Disney World Character Meet & Greet Tips
Meeting Disney World characters at breakfasts and other meals, as well as at character meet & greet locations, can be a fun experience for both kids and adults who visit Walt Disney World. Character meet & greets have gone from unorganized mob scenes in the 1980s and 1990s to highly thought out experiences that continue to evolve, the pinnacle of which is seen in “Enchanted Tales with Belle” in New Fantasyland.
Character meet & greets have become just as important (or more important) as attractions to some Walt Disney World guests, and many Disney fans are passionate “character hunters,” who make it their mission to find rare characters in the parks! If you’d like to have more fun and get more out of the character meet & greet experiences, this is the guide for you!
Here are our tips for photos and fun interactions with the characters. While this article is written with references to Walt Disney World, it applies equally to Disneyland with the obvious exception of the references to specific locations.
Finding characters is a condition precedent to meeting the characters. Finding characters is really quite simple. Obviously, if you’re at a character meal like Garden Grill, Crystal Palace, or Cinderella’s Royal Table, you won’t have to look too hard. These characters will come right to you. In the air conditioning.
While you will pay a bit of a premium for these dining experiences, if the alternative is waiting in line for 40 minutes in the sweltering sun (and many of the Disney character meet & greet lines are not shaded), it might be money well spent.
Plus, the food is often quite good at these meals. Our big exception to that is Chef Mickey’s, which despite its status as Walt Disney World’s most popular character meal, is actually not very good for dinner. Go for the characters, or a good meal for breakfast, but do not have high expectations–or even moderate ones–for the food at dinner.
If you are not doing character meals, you’re going to have to do a little more legwork to find characters. Well, not much. Your best bet is to look at the park map or the My Disney Experience app for the park you’re in and its accompanying times guide. The map will have a little glove surrounded by red in locations where there are pre-determined character meets.
The accompanying times guide will indicate what times you can expect characters in the aforementioned locations. The only work you have to do after that is walking to the various locations and standing in line! If you’re really into characters, the best resource for finding characters is Kenny the Pirate’s Character Locator app, which is more thorough than a park map.
Another strategy, I won’t call it great, is to wander around aimlessly and see who you see. Now, this isn’t the most efficient use of time, but you are bound to find some characters this way. You may also find some surprise characters who just happen to be out. These surprise encounters are becoming increasingly rare in Walt Disney World and Disneyland, but they still do happen occasionally. Sometimes, a character might just ride an attraction with your party!
If you are looking for rare characters, these free roaming characters are your best bet. It’s…uh…rare for rare characters to appear at scheduled meet & greets in static locations, and character dining always involves the same set of characters. Rare characters are most commonly used for training purposes, and during this time they appear at several (seemingly) random spots in the parks. This makes searching for rare Disney characters a hunt, indeed!
What To Do When You Meet Characters
The tried and true method most Disney Guests use is to go stand next to the character, and have their photo taken with the character, as if the character were a prop. The thing is, after waiting in line for up to an hour to see these characters, is that really good bang for your buck? Of course not. Realizing this, some parents purchase autograph books for their kids to have the characters sign. We don’t recommend doing this, but you should definitely have a little fun with it, and interact with the characters.
As childless twenty-somethings, perhaps our advice concerning autograph books will be disregarded by most parents, but we think parents should think twice before purchasing an autograph book, unless that is what the child really wants. We meet a lot of characters, and invariably, we see parents while we’re in line waiting who push (figuratively) their kids to get their autograph book signed. In a lot of these cases, the kid doesn’t interact with the character at all, and instead the character becomes part of a “gotta get them all” scavenger hunt for scribbles in a book.
These kids, mostly, don’t have real interactions with the characters, and it seems many of their parents have an attitude along the lines of, “we paid a lot of money for this trip and that autograph book, so you’re going to get autographs and you’re going to like it. So go make some great memories!!!!” Obviously, it’s a bad idea for parents to try to force their kids to maximize their “fun quotient” just because the parents spent a lot of money on the trip. Editorializing here, but I am curious as to how, at the end of the day, a book with pages of largely unintelligible scribbles constitutes a good souvenir, much less good “memories.”
