Chewbacca and Kylo Ren - Advice Needed!

[ktlm]

Our plan was that I would take pictures of the 4 adult kids with Kylo. When we walked in the handlers were very gruff with us. They told us to put down our stuff and line up against the wall. Kylo comes in and THEY take a picture. We were not allowed to take a picture ourselves, they take one to sell you. We didn't have photopass but we still got a copy of the picture on our MDE that we could buy. We didn't. Our Kylo did not say anything, or if he did it was inaudible. He did not interact with us, we stood in a line and he stood at one end of our line. It was very awkward.

That is really odd. We were at DL and Aulani last month. At Aulani, the handler takes your camera from you and takes the pictures themselves- you do not take the photos. They will take multiple cameras/ cell phones etc, and do pictures with all of them, but you do not take your own photos. They took a TON of photos every time- way more than I would have taken. Even if I just wanted DD with the characters and not DH or I, they took the photos while I stood next to them. The photopass would take photos with the Disney camera and CM handler would take photos with your devices. If there was just a handler and no photopass, the handler took all the photos. We thought it was just a strange Aulani thing, but when we went to Disneyland it happened several times there as well (not consistently though ). We have been to DL the last several summers, and they did not do that before, so it definitely was a new thing. I wonder if they are trying to move to controlling the meet and greets more by having CMs take all the photos- and you just had CMs who missed the memo that they are supposed to use your cameras as well? Still strange. Also strange that he did not interact with you at all. I wonder if he might have been having some type of issue or was ill and they were just trying to get you in and out of the room as fast as possible. We once got really rushed with a Princess and then she apologized and excused herself and ran off before the people behind us. We heard the CMs explaining a few minutes later that she would not be returning. Judging from the way she looked, I suspect that she was having stomach issues. She was trying to be pleasant with us, but it was clear that we were being rushed because she was not doing well.

 

[Miumiu4me]

My family has seen both characters 4-5 times and they've always let us take a picture. Kylo also interacted w/my kid on a couple occasions. We let her wear her Phasma costume last time (she changed in the bathroom outside of the Star Wars exhibit) and he even bent down and saluted her. I think you just got a bad Kylo.

 

[cdnjason]

My DH and I are wearing shirts that have silhouettes of Han and Leia. The Leia one says "I love you," and the Han one says "I know." I was hoping that might get a reaction.

Wife and I did that. We didn't get any reaction from them.

Met each twice now. Both times were awesome.

 

[Miumiu4me]

Why would any one think Kylo Ren gives hugs?

My three year old tried to hug him. This was about the best she could do.

 

[kbmartin]

Just thought I'd come back to report. Our interaction with Kylo Ren was pretty great! We wore Han and Leia ("I love you" - "I know") t-shirts. He kept looking at them, so I finally asked, "So - do you like our shirts?" He said, "NO." He said that we were sympathetic to the Resistance, etc. When we left, my DH shouted, "Your dad was so much cooler than you!" and he and his handlers looked really mad. hahaha

Chewie was not as memorable! Pretty much hug, take a photo, leave.

The Jawas were the best, though! I had an amazing interaction with them.

Honestly, as a Star Wars megafan, it couldn't have been better! Unless perhaps the stormtroopers would have been willing to interact with us. They just waved us away after seeing our Han and Leia shirts. lol

 

[shalom]

Chewie was great and I actually thanked him for all he's done (seriously, where did that come from).

Seems a perfectly legit response to me. Who do you think kept Han alive all that time?

 

[CharleneR]

We had great interactions with both characters on August 15th. We did the Disney Visa M&G for Kylo Ren and there was only one couple waiting ahead of us in line. He spoke to both my son and husband, tried out my son's light saber he created and then took pics. We saw Chewie, later in the evening during the Dessert Party, so there was no wait for him. He and his handler spoke to us, gave all 4 of us hugs and handshakes coming and going and took pics.

