Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: So yesterday--5/23/14--my sisters and I attended the 24 hour party where many guests came in costume as Disney characters. ORWEN: For the most part we had a good time but there was one thing that happened that put a damper on our fun. We saw this cute young couple dressed up as Anna and Kristoff from FROZEN. They were so adorable that we wanted to take their picture. ORDDU: When we asked them if we could do so they said they normally wouldn't mind but that they were instructed by a cast member to NOT pose for pictures because they could be ejected from the park if they did that. ORWEN: Since we've often gone to Mickey's No So Scary Halloween party in the past, without having been told a thing about this policy, we were surprised. ORDDU: Since we didn't want to risk having this couple get into any trouble, we agreed not to take any pictures of them. ORWEN: We later talked to a cast member about this who said they never heard of such a policy whereby a guest would be kicked out of the park for posing for pictures with another guest. ORDDU: But we also spoke to someone at City Hall who said it is true that Disney management discourages guests from taking pictures of each other inside the park while in costume. They said they wanted to avoid 'confusion'. ORWEN: I told them that's like inviting somebody to dinner and then telling them not to eat. I mean, you just KNOW that when guests show up in costume at the parks, the natural thing others are gonna' want to do is take pictures of each other. ORDDU: We say that if Disney management is so paranoid about guests in costume being confused with the 'real' characters inside the park, they should just cease from inviting guests to come to the parks in costume at all. Otherwise it sets everyone up for disappointment when they're told they can't pose for pictures--or that they might be ejected from the park if they do.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Unfortunately, in the crappy world of today I think it is necessary to protect young guests. A child molester could dress as a character knowing it would attract children. I can see why they want to discourage it... in fact I'm somewhat surprised they allowed a costumed adult couple to remain in the park at all... I've heard of people being asked to leave or change their attire for doing that.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That has been the official policy since at least 2006, when I went to the trick-or-treat party at DCA. I attended several subsequent Halloween events at DLR, and have participated in many runDisney races, and the official policy has always been that costumes are allowed, but you can't take photos with other guests if you're dressed as a Disney character. Realistically, I've never seen it enforced (I've witnessed several people getting photos with strangers who are wearing related costumes), so it's interesting that they actually said something. It did seem like it was less of a fine print thing this time around, but still didn't really seem like something they would actually enforce
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I haven't seen anyone ejected from the park first hand. But I do know that the Bibbidi Bobbidi Botique at WDW (does DL have one of those overpriced places yet?) refuses to do any services for adults because they don't want adults dressed as characters.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I think they made an exception for the 24 hour party. I think they allowed adults to dress in costume, like they do on Halloween party nights. But with the stipulation that they can't pose for pictures or sign autographs.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: We noticed that many guests were still taking pictures of each other--even though they were total strangers--but because they admired each others costumes the took pictures. It's a natural assumption to make that if Disney is encouraging you to come dressed in costume for a special event that it would be all right to take pictures of each other. ORWEN: In our case we weren't even asking the guest to pose with us-- ORGOCH: --which would've broke their dang cam'ra's anyway! ORWEN: Shut up, you!!! But, like I said, we weren't asking to be in the pictures with anybody. We just wanted pictures of various guests in their costumes. Why go to the trouble of dressing up if you can't have your picture taken. ORDDU: Again, we say it's like inviting someone to dinner and then being told not to eat anything. If Disney is so worried about any negative outcomes from people taking pictures of each others, they shouldn't create an event that's going to result in that very action.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA What an extraordinarily bizarre rule. Come to the party! Dress up! No photos!
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORGOCH: What I wanna' know is if'n this dang 'rule' is in writin' anywhere's. Cause if'n it ain't, how can it be enforced?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip On private property I think Disney can make them up as they go along...
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>What I wanna' know is if'n this dang 'rule' is in writin' anywhere's. Cause if'n it ain't, how can it be enforced?<< Yes, it's been in writing online, in the same locations where they announced that costumes would be allowed in the parks in the first place. Similarly, it was included alongside the other costume rules (nothing lewd, no eye-covering masks, etc) that were in place for the various Halloween events I attended in the past. As far as I can tell, this isn't a change of official policy, it's just an attempt to enforce it (similar to the enforcement of FP windows) >>•Guests who dress like Disney characters may not pose for pictures or sign autographs.<< <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2014/05/20/disneyland-operations-shares-updates-on-rock-your-disney-side-party/">http://www.laughingplace.com/w...e-party/</a>
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: Thank you for the information, Ferret, dear. We didn't know about that particular aspect of guest costumes being in writing. Still Disney is climbing a slippery slope when it comes to this sort of thing. They risk angering their guests by having such a silly policy in place. ORWEN: One of the main reasons we used to go to the Halloween parties at the parks was to get pictures of other guests in their costumes. Guess we won't be doing that anymore. ORGOCH: Got a frog hunt ta go on instead?
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I recently read about a guy who dressed up as a character, I think it might have been Indian Jones or something of that nature. I think it was before they were so strict with no costumes on adults, so I'm assuming they allowed it or maybe his costume wasn't so over the top that it couldn't be described as his regular clothes. Anyway, he was caught in Adventureland signing autographs, taking photos, and posing as an official park character. I'm assuming it's situations like this that led to the crack down of adult costumes. I can see why Disney wouldn't want people dressing up. First, it takes some of the specialness away from their official characters. Second, if you're Disney, you sure wouldn't want these unofficial characters posing as employees, cause who knows what kind of crazy people you could have saying and doing who knows what. And Disney sure doesn't want none employees representing their company.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA ^^ I get that rule, CC. Regular park day - no costumes. But a special event where costumes are allowed. Seems like the rule should be 'No Disney character costumes' -- it's enforced at the front gate and then you don't have this unenforceable rule of 'no photos of people dressed as Disney characters ' It's dumb and backwards
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Couldn't they just make a rule disallowing people from signing autographs?
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA ^^^i just don't see it being enforceable! It's like saying 'no chewing gum' Disneyland doesn't sell gum in the Parks but people still chew it.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "'No Disney character costumes" No Disney character costumes? That'd just be weird for Disney to say you can dress up as characters, but not our characters.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "Couldn't they just make a rule disallowing people from signing autographs?" I think that's what they should do, say something like, "Non employees in costumes can not sign autographs or pose as actual park employees." If it's not enforceable so what? At least it's put out there and if someone is caught they can get kicked out. The no picture thing is pretty dumb, unless of course someone is posing as an actual employee and taking pictures with multiple guests who are under the impression it's an official character. But saying no posing as a park employee would include this scenario.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: It's understandable that Disney management wouldn't want non-cast members signing autographs for other guests--although the park sort of sets itself up for this type of violation by having an event like this in the first place. ORWEN: From all the trip reports we've been reading about on other Disney sites, it shows just how much the no picture taking policy is being violated all over the place. I mean, we've been seeing picture after picture put up of guests taking pictures of other guests who were in costume--which violates Disney's policy about this. Just goes to show how impossible it is to police guests who are only doing what comes natural when dressing up in costumes.
Originally Posted By dizneed I wonder what the reaction would be if someone went dressed as Harry Potter?
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: We've already seen that happen at last year's Not So Scary Halloween party. Guests often go as characters from other studio's movies. So that's nothing new.
