18 Rules for Meeting Disney Characters - Confessions of a Theme Park Worker
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- With Disney character meet and greets back in full swing, it's good to know what to expect and how to prepare for them. With thanks to Disney Food Blog, here is my take on things that you should and should not do when meeting the characters.
You can find the inspiration for this video on the DFB website at www.disneyfoodblog.com/2022/0...
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...
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Heh Seems to be a little bit of confusion about one of my points.
Anything Disney on a shirt is good. It's not just OK, but they love that- especially if it's the same characters. Disney shirts/ logos/ characters are absolutely ok to wear.
Pixar = Disney which means it's good
Marvel = Disney which means it's good
Star Wars = Disney which means it's good.
The issues are with non-Disney owned or affiliated brands/ logos, etc, and especially ones that may be controversial or potentially not "family friendly."
Quite the contrary. I've worn non-Disney shirts to the parks and nobody minded. In fact, some characters may point it out and comment about it.
@bluegold1026 you are misunderstanding a few things. The video, and my comments, are referring to meeting with and getting photos with, the characters.
Nobody cares if you wear a non Disney shirt to the park. That's fine. Have at it. There is no rule there as long as it doesn't have anything profane or offensive on it (e.g. curse words, sequel content, racist, etc)
But the characters can not take a photo with anything that could imply they agree with or endorse anything that doesn't align with Disney or their standards.
So the characters may like your shirt endorsing a certain rock band, or marijuana, or a brand of booze, etc, but when it comes down to photo time they have to be careful not to look like they endorse or approve anything that the company might remotely not agree with.
They also have to be careful to not take official Disney photos (Photopass) with non Disney brand names and logos as then they could actually be held for paying licensing fees for the logo.
So you can wear your Pepsi shirt, the characters can love your Pepsi shirt, but at photo time they're going to likely hide that logo in some way. And probably do it in a way that you don't even realize they are doing it.
I plan on returning to Disneyland wearing a Gargoyles shirt.
Gargoyles is Disney, in case if you're wondering.
If your kid is really terrified of a character, don't force them to meet the character. It only makes it worse for everyone
Fun Fact about Andy's coming, in the restaurant in Toy Story land, they are now yelling and and everyone has to freeze.
The last time I went to wdw was in December 2018. Anna led the conversation because it was Christmas time, and so did Rapunzel. I loved meeting Elsa because she matched my nervous nonverbal vibe. I also met Buzz and the Beast, I didn't expect how tall they were going to be. I hope that anyone going to wdw has a magical experience!!
I am so grateful I had parents who scold me if I was rude to a characters, for example at a kid I was meeting Baloo and King Louie and I tried to give Baloo a fist bump, Baloo and my parents in the beginning thought I punched him and Baloo was a mad so were my parents, I explained to both that I was just trying to give a fist bump and they understood, this shows that I am so happy that I had parents who would scold me if I was rude to a character instead of laughing thinking that attacking characters is funny
Sir Willow you’re an inspiration to me whenever I go to a Disney Park especially with character meet and greets you give the best advice and tips on meeting characters
Your question for Kylo-Ren got me. XD
His reaction was PERFECT!!
We know it's not 'really THEM'. But that's part of the magic OF the Disney parks - to see and 'meet' your favorite characters!
I dont understand how you can go to the parks and cannot suspend your disbelief, or have any imagination at all.
People bragging that they know it's 'just a costume, guys!!' miss the point entirely - it's. . . Living memories, or
In a really sappy way, we're living Hope. Disney, movies always have a happy ending (of some sort).
A LOT of Disney Adults have disabilities, or not-so-great family lives growing up. This is a moment of goodness we get to have, if even for a little while,even if I isn't 'really' THAT character.
As a former character actor myself (not with Disney, though) there was NOTHING I HATED more than drunk guests.
Smart aleck teenagers were a close second, for VERY similar reasons......
We'd sit 'backstage' for a while before we had to go out and just SIGH to ourselves when we knew we had to be out in those specific events where alcohol was more available than usual.
Other side notes;
- don't be pulling on anything. Tails, ears, ect.
- you kind of covered this here, but NEVER jump on ANYONE'S back!!
(You'd be surprised how often this comes up, and don't think that person WASN'T escorted out of the property immediately) it's NOT funny.
- when 'petting' characters on the snoot, BE GENTILE!
The mask I wore was already a little tight, so light pats (especially on the nose) HURT.
- if you're not feeling well and you're going to meet a character - DON'T.
Please don't vomit on the poor actors. Nearly happened to me (drunks), and i JUST managed to dodge it.
Your guest imitations are priceless!😂
I agree about waiting for your turn, especially if the character is wandering around greeting guests, I especially am careful with that when kids are around, I always let the kids go first with the character because I don't want to look like the jerk who would push kids out of the way to get what I want. I wait for a good chance to be with the character so everyone has a great time and no parents ends up angry at me for ruining the moment
Such good information...I've seen certain UA-camrs (not you of course) yelling out "Hey Mickey...Goofy...etc." and trying to get their attention away from what they are doing. Or walk right up to them without waiting in line and interrupting. Let's all grow up and be good kids out there ha ha! Thanks for the video!
