5 Disney Characters I Didn't Like to Work With - Confessions of a Theme Park Worker
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- Most of the characters at Walt Disney World were great to work with, but there were a handful that weren't. And a couple of them were just the pits and meant a very long, not so pleasant day. These were the ones that were the worst for me to work with.
A behind the scenes look at what a former worker at Disney World, Silver Dollar City, and Busch Gardens Florida experienced in his time working at the parks. From driving large safari trucks around live wild animals while cracking one silly joke after another, to spending 5 years as a #PhotoPass photographer at #WaltDisneyWorld and seeing and experiencing all sorts of things, to being a conductor and #trainrobber on the famous Frisco Silver Dollar Line at #SilverDollarCity. With 10 years of working in the parks, there's lots of stories to tell. Here is some of them...
Not only did I work in theme parks for 10 years, I've visited a whole lot of them as well. Here's some stories of great visits, not so great visits, favorites, reviews, and much more.
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The playhouse Disney characters at the beginning dusted a part of my brain that I haven't dusted in almost 20 years
Fantastic character encounter: Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, etc at the Crystal Palace. There were three generations of us there and Winnie and his pals made as much of a fuss over the grandparents as they did the grandchildren. Loved every minute!
I had a very magical moment with Stitch! My friends have a full vid and I replay it (just got back not even a month ago) meeting Stitch was truly delightful! And yes I’m the crazy that must go to Disney Springs to be “Christened by Stitch” outside of World of Disney! It’s a must do!
When we went to Tokyo Disney we were surprised by Duffy. They had more Duffy merchandise than any other character.
I'm surprised Two Shot wasn't fired on the spot when she tried to pull all that with you. Disney especially seems way too strict to tolerate that for a week let alone a year! And with the Cars characters I thought they'd have someone backstage or something so Mater and Lightning could at least talk with guests! Or even blink! Just make them statues at that point! Wow
Two shot had been there for a long time before us, so I think they were trying to be respectful of her seniority. But that's just a guess. She didn't really aggravate the guests- most wouldn't have know or would have wondered a bit. But the photographers was a different story.
and no, no one backstage for the cars. It wasn't how they worked. They were actually rolling vehicles that could drive, so that wouldn't have worked.
yeah I don't consider the cars one an actual meet and greet. they where just posing with some cars. lol.
Oh yes, as a lifelong Cars fan, I was *very* disappointed when I went to the Lightning McQueen and Mater meet and greet at Hollywood Studios several years ago and discovered they were basically statues. The new ones at the Lightning McQueen Racing Academy as well as the ones at the Cars 3 promo tour were the same way, albeit with no professional photographers.
I hear the ones in California actually move and talk, though!
Most of them are reasonable as to why they’d be on your list. The limitations on what certain characters can do certainly bog down a meet. Perhaps they could meet guests in some other form like through a screen, much like what Crush does in Turtle Talk?
Duffy and his friends deserve a second chance here in the States though. They’re so cute and huggable!
I remember the little cardboard duffys on a stick you would take to the different pavilions and get stamped. That was cool for 5 year old me.
I love meeting characters but I sometimes find face characters more difficult to meet because it’s more unexpected since they can talk. Had a wonderful time with peter and Wendy but when I met Cinderella it just felt quite stiff. I don’t blame Cindy at all but when I tried to joke about or make conversation it seemed very stiff as if she was worried to stray off the path of certain lines. Might just be Cinderella’s personality though that I wasn’t ready for. I’d absolutely love to meet rapunzel though since she’s bubbly :) my favourite meet and greet was definitely chip n dale! Absolutely perfect interaction and perfect friends of the chipmunks.
My guess would be that "Two Shot" was accustomed to things being done a certain way (at the time that is), and perceived any big changes to the system as an affront to them or something. Certainly not an excuse for their behavior, but a possible reason behind it? *shrug*
My grandson loved Duffy. He hugged him so long we thought he fell asleep. 😆
Aww, that's adorable
Two Shot does sound like a pain in the butt, and I wonder who they were friends with, lol.
I like meeting characters but I do feel I am quite awkward with face characters. The worst was Krisoff, as my sister and I didn't know we were going to meet him! He was right before Anna and Elsa. In the end, it was a goofy and fun interaction, but it was still somewhat awkward. :P
I was surprised to hear King Louis had a mobility issue.
I must've had a really talented friend of the Jungle book guys.
