My mom is such a good sport!! I think she could have quite happily gone her whole life without ever posing for a picture with Mickey and Minnie mouse, but one of the joys of traveling with me? If the opportunity presents itself and the line is short…it’s happening! So as a result, I have quite a number of pictures of my mom with Mickey Mouse and various other characters–and to be honest, these are some of my very favorite pictures of my Mom.
My husband has (luckily for me, since he’s my traveling partner most often) pretty much embraced the Character Greeting experience. I don’t know that he LOVED it initially, but he loved making me happy, so he faked it pretty good…but now he usually gets a pretty big kick out of it.
Our favorite character greeting (so far) was at a Star Wars weekend in May 2014. We were at Disney that weekend primarily for our Disney Wedding planning session, but were OF COURSE not going to miss out on some park time 😉! Before the trip, I’d made some shirts with some iron on decals (I learned from this project that I am not really a fan of the iron-ons, I must be honest) specifically for our Hollywood Studios day, in honor of Star Wars weekend. Mine featured Princess Leia Vinylmation, and said “I love you” and Frank’s featured Han Solo Vinylmation, and said “I know”. We did the Character Greeting with Star Wars Minnie and Mickey and they really played up our shirts which was awesome, and then Minnie saw my ring and went a little crazy and the whole thing was just hysterical. She was pretending to be mad at Mickey because she didn’t have a ring, and Mickey was hiding behind Frank at one point…at any rate, it was a really memorable greeting, and we both loved it!
Sometimes, as adults, we can feel kind of silly interacting with characters because we are so conscious of who’s behind the experience–it’s easier when you’ve got your kids (or someone else’s kids—thank goodness for nieces and nephews!) to pose with, or if you can enjoy the experience through the kids’ eyes.
But something that I think is really important about getting the most out of your Disney experience is giving yourself permission to let go of some of your “grown up” when you’re at Disney. If you ARE traveling with kids, take some queues from them. Kids are so good about playing ALL the time. If not, use your imagination. It might be a little rusty–but it’s there, I promise! Forget about the bills, and the mortgage, and the 4,000 things you have to do when you get home and whether anyone might see these pictures (hint: when your daughter or wife has a blog and is a Disney travel agent, the answer is YES! 😉) Don’t worry about what people might think, and just HAVE FUN.
It’s so hard for us to do these days–just let go of all the baggage and have fun, but I think it’s even more important in these days of stress and drama and fast paced craziness–we all need a chance to just HAVE FUN.
So whether it’s a character greeting, or riding DUMBO, or riding Space Mountain just so you can scream—or maybe even just planning to take a Disney vacation in the first place–remember, we all DESERVE a little time to have FUN, to PLAY and to be SILLY. It is a CRITICAL part of the human experience. And if you do have kids? (Young or old!) They will have so much fun seeing you play, I promise. Few things make me happier than seeing my mom crack up laughing!
Some tips to avoid lines for Character Greetings:
- Use a Fast Pass+ reservation: This depends a lot on your priorities—If you want a really hard to get Character Greeting, like Anna and Elsa from Frozen, you may want to consider using one of your Fast Pass + reservations for it. Personally, I don’t usually use Fast Pass + reservations for character greetings in the pre-vacation scheduling; however, I have used them in the park after I’ve used my first three—especially if we got in the park right when it opened and have tackled most of our Must-Do’s fairly early in the day. If there’s a FP+ for a character greeting that you want available and the window is relatively soon—I say grab it, unless there is an attraction that you want to do MORE.
- Pay attention to the character greeting schedule: Often characters, especially located in more remote areas of a park, will have very short lines or no lines when they first come on stage. Then, as people realize they are there, the line will grow. If you are alert, and try to be at the location a few minutes before the greeting is scheduled to start, you should be among the first few people in line for the character.