That said, if your child does seem genuinely intrigued by the autograph book, by all means, purchase it and pursue it with them. However, our recommendation is that instead of an autograph book, encourage interactions with the characters (or interact with them yourself). While waiting in line, think of something clever to say.
Here are some of our favorite prompts:
- Jokingly call Winnie the Pooh “Brer Bear” and go with his reaction.
- Ask a character why he isn’t wearing pants.
- Ask Ariel if she’s ever raced Nemo.
- Intentionally “confuse” one character for another (i.e. Pluto for Goofy)
- Compliment a character on their attire.
- Ask Chip or Dale what breed of squirrels they are.
- Tell a villain that you’ve seen whatever film they’re in, and you really admire their work and their persistence.
- Find a penny behind Scrooge McDuck’s ear.
- Press Buzz Lightyear’s buttons (literally).
- Challenge Gaston to a ‘feat of strength’.
- Bring a plastic fork and present it to Ariel.
- Ask Buzz Lightyear if he is the Spanish version.
- Call the Mad Hatter Peter Pan. When he corrects you, apologize and reference his large nose. (Mad Hatter is GREAT for interactions.)
- Tell Chip or Dale that your Christmas tree was infested with chipmunks, but your dog caught them.
- Ask Chip or Dale if their in the same animal-family as Mickey Mouse.
- Ask Mickey Mouse if he built the park by himself, or if he had help.
- When meeting Donald Duck, say, “where’s Mickey Mouse, I’d rather meet him!”
- Flirt with a character. (Works especially well with Chip & Dale.)
- Ask Mary Poppins if you can take Bert’s place.
- Compliment a character on their outfit.
- Reference something a character did in their film, and congratulate them on their fine work.
- Inquire as to whether the character does their own stunts and ask for a demonstration.
- Tell Gaston you’re stronger or braver than him.
You get the idea–go in with something to say, and let the character take the interaction from there. The best things to say are funny or slightly contradictory to the character’s persona. Just remember not to be downright hostile or to try something too complex. You don’t want to cross the line between humorous/lighthearted and rude. Plus, non-face characters can’t verbally respond, so if your prompt is too convoluted and something they can’t respond to with body language, it might be a bit of a dud.
If you have kids and they have trouble doing this on their own, tell the character that your kid is a friend of that character’s nemesis. I’m not suggesting that you force some sort of carefully scripted scenario, but at least enable a potentially fun, and funny, conversation.
As an example, back when Liberty Tree Tavern was a character meal, Chip and Dale noticed Sarah’s engagement ring, and attempted to “steal” her away from me. The 10-minute plus interaction ultimately ended with all of the characters being involved and a kung-fu match between Chip and me. When we finally returned to our table, Chip followed and sat down next to us, where I informed him that I’d be encouraging Goofy to prepare some chipmunk stew later. He motioned that he “had his eyes on me”, and moved on. Every time he walked near our table for the rest of our meal, he would blow kisses to Sarah, and make the “eyes on you” motion to me. To this day, Sarah and I both distinctly remember this, and many other, character experiences.
If you don’t want to “play” with the characters, at least think up some fun poses that fit the characters you’re meeting. Meeting Donald Duck? Pretend you have a duck bill. Buzz Lightyear? Give a nice salute to Star Command. You get the idea. Even something as simple as this will make the experience more fun, and will make the characters more than just “breathing props.”
Tips for Character Photos
These are more technical tips, rather than “make fun poses” type tips. First, whether you’re indoors or outdoors, always turn on your flash. This may seem counter-intuitive if you’re outdoors in bright light, but depending upon the sun’s location, you can end up with odd and harsh shadows on faces of your subjects if you don’t use flash. Just turn it on, take a practice shot before your party to make sure everything looks good, and let loose.