When I was 13 I met King Louis and Baloo in Animal kingdom and was wearing a Steamboat Willie set of Mickey Ears. King Louis was able to poke and pat the little steamboat cap on top of these ears. So I just started making sounds mimicking the Steamboat whistle.
King Louie must've had a good friend showing him how to reach that whistle.
I still remember that week a lot. It gave me a lot of confidence that a bunch of the characters laughed at my jokes. That got me into theater and eventually preaching.
Your new background looks good with the new curtains. How did someone like two shot become a character in the first place? It sounds like she wasn't happy doing it.
She was there long before the photographers, so it wasn't an issue for most of her time
One time my family and I met Mickey at the character spot in Epcot and when I walked up to him he had some of his “skin” up and I could see the persons skin that was playing Mickey. I became terrified and I hid behind him for the picture😅 I also met Duffy too! He was great to meet; most likely since I knew his backstory. I have a plushie of him☺️
Oh wow haha. I had a similar experience with Tigger from the Winnie the Pooh meet and greet in Magic Kingdom. I was about 10 or so at the time. He and Pooh signed my autograph book. Then Tigger took the pen and hid it in his 'sleeve' and messed around a bit. It was a memorable interaction for the most part. But it was really weird when he showed me the pen in his sleeve and motioned me to pull it out. I never told anyone with me where the pen actualy was. I only told them he hid to from me lol. But i also had a weird interaction in Character Spot, too. Must be something about that place. Mickey was hyperventilating and shaking and I could hear very heavy breathing. I thought it was weird and it made me very uncomfortable. I still feel bad for Mickey since I know it's very hot and tiring. Thanks for sharing your story!
@@marley__ oh wow what a story! That reminds me of another story I had. When I went to go meet Jessie in 2017 at magic kingdom in frontier land, I walked up to her and the person in the costume started to chuckle… it sounded so creepy and it sounded like a man’s chuckle in a very deep voice and I could also hear breathing inside of the costume… I got scared and tried to play it off cool. Once I also met a rare character, the king lion (I forgot his name) from the movie Robin Hood I think it was, and I went to hug him and my hand slid up his “arm” and I had a bit of trouble getting it out & it was scary too haha. His arms weren’t fully secured so I think that’s why it happened. It was also a character in training because he was just casually walking around Mainstreet USA. Thanks for sharing your story too! It was fun to read :D
I know about Duffy too. I'm kinda disappointed that I missed when he was in Orlando.
@@ashleysimmons3210 wow thats kinda terrifying haha! Youre welcome! Your story is fascinating, too :)
Another spectacular video! Well done!
In terms of Duffy, I think he needs to be met in Japan to really understand his appeal. I know a couple of WDW regulars who say when you meet him there it all makes sense. Some going so far as to say he was a highlight of the trip. I'll definitely go visit him on a future Japan trip.
ugh I want to meet him in Japan really bad now. I like Duffy.
I live for your character stories! I love character encounters at all theme parks and love and appreciate the hard work bringing the characters to life. Though I agree some characters can be off and even you try to liven the session up they would be "PHOTO PHOTO PLEASE!". I get it I am a CM and we have those days but at the end of the day you still gotta do your role and make people as happy as you can. I don't like being shoved aside because the characters and CM just wanna get out of there.
Baymax from Big Hero 6 is similar to Sully. No signatures or hugs. Can't even do the finger thing from the movie.
Oh yeah that’s a good one too. Unless Hiro is there to balance it out, Baymax isn’t really worth the time. Learned that the hard way.
yes, very close. I didn't think of him because he wasn't around when I worked there
Another example of a limited movement character is Wreck-It Ralph. Not that great when alone, but when Vanelope is with him, the meet is much more memorable!
I can definitely understand why Duffy isn't as known here in the States. Duffy had a rocky start to begin with, but that can be chalked up to poor marketing, I think. The character started out as rather generic to mark the opening of the Once Upon a Toy Store in Disney Springs. Back then, Duffy was just called 'the Disney Bear'. He did come in different colors, but beyond that, he was a generic teddy bear in appearance besides having Mickey shapes on his face and paws. His story as 'the Disney Bear' was also kind of generic, with him being Mickey's teddy bear who was brought to life by Tinker Bell when Mickey wished for a friend. The Disney Bear was taken off the shelves after only a couple of years. It wasn't until the Oriental Land Company picked up the character the same year and gave Duffy a proper character persona (name, backstory, home in the parks, shows) that the character took off. Duffy's base appearance is the same, but the OLC added costumes that you can dress your Duffy or friend in. I wouldn't mind having Duffy and Friends back in the United States, but I understand that they're something foreign here, particularly for the more casual fan or for those who are mostly familiar with just the domestic parks.
