I Feel Like Giving Up Hope For Disney Characters Meet 'N' Greet Again

T

TsWade2

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hi,
I don't want to be a downer, but after reading some of the people hearing saying that social distancing characters are better than meeting them, I'm feel like giving up hope for Disney Characters to meet and greet again. I'm beginning to feel like the characters will have to social distance forever, even when the pandemic ends. I haven't been to Disneyland yet and I am very impressed that they bring rare characters more often or seasonally, but it would've been nicer to give them a high five and hug them, but I guess hugging and high fiving is the end of the era of costume characters. I don't want to believe everything I said and I hope I'm wrong, but a lot've you people like the idea and want it to be like this forever. I know there are rough lines and selfish people in the past before the pandemic, but didn't they just added reservations to tone down crowds? Anyway, I hope I'm wrong, but that's how I feel right now. 😭
 
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waltography

waltography

Well-Known Member
I don't think that's a wide sentiment shared here in the DL forums at all. I feel like that's way more common on the WDW side because up until the pandemic, most if not all characters were the traditional M&G style/walled behind FP+. DL on the other hand has had a mix of traditional and roaming M&Gs.

For WDW folks, the socially distanced M&G have been positive for sure, but for DL it's been a step down from what we had. I imagine at some point we'll return back to the mix of traditional and roaming; logistically they'd want to return given how much space socially distanced meet and greets take anyway.
 
W

wdrive

Well-Known Member
They’ll come back whenever it is safe to do so. We’re still in a pandemic. I feel it’s still awhile away but I’m almost certain it’ll come back eventually.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
I miss the days when the characters could just run around and play with the kids. Why does everything have to be so structured? I remember sitting with my four year coloring and Goofy came up to us and tried to get his attention. He would have none of it and ignored Goofy. So Goofy decided to start coloring too. After that they compared pictures and played tag. Too many obsessed people that need their meet & greet ruin everything.
 
el_super

el_super

Well-Known Member
Phroobar said:
I miss the days when the characters could just run around and play with the kids. Why does everything have to be so structured?
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I'm of the opposite opinion here: I remember when they used to routinely have Baloo and/or Rafiki patrolling the entrance to Adventureland, and so many people would stop to ask for autographs that the bridge into Adventureland (pre-widening) would almost instantly get blocked and cause a traffic backup.

If there are going to be a lot of people in the park, it just doesn't seem safe to have the roaming characters around. Not safe for the characters or the guests.

Maybe that would be a benefit to reducing the crowds in the park ... to bring those back. But my feeling is the crowd reductions (and corresponding price increases) would need to be dramatic to pull that off.
 
chadwpalm

chadwpalm

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Phroobar said:
I miss the days when the characters could just run around and play with the kids. Why does everything have to be so structured? I remember sitting with my four year coloring and Goofy came up to us and tried to get his attention. He would have none of it and ignored Goofy. So Goofy decided to start coloring too. After that they compared pictures and played tag. Too many obsessed people that need their meet & greet ruin everything.
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brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
Phroobar said:
I miss the days when the characters could just run around and play with the kids. Why does everything have to be so structured? I remember sitting with my four year coloring and Goofy came up to us and tried to get his attention. He would have none of it and ignored Goofy. So Goofy decided to start coloring too. After that they compared pictures and played tag. Too many obsessed people that need their meet & greet ruin everything.
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Glad moments like that is kept alive at Tokyo Disney Resort. Since Japanese guests are more respectful.
 
No Name

No Name

Well-Known Member
Phroobar said:
I miss the days when the characters could just run around and play with the kids. Why does everything have to be so structured?
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Because people often just form a line instinctively, and then it turns into a weird game of Snake when the character keeps walking away and the whole line is following, which just doesn’t work in most places of the parks and with most cast members.

Last time I was in WDW, Mr. Incredible was running around like he was on acid, stealing merchandise from the cart, poking fun at people, randomly doing push ups, etc. in a dead-end area of the park, all while the handler kept saying “this is a roaming character! He may not stop for pictures.” It was the greatest meet and greet ever, but it would’ve been a full on disaster anywhere else in the park, or if the person inside the costume was slightly less skilled at this kind of situation.
 
T

TsWade2

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I found this article: https://dlnewstoday.com/2022/02/dis...ter-experiences-coming-and-more-in-interview/ where Ken Potrock saying about the future of the character experiences.
"We’re optimistic that the character experience is going to get back to a new normal,” he said. “Many of the things that we did with the characters standing behind you and social distancing — a lot of that worked. But that’s not the only way we want to have people interact with characters. That will be a big milestone change as we go forward.”
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Well, first of all, I'm glad that the social distancing the characters are finally on the way out. It's about time. But, one thing that concerns me and I'm a little bit confused, what does he mean that as a new normal? Does this mean we can shake hands, high five and hug them again? Whatever it is, I hope we can hug them again.
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
TsWade2 said:
Well, first of all, I'm glad that the social distancing the characters are finally on the way out. It's about time. But, one thing that concerns me and I'm a little bit confused, what does he mean that as a new normal? Does this mean we can shake hands, high five and hug them again? Whatever it is, I hope we can hug them again.
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Here's some more good news. Disney is opening it's Galactic Starcruiser on Monday, and in all the big preview visits the past few days they had live and costumed characters wandering around and interacting with passengers up close. You could pose with Stormtroopers and aliens, and stand next to and even hug the lounge singer Gaya or the captain of the ship.

And that right there answers the question; Yes, it is perfectly safe again to stand next to and interact closely with characters.

It's likely an issue of staffing and operational red tape to ramp down the Social Distancing setups and restart the "normal" way Characters interacted with us in the parks. I think the staffing issue is probably the biggest holdup right now, but that will be fixed eventually.
 
T

TsWade2

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
TP2000 said:
Here's some more good news. Disney is opening it's Galactic Starcruiser on Monday, and in all the big preview visits the past few days they had live and costumed characters wandering around and interacting with passengers up close. You could pose with Stormtroopers and aliens, and stand next to and even hug the lounge singer Gaya or the captain of the ship.

And that right there answers the question; Yes, it is perfectly safe again to stand next to and interact closely with characters.

It's likely an issue of staffing and operational red tape to ramp down the Social Distancing setups and restart the "normal" way Characters interacted with us in the parks. I think the staffing issue is probably the biggest holdup right now, but that will be fixed eventually.
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Thank you. I'm sad that'll take time, but I'm very pleased to hear that for what they did at the Starcruiser. BTW, where is this Starcruiser I've heard about? Is that in Florida?
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
TsWade2 said:
Thank you. I'm sad that'll take time, but I'm very pleased to hear that for what they did at the Starcruiser. BTW, where is this Starcruiser I've heard about? Is that in Florida?
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Yeah, it's in Florida in a warehouse behind MGM Studios.

It's got it's own long list of issues and, um, Bob Chapek-isms. But one of the things they seem to be doing very well is integrating Star Wars characters into the experience. Shoulder to shoulder and right up close with whichever passenger walks by.

Life in America will return to normal! We must keep pushing for that and believe in that! :)
 

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