 

[Lm3js]

We were there at the end of July and had great interaction with both Kylo and Chewy. Both my sons had storm trooper and darth vadar shirts on and Chewy was beside himself with grief. He gave me a big hug and basically sized up my husband (who is 6'5"). Kylo was scary. He 'accepted' our presence but the picture is hilarious as we all look like we've seen a ghost and Kylo is standing away from us. As we were leaving, I asked to take a selfie with him and he told me to get out. We had a good laugh over that. We also had great interactions with the storm troopers and jawas. My kids (and us too I have to admit) are huge Star Wars fans so it was a big treat.

 

[Sandy Mouse]

Where is the Disney Visa meet and greet? I've only done the one at EPCOT.

 

[yulilin3]

Where is the Disney Visa meet and greet? I've only done the one at EPCOT.

It's inside Launch Bay in a separate room from 11 to 4.

 

[yulilin3]

I have to say that I am a little confused as to why they made/continue with the Kylo Ren M&G being some intimidating/weird/strange. I am a Star Wars fan and really, really enjoyed the last movie. My little boy, who will be almost 5 when we go in December loves Kylo Ren. He is at the age where the bad guy is just as cool, or cooler, than the good guys. He is really pumped up to meet Kylo on our first day. I would imagine there are more kids like this. I am all for staying in character, to a degree, but there has to be a way to make it fun for everyone...

Star Wars characters have always been the most in character, meaning, you might get a smirk or some fun play from a Disney Villain, but with the SW characters Disney has always been true to the character. During Star Wars Weekends many complained how the villains stayed pretty much in character even if kids would cry or people would run away, I like it that they don't change who they are, that's why it's tricky taking kids to meet Kylo
The other thing that doesn't help is the mask and the inability totalk. Usually when Kylo sees kids that are scared he walks a coupleof steps away and just waits for the pic

We saw Kylo last week. This was a top priority for my 18 year old daughter. We waited in a pretty long line (the one for Chewy was longer though) We are 6 adults, the 18 year old was the youngest in our group. Our plan was that I would take pictures of the 4 adult kids with Kylo. When we walked in the handlers were very gruff with us. They told us to put down our stuff and line up against the wall. Kylo comes in and THEY take a picture. We were not allowed to take a picture ourselves, they take one to sell you. We didn't have photopass but we still got a copy of the picture on our MDE that we could buy. We didn't. Our Kylo did not say anything, or if he did it was inaudible. He did not interact with us, we stood in a line and he stood at one end of our line. It was very awkward.

Funny, my daughter, the huge Kylo fan, said later "I don't know whether to be ticked off about that or in awe about how serious they took it"
The whole thing was weird, and we were very disappointed that WE could not take a picture.
My husband actually said he thought Kylo was a cardboard cut out. He didn't see him move at all. That's how non-interactive he was.

The handlers try and keep the line moving so they want you to take maybe 1 or 2 pics. When it's a large group they fear that each person will want a selfie, but if your intent was to take the pic and not be in the pic you could've told them. They cannot deny a person from taking the picture. The handlers are supposed to be in character as well, many people don't know that and think they are just being mean

 

[laceemouse]

Star Wars characters have always been the most in character, meaning, you might get a smirk or some fun play from a Disney Villain, but with the SW characters Disney has always been true to the character. During Star Wars Weekends many complained how the villains stayed pretty much in character even if kids would cry or people would run away, I like it that they don't change who they are, that's why it's tricky taking kids to meet Kylo
The other thing that doesn't help is the mask and the inability totalk. Usually when Kylo sees kids that are scared he walks a coupleof steps away and just waits for the pic


The handlers try and keep the line moving so they want you to take maybe 1 or 2 pics. When it's a large group they fear that each person will want a selfie, but if your intent was to take the pic and not be in the pic you could've told them. They cannot deny a person from taking the picture. The handlers are supposed to be in character as well, many people don't know that and think they are just being mean

Wish I would have known going in what it was going to be like, we really wanted for me to take a picture of the others in our group. We are rule followers, when we were told to "line up against the wall" we did it. It wasn't that we thought they were mean so much as we thought "this is the way they do it and we didn't know that going in". I am not the kind to say "well, you can't stop me from taking a picture when I want to" kind of person. It didn't really cross my mind that I was still allowed to take one.