The only character my family saw in Disneyland in 2005 was Huck Finn on Tom Sawyers Island. He tried to give my little sister a wet willie.
I didn't even realize they had Huck Finn come out to meet guests. Wow, that's a rare one.
@@SirWillow I didn’t know that was rare. We weren’t really there for the characters. We were there to ride the rides.
Really too bad to ear about Mike and Sully- clearly sounds like the early Toy Story character design, where you have a walk around designed to promote a movie, and not really for meet and greet, and guest interaction. I kind of feel Disney tool these 'hall costumes' and put them into the park without really thinking about how well they'd actually work. Sure the costume looks pretty, it's a character, but can it function?!
2:00 - WARNING! NSFC!
Thanks for sharing the worst and the best.
Great video. 😀👍♥️
Poor Duffy and you made alot of good points throughout the whole video lol
I actually got a chance to meet Duffy at Disney World back in 2015 and I never realized he was from Tokyo. It’s a shame he didn’t last long.
At least dj (another cars character) can play music and flash strobelights.
When my friend and I were in Hollywood Studios back in 2017 we were the only two adults without children in line to see Sofia the First. No regrets-- we love the show, haha. She was great and very sweet and polite as expected, probably excited that we weren't little kids tugging on her dress lol. Can't speak for the other Disney Jr. characters (Sofia and Elena were much better than they had any right to be and were the exceptions lol), but Sofia was a super fun experience for us!
I love the design of Duffy. So sad they don't push him more here. He needs the books and maybe a Disney plus show and maybe a short dumbo length movie. Im a bear collecter. Cannot afford a Duffy.
Also the cars cars need their human voices somehow. Get the voice actors record some meet and greet lines they can play. Maybe get them with animatronics in eyes or mouths for a magic Micky effect for the cars
The worst character interaction my family had was in 2000. My mother just got a limited edition Cinderella pin with the signature “2000” with the Mickey ears. It was apparently very hard to come by since everyone wanted it. When she went to meet Chip and Dale, Chip admired her hat which the pin was on so he gestured to borrow it to look at. When he handed it back, the pin was gone. Despite my mother reporting this, there was nothing that was done about it so she managed to buy a new pin after some searching. To this day I think she still resents Chip.
As an aside, I just want to mention happy birthday mickey mouse. November 18, 1928 was the day steamboat Willie premired, thus starting a 93 year long career.
Sounds like Two Shot could have use one shot to begin with. May God bless you and yours.
She was actively losing Disney profit! Every photo she didn't let you take could have been a photo purchased or better yet, that pic that made the guests buy the whole package! Like does anyone know what her side of the story was? The only thing I can think of is she honestly felt like a celebrity whose copyrighted image was valuable and her contract between her representation and the paparazzi company only allowed for two photos and anything more than that wasn't payed for. Except in this case, they are both Disney!!! It makes no sense! In fact it would make more sense if YOU were the one who insisted on only taking 2 photos and performing the bare minimum job duties!
Now I'm really curious to find out which character or characters two shot played???
I'm not saying, but those that worked with her- or likely met her- will know instantly. :-)
Ok just gotta throw it out there, I saw Vampirina on her own in Disney and went up to her for a pic (I'm an adult) and she was an absolute delight. Probably my fave character I met because she was so full of life
Thank you for sharing your experience! I love meeting all different types of character friends
Two Shot was the worst. I hated working with her as well.
Aggressively doing the V sign with your palm facing away from the person is seen as an offensive gesture in the UK. So during the 2 Shots section, you can imagine my surprise when the usually polite-to-a-fault Sir Willow starts swearing at me. XD. Gave me a good chuckle, but if you're ever over here, it's something worth remembering. Palm facing the camera would be the inoffensive way of signing the number 2 (or indeed a victory sign) over here. :)
Ohhhh, thank you for that info! I had no idea about that one, and I usually try to be aware of things like that. I'm so sorry.
It makes me wonder if two-shot knew that, though and was not just telling us "2" but telling us off as well and we didn't know it.
@@SirWillow No need to be sorry; your intentions weren't malicious and it's not widely known outside the UK. Thought you might appreciate the head's up if you ever come visit the UK for any of our parks, though. :)
But yea, if Two-Shot did know that little factoid, she might well have been using it to give her "two"s that little extra meaning under the radar. If a British guest had caught her in the act, there might well have been complaints. :D
Yeah, in the UK they use two fingers to do what we do with one -- the middle one!
