Addicted to Disney
Caz is addicted to anything Disney, Wayne is her husband aka Mr Disney gets dragged along to all the Parks and shows and doesn't like to admit he is a Stitch Fan.
Join us as we share our experiences and thoughts on anything related to Disney from Disney Parks, and Disney Cruises, to Collectables and anything else made by the Mouse.
Addicted to Disney
Mastering the Magic: Insider Tips for Disney Character Meet and Greets
Join Caz and Wayne as we whisk you away to the heart of Disney's most cherished tradition—meeting your favorite characters! From the hug rule to the art of autograph collecting, we've got the insider tips to make your encounters unforgettable. Picture this: you're strolling down Main Street, and there's Mickey Mouse, greeting you like an old friend; or imagine dining with royalty at Cinderella's Royal Table, all while avoiding those infamous long lines. Discover how the Genie Plus service might just be your fairy godmother in navigating the queues, and learn which characters are eager to sign your memorabilia—and which ones prefer a high five.
But it's not all about the logistics; it's about the moments that leave you grinning from ear to ear. Hear about my personal run-in with Chip and Dale that was made all the more special by the T-shirt I was wearing, featuring the mischievous duo themselves. And when Jack Skellington took one look at my themed outfit, the experience was nothing short of spectacular. These stories and more await as we, Caz aka Mrs. Disney, and Wayne aka Mr. Disney, invite you into our world of Disney delight. Be sure to join us for this episode full of heartwarming tales and pro-level strategies that will have you ready for your next magical meet and greet!
Caz and Wayne are Addicted to Disney, a podcast about the ups and downs of Disney trips, from Parts to Cruises we will try it all.
Caz collects Disney Ears, Characters and Loungefly bags. Wayne likes cameras.
So what are we going to talk about today?
Caz:Hi everybody. It's Addicted to Disney the podcast, and today we're talking about all things Disney characters.
Wayne:So it's all about Mickey Mouse.
Caz:It's not just Mickey Mouse.
Wayne:What characters?
Caz:Characters are characters from Disney films and franchises that you can go and have meet and greets with around the park.
Wayne:Is that it?
Caz:That is it.
Wayne:Okay.
Caz:And there's all sorts of characters. You have Star Wars characters, Marvel characters, princesses, Olaf, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Donnager.
Wayne:I think we got the message.
Caz:Characters.
Wayne:Characters. So how do you find these characters?
Caz:Characters can be found in a number of ways generally on the parks apps. Now, both disneyland paris and walk disney world have an app and they have on there all their information of what's going on in the park. So generally you can find out where they're located on the app. However, the app isn't always accurate for timings or locations sounds like disney it yeah, it's gonna disney it.
Caz:we love disney it. Generally they have various meet and greet spots around the parks, depending on timings depends what characters are there some in disneyland paris. People always ask where can I find mickey mouse? Mickey mouse has got a house at the back of fantasyland, at the back past Dumbo's, near Total, which is basically meets Mickey Mouse and that's where you can meet Mickey Mouse in his dressing room. So it has some of his costumes and his Fantasia hat and that and you can do your meet and greet with Mickey Mouse in the dry, in the warm. In Florida he has his own meet and greet which is just on Town Square and just as you go in on the right and then other locations, olaf has his own beach backdrop.
Wayne:Let's not talk about Olaf.
Caz:That's fine. We're not talking about Olaf. You know you love Olaf.
Wayne:I'm saying nothing.
Caz:Mr Disney loves Olaf. He really does. But there you have. Olaf has a meet and greet and it's generally at the moment I think it's he's in summer outfit In summer, In summer. I'm being glared at now.
Wayne:Because you're singing.
Caz:I lost my train of thought.
Wayne:Now Olaf yes, olaf, olaf in summer.
Caz:Olaf in summer. Yes, he has his own meet and greet Princesses. There's a variety of ways of meeting princesses. You can meet princesses at character dining, which we'll get onto in a bit, or they just pop up. Yes, you do get the odd pop-up character as well, because otherwise you only have about four or five characters out if you look at the apps. But generally speaking, on a good day there can be about 15 20 characters out of the box okay, so I just turn up to meet these characters no, you don't turn up to meet these characters.
