Private meeting with characters

[J. Galt]

Fabulous! We are heading to MK early in the vacation. We'll head to Toontown for some character interaction. If the group still isn't satisfied, we can always get the picture at DD. Thanks everyone!

 

[DocRafiki]

J.,

I'm a former CM from the Toontown "tents" years ago. I hesitate posting this lest hoardes of people will be begging for private meets and saying they deserve it because they heard so-and-so got one. So, people... chill. (only speaking from experience... you make one announcement that 'infirm?' kids don't need to wait in line, and all the sudden every kid is claiming to be on death's door)

This wasn't something we were ever told to do, but every once in a while, we would backdoor people for private time with Mickey. It would only be a few minutes, but much more relaxed than the general line. And you got the whole room to yourself. Generally, you go in with a group of people, and only the last of each group is actually in the room alone with Mickey and his aide. This is back when the lines to see Mickey were 1-2 hrs in the middle of the day; don't know what they're like now.

Anyway, we would do this basically for VERY special occasions, such as Give Kids The World, engagements (as in the actual "Will You Marry Me?", not just for engagement/wedding parties), and super-psycho Mickey fans who were in tears because they waited all their lives to meet him and they spent hours at home making special gifts for him.

No charge. Sometimes the guests asked (engagements), and sometimes we would offer. Some CMs couldn't care less and wouldn't do it, regardless.

Honestly, it sounds like you can get equal interaction with him at the DD photo shoot, plus it's guaranteed, and you'll get a professional photo, rather than relying on a CM who may or may not know how to work a camera.

 

[SandraC]

Hi DocR, I am a parent of one of those kids on death's door. My daughter was granted her wish from Make A Wish Foundation in 1998. We stayed at the most amazing place in the world called Kids Village thru Give Kids the World (dare I say, even more wonderful than staying on-site). dd got to meet Mickey the way DocR described. I must tell you, I would trade every 'quick' meet with Mickey Mouse for a healthy child. I would stand in line the rest of my life for my daughter's suffering to stop so she could lead a normal life. But that's not the case. I am happy you mentioned Give Kids the World, because maybe there are families out there with very sick children who don't have a chance at life to get a wish they so dearly deserve. PM me for details of a wish trip if your child is terminal or has a life theatening illness. Take care, Sandra

 

[J. Galt]

Thanks to all who posted! DocR - thanks for posting the information on private meetings. I know it will help someone. We aren't candidates for such an encounter... no real special occasions, just some Grandparents who don't want any "pouty faces". I think we'll do fine with the picture at DD.

SandraC - my heart goes out to you and your family. Thanks for posting your experiences. It makes me glad to know that organizations like Make a Wish Foundation exist.

 

[denman007]

You can get great pictures without having to do the 1 on 1 thing. Just be prepared for the moment! My daughter would always give the characater a hug, pose for a picture, give a another hug then a kiss. I would take a picture of each event. It always made for some good pictures - some bad too. lol

All these pictures were taken at public character greetings through out the parks. They were from May. I will be posting some new ones from last week.

Thanks for looking.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dman8/Disney/Disney.htm

 

[DocRafiki]

Denman, those photos are gorgeous! I looked at every single one on my 56K... that took a while! What kind of camera do you have?

SandraC, I hope you didn't take offense to my above post. The "scammers" I was talking about... they were seriously trying to skip the line because their kid took allergy shots, had ADHD, were diabetic, etc. These were kids who were doing fine in the line until the announcement was made about not having to wait. There are lots of organizations like GKTW, Make-A-Wish, etc. that go through Disney. They always give the kids a button or some sort of ID, and the policy at the time was to give them extra-special attention and to bump them to the front of the lines. It's too bad that other people will try to take advantage of that. I'm so glad you got to take that vacation with your daughter. Those organizations do a great job, from what I hear.

 

[Snow Brite]

We saw Mickey soooo often we got to the point where we were like "Hey look, its Mickey. Again." And we would wave and blow a kiss and move on!

We saw him at 3 meals the Toontown tents, the opening of MK one morning, in front of the castle a MK, in AK at the meet and greet trail (whatever that is called escapes me), at MGM in front of the hat, etc. etc. He was EVERYWHERE!

Buzz is harder to find. We did stand in line for a good 20 minutes to meet him and Woody in MGM by Pizza Planet. But the Buzz in Buzz Lightyear is pretty good and it too my 5 year old DS a few times through before he figured out it was a "robot".

Good luck, but I really wouldn't worry about this AT ALL!

Jennifer

 

[jgates]

We had a nice visit with Mickey at the Ice Cream Social (Farmer Mickey), Epcot at the bus that goes around and also Sorcerer Mickey in the backstreet at MGM (between WWTBAM and Backlot ride). Just across the street from the small Airstream trailers where Minnie, etc stand. That was a very quick moving line and after that I would NEVER go back and wait in Toontown again. If you go there, check the lines. We waited 2 hours the last trip at Mickey's tent. Nothing to give you any indication of how much further it is.

Maybe during a parade would be a good time?

 

[DocRafiki]

I would NEVER go back and wait in Toontown again. If you go there, check the lines. We waited 2 hours the last trip at Mickey's tent. Nothing to give you any indication of how much further it is.

Man, I can't believe that tent has been there for 6 years and they STILL haven't fixed that yet!! We knew that was a problem on day one when we opened Toontown! All I had to do was tell everyone in line that the wait was 2 hours (when I started my shift), and pretty soon 75% of the line would be gone... no one wants to waste all that valuable vacation time! Geez... maybe I'll go back as a manager when I retire -- sounds like they need some help.

 

[Ithastobe]

We waited about 25 minutes at Toontown Oct 21st. It seemed much longer ! They had an old Mickey tape playing, but it didn't interest my kids (3 & 4).

If I ran the tent... I'd have rooms and rooms of Mickeys in the back. Like 20 Mickeys. Once you get to the door, corral them up, open one door at a time, and none the wiser!

We waited for Buzz & Woody and sure as the sun, as soon as we got up there they took a 'break'. My kids were troopers about it. Ran into the Princesses and the lines for them were reasonable.

Side note, we did see someone who had a special badge it appeared talk to the CM, and he walked her and a child back without waiting in line. At the time, we didn't know if it was medical or just a V.I.P.

 

[DocRafiki]

If I ran the tent... I'd have rooms and rooms of Mickeys in the back. Like 20 Mickeys. Once you get to the door, corral them up, open one door at a time, and none the wiser!

Ummm... well I did make an oath to keep certain secrets, so I'll just say that I'm sure Disney thought of this.

25 minutes is a pretty good wait. Their goal isn't 0 wait, it's more like 15-20 minutes. It's just not worth it IMO since you can see Mickey in lots of other places with little or no wait. Then again, try Toontown after dark. Mickey gets pretty lonely back there after all the little ones have gone to bed.