You don’t need to
be a character to LARP. The interaction with characters is LARPing.
By going to a meet and greet, and by interacting with a Disney princess, you are extending the olive branch that they’re a real princess. If you meet Aurora, she’d ask “and where are my princesses and princesses from?” Your response is furthering a LARP.
This conversation stemmed from the comment by
@sedati that inherently connected theme parks with LARPing, and I agree. LARPing is just playing along. There’s varying degrees to that. The suspension of disbelief is integral to both theme parks and LARPing.
Crush’s coaster in DLP exists. At no point do you feel like you’re under the ocean swimming with Crush and Nemo. But on Rise, you genuinely feel like you’re in a Star Wars story.
This interaction is LARPing:
“How many people are on this Star Cruiser?”
“That’s classified”
“That’s why I’m here (to find out about classified First Order information)”
Taking a photo with an individual wearing a Pinocchio costume, is not LARPing, but taking a photo with someone acting like Pinocchio is. My meeting with Pinocchio as a 5-year-old was uneventful at Magic Kingdom. We took a photo, we left. It was just a photo. My interaction with Pinocchio at Hollywood Studios, on the other hand, was magical, and from my perspective a LARP. He was behaving as Pinocchio would behave in real life, and I was going along with him.
Just as
@TP2000 said, I don’t believe there’s a LARPing expectation when going to a Disney park for the majority of people, but I’d argue it’s become an increasing component. The majority of things to do are not LARPing, but I don’t believe LARPing is as rigid as it’s being made out to be.
Some of the best moments in the parks are when LARPs occur, and they’re primarily driven by individuals, and they’re, in the end, what makes the parks special.