Spirited Spring Break News, Observations & Thoughts ...

[WDWDad13]

Cinderella, check,.. Belle, check,... Snow White, check... Seven Dwarves, ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-check"! I remember that day, didnt you get pretty busy booking trips for people (for free) after they saw Magic Bands during the parade? LOL. Dont hate me, I had to mention it.

well if you want the honest truth... I did have a few people ask about them when they came to me for a quote after saying they saw them on the parade. Surprised?

what do you mean by "booking trips for people (for free)" - since you're so interested...I don't charge a penny more to my clients than what Disney offers if that's what you are referring to

 

[twebber55]

I have never had my picture taken with a Park character, ever. Doesn't interest me. I like to watch the characters interact with kids, though; that's cool. Part of the magic.

agree..kind of creepy for me, not that i care other adults do it, and i ll never wait to meet a character

on second thought i did get my picture taken with Optimus Prime in January , only because we were the first ones there

 

[Stevek]

There is nothing wrong with meeting characters as adults...

Now obsessing over said characters ... that's a different story entirely and not even in the same bucket. It can be said a mature adult should 'know better' - People can have hobbies and interests... but there are reasonable boundaries.

I can't remember if my wife and I have ever had a pic taken with characters, without the kids but we probably did. I know I have never taken one solo. As you said, nothing wrong with that but just feels weird to me for any grown man to make a significant effort to take a pic with a princess. As for Ricky's video, I've see a couple others on Youtube that are far creepier. I can only imagine what must go through these CM's minds when these creepers are trying to interview them on camera...and the guys that ask for hugs after, creeptacular.

 

[flynnibus]

I can't remember if my wife and I have ever had a pic taken with characters, without the kids but we probably did. I know I have never taken one solo. As you said, nothing wrong with that but just feels weird to me for any grown man to make a significant effort to take a pic with a princess

Any more weird then buying and wearing clothes with these 'characters' on them? Or watching show with them performing on stage?

How about standing for 30+min to watch a parade full of them go by?

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Judge me all you want, but I would be stoked to get a picture with Darkwing Duck, because Darkwing Duck is the awesomest. There's nothing wrong with adults who enjoy meeting characters, but there is definitely a line where it becomes weird/creepy/unsavory, and I've seen that MANY times.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Win?..or do you mean score?

It's very straightforward. We win.

You come at the King, you best not miss.

 

[Captain Chaos]

We invite all princesses to come play trivia with us.

But, do they need to book their RSVP 60 days in advance, and need rubber bracelets to gain entrance and participate? Hehehe

 

[PhotoDave219]

I can't remember if my wife and I have ever had a pic taken with characters, without the kids but we probably did. I know I have never taken one solo. As you said, nothing wrong with that but just feels weird to me for any grown man to make a significant effort to take a pic with a princess. As for Ricky's video, I've see a couple others on Youtube that are far creepier. I can only imagine what must go through these CM's minds when these creepers are trying to interview them on camera...and the guys that ask for hugs after, creeptacular.

I done my fair share of character hunting and having my photo with characters. I casually dated somebody that was a tad obsessed with getting their photo with characters… it was everything, she liked it. I was merely along for the ride.

That being said, my interactions with space characters and far to be honest was all improv comedy basically. We do have a conversation with say hello we talk about… Well whatever came to mind at the last minute and we do have a laugh take a photo and move on with our lives… i'm accidentally made a de break character… Whoops.

But it's all in the context of this is make-believe and it's a shawl and world here to have fun and have a good time… it's not the end of the world if I don't meet a particular character… But it's just fun.

 

[wdisney9000]

It's very straightforward. We win.

You come at the King, you best not miss.

my comment was lame sexual innuendo. "Come at the King" is better

 

[PhotoDave219]

But, do they need to book their RSVP 60 days in advance, and need rubber bracelets to gain entrance and participate? Hehehe

A rubber .... Bracelet? Sure that's what it is…

Uhhhhh they can RSVP up to the time of show as far as I'm concerned…

 

[John]

I will say this about adults/character meet and greets. I had a very interesting encounter with Ariel at Akerhaus. There were some play on words in our conversation that were well within context of her character but we both knew what she meant. I promise you that there was nothing about her character or her costume that I was thinking about.