Next, if you’re using a DSLR, you need to determine which lens to use. I like backing up and using longer (50mm and above) lenses with a low aperture that will produce a shallow–but not too shallow–depth of field, if I’m just photographing Sarah or just the character. This gives nice separation from the background, which creates a pleasing image. If you’re handing your camera off to a character attendant or a PhotoPass photographer, I’d avoid using a longer lens or a prime lens, as the Cast Member may have difficulty handling these types of lenses. In these cases, it’s best to keep things as simple as possible: 18-55mm (or similar) zoom lens, auto-mode, with flash on.
As far as technical tips, that’s really it. Character photos are really easy from a technical standpoint. In addition to these technical recommendations, I recommend that you start taking photos before your subjects pose, as these candid shots can be some of the most fun ones. Similarly, if you have really small children who might be awestruck by the characters, shoot candid shots exclusively. These expressions of awe will be far more priceless than any “canned” pose photo, and trying to get your child to sit still and look at the camera may be more frustrating than anything.
Obviously, these are just the tips of two people based upon what we’ve seen and experienced at Disney character meet & greets and character meals. You may completely disagree with us on the topic of autograph books, or you may think character meet and greets are an outright waste of time to begin with.
We happen to think that candid photos and unique experiences are the best way to enjoy character meet and greets, and this type of experience will create the best, and longest lasting, memories. If you disagree, you should do what makes you or your children happy. Obviously, variety is the spice of life.
Looking for Disney trip planning tips? Make sure to read our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide and Disneyland Trip Planning Guide.
Your Thoughts…
What tips for meeting characters do you have? Any super-secret locations where rare characters often appear? Any verbal prompts you have used on characters to illicit fun reactions and interactions? Share your tips and feedback in the comments!
The first Disney trip for my now 9 year old we did the autograph book. I made a point to take pictures of the character signing the book and with my daughter. When we saw tigger she and he had a jumping contest which was super cute. Back home I took the autographs and scanned them in as jpegs so that when I created our digital scrapbook I could have the picture of the character experience and their autograph. I honestly don’t know where the original book is but the 100 page book showing all the experiences is looked at often.
Awesome! Sounds like you had a great experience with the books and didn’t make it merely a scavenger hunt for signatures. Great use of them once back home, too! 🙂
I’m going to Disney and im confused about interacting with the characters what if I can’t come up with something clever to say thats what im worried about because this is my first time meeting characters without autographs books because every year i have gone I have always gotten autographs from the characters so im just worried about how I should interact with them
I recently found a post on Pinterest about interacting with Toy Story characters. The pinner said to yell “Andy’s Coming!” around Woody or Buzz and they stop what they are doing and drop! They also posted a picture of them on the ground laying next to Jessie and Woody sitting propped up against a building!I can’t wait to try it!
It doesn’t work. All it will do is irritate the Cast Members in the area, as countless people a day are doing this because they’ve seen it on Pinterest, Twitter, reddit, etc.
Well that stinks. But I’m glad I know that now!
I can definitely see how the autograph books can be a bit of a distraction for the kids, but there are also many positives to them as well. If your child is shy and is nervous to approach the character, a lot of times when they have the autograph book they feel a bit of security and will approach the character more easily.
Also, as a person who makes scrapbooks for every memory, having the characters signature next to the picture is so special sometimes!
Just went to meet the Step Sisters the other day and asked them how their boyfriend hunt was going and Anastasia started obnoxiously crying it was hilarious! Lady Tremaine wasn’t too happy about that one! 🙂
I took my fiance to Disney for the first time last December. When we got there I insisted we HAD to get an autograph book and meet some characters. (When I was little I always had to get autographs from the characters).
