Someone please save Pooh at EPCOT

[TrainsOfDisney]

So in your hypothetical 'five of each princess on staff' - they would ALWAYS meet less guests than 5 princesses in a M&G factory in the same day because they work less and there is more downtime.

Maybe? I never go to meet and greets but when I’m walking the trail by sleeping beauty castle and the evil queen calls me a peasant as she poses with a family - I call that an interaction (and the Disney magic that I love!).

When Cruella is walking by and says “we are looking for puppies!” As she signs autographs.

So the system is designed to ONLY work for that hypothetical family of 4 from Colorado.

But the actual numbers of guests who get an interaction with characters is WAY more at Disneyland most likely.

 

[flynnibus]

Maybe? I never go to meet and greets but when I’m walking the trail by sleeping beauty castle and the evil queen calls me a peasant as she poses with a family - I call that an interaction (and the Disney magic that I love!).

When Cruella is walking by and says “we are looking for puppies!” As she signs autographs.

So the system is designed to ONLY work for that hypothetical family of 4 from Colorado.

But the actual numbers of guests who get an interaction with characters is WAY more at Disneyland most likely.

Dude, in a meaningful discussion you have to have a reasonable agreed upon lexicon. When we are talking about MEET & GREETS - I think the name is kinda self explanatory.

Just look at this very thread - Disney is putting pooh out to pasture instead of actually interacting 1:1 with each guest. Who finds that an equivalent experience to the traditional M&G? Who would be satisified if your examples were what M&Gs were an no more? By that measure, when comparing two models that shouldn't be the accepted form of 'check'.

I mean, you're gonna say Pooh walking in the pasture is actually serving WAY more guests this way.... ?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Dude, in a meaningful discussion you have to have a reasonable agreed upon lexicon. When we are talking about MEET & GREETS - I think the name is kinda self explanatory.

Dude, I am talking about meet & greets.

In Florida - the characters are only greeting the family that is in the box with them at that moment.

In California - the characters are roaming and interacting with many guests as they are also greeting individuals and families.

Im guessing you’ve been meeting crush the sea turtle a lot! Grab shell dude!

 

[flynnibus]

In Florida - the characters are only greeting the family that is in the box with them at that moment.

In California - the characters are roaming and interacting with many guests as they are also greeting individuals and families.

Yup, and by making that equivalent.. you've just promoted making all characters to just hang out in the non-guest areas where they can be seen. EVERYONE WINS!

 

[Lilofan]

Dude, I am talking about meet & greets.

In Florida - the characters are only greeting the family that is in the box with them at that moment.

In California - the characters are roaming and interacting with many guests as they are also greeting individuals and families.

Im guessing you’ve been meeting crush the sea turtle a lot! Grab shell dude!

Makes sense, in beautiful low humidity CA, characters can roam around . In oppressive 112 degree heat index Orlando the upcoming week , best that the characters stay in one place to avoid collapsing from the heat roaming around.

 

[SpectreJordan]

Ideally, the big characters would have personal meet & greets so that everyone can get a chance to meet them. While smaller characters get to roam to add some life to the parks. I don't think Flik or Rafiki walking around is going to draw large crowds but they'd be fun to see walking around!

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Dude, I am talking about meet & greets.

In Florida - the characters are only greeting the family that is in the box with them at that moment.

In California - the characters are roaming and interacting with many guests as they are also greeting individuals and families.

Im guessing you’ve been meeting crush the sea turtle a lot! Grab shell dude!

Your completely missing the point. In Florida, they are using a stationary M&G line type model. This means as has been posted numerous times:
Reliability - You can plan out your meet and greet to make sure that you are going to get to see your favorite characters
Efficiency - you can have multiple rooms with multiple characters going to serve more people
Consistency - Weather, heat, rain, not an issue anymore. You have the same M&G's rain or shine, and less down time between shift changes as has also been set forth.

Roaming around by its very nature means there is going to be LESS interaction. Its the who basis behind factory line efficiency as there is less time wasted bring parts/customers to the machine/character, than the character moving from person to person.

The only thing that roaming characters gives you is spontaneity, which is great for repeat type guests who can say, oh i saw X last week , and then I saw Y last night, ect. But there is no utility/benifit for that to someone who is there for a once a year, or once in a lifetime trip

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

But there is no utility/benifit for that to someone who is there for a once a year, or once in a lifetime trip

That’s not true, anyone can enjoy a random character interaction.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Every time I open this site and see the title of this thread I laugh lol

Poor Pooh.

 

[sWANNISAX]

I love this and the chipmunk picnic at dhs. I do agree it's awfully hot. I actually miss the Covid era pictures. I don't need to have full interaction or wait for everyone in line just to get a pic.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

That’s not true, anyone can enjoy a random character interaction.