Thank you for the tips and tricks. You and your family always seem to have wonderful interactions with the characters ❤️
Stuff that you think would be common sense unfortunately for many is not. Good advice Sir Willow!
Even with the no logo rule, they seem to be fine with anything from Disney. I had a Mickey/Minnie shirt when I met the two mice (total coincidence) and Chip & Dale, as well as an Avatar themed shirt when meeting Elsa and Anna
oh, absolutely! Anything Disney is not only ok with any of the Disney characters, it's actually encouraged.
Great video! From my own personal experiences meeting various characters at Disney World, I would definitely say this:
If you wanna do something a little...extra special with whichever character you're meeting aside from the standard hug, autograph, picture, like for instance get them to dance with you, ASK FIRST!
The last time I went to WDW I made it a point to do a good number of character meet and greets at each of the parks because I wanted to, and when it came to the princesses in particular: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White ect. A long with the hugs and pictures, I asked if I could do a quick dance with them, and they all graciously said yes. Got a lot of neat pictures out of it! The point I'm trying to make here though is that while they are "characters", they're also still people just like you and me, so it's just polite and respectful to ask first before trying to do anything extra like that.
I remember when we went to see pooh bear at crystal palace in 09 it was my first time ever seeing pooh bear and my brother has never seen pooh and he thought pooh was baloo lol but my favorite part was I brought a pooh bear toy to him and I told him that I brought him along when I had my 20 surgery’s and he got me through them and I could tell his bear heart melted when I told him he gave me the biggest hug afterwards and he brought over the crew and did the same man best day ever
You are always making great videos I will definitely be watching a lot more for are summer tip to SDC with are youth group for C4C. It makes me crazy when people don’t have their autograph books ready we have a big family so we are always ready to go so we are not holding up the line. Hope you have a great day love your videos. See you Sunday night. ❤❤
I still remember and love my recent trip to the California park, I went to the new Super Nintendo World there and it was amazing especially since they had Mario Luigi and Peach as fur characters but still able to talk to you and say things to you. I especially loved meeting Peach mainly due to me having a crush on her when I was little. I was a little blushy with her but not creepy or flirty to her. It was such an amazing especially when she said stuff like "Thank you for being my Friend" and "I hope to see you again soon" those made me jokingly blush. One of my new favorite trips
I’m doing all four parks soon! Can’t wait to look at the train station at Magic Kingdom and say: “Hey! Look at the castle!” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
This tip follows a bit about my comment when I met Princess Peach during my recent trip to universal Hollywood, if the character you are meeting was a character you used to have a crush on back then, then it’s perfectly normal to feel a little blush towards that character when meeting them as long as you are in control and don’t try to flirt with the character, but being a little blush is perfectly normal and it can give you a bit of a nostalgia trip too, I say this because during that trip we also met Marlyn Monroe and just like me with Princess Peach, my dad was the same he was a little blush to since he used to have a crush on her when he was little so we got a picture of just my dad with Marlyn Monroe
Great Video. 😃👍♥️
Id LOVE a video of your best suggestions for conversation starters and fun magic moment starters (like 10 second games they would love), both for specific characters and for characters in general! I never know what to say other than "oh where's (insert other character from their story)?" that's great but it just leads to a two second response and doesn't make for the most magical interactions. Any really good ideas?
So much fun as always loved the part we’re you were pretending to smack the dumb guests I can hear the 3 stooges sounds in my head as you were doing it lol
The part about families hogging a photo op doesn't just apply to characters it applies to ALL of property. Nothing annoys me more than when a family of 20+ decides to hog one of the most narrow and busiest of walkways to do selfies, group photos, and individual photos. Like they are free to do that on other areas but they ALWAYS choose the busy walkways, ignoring the fact that other guests need to get through as well as Cast Members doing their jobs. It's rude and just because they paid to be here it doesn't mean they OWN the place.
Also great job calling out TikTok trends; not only are they obnoxious on characters lately they have been trying to risk safety for the sake of a 10 second challenge. Tokyo Disneyland is going as far as to ban live streaming or any attempt to do challenges because it gets so bad with people either trying to stream and annoy other guests or have a ride experience ruined for guests because they ignored the safety spiel.
I had my autograph book, pen or marker ready every time we were in line to meet characters in Disney world I had wanted autographs from 😃 I even got an autograph for a friend of mine, who is a Vietnam veteran, from Donald because he is a fan of his. Plus my friend is going to be 80 this year, so I had Donald autograph special for him.
Also I had gifts for certain characters, so I got those out in advance too. This can be a great tip if anyone is going to give gifts to them.
I did braided yarn bracelets for the characters I wanted to give to, and they all loved them. Also I did gifts for non character cast members too. Motivation quotes and braided yarn bracelets!