He was less than thrilled with the idea of character meet and greets at first, but he’s the kind of guy that will go out of his way to do something nice for me, so off we went to find characters. Our first interaction was with Phineas and Ferb. He had SO much fun interacting with them. We were there for our engagement celebration, and when they saw my ring they clapped and gave me a hug and shook his hand and it was so much fun. We got their autographs and picture, and after that we got an autograph and photo with as many characters as we could find! Mickey and Minnie at the Christmas party, and Stitch at “Ohana” were 2 of our favorite meet and greets (Stitch tried to steal our coffee). We also had another awesome meet and greet with Mr. Incredible and Frozone because we made friends with one of the photopass photographers and she got them to do lots of crazy and fun pictures with us 🙂
When we got home we cut out all of the autographs from the book and made a huge scrapbook of JUST our meet and greets. At the end of our trip we ended up doing over 80+ meet and greets! We both can’t wait to do the meet and greets again! I think we had more fun doing that than riding rides 😉
Thanks for another great article! And great tips for interacting! (I’m always a little shy and sometimes have no clue what to say to a character)
Thanks for sharing your experience! Meet & Greets are definitely very important to a lot of guests–your experience demonstrates that nicely!
During my 25th birthday, we dined at the Carnation Plaza in Disneyland for their character breakfast. During the meal, Captain Hook stole my tiara and Brer Fox challenged him to a duel to get it back for me. Priceless memories!!!
On another trip, I danced with Pluto and my brother got Mickey Mouse to make the Oregon Ducks “O” symbol for a photo op.
Also on another trip with my mom, we brought a cardboard cutout of my dad’s head and had characters pose with it. They all thought it was hilarious, and it was a great “thank you” for my dad, who sent us on the trip.
Awesome stories! Captain Hook and Brer Fox at the same character meal? That seems like an odd mix!
We have done the autograph books but always do the ones with the picture slot. Sure, one year later, I haven’t put the pictures in it yet, but I like the idea of having the same pics with the kids as they grow up. I never understood the point of the book without the slot for pictures. That does seem like a waste.
With my daughter (age 4 and 5 at the time of our last two trips), we started having her think of one question to ask each of the characters that can speak. This way, she would have more interaction (and she can be shy, so it helped to think of something while in line). So with Alice, she asked what Alice’s favorite flower is. With Aladdin and Jasmine, she asked where Abu was. And, of course, it always helps when she’s wearing the same dress as the princess! Tiana was super sweet when she met her “twin”. 🙂
Great tips for interacting. Of course, I’m sure wearing the same dress as the princess REALLY helps for some great interactions (and great photos)!
The characters may be my favorite part of going to Disney World and these tips are great. My favorite interaction was with Meeko at MGM (when it was still called that). I arrived too late to get in line to see him, but the characters started walking by us on their way out. My friend told me to walk near Meeko so he could get us both in a picture (I named my cat Meeko 18 years ago and really wanted to meet him). The funniest part was that Pocohontas thought I was trying to meet her – but I only had eyes for the raccoon. Meeko did stop and wave me over and I have a couple of pictures with the biggest grin on my face.
We have the best pictures with my husband and the characters. He really, really nailed the funny poses. I like to talk to the face characters. 1900 Park Fare is always my favorite. Trying to convince Mary Poppind to be our nanny and trying to explain who Chewbacca is to the Mad Hatter are some of our family’s favorite memories!
The Mary Poppins interaction sounds funny! We’ve found that just about any interaction with the Mad Hatter is hilarious! Thanks for sharing.
I love the tips. As much as yourself, I love playing with the characters. I flirted with Anastacia (who later was in the middle of the parade and came out to talk to me!), I gave an apple both to the Queen and Snow White, asked Cinderella to marry me, sang Kiss The Girl with Ariel, made jokes and funny poses with Alice and the Mad Hatter, and for Mulan and Peter Pan there was no line, so I could spend a long time talking and playing with both! The best memories I have. I’ll take your suggestions on what to do or say next time. I would LOVE a fight against Chip and Dale! (I’ve danced with them)
Our best full trip when it came to character interactions actually had everything to do with our autograph book. My daughter who is now 8 admits she gets real nervous around the characters. Star Struck so to speak. So we decided to make our own autograph book, and when you plan a trip over 6 months out – you have plenty of time to do a page or two a night. So we scrapbooked together an entire book were we had pages that we made specifically for each character we even hoped we might see. She had so much fun showing and talking to the characters about each page and why she chose items on the page for them it really opened her up to interact. The characters were showing the book to other characters and it was a super fun time.
