Mandalorian and Grogu meet and greet for Walt Disney World

[brb1006]

i have pictures of me with chip and dale and little john from 83 somewhere. But the parks and crowds were so much different. Less crowded, no social media, no cell phone cameras.
But part of this is Disney worlds fault, all characters are locked away in meet and greets and you rarely see them roaming around. So when people do see them roaming around they freak out, I also dont think Disney World has nearly as many costumed characters available to them, so they arent able to "flood the parks" with them to make them more normal. Also different guest demographic.

Oddly enough, WDW does have other Disney Characters that exists with general visitors only seeing at extremely rare occasions. But are usually reserved for very special events held at the resort (notably exclusive to Cast Members and occasional Private Parties/Events). I remember stumbling upon photos to the other Lilo & Stitch characters (such as Jumba, Pleakley, and The Experiments) besides the titular duo from either Instagram or Flickr that was only held for Cast Members. Meanwhile, Clarice went from being a Rare Character at WDW to only appearing for events for Disney Vacation Club Members. At least Disneyland Resort had started utilizing her more in other events in recent years.

Don't get me started with the Pinocchio Characters and The Seven Dwarfs being demoted to seasonal appearances over common meetable characters since the 2010s outside of parades and shows.

 

[brb1006]

Define 'a long time ago.'

I'm referring between the 1970s till the mid to late 1990s.

 

[Purduevian]

There's 25 years between Mando and Episode 8. Grogu was 50 in the first season and we don't really know how the Yoda species ages from infant to adolescent to adult. Yoda was 900 years old, so for all we know they are "infants" until they are 75-100 which could still work.

Mando on the other hand would be around 65.

FYI Yoda also became a "jedi master" at age 100.. Just going from a padawan to a knight takes ~20 years. Usually to become a Master, you have to train a padawan into a knight...which again takes around 20 years. Yoda probably started his training around age 60.

Yaddle (the other of Yoda's species) actually skipped knighthood and went straight from padawan to master... but it took 200 years of imprisonment to do it.

 

[dovetail65]

I don't know the internal politics, but I know for a fact that Lucasfilm continues to hold a large influence over their characters. For example, Lucasfilm "made" Disney stop the Fab 5/Star Wars costumes from being used, and merchandise being sold. Lucasfilm continues to hold influence over Galaxy's Edge, the Starcruiser, and other use of Star Wars characters throughout the theme parks.

Again, I don't know exactly how this works on a corporate level, but Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm exert power over their characters, and Di What sney allows it. For example, Disney weddings can not occur in ˝Galaxy's Edge, including the "Capture Your Moment" sessions, no Wedding Dresses/attire is allowed.

What does that matter? Lucas Films is operated and owned by Disney so Disney has control of Disney? All Lucas Films decisions are only decisions being made by a Disney company.. Disney just has a separate company(LucasFilms) devoted to these decisions, but its still Disney. All Kathleen Kenndy does now is mange Stars Wars, she doesn't have the creative control she once had and she is only under contract until 2024. She is paid by Disney in the end and is gone very soon. It appears she already signed the severance package, a shake up masterminded by Disney of course and apparently made near the same time as the Chaprk Decision.

It took time, but by 2019 Disney was in control of nearly all things Star Wars.

Disney wholly owns Lucasfilm. Saying lucas film did this or that as a subsidiary is one thing, but it is actually Disney doing it. On December 21, 2012, Disney completed the acquisition and Lucasfilm and became a wholly 100% owned subsidiary of Disney.
More than that in 2019 Disney solified all ownership to all things Star Wars so all Lucas can do is comment, he can't legally do anything at all. Lucas himself only has power to the extent that he's a Walt Disney Company shareholder. However, he has no immediate control over Star Wars or other LucasFilm properties. And again LucasFilm is now 100% Disney owned.

Some of this off Wikipedia I think:

At the time of Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, 20th century Fox, the original distributor of the first six Star Wars films, were to retain the physical and theatrical distribution rights to both the prequel trilogy and Episodes V and VI of the original trilogy until May 2020, along with full distribution rights for the original 1977 film in perpetuity. At this time Lucasfilm retained the television and digital distribution rights to Star Wars Episodes I through VI with exception to Episode IV, but on March 20, 2019, Disney officially acuired 20th Century after acquiring its owner, 21st Century, thus consolidating all the distribution and ownership rights to all the Star Wars films under the Disney umbrella.

 

[mm52200]

Define 'a long time ago.'

IMO, it wasn't all that long ago. I want to say around 2015 was one of the more recent sightings.