I can only imagine the thoughts going on when someone makes it to the character only to then have to dig through a stroller ect for the autograph book speaking of that do you have any videos displaying your autographs I can't remember p.s I thought that was a good hand smacking when your brought the topic up I just mentioned. It was such a good one it knocked your ring off
The shirt logo rule got me into a tight bubble, I took a lifeguard shirt into Ariel’s grotto (wasn’t actually wearing it, I held it while dressed up as a surfer, to be clear LOL) and named her Honorary Lifeguard Of the Year for Best Deepwater Rescue In the Atlantic; I wanted her to hold onto the shirt but because it was a Hurricane Harbour shirt (turned backwards because I wanted the GUARD stamp visible in thd picture and the harbor logo out of camera range) I had to hold it in front of us.
I did, however play along when she asked if I had just come from the ocean, responding thaf I had swum all the from Cape Cod and the moisture had gotten my haif all frizzed up (which, actually it had because it was 93 degrees and really humid!)
Awesome Video Plus Thanks For the Tips and Tricks Plus I Have a Story. When I went to Disneyland in 2018 and I Rode on Splash Mountain and My Clothes Were Soaked and I Saw Winnie the Pooh, So I Waited in Line & was Hoping my Clothes Got Dry before I Met Him which Luckily my Autograph Books were Still Ok & Took em Out before I Went Up, When I Went Up I Had a Great Time Chatting with Him and I was About to Give Pooh a Hug But Realized my Shirt was Still Damp So I Stopped & Gave Pooh An Air Hug So His Fur & Shirt Wouldn't Get Wet
I don’t yell “Andy’s coming” either, but given that at the end of toy story 3 it’s implied, he knew the toys were alive all along, I pretend to take a call from Andy and say that either One Eyed Betty remains at large and must be taken alive (to Woody) or the Space Shuttle Enterprise Abort To Orbit is engaged (this one’s an in-joke for Buzz)
I’ve got a question if you don’t mind, is it ok to ask characters if we can dance with them? Not like tik tok dances or anything like that but just a fun little dance? Sorry for the weird question but I’m going to Disneyland next year and I don’t want to mess up anything
Make me wonder Whats does the character knows of other show, movies, musicals etc other than theyre own?
Aka can Mickey react to a Cats tshirt as if he does (or does not) like cats? Or can a Marvel character react to a DC shirt? Or does Beauty knows its musical versions of her movie that we can have seen? Or does Pocahontas even know what a musical is?
Bottom line is How much do they know, understand or accept the world around them thats not specific to theyre story? (Without breaking the magic ofc). J.
General rule is the characters know everything Disney that relates to them- so Belle knows all the movies, live action, animated and direct to video. They'll also generally be familiar with other characters in the parks. So the princesses know each other, everyone knows Mickey, etc.
However they may not play so nice with non- Disney properties (e.g. DC)
I'll admit there are times I'll ask a mascot or someone in a suit if they're doing okay in there. (I once had a Partial fursuit and used it on and off so I know what it's like; it did not have AC but tbf it was an Amateur's work but good for what it was imo).
But I have never done that at Disney or even Hersheypark or Cedar Point I think.
Aaand...would I not be allowed to wear like a Fallout shirt next to a character? (Like the Vault Boy or Dogmeat). Or by brand you mean like big companies other than Disney, (like wearing Universal, or Dreamworks, food companies like Hershey).
The fallout shirt would be questionable. They might not notice it, but if they did they may hide/ cover it up. Simply because they don't want to look like the character is endorsing it. But something like just Vault Boy or Dogmeat would probably get by.
@@SirWillow Well those two are the two Fallout shirts I have. One is Vault Boy and the other is just Dogmeat's cute face. To my knowledge, neither one has the label/title visible.
Did you recently go to the medieval times show? Because I noticed the a blue crown and banner behind the race car 🤔
I've been to several of them over the years. One of my favorite dinner shows.
@@SirWillow
I love this dinner show too! I’ve been to it several times.
so your saying i CAN propose to the Princess and Gaston like that one guy did even in jest hahahahaha
I have wore an Ernie shirt and a Nickelodeon shirt with the characters and they didn't hid it.
They aren't brand logos for advertising or contoversial/ offensive, so no they aren't a problem
yep, never break kayfabe!
There's a great wrestling/ carny term!
@@SirWillow ya i am a wrestling fan lol but yeasth :P
They were okay with a pizza planet logo. And pins are great gifts for characters. Theyre also ok with marvel shirts. I got pictures no problem with my Black Panther/Captain America T shirt
Pizza Planet= Pixar = Disney. Same with Marvel. Anything Disney is absolutely OK with any of the characters. It's the non-Disney logos, and especially anything that may be controversial or not considered "family friendly"
@@SirWillow so I mentioned the interaction with Stitch if you wear a Captain America shirt is actually quite funny. I need to try other marvel shirts with other characters
It's a shame that people need to be reminded of such common sense when meeting characters.
Fortunately those types of people are extremely rare...right?