If you happen to see this, I’m curious as to which character was the hardest to shoot because they often just had you laughing too much. I know as a professional photographer you likely found ways to control that urge in order to get the shots, but there HAD to be one or two characters that just managed to break you many times over.
Thank you and God bless you as well.
there were a number of them. Donald, the Chipmunks, most of the villains, the Mad Hatter on the rare times we got to shoot him...
the funniest was one time we ended up with Minnie, Mickey and Donald together in front of the train station. That was a mad house, with Mickey and Donald fighting over who was the best, Minnie picking up on the guys and other forms of chaos.
@@SirWillow Oh that sounds like CRAZY fun and I wish I could have seen it. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Thank you SO much for answering my question.
Duffy is cute and it was always fun meeting him.
honestly my least liked character i ever met was ether cars or power rangers cars you covered in the video and power rangers because they had a time stamp i was a huge power rangers fan and i was ecstatic to meet them but i felt bad for them cause it was hug and shove which stunk now if they came up with an awsome meet and greet i would have been all for it but at the time i was bummed
I cant recall a bad character or CM in the parks - The most of them were wonderfull and the one or two times I felt less than happy it was cause my expectation going in were to high - At the secondever I tried to get them (Aladdin and Jasmine) to write theyre CMs names as well and I quickly dropped that idea. At one of the last Id expected Anna and Elsa to remember me from a few days earlier cause Pocahontas did so on mycsecond visit on my AK day. I really did not understood how much CMs could be swapoed atound characters then.
If anything I missed was group photos of characters that come in pair. I had two (the princess group and Jasmine/Alladin over a six day stay. One that I really miss and think they should do a couple is Anna and Elsa since they were marketed as meet Anna and Elsa from Frozen.
I think my fav character CMs were Rey, Pocahontas and the Evil Queen who spoiled me in different ways.
Given the downtalk of Two Shots - Did you had a character CM that you loved working with and why?
And whom the character were the best from a photographers standpoint? Johan.
I had so many character CM's that I loved working with I couldn't possibly list them all. But I did do a video on favorite characters to work with. ua-cam.com/video/wpmhGnDfSMk/v-deo.html
@@SirWillow Oh I forgot to tell you that I had the chance to help a bit at our Comic Cons 501st/Nordic Garrission and Rebel Legions boot and it was tons of fun being around Star Wars characters while helping other guests taking photos with them. I sure can understand more of what Photopass photografers and character handlers does even if it was only an hour. But Id love to do it more next fair. Johan.
Sirwillow! 2 buildings a silver dollar city burnt down!
oh myy goodness!! Ihad no idea. thank you for telling me.
www.ky3.com/2021/11/18/firefighters-respond-2-alarm-fire-silver-dollar-city/
We met Duffy at Epcot back in 2014 and my kids liked him because he was Mickeys teddy bear and there are hidden mickeys on him… he was cute and sweet with the kids
Good video. I am curious. If you could play a character, which character or characters would you want to play the most?
I think characters for a real young demographic should still have noteable personalities, and it can work. Just look at what they're doing with Bluey, or some of the fan favorites from Blue's Clues/Sesame Street.
Yikes! Two Shot sounds terrible. It's surprising to me that they kept her in that role for so long. (Even with the seniority)
Nice shirt
Ok two shot was what character?
Duffy is mickeys Teddy that Minnie made for Mickey, he became really popular in Tokyo. The story is Minnie made him for Mickey when he went to sea and put him un his duffle bag hence the name Duffy
I have a question. I'm an uncle of a 1 yr old and learning fast that little kids are unpredictable and really messy. Has there been any moments in the park where a kid messed up a charcaters outfit or even worse, had an accident on them or around them? And do u have protocols for such things happening?
Absolutely have protocols for those things. I've told a couple of stories in past videos about similar things. On the characters really isn't an issue as the characters are not allowed to hold or pick up the kids.
