Overdue for character changes

[HunnyPot]

This thread read my mind! We're taking our first trip with our young DD in October and I'm really looking forward to getting her pics with characters. However, she LOVES "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" on Playhouse Disney but I've never seen some of the more obscure characters from that. Clarabelle, Pete, and Professor Von Drake. Someone mentioned Clarabelle, but I've never seen her. My DH loves Pete and Von Drake, but I've never seen them either---anyone have pics with them? She also likes to watch "My Friends Tigger and Pooh" (side bar: which I'm very disappointed in---Christopher Robin is only in a few episodes and Owl isnt there at all (that I've seen)! I make sure she reads the original stories and we have "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh") I'd love to see Kanga and Roo, but I've never seen them.

On our last trip in 2006 we didn't have any kids and we went with another couple, and it was one of their first times ever. She wanted to see Daisy so bad and we had cast members call around and everything, but never found her. I'd love to see her too, but apparently she's a rare character b/c of her height. We're hoping to see her at Chef Mickey's on our upcoming trip--I've heard she's there.

 

[drew81]

Christopher Robin, Kanga & Roo are in the Boo to You parade at MNSSHP. It would be nice to see them out for meet n greets. Owl is never out, but I have seen him before in a Christmas Parade.

Ludwig Von Drake & Pete don't make appearances. Clarabelle and Horace are usually out in Town Square everyday.

Daisy is not at Chef Mickey's. She's at Donald's Safari Breakfast at AK.

 

[eeyoremum]

And BTW, if you want to see them bad enough, every character is always available...for a price. Call DCE for a pricing

Really how much? Is it really expensive? I would love to see Rabbit and so would my DS. oh and the other dwarfs too.

One thing you can also do...

If you are looking for a specific character, just ask any Cast Member and they can call the "Character Hotline" and see when and where that character will be appearing. After all Cast Members are there to help all you gotta do is ask :wave:

We were looking for Dopey for most of our trip 2007. He was just leaving Germany and the line was closed so missed him there. When at the MK we asked at the office and they did not call or anything. The next day we tried AK who told us to go to Epcot, unfortunatly we were heading to dinner at MGM.

I decided to run my DS over to Epcot before dinner to catch Dopey, as we were leaving the next day when they announced that the characters were coming out around the hat. So in desperation I asked a very, very sweet CM if by chance Dopey would be around. She walked us over to where he would be and told us to just wait a few minute.

This girl saved our vacation!!! We actually have a picture of her for our scrapbook. It was wonderful. DS was thrilled. Wow the things I will do to keep the magic alive....no wonder my family things I am nuts :lol:

 

[drew81]

Really how much? Is it really expensive? I would love to see Rabbit and so would my DS. oh and the other dwarfs too.QUOTE]

I think the going price is about $700 dollars per character for a half-hour. That could've changed though.

 

[readytogo]

Hi everyone, I am new here, but thought I would jump in on this thread about the characters. We were at DW last May and were disappointed at the limited amount of time the characters were out. I guess due to the heat they were only allowed to take pictures and sign autographs for 10-15 minutes. There were a lot of very sad little children in line who were turned down. It seemed like as soon as the characters were spotted and children began to form a line, the characters would leave. I love Disney World and it seems like the easiest thing would be to have more characters out more often. Anyway, we are hoping to take another trip in 2009.

We were there last May too, and yes...limited characters. My kids were pretty bummed. We're going back this December, hoping to see some more this time around.

I TOTALLY agree with the OP though, it would be good to see some different ones on occasion!

 

[Greenlawler]

I keep hoping a manager will read these threadds and think "good idea time for some new blood er...fur". All of these characters could be brought out for meet n greet because they are in the various parades:
Gus
Jaques
3 Pigs
7 Dwarfs (I know they come out for the special events but its a group picture not individual)
Hyenas
Pain and Panic
Kanga
they could easily rotate some of these guys in, also just think how many other characters are lurking, waiting for a chance to come out. I have seen pictures of dozens of characters I have never seen in person.

We see the same 60 or so characters every year. Last year we decided to try and find every character we could and break our record of 90 in one week. We met with 113 different characters last year during one week on our January vacation. In order to get near 100 you have to hit the "teardrop type areas" just right every day, and hope they have different characters out. Of those 113 we were surprised by three surprise additions to our collection. We were more than a little excited to meet the three, but It gets harder every year to find someone we have not met.

All it would take is one person with some pull, who is that person?

 

[princess17]

I agree with the OP. I think they need to add a new variety of characters for those of us who have been enough times where we want some new different things.

 

[biggiedisney123]

And BTW, if you want to see them bad enough, every character is always available...for a price. Call DCE for a pricing

do you by chance have the number? (not sure what dce stands for...) But I'll pay whatever for a robin hood meet up! Even if its exhorbitant like the rent-a-character for weddings and such.

 

[eeyoremum]

I think the going price is about $700 dollars per character for a half-hour. That could've changed though.

Wow. Too rich for my blood. My DH would say you spent what on what
My mind is not working today for some reason I though it might be around $100.

 

[WDWKat26]

For Mickey and Minnie for 30 minutes it is $750 and that was in 2006. DCE=Disney Character Events. And to be honest with you, Disney has been cutting down on Entertainment not upping it. Which is very unfortunate.