Between 2005 and 2014/2015 we saw Pooh at Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan at Peter Pan, and Chip N' Dale late nights in Tomorrowland. At least one of those appearances was in the Tomorrowland Arcade which closed in 2015. The arcade sighting was probably 2014, but I think they continued to appear late nights after 2015. After it closed they'd be in the far end of Tomorrowland.
Pooh actually rode the ride with a family early in the morning. that was more towards 2005.
Peter Pan would pop up and appear near the PP queue. We saw him a few times. The Rapunzel bathroom opened in 2013, so I'm thinking this was between 2005 and 2013.


WDW also had pop-up greets when they were, I think, hiring new staff. A bunch of rare characters would randomly, unannounced, appear in Epcot Italy's courtyard. They were not an organized M&G, but they did interact with guests.

WDW also used to have pop-up character greets over major holiday weeks. They would appear in places like the main entrance of MK/Epcot/AK (mid-day) and along Main Street (early AM). If nobody was taking a photo with them, then they would walk around and walk up to guests. Some of those were pretty recent.

I mean…walk around/roaming characters truly aren’t as uncommon as you make them out to be. All the characters in Galaxy’s Edge have been roaming in the land since it opened. Stormtroopers at Launch Bay. Throughout 2019 the Long Lost Friends characters would spend multiple sets roaming in Town Square.
Stepsisters roam and ride the carousel for atleast one or two of their sets a day, Peter Pan roams for his first few sets.
Kevin at DAK roams.
That’s all just off the top of my head currently.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

I mean…walk around/roaming characters truly aren’t as uncommon as you make them out to be. All the characters in Galaxy’s Edge have been roaming in the land since it opened. Stormtroopers at Launch Bay. Throughout 2019 the Long Lost Friends characters would spend multiple sets roaming in Town Square.
Stepsisters roam and ride the carousel for atleast one or two of their sets a day, Peter Pan roams for his first few sets.
Kevin at DAK roams.
That’s all just off the top of my head currently.

They're pretty rare at WDW in comparison to the other Disney parks.

MK:
Step Sisters? Do they still roam?
Does Peter still roam? I've only ever seen him at the M&G space by PPF

DHS:
Galaxy's Edge
- Troopers
- Vi
- Rey
- Kylo
- Chewie
& Now Mando/Grogu

Epcot:
None that I can think of

DAK:
Kevin

It's really not a lot compared to Disneyland for example.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

What does that matter?

I'm not debating the facts, and I never said George Lucas had any control, I said Kathleen Kennedy.

Again, I don't have solid proof, so it's just information that I recall. You can choose to believe what I said or not, it doesn't make a difference to me.

 

[mm52200]

They're pretty rare at WDW in comparison to the other Disney parks.

MK:
Step Sisters? Do they still roam?
Does Peter still roam? I've only ever seen him at the M&G space by PPF

DHS:
Galaxy's Edge
- Troopers
- Vi
- Rey
- Kylo
- Chewie
& Now Mando/Grogu

Epcot:
None that I can think of

DAK:
Kevin

It's really not a lot compared to Disneyland for example.

Stepsisters and Peter roam for a few of their sets. That’s why I listed them.

Right, it’s not as much as Disneyland but they make the effort where they can.
Before Enchanted Tales just reopened Belle was doing roaming sets in the village.
Country Bears are back to roaming.
Jack Sparrow roams for a few of his sets.
Just because you don’t see it all over the blogs or social media doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Stepsisters and Peter roam for a few of their sets. That’s why I listed them.

Right, it’s not as much as Disneyland but they make the effort where they can.
Before Enchanted Tales just reopened Belle was doing roaming sets in the village.
Country Bears are back to roaming.
Jack Sparrow roams for a few of his sets.
Just because you don’t see it all over the blogs or social media doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.

I didn’t say it wasn’t happening, I was just speaking from personal experience. I have seen the Country Bears but only up on the balcony above CBJ. And I thought Belle was only meeting in front of her cottage

 

[mm52200]

I didn’t say it wasn’t happening, I was just speaking from personal experience. I have seen the Country Bears but only up on the balcony above CBJ. And I thought Belle was only meeting in front of her cottage

Bears are back on the ground for parts of the day.
Belle was doing both.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Bears are back on the ground for parts of the day.
Belle was doing both.

Oh that’s great. I hadn’t seen either of them, I’m always for more roaming characters. I feel like I haven’t seen any M&Gs in Town Square in years either. I feel like it used to mostly be Marie & Pluto in recent years but haven’t seen any post Covid

 

[MisterPenguin]

All Kathleen Kenndy does now is mange Stars Wars, she doesn't have the creative control she once had and she is only under contract until 2024. She is paid by Disney in the end and is gone very soon. It appears she already signed the severance package, a shake up masterminded by Disney of course and apparently made near the same time as the Chaprk Decision.

Oh, the lies are back!

