Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove LP'ers Show Us Your Face! <a href="http://mb.laughingplace.com/MsgBoard-T-96749-P-7.asp?C=1" target="_blank">http://mb.laughingplace.com/Ms....asp?C=1</a> (look about halfway down the combined section) Hey, we'll never meet in person, probably, so show us a few pics of you at TDL!
Originally Posted By NJ AP "Disney Characters are not allowed to pose with non-disney logos ... the character might find a clever way to hide it." Thanks for the warning, Mr. F. Excellent post overall! I would add say "thank you" to the character and use the golden rule. They are people, too. Kindness spreads. We get tired enough standing in line, they must get exhausted being in the spotlight the whole time. As for distinguising between reality and fantasy, my little girl just turned 6. She really wants to believe the characters are real. She knows when we see a play that an actress is playing Mary Poppins or Alice, etc., but that at Disney it is really Mary Poppins or Alice. I know she is struggling to hold onto the fantasy because we can play with a character one day, and the next have the same character (different actor) ask my daughter for her name and say (something to the effect of) it is nice to meet you. Others are so sharp they'll pick up verbal and written clues (such as her name in the front of her autograph book) and call her by name. The magic has spread to the NYC Disney store. After playing musical chairs with Alice and the Mad Hatter at DL every day for a week, we learned they were going to be in NYC on her birthday. I showed the CM pictures of our daughter playing with them at DL and asked her to let them know that our daughter had just seen them the week before. I emphasized it was her birthday and that I did not want the magic spoiled on her special day. Alice presented our girl with a birthday button, a smile, a hug and a warm greeting. She was thrilled! It is amazing how well the fuzzy characters (such as Chip & Dale, Pluto, Goofy, etc.) can communicate without ever saying a word or resorting to cheesy pantomime. My husband and I walk away believing in the magic, too. They all put a lot of work into their roles. Seems most of the face characters study everything they can about who they are. Mary Poppins has read all the PL Travers books and has seen the Broadway Show, Alice and the Mad Hatter know details about their movie, as do the princesses and other face characters. They make it easy for even an adult to believe in the magic. We bring a photo printer on vacation. She poses a lot the first couple of days. Each night we print pictures in our hotel room. The rest of the trip we collect autographs and turn it into a scrapbook. We let the characters know we want autographs on the fronts (some are afraid of ruining the pictures). It is a great souvenir of our week-long vacation. One last comment, some of them have the most amazing autographs. For example, Cinderella's autograph that looks like a coach, Alice's that looks like a tea cup, Bert's that looks like a tie, and Mary Poppins' that incorporates Polly are pieces of art work.
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub Does anybody have updated suggestions? I think this will be my fist experience next week DL . Grandaughter is 5 and very believing but very shy. Lord give me patience and the power to believe.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros If she's shy, try to find the meet & greets that are secluded in indoor spaces. You can meet Mickey at his house in Toontown, or the princess at Fantasy Faire just in front of the castle, and both of those let in very small groups at a time. She won't have to fight through a crowd, or have the awkward line of people staring at her while she does her thing I personally find it much more difficult to interact with the rubberhead characters, since they don't talk. If you have some conversation starters for the various face characters (like books for Belle or birthdays for Aurora), they usually do a pretty good job of keeping things going from there. You can also do the same thing with the rubberheads, but it always feels awkward to me to do all the talking
Originally Posted By kennect All this concern over character meets. These meet and greets simply need their own little park.
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub I know I hate them. It goes against every thought I have smugly had until this trip! Fortunately I do not have to worry about the heartbreak of not being the "chosen One" for the Jedi Training Academy because she said she does not want to do that… I actually went to the Disney Store at our mall thinking they would sell the CORRECT type of autograph pen but none of them had a clue. Heck if I worked at the Disney Store I would know the answer to everything Disney! What type of training do they give these people after all! Then I walked al around the Target Store looking for a fat ink pen. 3 hours later and a full shopping cart ( it is Xmas) but still No Ink Pen. Decided to come home and google LP for Help. That is how I found this outdated but helpful forum! Back to Target tomorrow for a Sharpee ; but still concerned. And my biggest fear is finding out how adorable those autographs are and becoming obsessed with collecting all future signatures and being miserable over all the lost opportunities I have squandered over the last 10 years of visits. …. So stay tuned my fellow LPers as I enter a whole new Magical World of viewing DL and DCA thru the eyes of a 5 year old little girl.
Originally Posted By hbquikcomjamesl I can sympathize with "head" characters: during my 9+ years with the Costa Mesa Ice Capades Chalet, I climbed into the Smurfette suit on more than one occasion (it was a "drag," but somebody had to do it). Until I installed battery-driven fans in the headpiece, it was almost unbearable for more than a few minutes at a time, even in one of the colder ice rinks in Southern California, and the eyes (and my glasses) fogged up almost immediately, and would only clear if I kept moving at a very slow speed. (With the fans, though, I could do half an hour in the suit, and barely break a sweat, and the eyes stayed clear). Thankfully, I never had to do autographs. And what was said about research is true: I still have the Smurf videotapes I bought as research material.
Originally Posted By Brad "Good points by the way, Butters" Thank you - I thought I recognized the atrocious spelling! Is it THAT hard to pluralize "guests"?
Originally Posted By Brad "ALL Japanese people, repeat ALL Japanese people...pose that way for a picture" I know. It really annoyed me until I realized it was just a Japanese THING. Oh well.
Originally Posted By Bellella Even as an adult, and even though I know the reality, the fantasy still has a great deal of appeal, and I try to keep it that way. Whenever my BFF and I meet the characters, we refer to them by their given names (Hi Mickey!!) and try to believe that they're actually who they are. For example- last time we were at D-land, we met Pluto in front of the Opera House. We stood in line, handed our cameras to the photo people, put our arms around him, had our photos taken, gave him a quick hug, and departed. Nothing untoward happened, and that's how it'll be.
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub I spent $27 on pens for my trip at Staples today Still not certain I have the right kind. I compulsively had to buy multiple colors to match the different characters. Pink and blue and red and black , etc. The lady standing next to me in the aisle said not to buy any because the lines would be so long I would give up on getting any autographs.