Our best stand alone character interactions was with Minnie at the PCH Grill, and again it was with an autograph book. Minnie picked up the book and started to play Charades with us, and acted out each signature we had. It was amazingly fun for all of us. 😀
As a character performer at Disney World (I’m almost always “friends with” Tigger) I’d just like to say that you are totally, absolutely, 100% correct in all the statements you made here. There is nothing more disappointing for a character than guest after guest who silently hands you the autograph book, stares at you, and then goes in for the photo with an arms-by-the-side pose. Unfortunately, these guests form about 60% of all my interactions, no matter how much I attempt to animate interactions with these guests.
The best experiences I have ever had with guests are always the ones where they have actively participated in a conversation, interacted with a prop and are open to suggestions I might make as a character.
Just a few more tips I’d like to add from the point of view of someone on the other side of the fiberglass:
1) If you don’t understand what a character is trying to tell you through their animation, make something up! If Tigger is pointing at your hand, he may have meant to say “give me your hand so we can dance”, but responding with “Oh Tigger, I’m so sorry I’m married, but I’ll keep you updated if anything changes” works just as well and keeps the conversation moving, often with hilarious results!
2) Approach the character from the front and please talk as you approach. Some characters have great visibility, others can only see feet or knees. Approaching front on and talking gives the character the best possible chance to see or hear that you’re there and start an interaction.
3) Don’t feel as though you have to cut the interaction off. If you are having a hilarious, special or magical interaction with a character, don’t feel as though you have to rush into a photo and leave because there is a queue. Characters love guests who animate back, and if they are treating you to 3+ minutes of fun, it’s because you deserve it. If there is a time issue, the character’s attendant will let you know when your interaction needs to start coming to an end.
And finally:
4) Nobody at Disney World will judge you for bouncing with Tigger, for playing the air trumpet with King Louie, for comparing manicures with Daisy or for dancing with Goofy, so never feel the need to apologise to the characters or other guests in the queue. It’s Disney World, that’s what we’re here for, and let me say that guests like you are the guests I get up for every morning.
Thanks for putting these great tips up on the web!
Thank you for all the excellent work you (and your fellow CMs) do. I am continually blown away by how talented the character CMs are–I am not a child anymore, but I still have *so* much fun interacting with the characters. I am also continually impressed by how wittily and clearly the characters communicate, despite the fact that they are often wearing masks, full-body costumes, and can’t talk to guests!
My daughter and I will be there May 10th thru the 17th! What park are you at? Tigger’s my favorite and I’d love to have my pic with you!!
Just gonna say…
Few years ago, first adult trip at disney w my hubby
had breakfast at the crystal palace…
I dont care how old i am(ahem…late 20s)
I LOVE TIGGER!
teared up when i saw him…
I’d waited my whole life and the interaction was awesome..
something i cherish everytime i see our picture together!
looking forward to bringing my son (3) in october!
See you at breakfast!!
Thank you for that comment. I always feel pressured to get out of the way fast when I see more than 10 people behind me…need to get more relaxed about it, I guess!
Really appreciate this. I am one of those parents who makes her children their own autograph books with each character who has a page. I often feel more rushed at the lineup behind me and feel bad for “taking up a characters time” then anything else. Thank you SO much for all the work you and your fellows do. All of you are amazing, and make our trip so magical.
Chip n Dale always seem to be really good to interact with. I think they feed off each other well. There is one character moment with them that will stand out in my familys and my mind probably forever.
