Princess Merida meet 'n greet

asianway

asianway

Well-Known Member
InLikeFlynn said:
I couldn't be more ed with whoever makes these decisions at this very moment if they were literally ing all over my luggage that will be arriving with me in 3 weeks. :mad:
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Melissa-I'm sure drew has her email in his rolodex-it's time to start holding some of these "leaders" accountable
 
Yzma

Yzma

Active Member
ajbidwell said:
They are probably getting rid of the bears to reallocate the cost of opporating them to the Enchanted Tales with Belle. That is just a guess, but it seems to be the way things work when it comes to characters.
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Yeppers!

For the first time in a long time MK is finally getting some new Entertainment Head Count (Gaston, Beast, Marie, more Belle opportunities, more Ariel opportunities) - but the sheer number of Cast it takes to run ETwB is HUGE, so they have to pull where they can. To be honest, I was expecting more cuts to counter the New Fantasyland. If this is really it, then maybe MK finally got an increased Character budget!
 
ajbidwell

ajbidwell

Member
Yzma said:
Yeppers!

For the first time in a long time MK is finally getting some new Entertainment Head Count (Gaston, Beast, Marie, more Belle opportunities, more Ariel opportunities) - but the sheer number of Cast it takes to run ETwB is HUGE, so they have to pull where they can. To be honest, I was expecting more cuts to counter the New Fantasyland. If this is really it, then maybe MK finally got an increased Character budget!
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I had read a rumor about Beast leaving Epcot and coming to MK. Is this now confirmed? Any idea how he will be utilized?
 
InLikeFlynn

InLikeFlynn

Active Member
Yzma said:
Yeppers!

For the first time in a long time MK is finally getting some new Entertainment Head Count (Gaston, Beast, Marie, more Belle opportunities, more Ariel opportunities) - but the sheer number of Cast it takes to run ETwB is HUGE, so they have to pull where they can. To be honest, I was expecting more cuts to counter the New Fantasyland. If this is really it, then maybe MK finally got an increased Character budget!
Click to expand...


Marie was at Epcot...won't she be leaving? So that isn't more, that's just relocation. And how are there going to be more Ariel "opportunities?" Won't we be losing Eric? That seems like a cut, not an upgrade. And if Beast ends up there, won't he probably also leave Epcot? Again...just a reshuffle.
 
BrightImagine

BrightImagine

Well-Known Member
After I read this yesterday, I went and watched some YouTube videos of Merida's meet and greet with the wee bears, because I haven't gotten to see them in person. It looked like the bears have very limited motion... popping up, tilting their heads, and opening their mouths. How many CMs can it possibly take to help bring these bears to life? This just seems like a cut that is unnecessary.
 
OKWBamaJim

OKWBamaJim

New Member
Got to catch Merida and the boys Labor Day. I am surprised that I am hearing from you they are going away on the 9th. The Photopass girl said that last Monday was the last day. The brothers were awesome and funny!!!! Three daughters love it!
 
asianway

asianway

Well-Known Member
InLikeFlynn said:
Marie was at Epcot...won't she be leaving? So that isn't more, that's just relocation. And how are there going to be more Ariel "opportunities?" Won't we be losing Eric? That seems like a cut, not an upgrade. And if Beast ends up there, won't he probably also leave Epcot? Again...just a reshuffle.
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Belle has multiple rooms maybe the grotto does too? Belle also looks to have a hefty amount of handlers.

So more capacity to some equals less of an
Experience at others.

Guess both wasn't an option...
 
Neverland

Neverland

Active Member
Yzma said:
Yeppers!

For the first time in a long time MK is finally getting some new Entertainment Head Count (Gaston, Beast, Marie, more Belle opportunities, more Ariel opportunities) - but the sheer number of Cast it takes to run ETwB is HUGE, so they have to pull where they can. To be honest, I was expecting more cuts to counter the New Fantasyland. If this is really it, then maybe MK finally got an increased Character budget!
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Enchanted Tales I think takes 9 or 10 CMs (not counting attractions CMs); is that so much more than TST or Character Spot?
 
Tip Top Club

Tip Top Club

Well-Known Member
It's not just one character though, it's an attraction walk-through. You have to consider that the operations and entertainment budgets for Enchanted Tales are separate.
 
Yzma

Yzma

Active Member
InLikeFlynn said:
Marie was at Epcot...won't she be leaving? So that isn't more, that's just relocation. And how are there going to be more Ariel "opportunities?" Won't we be losing Eric? That seems like a cut, not an upgrade. And if Beast ends up there, won't he probably also leave Epcot? Again...just a reshuffle.
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Epcot and MK have seperate operating budgets - Epcot is doing some of their own relo efforts with the new Character Spot. So while it looks like cuts to Epcot, that head count is turning back around to support more headcount at C Spot (which was discussed on a different thread already: but ultimately C Spot is going to have 2 rooms).

On the other side, MK is getting NEW headcount to support Beast and Marie.

Guests continually complain about Character wait times; TST is a perfect example of how creating multiple rooms allows more Guests experiences each hour. Belle and Ariel are getting that same set up, so what looks like 1 character can be misleading.

The great question is which is preferred: more character variety with longer waits or less character variety with shorter waits. While it's frustrating to see cuts, most Guests have no idea and they just want to see the Princesses and VIPs with the shortest wait possible. 1000 people complaining on-line has no weight next to the thousands that complain monthly to Guest Relations.

Do I like it? No. But it helps to at least apply logic to decisions that are made.

PS - when I said "the sheer number of Cast it takes to run ETwB is HUGE" I wasn't referring to attendants, I was referring to the actual Performers. It is much more than TST.

Attendants and Performers come out of different labor unions, their head counts are not interchangeable.
 
BrightImagine

BrightImagine

Well-Known Member
Yzma, I have a child who loves characters much more than attractions, and we plan our visits around meet and greets, so I really appreciate your insight into the character entertainment process.

Ideally I would want the best of both worlds. I understand adding more rooms so that more guests get to see Mickey and the princesses. But I also want to have more opportunities to see harder-to-find characters... add more fairies (even just one more!) to the Tink location... more animal characters at Animal Kingdom, and for goodness' sake more of the "princes" at times other than Halloween. I guess maybe what you're saying that there is a finite number of character performers and these are going into the multiple-room format of the new M&G locations. What I would like to see is a location, like at the Animation building, where "rare" characters regularly appear during the day(not just when there are no showings of Fantasmic). I think this, combined with the new M&Gs, would satisfy both those who want the very popular characters and those who want to see someone "different."

And I always thought that "character attendant" was kind of a euphemism for both the attendants and the performers?

Bringing the subject back around to Merida... I hope she will at least stay until our next trip (January). I have my fingers crossed that maybe since there's no new "princess" character taking her place, at least until Frozen, she will get to keep her garden, even if that's without the wee bears.
 
kennygman

kennygman

Active Member
Yzma said:
Yeppers!

For the first time in a long time MK is finally getting some new Entertainment Head Count (Gaston, Beast, Marie, more Belle opportunities, more Ariel opportunities) - but the sheer number of Cast it takes to run ETwB is HUGE, so they have to pull where they can. To be honest, I was expecting more cuts to counter the New Fantasyland. If this is really it, then maybe MK finally got an increased Character budget!
Click to expand...

Isn't Beast only supposed to be a dinner photo op? That's what I've heard.
 

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