to say, I was... :zipit: :fork:

Fortunately, we had one of our greatest experiences that same night. During the Parade, Snow White stepped out of line and came over to my daughter who was dressed as Snow White and planted the biggest kiss on her forehead. My daughter still remembers it to this day! :sohappy:

As to the original OP, the handlers should've been the ones to tell the guests that the characters wouldn't be doing autographs. That takes the burden off of the characters themselves. It lets the handlers be the bad guys and not the characters. JMO.

 

[Senderella]

Hope this fits the topic...

On the official Disney site and of course the commercials, you always see people randomly running into Cinderella, etc, and there are these glorious spontaneous moments of magic. I realize of course that this is a marketing strategy, and naturally the moment a character appears a line would form, but has anyone ever experienced just turning a corner, and BAM, there's a Princess (or Mickey, or whoever)? I'm so used to scheduled meet and greets - the only time I've ever seen an unexpected character was at MGM, when Megara just showed up. Baby Girl was only 3 at the time and hadn't yet seen Hercules, so we failed to take advantage of the opportunity.

Yep! I was sitting in the smoking area in the UK pavillion which is in that garden area with the benches. Mary Poppins & Alice came out of the cast door back there. I asked them if they had a moment to take a pic & sign my book and they were really great about it. Nobody was around and they were able to get onto business when we were finished. :sohappy: It was awesome

 

[The Mom]

Well, I hate to make all of you youngsters jealous, but once upon a time WS and FW in Epcot both opened at the same time. Also, in the "off" season, the parks weren't as crowded. This was circa 1985.

I have photos of The Daughter sitting on a bench with Pluto sitting next to her, with his arm around her. The same with Donald Duck, and some other characters.

And we had a private breakfast with Colonial Mickey at the AA; we were the only people around, and I think he was bored. :lol:

Random encounters with characters were the norm, and the only "meet & greets" I remember were in the MK.

 

[Wonderlicious]

This didn't happen at Disney World, but at the Halloween night party at Disneyland Paris in 2001, we saw Jafar walking around and he refused to sign my autograph book. I thought that it must be because of his hands, but when we returned to Disneyland Paris in 2004, we saw him during the daytime and was able to get his autograph, so I wonder if it had anything to do with the lighting.

 

[Wonderlicious]

On the official Disney site and of course the commercials, you always see people randomly running into Cinderella, etc, and there are these glorious spontaneous moments of magic. I realize of course that this is a marketing strategy, and naturally the moment a character appears a line would form, but has anyone ever experienced just turning a corner, and BAM, there's a Princess (or Mickey, or whoever)? I'm so used to scheduled meet and greets - the only time I've ever seen an unexpected character was at MGM, when Megara just showed up. Baby Girl was only 3 at the time and hadn't yet seen Hercules, so we failed to take advantage of the opportunity.

On our visit to Walt Disney World in 1997 when I was 9, we had so many instances like that. Perhaps we just didn't check any kind of rota to see if XYZ a character was coming, but the only character that we knew we were going to meet was Mickey Mouse, as we were in the line for his house. Instances worth mentioning...

*Meeting Pinocchio in the Town Square at the Magic Kingdom. Nobody was there, and we just went up to him and got a nice photo/autograph.
*Meeting Davy Crocket and the Country Bears on the Riverboat. I had no idea who the bears actually were though until many years later and I discovered that they were characters from the Country Bear Jamboree, but I'd heard of Davy Crockett, so I felt comfortable with him at least.
*Meeting Pooh at Disney-MGM. Surprisingly, I think we were the only people actually near him.
*Goofy dressed as a runner at Epcot's Wonders of Life pavilion. Sadly we hadn't bought the autograph books, so we only have a photo, but we saw him again in Tomorrowland a few days later, so we didn't lose out totally.
*Brer Fox and Brer Bear coming off Splash Mountain as we got on (the big drop hadn't caused the big head masks to come off ). As we got off the ride, we saw them signing autographs, but like with some of the Alice in Wonderland characters earlier that day, my obsessed-on-avoiding-queues parents wouldn't let me get their autographs.

 

[KellyE727]

Rules NOT meant to be broken!

There are a lot of not so great cast members out there, I will admit. But just because the rest of us follow rules doesn't mean we're bad - and there are a lot of rules that guests aren't aware of. What a lot of guests don't seem to realize is that our jobs are not only difficult, but they're very structured as well, and it doesn't take much to recieve a reprimand and from there to be terminated. For those of us who love our jobs, and love great guest interactions, its tough to deal with situations when our guests aren't happy (i.e. not getting an autograph), but we absoultely cannot break the rules - even the ones the guests have no clue about. Its possible that Donald was about to leave for the night - did you know that we only have 6 minutes to sign out? If you wait longer than 6 minutes to sign out, you will start to accumulate points that lead to termination. As much as we would LOVE to help you, we would also love to keep our jobs!

 

[sarajo]

Hope this fits the topic...

On the official Disney site and of course the commercials, you always see people randomly running into Cinderella, etc, and there are these glorious spontaneous moments of magic. I realize of course that this is a marketing strategy, and naturally the moment a character appears a line would form, but has anyone ever experienced just turning a corner, and BAM, there's a Princess (or Mickey, or whoever)? I'm so used to scheduled meet and greets - the only time I've ever seen an unexpected character was at MGM, when Megara just showed up. Baby Girl was only 3 at the time and hadn't yet seen Hercules, so we failed to take advantage of the opportunity.

A couple years ago, I was in the shop adjoining the Pooh ride when out came Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet from backstage. They almost collided with me because I wasn't paying attention, and they weren't expecting anybody to be standing where I was! (the "friend" was apologetic for the near collision) They took me by the hand and started dancing w/ me. Tigger and Piglet gave me kisses. So, that was a totally random encounter... too bad I didn't have a camera nearby, but I do have the memories!