Caz:You have to join the queue oh god, here we go, queues genie plus genie plus works on some of the character queues in walt disney world, but it doesn't work on anna and elsa in the norway pavilion. Guys, sorry, with anna and elsa you are going to have to be prepared to wait and in Disneyland Paris it is a case of you have to join up and join the dreaded queues. We love queues and some of the more popular characters, especially a certain blue alien called Stitch how His queue can be anything up to three and a half to four hours in length three and a half to four hours three and a half to four people are queuing for three and a half to four hours to see stitch yep, yes, they are.
Caz:Yep, they are, but they're stitch fans I'm a stitch fan.
Wayne:I'm not going to queue up for four hours. You just jump to the front of the queue so that you're a fan.
Caz:No, you can't jump to the front of the queue. The only time you can go push through the queues is if you have a disability access card in disneyland paris. But you do actually have to book an appointment to go back and these appointments do go very quickly as in on very busy days, stitches appointments for the whole day can go in like 10 minutes. So if you get there to join the queue for an access ability return time and there's six or more people in front of you, be prepared you might not get a time okay.
Wayne:So when you get to meet a character, what do you get to do?
Caz:you get to hug. I love giving character hugs, and no guys, characters aren't just for kids that's growing up, so to do it too oh, you'll start them off again I love hugging characters. You can give them hugs, and one thing disney have is they actually have the hug rule, whereas when you're hugging a character, they won't stop hugging you until you stop hugging them. So you could hug them forever if you wanted to, within reason I'm gonna test this you're gonna test this?
Caz:yeah, but every time you go anywhere near like olav, you don't want to hug him, I'll just give him a gentle hug. Yes, you do give him a gentle hug. I think everything it's mr disney and olav. Don't mention that's no-no. But, yeah, no, you can give them a hug, you can talk to them, you can interact with them. Depending on the character, you get some interesting interactions back. You can get autographs they can sign your autograph books, a picture frame. You can get T-shirts, autographs, backpacks, you name it. They'll sign it within reason.
Wayne:Within reason, is it within reason.
Caz:Within reason, is there anything they won't sign? Oh, do I have to say body parts? Yeah, body parts, although some characters don't sign. Be prepared buzz lightyear doesn't sign. Chewbacca doesn't sign because he's a wookiee. He'll just look at you, go ah, and darth vader will just look at you and use the force, and that's it.
Wayne:You get force choked I'm just imagining vader signing something. Okay, so signing what do people generally bring to sign?
Caz:People generally bring a notebook or an autograph book or a cardboard picture frame and then you have to bring a pen. Now, guys, remember, some of these characters have got big fingers and big hands. So bringing a nice little phone, little pen is not the way to get an autograph. You want something that's a chunky. Penies I find are the best, and I also like taking different colors, so I get characters to sign in different colors as well. And also, if you've got more than one pen, at least you're covered if the pen runs out, which has happened to me yeah, when we say sharpies, we mean normal sharpies, not super giant jumbo sharpies no normal sharpies I did see on one of the facebook groups this week and someone was actually saying how many pages should I reserve in my autograph book?
Caz:I've got six or seven autograph books you seem to take one autograph book.
Caz:I have a new one per trip because I like to date my trips, because you never know which characters you're going to meet one day. One day you can go in a park and you'll meet mickey mouse, mini mouse goofy. Another time you go in the park and then you'll meet stitch olaf, a princess, and then you'll go at halloween season and suddenly you've got jack skeleton and sally oogie boogie. Or if you go to an after hours event, which we have done to occasion, if you get the cast members that are looking after their characters in the right mind, you might get the odd rare autograph what's a rare autograph?
Caz:Rare autographs, rare characters that aren't out all the time. Now one thing I have discovered since going to a couple of after hours events at Disneyland Paris is quite often you'll get characters out that you don't see on a general basis. They have like the daily characters. You'll get characters out that you don't see on a general basis. They have like the daily characters You'll normally have, say Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Mickey Mouse, Stitch, Peter Pan and Wendy, those kind of characters sort of the classics. Rare characters are like the more rarer characters from the film. So if you're lucky you might get a meet where suddenly you've got Stitch and you've got Angel. Now if you don't know who Angel is, she's Experiment 624 and she appears in the Stitch cartoon series.
Wayne:She's Stitch's girlfriend. She's.