We were dining at the Garden Grill back when I was going to be a freshman in high school. There were 9 of us dining. The place was empty so we had a great deal of time with all the characters. My cousin at the time was 3 I believe. When Chip N Dale came over, they took to him right away. He was such a cute kid and had an amazing perosnality for a 3 year old. Well, Chip kept saying that Dale was stinky and kept shooing him away. He then took my cousin by the hand and led him all around the restaurant chasing Dale away. He sat down on the floor and played with Thomas the Tank Engine for a good 15-20 minutes. My cousin loved every minute of it.
One full year later, we returned to the Garden Grill for dinner. When Chip and Dale came over, Chip took my cousins autograph book and wrote “Dale still stinks!” in it. When my aunt read it, she looked up at Chip and asked “You remember him?!” to which Chip pointed at my cousin, nodded and put his hands over his heart. We were all floored that Chip remembered him, considering the amount of children that they see on a daily basis. Of all the Disney memories we’ve made of the years with the characters, that one stands out the most. THAT is pure Disney magic right there.
Wow. That really is an awesome story. Talk about a couple of truly magical moments. Thank you for sharing the experiences!
Your tip about the flash makes so much sense now!! I have half my character photo’s turn out good, and 1/2 turn out too dark. And since i rarely use the flash outside, hopefully this tip will help me!!
About the autograph books, we do use them, but we make our own at home instead of using the ones you buy at the parks. I print pictures of the characters on cardstock and insert it into a photoalbum and have the characters sign than. Yes it is extremely time consuing, heavy to lugg around, and costs a heck of a lot more than the book at the park. BUT……the intereaction from the characters from seeing a page personalized just for them is priceless. On a trip when my daughter was 5, Aladdin was so impressed with her book that he sat her on his leg and looked thru the whole book with her! And the characters that don’t speak, they have such a great time explaining how excited they are about seeing their own page. Once we met Alice and the Mad Hatter, we only had a page for Alice. So my daughter had to explain to the Mad Hatter that it was all mom’s fault he didn’t have a page and all 3 of them made me promise next time to make sure he had his own page. It is a memory my daughter treasures.
In your case, clearly an autograph book works–and works very well! I love the idea of making your own, and making it into something that will really be a memorable souvenir (and a way to spark conversation with characters). Really an excellent idea!
I did something similar where I went to Picaboo and created a book with a neat background for each character a place to sign and a “filler” picture which I will replace with the picture of the character with my kids. Now instead of a book of signatures I have a memory book.
I’d like to see Mike try to sign an autograph book =D I wonder what he does in situations when little kids run up to him with a pen…
When we were in line for Mike and Sully the family behind us got their books out and the handler let them know that Mike & Sully cant sign autographs.
We were told that Sulley would break the pens by the Cast Members 😉 As well as Buzz, as he couldn’t sign autographs because he doesn’t have an “autograph button”.
We did the whole autograph book thing the first trip to WDW with the kids, because we felt obligated (what kind of parents would we be otherwise?) 🙂 But what we found out was that our daughters didn’t really care all that much, and it took away time from some more genuine interactions with the characters. I see too many families who simply follow the pattern:
1) Hand over autograph book
2) Stand next to character for picture
3) Leave
On all of our subsequent trips, we leave the autograph books at home, and our daughters have never complained (or even mentioned them again). We try our best now to interact with the characters with some sort of comment or funny pose, and it’s so much better. I like your phrase about making the characters more than “breathing props”, it’s a good point to remember!
I had the absolute best time on our last trip interacting with the characters at MNSSHP. The best tip I can give for that is to dress up!! I wore a Cheshire cat costume and had characters approaching me – which, admittedly was way awesome for me and my daughters. Even during the Boo to you parade (2nd round) the characters were walking up to me to interact!
So other than Character dinners where you’re guaranteed to meet them, I think special events like the Halloween and Christmas parties are the way to go for lots of character interaction.
