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Pete's Silly Sideshow meet and greet to change operating hours
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
hollywoodj
Active Member
The hours used to be from opening to close, EMH included. I think it makes sense to reduce the hours because of how little people showed up during those hours.
bethymouse
Well-Known Member
An unknown "secret" for meet n greets I guess. I am surprised people didn't take advantage of it.
Wesleyjohn
Member
When we were there a few weeks ago, we walked right in during late hours. Makes sense to shut it down. IIRC I barely realized it open due to poor lighting in that direction.
bsiev1977
Well-Known Member
I agree with the concept. The reality is that with the way people behave these days it's not realistic.
I couldn't imagine it going well trying to control crowds around a wandering character. Or expecting a large percentage of guests to be able to behave properly while waiting to get their time with the characters.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Funny.. it works in Disneyland.. tho recently they have started the fixed M&Gs as well.. which only seem to increase the crowds.
JenniferS
When you're the leader, you don't have to follow.
Wish I could "like" this 1000 times.
I miss the good old days when you could enjoy random character encounters throughout the park.
My kids' first ever character photo was with Genie, who had been following us around for a bit, comparing his height and clothing to my very tall husband wearing a Carolina blue t-shirt. He kept intimating that he and hubby were twins. We had quite a crowd gathered around us, enjoying Genie's antics.
Fat chance of that happening again anytime soon.
JenniferS
When you're the leader, you don't have to follow.
Still sort of on topic; but I have to wonder why the wait for Minnie and Daisy is double that of Goofy and Donald.
When my 9 year old niece and I were there in November, we found the gals to be complete duds, and the fellows were hysterical, especially Goofy. Traditionally, I step up to the character, move in (not too close), smile, get the photo, thank them, and step aside. Goofy had me dancing, twirled me around, and generally had me acting as silly as him for a full 2-3 minutes.
Based on the length of the wait next trip, I would be happy to bypass the girls altogether.
Also, I didn't much care for the theming and costumes of any of the characters, except for Goofy. I like the characters in traditional garb, I guess.
When my 9 year old niece and I were there in November, we found the gals to be complete duds, and the fellows were hysterical, especially Goofy. Traditionally, I step up to the character, move in (not too close), smile, get the photo, thank them, and step aside. Goofy had me dancing, twirled me around, and generally had me acting as silly as him for a full 2-3 minutes.
Based on the length of the wait next trip, I would be happy to bypass the girls altogether.
Also, I didn't much care for the theming and costumes of any of the characters, except for Goofy. I like the characters in traditional garb, I guess.
DisneyNut2007
Active Member
It doesn't always work!
It makes sense to build fixed locations for the REALLY popular characters (The Fab 5, the Princesses, the Fairies, etc.), but I do agree that the less-popular characters could have a little more freedom.
doctornick
Well-Known Member
Agreed. I think there is a lot of value to having fixed locations for the most popular characters so that people can plan accordingly and make sure they see them.
That said, the random appearing in the parks characters adds a certain charm and IMHO would be an easy thing to do. They have the costumes, so why can't they build on the "Long Lost Friends" idea and just do that on an ongoing basis?
I agree. I prefer to see the characters in their regular outfits.
Also, one of the disappointing things to me about this Silly Sideshow M&G is that they didn't backfill all the character spots. Would it have been a problem to add, say, Hook and Smee to the Adventureland spot where Goofy was?
asianway
Well-Known Member
Last time I said this I was told it could never work...by a unionized entertainment CM & the owner of a for profit character site that has a dependency on static character schedules.
The topic of safety is a real one but with the current a 2 to 1 attendant to character ratio I don't see how that possibly can't be overcome.
doctornick
Well-Known Member
OK, even if they can't do "wandering" characters, can't they still do more random appearances? My biggest gripe would be that all/virtually all of the M&G's are at set pre-fab locations with set characters. It would be nice IMHO to have more variety of interactions by having some locations that are used at times for M&Gs with different characters -- like how the Long Lost Friends week was executed (or like they do during the hard ticket parties).
asianway
Well-Known Member
And when I suggested that last time I was called elitist swine who would be responsible for ruining DDs vacation because her MAGICal trip would be ruined if she didn't get her annual picture with Daisy at the flagpole...
DisneyFan 2000
Well-Known Member
Because then they'd be left with nothing but restrooms to promote as 'new' this year.
pixiedust4000
New Member
When we visited Pete's Sideshow the first week of March. It was wonderful. We got there a little after opening and we had them all to ourselves. We were able to get a pic of each of them by themselves in front of there background and as a group shot with me and my sister. The photopass lady said it is usually like this at that time of the morning. It was the fastest we have ever meet characters, we walked right up. Although I do have to say we were really lucky during this trip with meeting characters or going on rides.
FrankLapidus
Well-Known Member
They used the words "elitist swine"? That's amazing if it's true, that is taking commitment to a holiday tradition to the extreme. My gripe with this particular M&G is the distinct lack of appearances by the proprietor. Pete is the oldest character in the Disney canon (probably besides Oswald who we'll likely never see in the parks) and will be well-known to younger guests due to his role in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. There's no reason for him not to be more visible in the parks, particularly in that area of the Magic Kingdom which carries a lot of references to characters from the classic Disney shorts and has a M&G that carries Pete's name.
