Has character meet and greets become not what they used to be at Disneyland or DCA?

[DodgerGirl]

If you used to visit Disneyland as a child your favorite part was meeting the characters and having fun talking to them and getting autographs from characters was a special joy for you growing up. But if you have visited Disneyland or DCA now ever since full character meet and greets have returned last year I feel they haven't been the same and I want to know why? Because I've read that people and kids often are rushed when trying to meet a character now and I can't figure it out? Take for example when people and kids try to meet a character the character just says Hello to the child that's in line and then talk for a few minutes to the child then while the child holds his/her autograph book out the character seems to ignore the child and the child "even though he/she has his/her autograph book in the hands" the character ignores it and then moves on to the next person and the previous child is left with no autograph and no hug and I think that this is a new habit that the face characters as well as the masked characters are doing at Disneyland and at DCA too. When I would visit Disneyland when I was a little girl the characters interacted well with me and I never witnessed no problem with character meet and greets. What I think they are doing this is to see how many people they will attract to the meet and greet. And not only does this habit happen at the parks but also at character breakfasts too because if you go to a character breakfast you hardly see characters interact with diners and they just wave without signing autographs for people at the character breakfasts. I think this is a new image of character meet and greets at Disneyland and DCA and they should quit this habit and improve the experience for kids and people
Has anyone noticed this and did it ever happen to you?

 

[KPeterso]

If you used to visit Disneyland as a child your favorite part was meeting the characters and having fun talking to them and getting autographs from characters was a special joy for you growing up. But if you have visited Disneyland or DCA now ever since full character meet and greets have returned last year I feel they haven't been the same and I want to know why? Because I've read that people and kids often are rushed when trying to meet a character now and I can't figure it out? Take for example when people and kids try to meet a character the character just says Hello to the child that's in line and then talk for a few minutes to the child then while the child holds his/her autograph book out the character seems to ignore the child and the child "even though he/she has his/her autograph book in the hands" the character ignores it and then moves on to the next person and the previous child is left with no autograph and no hug and I think that this is a new habit that the face characters as well as the masked characters are doing at Disneyland and at DCA too. When I would visit Disneyland when I was a little girl the characters interacted well with me and I never witnessed no problem with character meet and greets. What I think they are doing this is to see how many people they will attract to the meet and greet. And not only does this habit happen at the parks but also at character breakfasts too because if you go to a character breakfast you hardly see characters interact with diners and they just wave without signing autographs for people at the character breakfasts. I think this is a new image of character meet and greets at Disneyland and DCA and they should quit this habit and improve the experience for kids and people
Has anyone noticed this and did it ever happen to you?

I actually much prefer character meet and greets now compared to when I was a kid. When I was a kid, there were never any lines and it was just a mass of people around the characters and everyone pushing their kid up to be next. I have some cute pics of me as a kid with the characters, but nothing special. But I have had a lot of great meets with the characters. I wait my time in the lines and get my hug and pictures and move along. Usually chat a minute or so too. I am not and never been into the autograph thing, but I have seen plenty of kids getting autographs from the characters in the park. And had little kids show me their nearly full autograph books while waiting in the line to meet the characters.

 

[DodgerGirl]

What I think Disneyland has done to the character meet and greets ever since they brought them back fully in April is I think for years Disneyland and DCA have been experimenting with new ways to meet characters without having to wait in line so long and so I think Disneyland is starting this new image for character meet and greets. Because when my family used to wait in line to meet characters my mother and I would see some characters spend two hours trying to sign three autograph books for three kids and the characters would spend the rest of the hour talking with the other kids in the families we would see. But when it was our turn the families would say good bye to the characters and leave when we would have our turn. I mean can't families let their kids say hello to Mickey Mouse get a hug and an autograph then say good bye and thank you? This has been a long pet peeve I have with character meet and greets at Disneyland and DCA

 

[starlite_]

I highly doubt the character handlers let 3 kids spend 2 hours with a character if there was a line. You are an adult, let little kids (and other adults if they want!) have a nice interaction with the character they lined up for.

 

[KPeterso]

What I think Disneyland has done to the character meet and greets ever since they brought them back fully in April is I think for years Disneyland and DCA have been experimenting with new ways to meet characters without having to wait in line so long and so I think Disneyland is starting this new image for character meet and greets. Because when my family used to wait in line to meet characters my mother and I would see some characters spend two hours trying to sign three autograph books for three kids and the characters would spend the rest of the hour talking with the other kids in the families we would see. But when it was our turn the families would say good bye to the characters and leave when we would have our turn. I mean can't families let their kids say hello to Mickey Mouse get a hug and an autograph then say good bye and thank you? This has been a long pet peeve I have with character meet and greets at Disneyland and DCA

I have never ever seen what you describe here. Characters spend at most about 3-4 minutes with each family (signing autographs, giving hugs, and pictures) before saying goodbye and moving to the next family.

 

[mlggator22]

I was just at Disneyland/DCA and saw some characters as well as went to Goofy's Kitchen.
In DCA I was in the waiting area for Animation Academy and several characters were there since it was raining. While I was there, Goofy, Minnie, Oswald and Max goof came out. All characters spent 2-4 minutes with each family and some a little more. I saw all of them sign autographs.
At Goofy's kitchen, I had Chip and Dale, pluto and Minnie come to my table while we were there. All of them were spending time with families. Many posed for pictures and we had a few sign our autograph book. So I am not experiencing what you are.

 

[mlggator22]

One thing to remember, is that the characters come out for 15 to 30 min shifts, depending on the character, and then they MUST leave. They cannot be out for longer than that. They are required to leave and rest before they come out again. So maybe you came when they were finishing a set and were hurrying to finish up before they had to leave.