1. If KK has no creative control, then she can't be blamed for anything creative that one doesn't like, right? And yet, those who say she has no creative control blame her for things that require creative control.

2. Every time her contract is up, we hear from *reliable insiders* that it won't be renewed. And yet, it's been renewed twice.

3. I see that the crazy rumor she's being fired "before or after IJ5 comes out" has now morphed into "she's been secretly fired, but doesn't leave until her contract runs out." Both versions of this baseless rumor sound just crazy.

It takes an inordinate amount of willful ignorance to believe these contradictory and truly extraordinary rumors that are completely unmoored from what reality really is.

There's only one person that can fire KK, and that is Bob Iger. And Bob, by all public accounts -- that aren't wish-fulfillment fantasy of the Fandom Menace -- likes KK. He's twice publicly taken the blame for things which her detractors would want to pin on her.

There is no "Disney" that is looking to get rid of her. She has one boss with the power to do so... Iger. And he seems to be happy with her.

 

[asianway]

I mean…walk around/roaming characters truly aren’t as uncommon as you make them out to be. All the characters in Galaxy’s Edge have been roaming in the land since it opened. Stormtroopers at Launch Bay. Throughout 2019 the Long Lost Friends characters would spend multiple sets roaming in Town Square.
Stepsisters roam and ride the carousel for atleast one or two of their sets a day, Peter Pan roams for his first few sets.
Kevin at DAK roams.
That’s all just off the top of my head currently.

I saw some pics that the country bears are off the balcony back to roaming as before covid

 

[asianway]

I seriously wish that event wasn't one-night only, would had been better executed as a test run for WDW to expand other Halloween events at the other parks besides MK during the Halloween season. Why they decided to have in during the Summer I have trouble understanding.

One has to wonder if it was oversold on purpose to create bedlam and justify 10 years of the status quo.

 

[dovetail65]

Oh, the lies are back!

1. If KK has no creative control, then she can't be blamed for anything creative that one doesn't like, right? And yet, those who say she has no creative control blame her for things that require creative control.

2. Every time her contract is up, we hear from *reliable insiders* that it won't be renewed. And yet, it's been renewed twice.

3. I see that the crazy rumor she's being fired "before or after IJ5 comes out" has now morphed into "she's been secretly fired, but doesn't leave until her contract runs out." Both versions of this baseless rumor sound just crazy.

It takes an inordinate amount of willful ignorance to believe these contradictory and truly extraordinary rumors that are completely unmoored from what reality really is.

There's only one person that can fire KK, and that is Bob Iger. And Bob, by all public accounts -- that aren't wish-fulfillment fantasy of the Fandom Menace -- likes KK. He's twice publicly taken the blame for things which her detractors would want to pin on her.

There is no "Disney" that is looking to get rid of her. She has one boss with the power to do so... Iger. And he seems to be happy with her.

oh my gosh, lies are misinformation stated on purpose, none of what I posted it that. If you believe the post I made had wrong information it wasn't to deceive anyone, so not lies. Everything I posted had information made by more than one source that matched, its the best we can do. Few of of work there, maybe none here at LucasFilms. This is not one person saying it, it is multiple sources that are independently saying these things.

We will see, After Indiana Jones 5 most sources and she doesn't ever deny it, that after 10 years she is done. All we can go by is the best sources we have. We woke up and Chapek was gone, this is different, she seem to be done herself after 10 years. Of course she can not say that. We do know for a fact when her contract ends and we do know her contract was extended already, I do not think I ever denied that.

The main point of my post was that Disney has control over Star Wars. When someone says LucasFilms is controlling Star Wars that just means Disney is controlling Star Wars and you do not seem to be disputing that fact. She manages Star Wars of course it is her job, but if anyone thinks she does anything Disney doesn't approve of, well I don't believe that for a minute.

The best information we have are almost always rumor until they actually happen, especially with Disney. Most of these Disney contracts prohibits anyone from saying what is going on until it actually happens. We have read that even Disney employees that know what is going on get blindsided. This does not seem to be that at all. At this point if anyone was blindsided it seems to be if she stayed. All this information are NOT lies though. No one is trying to trick or deceive or make anyone believe something that is true is actually false on purpose.

 

[_caleb]

oh my gosh, lies are misinformation stated on purpose, none of what I posted it that. If you believe the post I made had wrong information it wasn't to deceive anyone, so not lies. Everything I posted had information made by more than one source that matched, its the best we can do. Few of of work there, maybe none here at LucasFilms. This is not one person saying it, it is multiple sources that are independently saying these things.

If you—even without intention to deceive—post rumors that were created and spread by others who do have intention to deceive, does that make those rumors true? BTW, the way you can know that it’s a deceitful rumor and not just a leaked bit of news is when it claims to have insight into what Bob Iger thinks about Kathleen Kennedy.

