JC Butterfly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 8, 1999
The cast was myself, Heidi, & Janet (all age 29).
I've always wanted to try this experience as it sounded like so much fun!
i underestimated how long it would take us to get there. We rented a home not far from the Animal Kingdom and it took us about 25 minutes to drive to Fort Wilderness. Then we got on the wrong bus at the campground and it took about 20 minutes to get to the drop off point. Then we had to wait in line to pick up our tickets at will call. Then walk back to the BBQ.
It started at 6:30 and we were about 10 minutes late. At that point all of the tables around the dance floor were full and people were bustling through the food lines.
Maybe it was because were were late but the whole thing felt hectic. We had to balance food and drinks on paper plates. It is in a covered area but not fully enclosed. It was somewhat windy where we sat so our napkins etc blew about a little. the chicken was very tasty. I didn't care for the ribs. The corn on the cob was a bit "soggy" but still good and the watermelon was delicious!
The band was very loud. I'm not a big country music fan but Heidi absolutely loved it and thought they were quite good.
When the characters came out it was a free for all. The character escorts did not do a good job of helping with crowd control and we stood back and watched as parents pushed their children towards the characters.
One child, about 5 years old, found it particularly fun to come up and spank Mickey on the butt as hard as he could. The escort did nothing. The child's parents did nothing. Mickey kept looking for help but nobody did anything. Finally after watching the child do it about 4 times I knelt down and said that wasn't a nice thing to do to someone that you like and that wasn't the best way to get Mickey's attention. Either out of surprise or sheer dumb luck the child stopped hitting Mickey and Mickey blew me a kiss, that was a nice moment.
After the first dance routine Minnie worked one half of the room for autographs and pictures while Mickey worked the other. The characters moved around very very quickly but everyone was able to get a photo if they wanted.
They taught line dancing, the Cotton-Eyed Joe, the macarana. There were lasso tricks and a fiddle tune with Chip and Dale.
I enjoyed the experience and if you enjoy the music and dancing it was a very good value for your money. Not the best for long term one on one character interaction but where else can you dance with the characters?
I was constantly nervous for the safety of the kids on the dance floor though. With pushy parents or sometimes absent parents, I'd want to be extra careful.
I don't think I'd go back but was very glad I tried it.
I've always wanted to try this experience as it sounded like so much fun!
i underestimated how long it would take us to get there. We rented a home not far from the Animal Kingdom and it took us about 25 minutes to drive to Fort Wilderness. Then we got on the wrong bus at the campground and it took about 20 minutes to get to the drop off point. Then we had to wait in line to pick up our tickets at will call. Then walk back to the BBQ.
It started at 6:30 and we were about 10 minutes late. At that point all of the tables around the dance floor were full and people were bustling through the food lines.
Maybe it was because were were late but the whole thing felt hectic. We had to balance food and drinks on paper plates. It is in a covered area but not fully enclosed. It was somewhat windy where we sat so our napkins etc blew about a little. the chicken was very tasty. I didn't care for the ribs. The corn on the cob was a bit "soggy" but still good and the watermelon was delicious!
The band was very loud. I'm not a big country music fan but Heidi absolutely loved it and thought they were quite good.
When the characters came out it was a free for all. The character escorts did not do a good job of helping with crowd control and we stood back and watched as parents pushed their children towards the characters.
One child, about 5 years old, found it particularly fun to come up and spank Mickey on the butt as hard as he could. The escort did nothing. The child's parents did nothing. Mickey kept looking for help but nobody did anything. Finally after watching the child do it about 4 times I knelt down and said that wasn't a nice thing to do to someone that you like and that wasn't the best way to get Mickey's attention. Either out of surprise or sheer dumb luck the child stopped hitting Mickey and Mickey blew me a kiss, that was a nice moment.
After the first dance routine Minnie worked one half of the room for autographs and pictures while Mickey worked the other. The characters moved around very very quickly but everyone was able to get a photo if they wanted.
They taught line dancing, the Cotton-Eyed Joe, the macarana. There were lasso tricks and a fiddle tune with Chip and Dale.
I enjoyed the experience and if you enjoy the music and dancing it was a very good value for your money. Not the best for long term one on one character interaction but where else can you dance with the characters?
I was constantly nervous for the safety of the kids on the dance floor though. With pushy parents or sometimes absent parents, I'd want to be extra careful.
I don't think I'd go back but was very glad I tried it.