The only bad character meets I’ve heard of are any during COVID
It's Funny, I Watched some Meet & Greet with the Little Enstiens Characters & The One Character name I remember cause I Rewatched the Show a Bit & The Kid with the Orange Hair & Glasses is Leo....I Think 🤔 (Update, Yep it's Leo, The rest I have No Idea)
hey SirWillow love your channel i was hoping i could get some advise from you im a youtube like you and been doing it for about 2 years it started from me just going crazy in lockdown in 2020 my first few videos got a lot of views alot more than i ever expected and was vary happy and the views just keep dropping less and less and its to a point im thinking of going a new way so what im asking is any advise on how to get the views up and what should i do about editing because im not tech savy and i have tried and its like brain surgery to me? I hope you can give me some good advise i hope to get to your level some day
I've got a couple videos I produced about how to create a successful UA-cam channel. They'll give you some tips and hints. So be sure to search on my channel for those.
But my biggest advice is make sure you're having fun.. The vast majority of channels will never make a penny so if you're not enjoying it, it's not worth doing. So if you're struggling with the process of making videos because it's not fun anymore, than do something different. But if you're having fun and you want to be successful then it's going to take a lot of cross promotional work as well, and to do that constantly.
Views will go up-and-down. It's a channel cycle that's part of the process. Some times will be busier than others. But keep at it and be sure to be regular in your video posts. Sporadic posting will hurt in the algorithms.
As far as editing goes that might be my least favorite part of doing it, so find a program that you enjoy and that you're willing to spend a little bit of time to learn how to use well, so that way you can do better with it. I use Vegas but there are a bunch of different programs out there.
@@SirWillow thank you so much i will look up the videos your talking about i love what i do in the videos and its not about the money its more about getting out whats on my mind more of a video diary i guess and i think thats what im going to change about my channel and run with it and i think thats what makes people watch you theres thousands of Disney World cast members videos you have the personality
the person mentioned at the end, how did she not get fired? or if she did, how didn't she get fired sooner? that's ridiculous!
So how did they get the cars to the location? Because in Disneyland they drive them to it, and mater and lightning speak some.
Hopefully Disney fired two shot because of the guest and photographer complaints. 👏🏻
Did you do a video on what Disney characters you liked to work with?
Depends on where they were. if they had a permanent location, they were often left parked there and it would be closed off if they weren't available to meet. But if it was, say, under the hat, then they would drive there. They never spoke that I'm aware of at WDW.
And yes, I did do a video on favorites to work with. :-) ua-cam.com/video/wpmhGnDfSMk/v-deo.html
@@SirWillow
Ok cool thanks, I thought you did, just couldn’t remember. 👍🏻
Duffy for president 2024
With 2 shot how many photographers wanted to shoot 2 shot 2 times lol
Two Shots didn't sound like a nice person
What character's did two shot portray??
Don't want to say outright for several reasons. But there are some hints there. :-P
Im surprised you didn’t mention buzz he cant really move or talk or sign he had to stamp or have someone stamp for him.
Buzz can actually move around pretty well. He's full jointed and, depending on mood, can sign or stamp a book.
Sir willow what character was 2 shot?
There are reasons I don't say who it is. :-)
@@SirWillow oh ok 👍😄
Not that i'll ever get to go to Disney due to pricing. I doubt i'd be able really see the actors as characters. then again I'm an adult. I'm bad at role playing.
i hear ya on the price...lol but if you do get a chance think of it it this way...its not role playing , more of just letting go and immersing yourself into a fantasy world. That doesnt mean you have to be an active participant..you can be an observer and still have fun by the mind set of "none of this is real , i am just part of a really big story" Almost like reading a really good book, you know there is an author but you just enjoy the story. or watching a favorite fictional tv show or movie, you know those are just actors but they are portraying someone else. You still like it and dont think about it constantly while watching .
The Little Einsteins theme used to terrorize my mom it's odd as to why Disney would have them as characters at Disney.
Not odd at all considering they are Disney Junior characters
@@SirWillow oh there Disney I thought they were owned by fisher price or something.
:)
Wow, this “Two Shot” person clearly doesn’t care about their job!
This is a random question but I'm at the theme parks now and we just found a team member ID in our bags of purchases should I return it or throw it away I don't want to get anyone in trouble for losing their ID this is at (Universal Studios)
Turned it in at lost and found or even really to any merchandise place. They can take care of it and get it back to where it needs to be
@@SirWillow ok thank you will do
I remember when mickey tried to marry my mom.
I think Mike and Sully could be amazing characters to meet, if they went back and looked at the costumes, okay, the arms are really stiff, let's see if we can make them move more.
Poor Duffy.
All the characters are rather shallow personalities (even Mickey)
ahhh, you haven't gotten to know many of the characters then. Many of them have very distinct personalities, and several are quite complex.