Years ago I had a similar experience with a young lady who was performing in the Beetleguise show at Uni.....which ended with a slip of paper with her phone number.....

 

[PhotoDave219]

my comment was lame sexual innuendo. "Come at the King" is better

Oh trust me, I got it… i'm simply saying, if you're a princess and give watched a lot of friends and television that women like, we'd love to recruit you our a trivia team…

We know the science, history, and literature questions out of the park. But if you ask us anything about reality television? Were rather proud not to know the answer…

 

[WildcatDen]

They know the rubes (especially those 9/11 defense job beneficiaries) simply don't know any better. .

74 - Love your stuff and what insight you bring, but your constant harping on the Defense Industry is rather curious. Hardly anyone who works for the primes or even the subs would fit neatly into your portrayal. Their chief goal, IMO, is to assure that when our men and women in uniform go into harm's way, it is not a fair fight. We want to give our people each and every advantage.

On a side note. Those looking for a comfortable shoe to take to the World or anyplace your vacation plans take you should really look at the Sketchers GoWalk 2. Amazingly comforable walking shoe.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

One of the odd life lessons I've learned living in Orlando ... every theme park performer has stalkers.

Citizens of Hollywood. World Showcase Players. Princesses. Beetlejuice's Graveyard Review cast (one stalker took a picture of my friend in the audience because the stalker heard she was dating the actor who played BJ). Jungle Cruise skippers (no, really, a Skipper friend still gets taken out to dinner by a mother/daughter once a year when they're in town). Even the freakin' whales at Sea World (when one orca quietly passed away, fans hounded the Educators at underwater viewing for weeks asking where he was).

As is so often the case with Disney mental illness, the worst example of this was my beloved Adventurers Club. Most of the female, and some of the male, actors went out of their way to keep their real names private. Probably because you had fans openly brag about how they were going to break up an actor's marriage. An elaborate, fan-created, system of "code names" sprung up online to identify specific actors without using their real names.

So you've just opened my eyes to a whole new level of creep and I can't really say that I'm enjoying what I've heard/seen about it.

I never gave it a second thought that certain actors would be singled out and stalked let alone a whole... subculture dedicated to doing this.

Sick.

 

[DougK]

You have no idea who reads this thread. No idea ...

But I do ...

@WDW1974 Spirit, I believe you and it is good to know that a lot of the higher-ups at TWDC read WDWMAGIC. Now if only those people would use this fan feedback to make WDW a better place. They may be reading here but they don't seem to be learning anything.

 

[Captain Chaos]

I had an, um, interesting experience several years ago which involved character dining, two adult males, and the princesses...

I was making one of my yearly trips to WDW with a friend of mine... A girl I worked with and was friendly with, asked me if I could get her one thing while I was away... Something for her daughter... Her daughter, at the time, was a huge Aurora fan... My co-worker/friend asked me if I could, without going out of my way, get her daughter Aurora's autograph... She gave me the picture she had which she wanted autographed for her daughter.. Was just a hand drawn picture, but one her daughter loved nonetheless... I took the picture with me and said "I'll see what I would do."

I told my travel partner friend what my co-worker asked, and he was on board with getting the autograph... We had two weeks in Orlando, with most of that time spent in WDW, so we figured killing some time getting the autograph was not going to be a big deal... The first few days we were not lucky at all... We weren't really looking, but still, we did not see Aurora out anywhere... Getting back to the room at night, I had a thought... I mentioned to my friend, "Let's do a breakfast at Akerhaus in Norway." He said okay, so I called and surprisingly, was able to get an ADR...

We arrived at Akerhaus and waited until the name was called... I was not feeling uncomfortable at all... I did character meals before, two grown adults... Who cares? It's WDW... Adults are allowed to have fun and meet the characters too right??? Well, the uneasy feeling started to settle in when they announced my name that my table was ready...

We were escorted to our table, and as I sat down, reality struck... We were the only adults in the restaurant WITHOUT children... I started feeling as if 1,000 eyes were staring at me, which I know was not the case, but yet, I am sure many of the adults there did look at us funny, wondering why two adult males were in a princess character breakfast... hey, I had a good excuse, I was trying to make a friend's child happy, you know, create a magical moment...

