The Future of Disneyland Character Meet And Greets

[DodgerGirl]

What do you think Disneyland character meet and greets will be like if and when Disneyland decides to make them return again? My view of this is that Disneyland will make them free with autographs but for photos and additional stuff like character photos and interactions like hugs will cost a fee. But if you just want to talk to the face characters that will be free without autographs. And Disneyland would have special social hours for guests after every parade to take photos and have interaction with each character for a cheaper price included with park admission and a special ticket. Why character meet and greets have become a annoying pain to do at Disneyland i'll never figure out. Or Disneyland should offer the character autographs by mail without waiting in line for guests free of charge

 

[DodgerGirl]

I do hope Disneyland brings back Character Meet And Greets soon because I truly think it is weird to have the characters just wave to people and Character Meet And Greets are one of the main things families and kids do at Disneyland aside from riding the rides and seeing the shows and parades because in my eyes if this is gonna be the new image of character meet and greets for Disneyland I bet many people will not go because of this. And I wonder how the character actors feel about this new no hugging rule and no autographs rule that they have? Because I can see children crying about not hugging Mickey Mouse or talking with the princesses and Disney should've let characters hug and interact with the kids. Because as I mentioned that's what makes a child's Disneyland trip special and getting autographs of characters is a special hobby during a trip. As I also mentioned when Character Meet And Greets do resume at Disneyland I hope that they don't start charging people to meet them because if they start Disneyland will get a lot of complaints

 

[DodgerGirl]

I also hope when Disneyland brings back meet and greets that they don't make people stand in line for two or three hours just to get a character autograph. Because that's something that I have never ever figured out about Disneyland because when I first went there when I was a little girl the characters would simply walk around the park and they had Kodak Picture Spots to take pictures with the characters and get autographs easily. But I think once meet and greets return to Disneyland they will improve and get more chances to meet characters easily. Because I think the biggest annoyance is having people wait a long time to meet characters and I hope it gets fixed

 

[Dr. G]

Good thoughts and questions. My opinion, for what it is worth, is that character meet and greets will eventually be back basically like they were before, no charge and potentially long lines. It would be interesting to hear what the characters think about the current situation. I'd imagine it's mixed. Probably nice to not have to worry about potentially getting overrun by kids, but probably missing the personal interaction and up-close joy in a child's eyes.

 

[DodgerGirl]

What I think Disneyland will do to improve the character meet and greets is bring back Kodak Picture Spots so that people can meet characters more easily as I mentioned in my earlier post but Disneyland should invent a app that families can download to their phones that lets them know what characters will be doing meet and greets and when it's time a text will appear saying this and I'll use Black Panther as an example for this. "BLACK PANTHER WILL BE MEETING TODAY AT AVENGERS CAMPUS PLEASE TEXT YOUR NAME TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT IN LINE" and once families text their name to the message it would be easier to meet characters easily and it can also save time and it's a wonderful invention that would make Disneyland a lot of money. Another thing that could work is to have the characters write virtual autograph cards that you can download from your phone that features a personalized message that you can ask the character handler to ask the character to write and once it's done you will be given a code to access the same card to download to your computer and it would be a great souvenir for your children and a wonderful reminder of your Disneyland trip

 

[DodgerGirl]

Why I think Disneyland's character meet and greets have turned into such an annoying pain is the fact that you have to go meet a bunch of characters before meeting the main character when you do meet and greets and get autographs and I hope this improves very much when meet and greets return. Because if families want to meet Tiana for example I find it shocking that they have to meet Ariel Snow White and Jasmine before meeting Tiana. Why can't you skip the other characters and go straight to meet Tiana? I think Disneyland will do away with this rule when character meet and greets return to make them better. And as I mentioned before Disneyland should offer the autographs by mail to save time getting autographs from characters

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Pictures are so much more valuable than the autographs for my kids. I'd like to see more opportunities for pictures and somehow streamlining the actual autograph part (if it returns).

 

[DodgerGirl]

I also think that Disneyland will give families the option of letting the kids choose between an autograph or a baseball like trading card with the character's autograph already printed but in my eyes the lines will be improved and have a limit up to three families and they will still have the Virtual Hugs option for photos for those who don't want to wait in line

 

[DodgerGirl]

What I think Disneyland should also do to improve character meet and greets when they return is let each family have a turn up to five minutes with the character then once five minutes are up another family has a turn. I also can't figure out why Disneyland lets families spend a whole two hours with a character and when I used to go to Disneyland as a kid Mom and I used to spend two hours trying to get one autograph from a princess or Mickey Mouse and this habit Disneyland should inprove on once character meet and greets resume

 

[Karin1984]

What I think Disneyland should also do to improve character meet and greets when they return is let each family have a turn up to five minutes with the character then once five minutes are up another family has a turn. I also can't figure out why Disneyland lets families spend a whole two hours with a character and when I used to go to Disneyland as a kid Mom and I used to spend two hours trying to get one autograph from a princess or Mickey Mouse and this habit Disneyland should inprove on once character meet and greets resume

5 minutes per group is 12 groups per hour can meet a character. On an 8 hour work day, that means less than 100 groups per day can meet character x. With an average of 3 people per group, that's 300 people on an average of 50.000 people who visit Disneyland per day.
Making the meets longer might improve the experience for a small group of people, but upsets a bigger group who cannot meet the character.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I currently like the cavalcades at WDW. I also believe Disney currently has safety priority for guest and the castmember. For this reason, I hope the meet greets do not return.
I recently saw a video of the new style meet greet at Tusker House (AK) and thought it was adorable. The characters were in safari costumes and were strutting their style fashion show design with fun music through-out the restaurant. Seated guests were having as much fun as the characters. Daisy was getting sassy with her personality.
Characters have many designer outfits for all seasons and events and I would love to see more of them.
I also wish Disney would create character postcards with their signatures to distribute or sell in gift shops. Not only are their costumes creative…so are their autographs! I would buy them all!

