Originally Posted By jmuboy The EPCOT Character Connection is being renovated and will reopen in June with character meet and greet areas themed to EPCOT themes such as land, space, transportation, etc. Pretty nice way to tie in the characters to the park's theme.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN I still miss the old Sunrise Restaurant and other shows that made CommuniCore more interesting than the stupid meet and greet character locations... I say.. "LET THE CHARACTERS ROAM FREE!!!!"
Originally Posted By ChampDisney *I say.. "LET THE CHARACTERS ROAM FREE!!!!"* Totally agree. It is just horrible waiting in line for this Character Connection.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy Trust me -- you may see negatives with the Character Connection, but the old "Let the Characters roam free" generated a lot of ill-will with the guest. The characters were always needing to leave at the end of their shift, and the guests would be really upset about it. "Just ONE more autograph, please!" The Character Connection is a compromise to be sure -- but it works.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN It worked in killing the element of surprise! One of the best things about the parks was not knowing when a character would appear. Now that element of fun is mostly gone.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> It worked in killing the element of surprise! << I can't argue with that. But at least it's a creative compromise, and it's family by family. Line control at least keeps the character from being surrounded. I would suggest that there are also other character opportunity in the parks that remain more spontaneous. Coming upon Princess Aurora in the garden in France. Geppetto and Pinocchio in Town Square. Stitch in Tomorrowland, and others. Do lines form as soon as they appear? Yes they do. But lines are lines. What are you going to do?
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy TDL -- I understand your point. But I just don't think it's all that bad.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 ^^^^^^^^^^^ glad my kids are at the age where character ' autographs' are no longer important to them -- it is a no win. The concept I liked the best when we had to do it would be Mickey actually in the area of Mickey's house and getting ready to go ons stage -- in Toontown. The kids felt like they were getting into somewhere special, and as parents we were guaranteed the kids would meet Mickey. Other than that I agree I used to like to 'surprise' of a character coming up to surprise the kids, or us -- but then the subsequent 'line jumping' by those who just had to make sure they got their books signed took away from it just after that.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>But lines are lines. What are you going to do?<< I wish them Disney managers had thought the same thing when they came up with the stupidity of Fastpass.