Caz:Stitch's girlfriend, booty boo. You might even get lucky and get people like Launchpad McQuack, and if you're really lucky you might even get the Beast from Beauty and the Beast my favourite.
Wayne:Okay.
Caz:Can you take pictures with characters? Yes, yes, you can take pictures with them, and some of them also have photographers with them as well. So if you've got photo passes, be prepared to do lots of your best poses, and the photo pass photographer generally will take photos during the whole interaction as well, so it's not just the pose for a picture, they'll take multiple pictures during your interaction and time at your meet. And, of course, I have Disney, who takes extra post-photos for me as well.
Wayne:At least if I'm taking the pictures, I don't get to be in them.
Caz:Except when it's Stitch and Olaf. Yeah, I get dragged into those ones, but one of the best ways to find and meet characters is to do character dining, which we love doing. Character dining, character dining. Mr Disney quite likes character dining because it means he doesn't have to stand in queues for hours with me to meet people.
Wayne:I really, really hate standing in queues.
Caz:He doesn't like queues, no. So character dining is really good fun. You do get to meet sort of four, five, six characters at a time. They can be fiends. Now in Paris at the moment there is only three character locations for character dining, which is the Royal Banquet within the reimagined Disneyland Hotel.
Wayne:That's that really really expensive one.
Caz:Yeah, it's the really expensive one. It's just reopened and, believe me, it's nice, but to get an appointment and to go in to have a restaurant reservation there is not easy to do. You have Plaza Gardens, which is where you can either have breakfast with characters, which they do on two sittings Now the two sittings are 8.15 and 9.45. And guys, just remember the 8.15 sitting. If you're not staying at a Disneyland hotel, they're not going to let you into the park, because they do actually say that that is for Disney guests only because they get extra magic hours. And there have been times where people have been turned away, so just be prepared when booking your character breakfast. There have been times where people have been turned away, so just be prepared when booking your character breakfast. You also have Aubergine de Cinderella, which is Cinderella's restaurant, where you have dinner with princesses, which I quite like as well.
Wayne:Yes, she quite likes that one.
Caz:So do you, and in America there are loads of places to have character dining, and I mean loads. Our first trip to America, it's like I want to do that one. Yep going to go there, want to do that one. I think it was character meals nearly every day when we were out there. Yeah, in terms of places to have character breakfast in America, in Disney World, one of my favourites is Ohana, which is located within the Polynesia Resort, where you can have breakfast with Stitch, and it's one of the only places where you get to.
Wayne:Are they the ones that also gave us the autograph cards?
Caz:Yes, in France you just have your autograph book and the characters are signed. But in America the characters are still signed, but you also get given postcards with pictures of the characters on and autographs on. So they actually make quite a nice extra souvenir and they're nice to put in your autograph books with the characters so you can say oh yeah, I went to say Garden Grill, which is one of the other character meals in Epcot, and I met Chipmunks and look, there's a Chipmunks autograph. They're just really nice keepsakes and also you're not pressurised then to have an autograph book, although I do like having my autograph books.
Caz:One of the things they do have in all the Disney parks is they have a one-character rule. Now you'll only find one, Mickey Mouse, and this basically relates more to the Hero 6. So that's Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Davey, Goofy and Pluto. You only really have one of the Hero 6 out in any location at any time. They only have one Mickey Mouse out, one Minnie Mouse out, one Goofy out, one Donald Duck out, otherwise you'll just be walking around going oh, it's Donald, seeing him again. Oh, for you out one Donald Duck out, otherwise you'll just be walking around going oh, it's Donald, seen him again. Oh, Donald's back over there again. And it also is for the smaller children where suddenly they go. Mummy, you said there's only one Donald Duck, but I saw him over there and now he's over by Phantom Manor, that kind of thing.
Wayne:That's because he can run or swim on the lakes or swim very quickly. Do's and don'ts.
Caz:Do's and don'ts. Be courteous in the queues when waiting for a character. Don't queue jump when waiting for a character and, trust me, I have seen it happen don't leave the queue and then suddenly think you can go back into your spot where you were before. If you leave the queue, guys, bye, bye, you're at the back. Also, don't try to be too rough with the characters. You've got to remember the characters are actually people.
Wayne:No, they're not, they're characters.
Caz:They're characters.