BTW
We have autograph books for our girls (ages 6 & 4). Our first trip they were very persistent about wanting to get autographs and even commented when we “missed one”. But I got tired of carrying them around “just in case” there was a chance meeting so for our last trip I “forgot” to pack them and no one was devastated by it 🙂
You know, it’s just whatever your kids happen to make a priority-a very subjective thing it seems. We’ve been purchasing autograph books for as long as we’ve been taking our girls to Disney (They’re now 9 and 5, and my eldest’s first Disney trip was back in 2005). We always select the ones that have pockets opposite each autograph to place a photograph. Our autograph book is an ABSOLUTE staple in our backpack on each our our trips (we’d feel naked w/o it!)…FYI a black Sharpie makes for the best autographs and easiest for the characters to hold! (We moved down to FL from NY, 3.5 years ago and now live 90 minutes o/s of the Disney Resort!) Our book collection is displayed chronologically in our living room on a small shelf (we’re up to about 8 or 9 right now) and I love it when the girls (or even guests) sit and peruse them and smile at how they’ve grown over the years. (And I would never force them to use the books – it’s the girls who always make sure that we have them with us.) And truthfully, getting an autograph in our experience does not interfere with (as the song goes), “Makin’ Memories”! (On one particular trip, after taking pictures with Ariel and Eric, Eric took our book and stood paging through all of our past pics, remarking on the characters we had met thus far – made for great interaction!)
BTW, Tom…I LOVE YOUR PHOTOS!! I can spend hours on Flickr looking through them! Your photopgraphy is BEAUTIFUL. And I enjoy your blogs! Keep the photos coming, please!
It really surprised me our last trip (we’re basically a family of grown-up kids who still go with our parents), but we had a great time interacting with the characters. We haven’t done autograph books in years (although I distinctly remember thinking they were the greatest thing ever when I was 6), but even without little kids, we still have great interactions. At the Garden Grill, my aunt got a call from her husband while we were at the table, and as she was taking it, Chip (or possibly Dale) came up and started making fun of her (one hand to his ear like he had a cell phone, the other hand doing that talking gesture). It was one of the funniest things that happened all trip (really all the interactions at that dinner were spectacular).
I also appreciate it when the characters help out. Snow White asked my parents to take off their sunglasses “so we can see your royal eyes” and while if I had said something to my dad, he wouldn’t have done it, he did it for Snow White. So glad she was keeping an eye out to make our vacation photos better!
The characters at Garden Grill are the greatest ones to get reactions out of we found on our last trip. Pluto tried to lick my 15yr old daughter’s face and she was giggling and carrying on and the photo is priceless – Chip&Dale kept coming up to our table and “just checking on us”. The mean there was only so-so but we had so much fun we’ll go back there 🙂
Love this! I really need to learn to use my camera better. i’m enjoying reading what you have to share… maybe one day I’ll learn! 🙂
Great tips, Tom! I can’t stress the flash tip enough. On our last trip, I dropped my camera – flash first – while waiting in line to see Pooh and destroyed the bulb. I never realized just how much it helped until I tried to live without it for the rest of the trip.
Also, we’ve done the autograph book thing before and it turned out to be a waste. The kids weren’t too interested and it’s now buried somewhere in a drawer.
Our kids are a little too shy to do the solo “talking to characters” thing, so on the last trip, we got a few photo frames with oversized mats for the characters to autograph. It turned out that the kids loved doing that and it made a GREAT prop for many of the characters. Most of the animal characters used it playfully as a frame for their faces or one of the kids’. Marie played with it for about five minutes with my kids giggling the whole time. We also left the stock photo sheets in there, and a lot of the face characters asked who the people in the picture were, making for a fun interaction with our kids.
TL;DR Use the flash; skip the autograph book; carry photo mats for autographs instead.
I had to Google “TL;DR” to figure out what it meant. I guess I must be getting old!
I, too, didn’t know what “TL;DR” meant. I especially love the urban dictionary’s definition of it.
Thank you for a great idea! I would rather have a family image to hang on the wall in a signed mat than the photo book that I have not even printed each 4X6 to go w the signatures yet!