We were served our breakfast, and one by one the princesses started coming out to the tables... I must say, they were very good sports... Belle in particular... She must have picked up on my feeling of uneasiness, and she did her best to put me at ease... Or at least tried to.. I wasn't at ease until I left the restaurant... Belle was very friendly and talkative... Kudos to that CM...

I was on the phone with my friend telling her what I was doing, JUST FOR YOUR DAUGHTER... We were actually having a good laugh when Jasmin came over to the table... She too played up her role, being extra friendly... Didn't seem creeped out at all... Maybe she was, but she didn't act it... Neither did Belle... In fact, Jasmin took my phone and started talking to my friend... I thought that was out of character... Jasmin didn't live with cell phones right? LOL...

We were just about ready to leave when Aurora came by... She asked how we were doing, if we enjoyed the breakfast... Gave her the picture, asked her to sign it to the child's name.... She asked if the girl was there, I told her no, was doing this for a friend back home... She thought it was a wonderful thing I did for the girl...

If I wasn't so determined to get the autograph for my friend's daughter, I would have never made the ADR for Akerhaus/Princess breakfast... I know I felt uneasy, and yes, I even felt like a creeper though I know my intentions were good... I couldn't imagine being a grown man, no children, booking FP for a princess meet and greet, then having a breakdown cause I couldn't meet them... That is a special kind of demented...

OH, I haven't done a character meal since... We are talking 10 years now... I have, however, met other characters and taken pictures with them, all at the request of friends who i only get to see once a year, who live in the area... Hey, they want the pictures, who am I to say no? With friends, that's one thing... But by myself, Nah.... CREEPER!!!!

 

[jakeman]

@WDW1974 Spirit, I believe you and it is good to know that a lot of the higher-ups at TWDC read WDWMAGIC. Now if only those people would use this fan feedback to make WDW a better place. They may be reading here but they don't seem to be learning anything.

This is in no way a defense of any of their decision making but...

Why would they? Based on the numbers they are doing well. They weathered a recession and a huge uptick in competition down the road and are still posting a profit. The tragedy of their "unsustainable business model" has been preached here for over 10 years in some way or another and nothing has happened yet.

 

[Cesar R M]

It's very straightforward. We win.

You come at the King, you best not miss.

I'm pretty sure that.. after the Marvel purchase.. Mr. Stark will be hoarding the princesses.

So you've just opened my eyes to a whole new level of creep and I can't really say that I'm enjoying what I've heard/seen about it.

I never gave it a second thought that certain actors would be singled out and stalked let alone a whole... subculture dedicated to doing this.

Sick.

Second.. I've seen similar behaviour online in fan sites but nothing as bad as you mentioned.
I think the worst is when some person definitively thinks the actor IS the character and how they need to be BFF (best friends forever at all costs)

@WDW1974 Spirit, I believe you and it is good to know that a lot of the higher-ups at TWDC read WDWMAGIC. Now if only those people would use this fan feedback to make WDW a better place. They may be reading here but they don't seem to be learning anything.

I imagine, higher management would always say "too costly" to almost all suggestions.

 

[Astro Blaster]

Apparently WDW had Easter services yesterday in the Contemporary, I saw an Examiner article on the Yahoo frontpage.

As far as characters in the parks, I agree that a grown man saying "It was my first time meeting Anna and Elsa in person" is very strange. However, I'm in my mid-twenties and when I first see Mickey, my first thought isn't, "hey it's a college kid in a mickey costume"...it's just, "MICKEY!"

 

[jlsHouston]

Id love to see the link as well lol!



Imho, Anyone who is pointed as sexual predator, will be stained forever.
As many people will still think they are predators.. regardless if they have been cleared or are innocent.

I know and then you have another victim. In the Singer situation though, I think it's the where their is smoke there is fire.

Not a BUS driver I hope?

Omg, somebody else said that to me too @GoofGoof in another thread...am I having blonde moments more frequently these days? What's with the bus driver cracks???