Favorite Character Meet and Greet

[beachta1]

Josh's posts about meet and greet prioritizing has got me thinking about my own meet and greet experiences! I'm curious to hear stories of your favorite character meet and greet....

At WDW in December, I really wanted to see Dug and Russell. UP! is my favorite movie and I really wanted a picture with them. I thought they would be at Hollywood Studios, but sadly they were not. A CM at HS told me that I may be able to find them at AK which surprised me. On the last day of our trip, we were at AK and the times guide did not say anything about a meet and greet with them. I felt disappointed and defeated. There was information about a canine meet and greet and thought Dug could be there.

Finally I asked a CM if I could find Dug and Russell and she shared with me that they would be out in just a few minutes. At this point they were standing right by the entrance to Dinoland. We walked up to the spot and they were just coming out! I thought I was going to cry. We were the first ones there and I got hugs and photos. I know its cheesy and its just people in a costume, but it was definitely a highlight of my trip!!

[BlountFam5]

We had such a fun tme with the characters at Character Spot in Epcot! My DH and DS were riding Test Track and DD9 and DS3 didn't want to ride. So we went over to the Character Spot. We have some GREAT pics of Pluto taking off DD's Mickey Sorcerer hat and putting it on himself. The looks she gave him are priceless! We also have great pics from there we DS3 and watching the whole interaction. What fun!

One of my fav photos from Chef Mickey's is our 3 kids with Pluto and DS3 is looking up at him (see pic below).

[Bernie2003]

At the Donald's Safari Breakfast on our last trip, Mickey accidentally stepped on/tripped over my ds5. Ds5 started to cry, and Mickey got down on his knee to give ds5 a hug and made a big deal out of how sorry he was. Ds5 immediately felt much better!

[JulieC]

Bernie, that was so sweet of Mickey!

[beachta1]

Oh my goodness, i'd be freaked out too if I tripped a character!!

[jandeeah]

My favorite meet was when AnnaMay met Snow White and her prince. She had scrapbook paper for the prince to sign. He told her he thought it looked like African paper. He asked her is she liked elephants. When she said yes he promptly sat down and drew her a really nice elephant. The prince and AnnaMay then prodded Snow White who was obviously not good at drawing to draw something. She drew herself and asked AnnaMay to be sure to place it on the back of the fridge where no one would see it. Not only were they amazing with her but they had a great chemistry with each other too.

[nobie47]

I have two favorites... hard to pick so I won't.

First - We were headed toward Flik's M&G and the boys saw him coming towards us -- we all got excited and the CM said "he meets down this path"... Flik took the boy's hands and walked them down to his M&G.



Also love the first time we met Tinkerbell. My oldest just stared at her when she asked his name. She said "Oh, do you want to have a staring contest?" She proceeded to have a staring contest with him and clapped her hands after about 30 seconds and said "Ha ha I won, you lost, but I cheated!"

[nolarookie]

I have two favorites too.
First, when coming out of FOTLK, DS5 tackled Chip and Dale, who were on their way to their character spot at Camp MIckey Minnie. Their handler, not sure if this is their official job title, was a little freaked out and tried to break my son's strangle hold, but Chip and Dale were super cool, grabbed both sons hands, and we got to be first to take pictures.

Second was Pocahontas at AK. She kissed DS5's autograph book and left a lipstick mark. DS3 rolled up and she did not kiss his book. I think she was running out of lipstick. He insisted she kiss his book and she complied. Afterwards he kissed the lipstick mark she left. Pocahontas was rather touched and gave him a big hug and kiss. That was more than he bargained for. I only wish I had videotaped it.

[Bernie2003]

I thought of another one...

We were at Garden Grill. Pluto had already been by our table, and we were anxiously waiting for Chip and Dale. When Chip finally reached our table, Pluto was nearby watching. Just when I got ready to take Chip's picture, Pluto jumped in front of the camera and I got a picture of him instead. My sons thought it was hysterical that Pluto was being so naughty!

[Janine]

I love that Tink picture!

