Where's Oswald?

KrazyKat

KrazyKat

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
With everything that has been closed at DHS, why hasn't TDO done something as simple as add a M&G with Oswald? Tokyo and DCA have had him at their parks for a while now. I thought he was possibly going in the new area outside GMR but nothing so far. They could put him anywhere. He's appeared at some functions around WDW.

I know, it's TDO, but why the delay?
 
I

Ignohippo

Well-Known Member
Because Disney can't afford to pay a few hundred bucks a day for a couple of cast members and another meet & greet without taking something else away and they haven't deemed Oswald as viable as other characters who have been added lately (since there is nothing new with him to promote).

Same reason they got rid of popular characters like The Incredibles.

Completely stupid, but totally true.

Hopefully someday he'll be added. He's certainly the character I'd most like to see.
 
PhotoDave219

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
KrazyKat said:
With everything that has been closed at DHS, why hasn't TDO done something as simple as add a M&G with Oswald? Tokyo and DCA have had him at their parks for a while now. I thought he was possibly going in the new area outside GMR but nothing so far. They could put him anywhere. He's appeared at some functions around WDW.

I know, it's TDO, but why the delay?
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Who?
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Because most people in that line only know Oswald as a tidbit to the Mickey Mouse story; a piece of trivia that acts as a shallow sign of 'true' fandom.
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
Oswald appears daily on Buena Vista Street at California Adventure and there's always a line to meet him.

.
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Not always. We visited Anaheim for the first time this past April and the very first thing we did on a Thursday afternoon is walk right through the gates at DCA and straight over to shake Oswald's hand, with no waiting. A lot of the character encounters in Anaheim have no waiting.

TP2000 said:
The suits in Orlando are just locked up in their air conditioned offices and wouldn't know a good idea from Anaheim if it landed on them.
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I think it's also because the character performer/costume money comes out of entertainment and they're given an extremely limited budget to work with.
Supposedly, that's why Hiro and Baymax went away, despite their popularity; the only way the division was able to afford them in the first place was by getting the in-park movie advertising guys to fund them, and once Big Hero 6 opened on home video the money dried up and they could no longer afford to staff/upkeep the costumes.

Why couldn't someone realize that the meet-and-greet was popular enough to justify giving Entertainment enough money to do something guests actually liked?
Because Disney, I guess.
 
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
Those of us who know the Disney story and background are very familiar with Oswald.... but the average Disney guest has no clue as to who this character is. Even though he has made appearances in the 3 Epic Mickey games, the Infinity game, and Get a Horse short, he hasnt become a character endearing enough yet. They want the M&G's with the characters their children have formed a connection to from a movie or TV show. Oswald who ??? I actually think hes creepy looking and am glad it took the direction to where it all started from a mouse.
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
JIMINYCR said:
Those of us who know the Disney story and background are very familiar with Oswald.... but the average Disney guest has no clue as to who this character is. Even though he has made appearances in the 3 Epic Mickey games, the Infinity game, and Get a Horse short, he hasnt become a character endearing enough yet. They want the M&G's with the characters their children have formed a connection to from a movie or TV show. Oswald who ??? I actually think hes creepy looking and am glad it took the direction to where it all started from a mouse.
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Then why is the character so popular at Anaheim and Tokyo?
Also, they seem to have no problem moving plenty of Oswald merch in Orlando. I've bought a mug, and I've seen plenty of Oswald shirts, plushes, pins, and of course, the ears for sale all over property.
 
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
I might expect that Tokyo because the Japanese people tend to be very American Nostalgia driven so Oswald would interest them more and Anaheim because it's Walts territory, so maybe theres more promotion of the character there???
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Bairstow said:
I think it's also because the character performer/costume money comes out of entertainment and they're given an extremely limited budget to work with.
Supposedly, that's why Hiro and Baymax went away, despite their popularity; the only way the division was able to afford them in the first place was by getting the in-park movie advertising guys to fund them, and once Big Hero 6 opened on home video the money dried up and they could no longer afford to staff/upkeep the costumes.
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That's TDO executive mismanagement and stupidity Example #478 right there. I rest my case.

TDO can't afford to put extra characters in the WDW parks, even when they are popular and tied to a new movie or pop-culture craze. Yet they've got massive cubicle farms in Lake Buena Vista and Celebration full of white collar drones who do very little to nothing to impact or add to the theme park experience. That's ridiculously bad resource management and very poor personnel choices on display.
 
asianway

asianway

Well-Known Member
Bairstow said:
Then why is the character so popular at Anaheim and Tokyo?
Also, they seem to have no problem moving plenty of Oswald merch in Orlando. I've bought a mug, and I've seen plenty of Oswald shirts, plushes, pins, and of course, the ears for sale all over property.
Click to expand...
He no longer meets in Tokyo, he was cut about six months ago.

I am a proponent to rotating all the characters through the parks on a regular schedule

When it comes to character meet n greets, TDO is anything but cheap. Even though my ole pal Matt won't listen...WDW spends more on meet & greet entertainment labor (proportionately) than any Disney Park(tm) on the planet. The Magic Kingdom has no less than SIX multi room meet and greet sweat shops that have been classified as "attractions" and are routinely open from open to close. Beyond that there are dozens of other locations that are staffed for full 8 hour shifts with no regard to park attendance projections. It's why we can't have nice things. That and dwarfs.

TDO is cheap on a lot of things, but meet n greets is not one of them
 
Mountaineer1024

Mountaineer1024

New Member
I know where he is. Oswald does meet and greet in WDW, but only for VIP people such as DVC for moonlight magic like back in 2018, rundisney participants when oswald is the goal character, and cast members when there's an event for them. No one in the general public gets to meet him, and that's why I'm trying to speak out about this as much as I can. I also have proof of said events, and if you try to find images of him In the MK or DHS for all guests, you'll find absolutely nothing.
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WorldExplorer

WorldExplorer

Well-Known Member
Williamsallison412@gmail. said:
I know where he is. Oswald does meet and greet in WDW, but only for VIP people such as DVC for moonlight magic like back in 2018, rundisney participants when oswald is the goal character, and cast members when there's an event for them. No one in the general public gets to meet him, and that's why I'm trying to speak out about this as much as I can. I also have proof of said events, and if you try to find images of him In the MK or DHS for all guests, you'll find absolutely nothing.View attachment 727085View attachment 727086View attachment 727087
Click to expand...

Before the recent merchandise push, I had Oswald ears from 2009 or so, when Epic Mickey came out, and usually I was the only person around with them.

They were a magnet for people to come up and tell you about how they met him at an exclusive event I couldn't get to.

I even have a family member that managed to see him at a special event I couldn't get to.

Yes, I understand the business reasons for locking special things behind paywalls. I'm frustrated anyway.

I just want to meet the darned bunny.
 

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