 

[yulilin3]

Wish I would have known going in what it was going to be like, we really wanted for me to take a picture of the others in our group. We are rule followers, when we were told to "line up against the wall" we did it. It wasn't that we thought they were mean so much as we thought "this is the way they do it and we didn't know that going in". I am not the kind to say "well, you can't stop me from taking a picture when I want to" kind of person. It didn't really cross my mind that I was still allowed to take one.

They were just playing the part. If you come back we have an entire thread devoted to all things star wars at dhs

 

[dburg30]

What ever you do, do not try to hug Kylo Ren. DD21 tried that, and he tried to run away and the handlers kinda freaked out. It made for a very awkward photo afterwards.

I will second this. The kids my DD12 was with tried to hug Kylo Ren and we were all asked to leave. No photo after that! It was not good!

I get that Kylo doesnt want to get hugged, but really? No photo? Maybe I'm missing something, I get that Kylo is not a friendly character, but no picture? And handlers freaking out?

 

[jhaig]

I wonder if Kylo's handlers are playing along with the whole dark side thing. They were really abrupt and fell just short of being complete jerks to my family. "Either stand together now or no one gets a picture!" was what they told us. So, being the reasonable person I am, I waved my hand in front of Kylo very Jedi-like and said "You WILL pose for photos with us". He failed to see the humor, but it shut the handlers up real quick. It's Disney people, lighten up!

 

[AngiTN]

I guess we've been lucky. We've never had weird or rude interactions with Kylo or his handlers.
Sure they have been in character, as in quite serious about everything but we were never hurried along, spoken to harshly or anything like that.
I get being in character but something seems quite off about them refusing to continue the M&G just from a hug

 

[Tucker24]

My 4 year old son wants to dress up as darth vader at DHS and during the meet and greets with Chewie and Kylo Ren. That should be interesting and hopefully Chewie doesn't scare him off

 

[BudgieMama]

I loved my Chewie meet! I'd been given a BB8 Cup as a bit of pixie dust that day (and was walking around hugging him to my chest because I was so excited about having him, and it was only about 20 minutes before I went for the meets). We'd had a storm trooper patrol whilst we were in the queue, so I congratulated Chewie on finding a safe place and warned him there were storm troopers around and he needed to be careful. He played along nicely, we had some great hugs, and I walked out with a huge grin on my face.

Kylo was posting a 10 minute wait (Chewie had a 20 minute one, but in practise it was 5 minutes), so I decided to meet him too as I had time before I had to meet my husband- it was about a 2 minute wait for possibly the scariest experience I've ever had at WDW. I've met Star Wars characters before: Vader, the Storm Troopers, Boba Fett with the 501st over here in the UK and they were awesome. I met Darth Maul at Villains Unleashed and although neither of us spoke it was one of the best character meets I had, and I got great photos... but I found Kylo terrifying and didn't know how to react at all. I didn't know how to respond to what he said, so I was just very quiet.

I think I'd prefer if he didn't talk, and also if you could see him as you wait: standing in the queue for Maul, I could plan my responses and poses as I watched how he interacted with other guests, and it resulted in a fun meet despite his intimidating nature (and his deliberate attempts to intimidate!). As I left the meet with Kylo (which I'm glad I did, but I probably wouldn't do again!!) there was a CM outside who I turned to and admitted I'd just found the experience very scary- his response "Yeah, it's not Disney in there, is it?"

 

[dburg30]

I totally get the 'character of it' but at the end of the day, if we TRULY didnt get a picture because of an interaction, well, let's just say, the power of the dark side might come out... At the end of the day, it is still Disney, that people pay good money for. After all of the role play, reset, take the picture and move along, move along..

 

[Stargellstars]

My family went to the meet and greets in June. I wore a Han Solo t-shirt to the Kylo Ren Meet and greet and told him I was here to take him home to his mother. The reaction was priceless. He REALLY stayed in character!