We will see, After Indiana Jones 5 most sources and she doesn't ever deny it, that after 10 years she is done. All we can go by is the best sources we have. We woke up and Chapek was gone, this is different, she seem to be done herself after 10 years. Of course she can not say that. We do know for a fact when her contract ends and we do know her contract was extended already, I do not think I ever denied that.

Or we could consider what has already actually happened instead of wild speculation and biased hate-fiction.

The main point of my post was that Disney has control over Star Wars. When someone says LucasFilms is controlling Star Wars that just means Disney is controlling Star Wars and you do not seem to be disputing that fact. She manages Star Wars of course it is her job, but if anyone thinks she does anything Disney doesn't approve of, well I don't believe that for a minute.

It’s okay if you don’t know how it actually works, but I recommend being a bit more humble when preaching to those who do. LucasFilm is indeed owned by The Walt Disney Company. But LucasFilm is run as a separate film studio—separate from Disney’s other studios. This means that the president of LucasFilm (Kathleen Kennedy) reports only to Bob Iger, the President of TWDC. Nobody else at the company is “over” Kennedy. So asserting that “Disney” must approve of what Kennedy does is inaccurate.

The best information we have are almost always rumor until they actually happen, especially with Disney. Most of these Disney contracts prohibits anyone from saying what is going on until it actually happens. We have read that even Disney employees that know what is going on get blindsided. This does not seem to be that at all. At this point if anyone was blindsided it seems to be if she stayed. All this information are NOT lies though. No one is trying to trick or deceive or make anyone believe something that is true is actually false on purpose.

I recommend you stop trafficking in rumors and stating speculation as fact. And I will point out that many of these lies (or, as you call them, “rumors”), are very deliberately manufactured and spread as clickbait, fan activism, political posturing, and even to affect stock prices.

 

[MisterPenguin]

The best information we have are almost always rumor until they actually happen, especially with Disney.

The best info we have are from people whose insider knowledge pans out.

Breathless proclaiming KK's imminent firing for the past 5 years hasn't panned out. But it has driven clicks making money for people to post such things.

Please don't ever listen to anyone who has ever echoed that falsehood. It's fanboy wish fulfillment fantasy. And the vloggers who put out daily 'inside information' are clearly lying about having actual insider sources. I doubt Kennedy or Filoni could ever have enough inside information to keep up a daily vlog for years on end.

And your response trying to defend these 'insider info' has still failed to account for the foolish idea that KK could be 'isolated' within LucasFilm/Disney such that she has no creative control, and yet still be blamed for anything 'the fans' don't like.

And you doubled down on the big jump to conclusion about Chapek's ouster (which had nothing to do with Star Wars by all accounts) as having something to do with KK. Even tho I pointed out that Iger, who's now in charge, has, by all public accounts, backed KK, re-upped her contracts, and taken blame with the Star War fans for things they were trying to pin on her.

Stop listening to haters who make stuff up and watch what's happening in real life.

Yes, Star Wars content can be hit and miss. But you should see all the bombs the Live-Action Studios put out. And the people running that haven't gotten fired.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

i have pictures of me with chip and dale and little john from 83 somewhere. But the parks and crowds were so much different. Less crowded, no social media, no cell phone cameras.
But part of this is Disney worlds fault, all characters are locked away in meet and greets and you rarely see them roaming around. So when people do see them roaming around they freak out, I also dont think Disney World has nearly as many costumed characters available to them, so they arent able to "flood the parks" with them to make them more normal. Also different guest demographic.

Just out of curiosity, why wouldn't WDW have as many costumed characters available to them? For example, what is stopping them from adding Kronk, Kuzco, and Yzma meet-and-greets somewhere if they so desire? The costumes exist and have been used for a lot of characters that you never see anymore, so I'm not sure what is keeping them from putting a greater variety out there beyond not wanting to.

 

[mm52200]

Just out of curiosity, why wouldn't WDW have as many costumed characters available to them? For example, what is stopping them from adding Kronk, Kuzco, and Yzma meet-and-greets somewhere if they so desire? The costumes exist and have been used for a lot of characters that you never see anymore, so I'm not sure what is keeping them from putting a greater variety out there beyond not wanting to.

Just because a costume is designed for a character does not mean the parks literally have them all sitting backstage at their disposal in working order.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Just because a costume is designed for a character does not mean the parks literally have them all sitting backstage at their disposal in working order.

Is there any reason, though, WDW is less able to make costumes than any of the other resorts or than they were in the past? Presumably even for the characters that do appear regularly they have to produce new costumes fairly frequently.

I guess I'm sincerely just asking whether there is some reason WDW has less characters available to them or if they're just choosing to put out a smaller collection of characters for one reason or another.