[doodlebug]

When my older son was 5 in 2004, we went to DW just the two of us. In MK, we came across the Genie and Jafar. There were only a few people talking with them so we stood to the side. Well, the Genie didn't see my son and turned around and bumped him, almost knocking him over. DS was absolutely fine, but the Genie was horrified. He picked DS up and spun him around and motioned for Jafar to come over. They spent so much time with him. To this day (he's 13 now), that's the only thing he remembers about his trip.

It was the first time I truly saw Disney magic through the eyes of my kids.

[Claire]

We loved Character Spot at Epcot! Great pictures and time

[Grumpy]

I love that Tink picture!

Me too. I'm always hoping for a chance encounter with Tinkerbell. (We seem to have better-than-average luck at meeting characters that way.)

I think that on our next trip, I'm just going to find her and stand in line.

[nobie47]

Thank you guys... it always makes me smile when I see it! That was June 2009 and we got to ToonTown RD very early.... she was sweet!

[JaymeC]

Long story made very short, at times the military is a pain to deal with and thus I ended up doing one day at DL with the kiddos and without dh (we had promised the kids already, so I figured on a quick one day trip at least, dh got to go 6 months later for 3 days so it all worked out in the end). My youngest had fallen asleep in the stroller, and I was trying to find things to keep me and the oldest busy while he napped that wouldn't involve waking the little guy up and chanced along Aladdin just hangin' out in Adventureland. DS got to monopolize him for at least 5 minutes chit-chatting since no one else seemed to notice us there for whatever be the reason (we were out in the middle of a popular walk-way?!) Anyway, ds had a blast. Someone else eventually showed up to start a line, and as I called ds away so someone else could have a turn with Aladdin, Aladdin pulled him back for a posed photo (I'd been taking candids the whole time) and ds talked about it for quite awhile after :) Thankfully the little dude wasn't too put out by missing it ;)

[Jade]

I love that posed picture with Aladdin (and the Tink picture). I think our favorite Character meet was with Aladdin, too.

Aladdin is probably my favorite Disney movie, but because of Genie, not Aladdin or Jasmine. On our first trip to WDW (DD was 5), we saw Genie at Epcot and I insisted we get in line. Then Jasmine and Aladdin came out right after we'd done out picture with him. We didn't have anyone after us in line, so they both spent a lot of time talking to DD. She'd had her hair wrapped earlier and Aladdin teased her about it being a carpet tassel. He was great, drew DD a picture on her Epcot map, and had both Jasmine and my daughter giggling the whole time.

[CarolB]

Back when Belle used to do her little Storytime in Fairytale Garden, my DD was picked to be Lumiere in the show. Afterwards, she chatted up Belle's "lady in waiting" while we were waiting for autographs/pictures with Belle. As we were about to meet Belle, the "friend" asked what we were doing after the show. Of course, we ditched any plan we may have had. She asked if my DD would like to go up to ride Peter Pan's Flight with Belle. At that point Merlin walked in (this is like 11-12 years ago) and he wanted to come too. So we all walked up past the castle to PPF and my DD got to ride with her favorite princess, who talked to her the entire time. People were taking our picture while we were walking thru Fantasyland, probably trying to figure out who the heck we were!

[BeckyW]

My favorite M&G was DD3 meeting Alice by the Tea Cups. We got in line for TC and then noticed Alice was there signing autographs. Hoping to catch her after our ride, we walked up only to be told "Alice is heading inside for a 20 min break, you can come back then." DD wasn't thrilled, not understanding why, when Alice was standing right there, we were being told no. So we decided to go for a little walk around Tomorrowland and then head back for Alice. When we reached the same area by the TC, there was no one there yet (maybe 15 mins had passed) so we hung out on the little brick wall and waited. When Alice made her way back to us, she skipped over, grabbed DD's hand, and said "Do you want to ride the Teacups with me?" Obviously DD was so excited, but I think I was even more so (I got a little teary-eyed! LOL - I was also 10 wks preg, so you know, hormones) Anyway, Alice and DD skipped up to the ride, while I furiously took pics, and then Alice turns to me and says "Mom, you coming?" YAY! I got to go too ;)
After riding w/ Alice, we all skipped back down to the M&G area, where Alice continued to chat w/ DD. I gushed over how sweet it was for her to take DD on the TeaCups, and Alice told us that she loved to do that for the first kid in line because that meant they were waiting to see her!
It was definitely a highlight of our amazing first trip!

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