Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of: <a href="http://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2014/03/31/thor-and-captain-america-meet-and-greet-operating-hours-extended-at-disneyland/" target="_blank"><b>3/31/14: Thor and Captain America Meet and Greet Operating Hours Extended at Disneyland</b></a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I just don't understand the trend of adding character meet & greets based on the recent popular films, but having really limited hours for them. It's an improvement to add 2 hours to their operating day, but closing at 6pm (when the park closes at midnight nearly every weekend night throughout the year) hardly seems like a huge step
Originally Posted By berol Are there any character greets after sunset? I can't remember seeing any, but then I don't look for them.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros They don't have the outdoor ones (like the Fab 5 characters in Town Square), but I always assumed that the purpose-built meet & greets (like the Frozen one or the Marvel ones in Innoventions) should stay open later. For an 'attraction' that has a capacity of ~40 parties per hour (or less), it's mindboggling that they'd only operate it for 6-8 hours per day I know some of the bigger permanent locations in WDW have roughly the same operation schedule as the park itself (minus ~15 minutes on either end), but meet & greets are being pushed much more heavily there, especially since the introduction of MM+; MK alone has no fewer than 7 different full-time character locations
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I think Mickey is in his house for all of Toontown's operating hours, but that area closes early for fireworks and typicallty doesn't reopen after Now that I think of it, I actually have seen a couple characters out in Town Square at the end of the night once (post-fireworks). I remember thinking it was strange, so maybe it was just a test or something. They seemed to have slightly smaller crowds than during the day, but each one still had a wait
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Maybe it has something to do with no one wanting pictures of themselves in the dark with chartacters? Just not good photo ops?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That sure doesn't seem to stop them from starting the runDisney races hours before sunrise and having characters out for photos (in especially poorly-lit locations) My guess is that they think they can save money by not doing it, so they don't. It's not like it's 1955 and cameras that take decent nighttime pictures aren't commerically available
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Maybe the later hours bring less guests for characters since largely small people like to visit characters, and they tend to pack it in for the night early. So less people wanting to see characters means paying someone to be there for not much pay off. So waste of money?
Originally Posted By FaMulan I despise the fact that I would be forced into a meet and greet when I just want to see the set pieces and props.
Originally Posted By Captain Neo The real question is will they do a meet & greet for the Guardians of the Galaxy? How will they manage the crowds for Rocket Raccoon and how would they even portray him in the parks? The logistics would be insane