 

[Greenlawler]

do you by chance have the number? (not sure what dce stands for...) But I'll pay whatever for a robin hood meet up! Even if its exhorbitant like the rent-a-character for weddings and such.

Wow, I would think you would meet Robin eventually, he is certainly rare. He is my gang's favorite as well. We have seen Robin only twice. Once at the old bus meet n greet at Epcot and the other was during the Marathon. I have heard several people say he has been spotted at the teardrop a lot latley. Our son just had to meet the Sheriff and Little John as we had already met Tuck, Robin, and Prince John, and we went to great lengths to meet them both, but we eventually found both of them. Now we see the Sheriff every year somewhere. I think eventually you will meet Robin, if your persistant enough.

If I had little hope of finding a character I might pay $100, but $700 .
Seems to me it takes away a little of the adventure, although if I had that kind of jack to throw around I might do it for Donald's Nephews.

 

[fmingo36]

I for one would like to meet the alien from Toy Story.

That would be soooooo cool!
I love the LGMs.

Can anyone tell me who makes the decision on what characters will be out on a daily basis?

 

[DisneyNut2007]

To all character fans, I've got two words for you all: Write letters!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Yes its time some of he new ones like Sponge Bob were out

 

[DisneyPirate85]

Over the last 2 years we have seen most of the charactors you have mentioned. Now not all the time and some more then others but they have been out. Problem is its USUALLY been the July trip, and OMG the heat on those poor ppl.....:wave:

 

[DABIGCHEEZ]

Really how much? Is it really expensive? I would love to see Rabbit and so would my DS. oh and the other dwarfs too.QUOTE]

I think the going price is about $700 dollars per character for a half-hour. That could've changed though.

WOW, that is steep even for Disney. I imagine this doesn't happen all that much. I never knew the character cast members made that much money!!!!:lol:

 

[drew81]

WOW, that is steep even for Disney. I imagine this doesn't happen all that much.

Guests book characters for certain events. Things like weddings, parties etc. It does happen. Corporate business parties sometimes have characters.

 

[drew81]

To all character fans, I've got two words for you all: Write letters!

I've written many letters asking for certain characters to come back. I do agree if more people did that it would help.

 

[kcw]

One thing you can also do...

If you are looking for a specific character, just ask any Cast Member and they can call the "Character Hotline" and see when and where that character will be appearing. After all Cast Members are there to help all you gotta do is ask :wave:

unfortunately, that's not always the case. I was in the parks the other day with my family and my little sister was looking for Push. So I found a CM in a shop in frontierland and asked her to call for me- she asked where he was, I told her probably Tomorrowland, and so she says "well then, go to TOmorrowland." I asked her if she wouldn't mind calling the hotline, and she pretended there was no such thing. I finally told her that I was an entertainment cast member, I knew what the CHIP hotline was, and would she PLEASE call for me. She then told me she didn't know the number. I reminded her of part of the # that I remembered, which did no good. I asked her if there was anyone she could ask who would know, or if she could look it up. She glanced at a piece of paper, and said eh I can't find it. She then handed me her phone and said call City Hall. I did that, and then was questioned for a while to find out if I was really a CM. Holy Cow. Fortunately once I got through to the number, they were able to give me set times for Push, and my sister was able to see him (which was the only "character" she really cared about seeing on the trip), but I had to jump through quite a few hoops to do it!!

So the point of the story-- if you're looking for a specific character, ask a CM near a phone to call the character hotline for you. If they give you the run around, be polite, but persistent. Or just find a better CM :shrug:

do you by chance have the number? (not sure what dce stands for...) But I'll pay whatever for a robin hood meet up! Even if its exhorbitant like the rent-a-character for weddings and such.

you'll pay whatever, but will you do whatever?? Robin Hood and the gang are out during the Disney marathon if you want to meet him bad enough that you'll run it!

 

[drew81]

unfortunately, that's not always the case. I was in the parks the other day with my family and my little sister was looking for Push. So I found a CM in a shop in frontierland and asked her to call for me- she asked where he was, I told her probably Tomorrowland, and so she says "well then, go to TOmorrowland." I asked her if she wouldn't mind calling the hotline, and she pretended there was no such thing. I finally told her that I was an entertainment cast member, I knew what the CHIP hotline was, and would she PLEASE call for me. She then told me she didn't know the number. I reminded her of part of the # that I remembered, which did no good. I asked her if there was anyone she could ask who would know, or if she could look it up. She glanced at a piece of paper, and said eh I can't find it. She then handed me her phone and said call City Hall. I did that, and then was questioned for a while to find out if I was really a CM. Holy Cow. Fortunately once I got through to the number, they were able to give me set times for Push, and my sister was able to see him (which was the only "character" she really cared about seeing on the trip), but I had to jump through quite a few hoops to do it!!

So the point of the story-- if you're looking for a specific character, ask a CM near a phone to call the character hotline for you. If they give you the run around, be polite, but persistent. Or just find a better CM :shrug:

Good point! Whenever I go to City Hall looking for characters, I ask them to call to see if they're out. Sometimes they take a look at my list and say these characters don't appear but I still ask them to call. Sometimes they use C.H.I.P. Hotline requests and will bring characters back into the parks if they get requested. It may be months down the road but it can happen. ie Darkwing Duck

I would suggest anyone wanting to see certain characters back in the parks, go to City Hall and have them call. It can't hurt.