Wouldnt you love a Disney Cruise Postcard similar to this trading pin ?

 

[HelsBels16]

I currently like the cavalcades at WDW. I also believe Disney currently has safety priority for guest and the castmember. For this reason, I hope the meet greets do not return.

My experience was at DLP but probably very similar. I really enjoyed the more spontaneous new meet & greet style, with less queuing, and it felt more like his I remember the traditional experience when I first visited DLP & WDW in the mid-90s, where characters would wander through the park and pop up more randomly and you could just run up to them

 

[DodgerGirl]

Character autograph postcards would be a wonderful idea for Disneyland to do to improve the meet and greets in addition to character autographs in autograph books. And it would save parents a lot of time for kids that aren't ready to meet characters or do not wish to wait in line to meet characters at the parks. I wonder why Disneyland has never thought of this idea before?

 

[Epicnemesis]

Meet and greets need to have a picture and an autograph. Presumably the person meeting and greeting is a child, my now 5 1/2 year old remembers very little from Disneyland despite going twice a month since she was 4 months old. She has no memory of meeting and greeting, but we have videos, signatures and pictures that she loves of her and the characters. There wouldn’t be much point in having a 3 year old for example meet and greet only to forget the experience at 3 1/2. There is something so personal about the picture and signature book that a post card cannot touch.

 

[Malcon10t]

I also can't figure out why Disneyland lets families spend a whole two hours with a character and when I used to go to Disneyland as a kid Mom and I used to spend two hours trying to get one autograph from a princess or Mickey Mouse and this habit Disneyland should inprove on once character meet and greets resume

I have NEVER seen any character spend 2 hours with a single family. They usually try to handle 1 family per minute. And while you used to see characters just wandering, guest behavior has really impacted that. A few years back I saw Mickey and Pluto out without a handler, and they were shortly thereafter mobbed.

Personally, I like having the characters as they are now. But I know people want to get "autographs" again, and I feel it will return eventually. The lines will resume. Certain characters will return in their freestyle performance. I can't wait for Peter Pan to just be somewhere.

 

[DodgerGirl]

I also hope that when Disneyland brings back character meet and greets I pray that they don't add them to the Disney Genie and make people pay an expensive amount to meet characters and get autographs. Because character meet and greets and autographs are supposed to be free with admission but I can bet with Disney Genie people will probably need to make reservations to meet Mickey Mouse or the princesses but if Disneyland starts doing this people will get angry because one of the joys is meeting characters and people shouldn't pay to meet them and get autographs

 

[Karin1984]

I also hope that when Disneyland brings back character meet and greets I pray that they don't add them to the Disney Genie and make people pay an expensive amount to meet characters and get autographs. Because character meet and greets and autographs are supposed to be free with admission but I can bet with Disney Genie people will probably need to make reservations to meet Mickey Mouse or the princesses but if Disneyland starts doing this people will get angry because one of the joys is meeting characters and people shouldn't pay to meet them and get autographs

You do not need Genie + to ride or do anything. You can always wait. You pay for shorter lines.

Go watch the video Disney has released to explain the process.

 

[DodgerGirl]

When character meet and greets return to Disneyland I hope that they do improve them by giving guests handy protocol that everyone can follow and rules too and here's some of the rules they can enforce,
1, No grabbing characters or shoving them to get autographs. As my mother tried to do with Mushu but Mom and I were incredibly lucky that no handler caught Mom grabbing Mushu's tail this is probably one of the biggest things people do to characters to keep them from running away
2. No bullying other people to cut in line to meet characters. Because if a character handler catches people doing this they will be forced to exit the line
3. Character handlers should ask each family this question "Do you need to take your son/daughter to the restroom or get him/her something to eat" before meeting the characters. Because I read that even if you take a snack break or a bathroom break families tend to lose their spot in line and they will not let you back in line again
4. Keep a handy close eye on children and if they start bad behavior in line the character handler will remove the misbehaving child
With rules like this the character meet and greets would be much better and would be an improvement to Disneyland visitors who want to see characters and meet them

 

[Malcon10t]

I think most of those are kind of rules already. I'm sorry your mom behaves like that. If caught, depending on the situation, security gets involved. As for taking a snack break and leaving the line, you lose your place. You need to leave someone in line.

 

[Karin1984]

When character meet and greets return to Disneyland I hope that they do improve them by giving guests handy protocol that everyone can follow and rules too and here's some of the rules they can enforce,
1, No grabbing characters or shoving them to get autographs. As my mother tried to do with Mushu but Mom and I were incredibly lucky that no handler caught Mom grabbing Mushu's tail this is probably one of the biggest things people do to characters to keep them from running away
2. No bullying other people to cut in line to meet characters. Because if a character handler catches people doing this they will be forced to exit the line
3. Character handlers should ask each family this question "Do you need to take your son/daughter to the restroom or get him/her something to eat" before meeting the characters. Because I read that even if you take a snack break or a bathroom break families tend to lose their spot in line and they will not let you back in line again
4. Keep a handy close eye on children and if they start bad behavior in line the character handler will remove the misbehaving child
With rules like this the character meet and greets would be much better and would be an improvement to Disneyland visitors who want to see characters and meet them

With #4 you mean misbehaving people. Adults can be worse than children, as your mom demonstrated with Mushu.

And most is in place, they are normal rules for decent behaviour. #3, a character handler is not a babysitter. A parent has to do these checks themselves or lose their place. #2 that is what you get with roaming characters without a line. A character handler cannot see everything, they can miss who was first. It is up to parents / normal decent behaviour to keep everything nice.