Wayne:Stop spoiling the magic.
Caz:Characters have feelings too.
Wayne:Especially Gaston.
Caz:Yes, Gaston.
Wayne:Gaston has been known to get rather shirty with people who get slightly more interested in Gaston and his perfect looks. There's a few YouTube videos out there where Gaston has basically almost thrown people out the park for being a little bit amorous, shall we say.
Caz:And we won't mention Olaf's nose.
Wayne:Yeah, we won't mention Olaf's nose.
Caz:Why won't we mention Olaf's nose? What is it with you and Olaf? I just oh, I know what it is. It's the time we went to meet Olaf and my ears fell off and you put my Disney ears on and Olaf laughed at you, isn't it? I'm saying nothing. He got laughed at by Olaf.
Wayne:No comment.
Caz:And also you do get to meet characters on the cruises as well. The characters on the cruises are slightly more organised. They do have schedules, like in the parks, that appear on the apps, but they also are a bit more organised in how they do the queues. They'll then start a queue and then, if you're waiting to see a character say Minnie is out, and then the next one who's going to be in that location is Donald, they'll then say right, you're the last Minnie. Right, you're the first person for Donald. 90% of the time it does work, but it does occasionally break down. I'm not going to mention it too much about it, but it got interesting whilst queuing to see stitch who was one of the most popular ones on the cruise yep, and I started queuing because I knew he was going to be popular at least an hour ahead of his slot.
Caz:I was second in the queue and then CMs changed changed over managing the characters. They went away with the second queue and it's only my one hour queue turned into a two and a half hour queue it's a good thing I don't go queuing on those no, you don't. Mr Disney basically says right, where you going, go and see characters. Okay, see you later.
Caz:Bye I don't do queues you don't do queues, no, you do do characters, though I, I do most characters and the other thing they do on the car on the cruises I really like is the royal gathering, which is basically generally on a sea day. They'll do what they call a royal gathering in the ship's atriums where you get to meet four or five princesses all at the same time, and it's very well organized. You do have to reserve this to hook the slot and you're going to get a time to go and do your royal gathering and you get to meet four or five princesses.
Caz:Now I really like doing this because I do like disney princesses they are quite cute I think maybe I want to be a disney princess, I don't know I don't think the practicalities of the dress really work no, I don't think they would, but no, it's just a really nice way that they do it and it is organised, and they have all the music from the Disney princess films playing whilst you're doing the meets and the characters and they do spend time with you. It's just really nice. It's just like that little tiny, little extra bit of magic, I think.
Wayne:Okay, so what are the top tips for someone who has never been to a Disney park or a cruise, etc. Etc. But wants to meet characters? What should they be doing?
Caz:First up, look on the app. Now the apps do become your friend. They are listed on the Disneyland Paris one. If you go to the map and then change it from icons to lists and then scroll across the characters, you'll find the times and locations, and the same for Walt Disney World and on the cruises it will be on the navigators app. So that's the first thing. Look on the apps. Also. Think about which characters you do or don't want to see and prioritize now. Some characters are only out in the morning, some are out all day, some appear in the afternoons. When you do get to the character, be organized when it comes to your term, be ready. If you've got any bags on your back, take bag off your back. You can pop it down on the floor by the photographer. Have your autograph book ready, open and your pen lid off, and if you're going to be using your own camera as well as the PhotoPass camera, have that set and pass it to the CM. And yeah, just enjoy it really.
Wayne:And be prepared for queues.
Caz:And be prepared for queues. The only thing I would say is characters find it fun when you're dressed up or you've got something on with them on. On a recent trip I bumped into chip and dale and I had a chip and dale t-shirt on and they loved it. I also had it before when I've gone to meet jack skeleton and I've had jack's, because I think it gives the characters a little bit of a buzz that oh, you've come to see me and you've got my apparel on. So yeah, I think that's the only other thing I can think of really okie dokie.
Wayne:So I think that's the end of the podcast that is the end of characters.
Caz:So if you've enjoyed the podcast, download, subscribe, follow. You know the rules. If you want to see some videos and characters, go have a look on my youtube, because a lot of my videos do have character meets in them, and we'll catch you on the next podcast. So I was kaz, aka mrs disney and I'm mr disney and we'll see you on the next one. Chat you laters bye.