- Assess the wait time BEFORE mentioning the possibility of meeting a character in front of little ones: My personal maximum wait time for a character greeting is 15 minutes—there have certainly been exceptions to that, but generally that’s my rule of thumb. If it looks like the wait is 30 minutes or more, I won’t even get in line. I have seen (and heard) giant tantrums from kids that believed they were going to see Mickey Mouse, but mom and dad decided the line was too long (and they were absolutely right—it WAS too long and the kids would have been MISERABLE) – but the drama could have been avoided completely. Just don’t even say where you’re going, or tell them you’re headed to a shop or something so you can check. In two adult situations, let one adult run and check out the line situation while the other one distracts the kids. I’m a big fan of wonderful surprises without the harrowing risk of dramatic disappointments. Know how long you are willing to wait before you go.
- Consider a Character Meal: At all character meals, characters make their way from table to table for pictures and autographs, so you are guaranteed to get pictures with which ever characters are at that meal with no waiting in line. A couple things to consider:
Character Breakfast at the Crystal Palace at the Magic Kingdom
SONY DSC
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Chef Mickey Character Breakfast at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
SONY DSC- Pictures are more challenging: No photopass photographers go around with the characters, so any pictures are those taken by you or someone at your table—if you’re lucky, maybe a neighboring table or a cast member might volunteer—but usually, it’s you.
- Be prepared to act quickly: the visits are short, so if you have a large group, it’s unlikely you’ll have time for lots of individual or small group pictures, especially if there are autographs involved. Assume you’ll have time for two to four pictures.
- Timing: character meals are almost always buffets—so there is a risk you (or your entire party) will be at the buffet when a particular character visits your area—and generally, if you miss them, you may not get another chance. Usually if you pay attention or ask your server, you can figure out who is coming next and how long it may be before they reach your table—but pay attention. Last trip we sat next to a table that had 3 kids and 3 adults—the adults were all at the buffet when the characters came; I offered to take pictures but the kids had been taught NOT to talk to strangers so that was a no-go. I felt so bad!! Luckily, that particular character DID make it around again, so all was well!
- Cost/Benefit: Character meals are pricey, especially if you have kids (or other family members) that don’t eat much at meal times. I usually recommend Breakfasts, as they are a more economical option, generally, but we’ve also done lunches and dinners. Just make sure you look at the pricing and the menus before you decide to go this route to make sure there is value here for you. For bigger eaters or picky eaters, buffets can be a wonderful option, so consider your group when planning. Of course, part of what you are paying for is access to the characters. So try not think of it as a $60 buffet; it’s a $40 buffet with a $20 floor show, where your kids get autographs and pictures with the “stars”.
- Reservations are necessary and can be challenging to get: Character meals absolutely require reservations 180 days before your trip, and even then, can often be difficult to get. I’ve been trying for a few years to do a meal in the castle for one of my spring trips with my mom, and have been unsuccessful so far. It’s worked out for some of the trips with my husband, but it’s been more difficult during the spring, which is a busier time. 6)
- Know before you go: Most meals feature 4-5 Characters max. Different meals in different locations will feature different characters. Many meals do NOT include Mickey or Minnie Mouse. Make sure you know WHICH characters are at the meal you are planning. You don’t want to have your heart set on seeing Mickey Mouse only to discover that the only characters at the Character Breakfast you are attending are Disney Playhouse Junior characters. Know before you go!
- Look for character greeting opportunities in the WILD. Sometimes, characters don’t have a standard “on stage” spot, with a queue line and Fast Past + reservations. Sometimes, they’re just out walking around in the parks. Pay attention, and you may find an opportunity for a character greeting without any of the challenges of waiting in line or getting a FP+. NOTE: Characters heading to and from their scheduled “on stage” appearance are generally NOT allowed to stop and chat with guests as they are on a schedule; I’m not talking about characters en route to an appearance…I’m talking about characters “milling about” or in general, working the crowd. For example, you’ll often find Green Army Men in Toy Story Land. Or, you may find Mayor Donald wandering around Hollywood looking for unsuspecting strollers operating without a license 😉.
Do you have any really memorable Character Greeting experiences you’d like to share? I’d love to hear about them!
Happy Dreaming,
Brooke
Reminder: If you book your Disney vacation with me, one of the services I offer is that I can help you plan your Advance Dining Reservations, and even make your reservations for you. I can also help with Fast Pass + planning, and even help you evaluate different options for special experiences, based on what’s important to your group. Email me at brooke@disneycastledreaming.com today for more information!