No they can’t.

random is just that, random. Only people who happen to be in a certain location, at a certain time, who happen to stumble across the character, AND happen to actually want to interact with that character can enjoy it. And let’s hope all the factors work out at a time when the kids aren’t hungry, melting down, in the bathroom, ect.

The majority of people going to WDW aren’t going to be visiting next week, or next month. For those interested in M&G’s they want to KNOw they are going to get to interact with their favorite character. They don’t want to have to walk around the entire park just hoping for a random interactions.

Is there anything wrong per se with characters just walking around the park, no. But if it’s a choice between which method of character interaction is going to provide the most people with the most certain opportunities to meet characters, it’s absolutely the WDW model

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

No they can’t.

Quick question - have you visited both parks in the last 1-2 years and can compare the actual character interactions on a typical visit?

You literally can’t walk through town square without seeing characters unless you arrive during the flag retreat or right before a parade. I definitely remember things being similar at MK prior to Covid - although with less hours.

 

[some other guy]

if he were any closer to those trees, we may finally learn the truth to what bears do over there

"on the berm" doesn't have quite the same ring to it

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Quick question - have you visited both parks in the last 1-2 years and can compare the actual character interactions on a typical visit?

You literally can’t walk through town square without seeing characters unless you arrive during the flag retreat or right before a parade. I definitely remember things being similar at MK prior to Covid - although with less hours.

Sure, although more times at WDW than DL.

Can you see some characters walking around, DL sure. But we aren't hanging around town square/main street all that much, as we are walking around actually going on rides across the park. Second, at no time did I see a line of people waiting to interact with the characters walking around the park, of the same length as i saw for Ariel, or Tinkerbell, or Mickey and Minnie at the M&G's at WDW.
I also didn't see (and granted we were never in one spot for long enough to actually measure this accurately) the characters staying around and interacting with guests for hours on end, like they do at the WDW M&G locations.

So yes, could one person at DL decide to spend their day just walking around, interacting with every walking character they see? Sure, and if they did that, then yes that one person is likely to see more characters and a greater variety of them than someone at WDW. But what is the percentage of the customer base at WDW that is willing/wants to spend their day just wandering around the park for those interactions? And even then you're hoping you will be in the right place, at the right time, to hit the characters you want to see. Whereas in the WDW M&G model you know exactly where the characters you want to meet will be. You know the times they will be there. Heck i believe back in the day you could make FP reservations for some of the character M&G (we didn't look to do them the last 3 times we went to WDW so i don't know if you can book them with Genie+.

WDW's general model, but especially as it pertains to M&G's isn't about trying to maximize the amount and variety of characters any one individual can meet and interact with. Its about trying to set up a method so that the most people, get to see the most popular characters, in as reliable way as possible.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Has Pooh been saved yet? Can we start a gofundme.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

But what is the percentage of the customer base at WDW that is willing/wants to spend their day just wandering around the park for those interactions?

spend their day? If you want to meet characters at Disneyland you just hang out at town square and in like an hour you can meet all of the fab 5 plus chip, dale, a couple princesses or Cruella.

They do have some dedicated m&g’s too… which is good. I’m arguing for both not an either / or.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

spend their day? If you want to meet characters at Disneyland you just hang out at town square and in like an hour you can meet all of the fab 5 plus chip, dale, a couple princesses or Cruella.

They do have some dedicated m&g’s too… which is good. I’m arguing for both not an either / or.

Hang out in town square for an hour?

Why in the world would you want to dedicate an hour of your day at the park to hanging out in one area with no rides, just to happen along to see some characters. Again if this is your once a year, or once in a lifetime trip, i don't know anyone who is going to want to dedicate an hour of a day to that.

Sure, if money is no object, I would argue for everything. Have both massive dedicated M&G, and then tons of characters roaming the park. But it is a business so money is an object, in fact it is the primary object. I am just arguing if you have to pick one model, the M&G one is the way to go.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Hang out in town square for an hour?

Why in the world would you want to dedicate an hour of your day at the park to hanging out in one area with no rides, just to happen along to see some characters. Again if this is your once a year, or once in a lifetime trip, i don't know anyone who is going to want to dedicate an hour of a day to that.

The current wait times at MK are -
Mickey @ Town Square - 65 minutes
Cinderella - 70 minutes
Tiana- 50 minutes
Silly sideshow - 50 minutes

(According to WDW app)

 

[drew81]

Now you’ve got Animal Kingdom adding characters to MDX that are only on the boats. What a joke.

Comes across as super shady.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Now you’ve got Animal Kingdom adding characters to MDX that are only on the boats. What a joke.

Comes across as super shady. View attachment 736525

I do like the characters on the boats though as well as the band that plays on the boats. It adds a lot of kinetic energy to the park and it seems to be very popular with guests.