Home

[disneyismylifeok]

Is it the weather? Compared to the American parks, looking at videos this is, it seems characters are barely out and when they are it's controlled with a line and a certain place. Looking at the American parks, especially California, it seems the characters roam a lot more freely and are always out! I feel like this is what Disneyland is about so it's a shame this is rare in Paris! I always here people feeling disappointed as the character experience is always far different to what the Disney adverts make you believe. This will be a very controversial topic and I am looking forward to hearing what people have to say! Everything seems a bit more authentic and "from the heart" in California and almost mass market in Paris. Disney World too feels mass market compared to Cali. I think it might be the fact Walt built that park and has stepped foot in it. I of course have only been to Paris so I can't judge really but I speak from various reviews and YouTube videos. I still love Paris and would never pass up a trip there!

[ed-uk]

I'm not an expert on the character meet n' greets, but in the past I got the impression from some unhappy fans and their trip reports that meeting the characters could turn into a scrum with pushing and shoving,  Disneyland Paris has now opted for more organised meet n' greet areas, like the Princess Pavilion and the Mickey Mouse Theatre and more controlled queuing  lines, instead of people pushing in front to meet a character and spoiling it for others.
Having been to Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World I wouldn't agree that those parks are more authentic and from the heart than Disneyland Paris, but they are bigger and well established, in the case of Disneyland for nearly sixty years.

[julesk]

When we first visited DLRP in 2002 there where loads more charactors walking around or driving about. When we went last year, we didnt see any walking about at all but it was during the change over to 20th. Fingers crossed there are a few more this year, but I do agree it isnt so enjoyable when everyone is pushing you out the way. The meet n greets are great but would be nice to get more princesses per seriously long waiting time and charactors such as alice / mary poppings and Tinkerbell.

[ed-uk]

Once again I'm no expert on this, but DLP seem to offer more character meals now like in Cinderella's Inn and at the Disneyland Hotel for  example.

[Shannon]

I got back from DLP on Friday and I was quite shocked at how many characters I did see walking around or on unscheduled meet and greets, although they were all in Fantasyland in Disneyland Park or next to Cinémagique in the Studios. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy all out at once in the studios and then later we saw Ariel walking around there too, and as for the main park we saw Peter Pan, Wendy, Captain Hook, Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, both Tweedles, Suzy and Perla, Rabbit, Eeyore and Minnie and Daisy together all in Fantasyland at various times.

There was quite a lot out, but I do agree with the scrums and mobs. Each time a character was out the attendant had to constantly tell people to move back and stop putting their autograph books in the characters' faces, which must be really annoying for them. I found that some characters were better than others at handling this as they would pick the children who were waiting patiently or signal them to move backwards.

It would be nice if more were out, but sometimes it can just be if you're in the right place at the right time!

[Lozzie]

I think its a case of finding them. After visiting so often (21st year this year) I realised there are certain places the characters come out of at specific time so if you REALLY want to meet characters its best to hang around that area and wait. The gates to the right of Its A Small World is the best place. All kinds of characters come from there, from villains to classic characters to Princesses! One time all the Princesses came out of there each with their prince all walking in a long line. It was pretty spectacular!

[TigerLily]

Lozzie is right with the gates by its a small world - we happened to come across the queen of hearts, tweedle dum and dee, the mad hatter, belle and Tiana all at the same time!

My daughter would of LOVED to of seen all the princesses with their princes!

[pialykke]

When we went in March 2012, we were there for 5 days and only bumped into Jafar, Sully, King Louie and Baloo....
I will definitely keep the gates by IASW in mind for next time we go!
Maybe the lack of characters was due to the 20th just about to start a few weeks after we were there... But still.....

[TheTuskerHouse]

I've been to both Disney World and Disneyland Paris, and I have to say, the Meet and Greet experience at Disney World is far better than the one at Disneyland Paris. Everyone at Disneyland Paris just pushes and shoves to get to see the characters, and I've even had people ask me a few times if they can step in front of me to take a picture of the character, even if it's not their family with the character. The experience I had at Disney World was so much more better! Everyone stood patiently in line for the Characters, and no one ever tried to push in front of me or my family.  Judt thought I'd share what I know as I saw people talking about it above  

[Aurora1]

Lozzie is right with the gates by its a small world - we happened to come across the queen of hearts, tweedle dum and dee, the mad hatter, belle and Tiana all at the same time!

My daughter would of LOVED to of seen all the princesses with their princes!

So would we! Princessess and princes dosn`t happen to often! at the Auberge is usually a couple, but otherwise, really seldom.

[orangarnold]

When I first went into the Park in 1996 I remember meeting most of the core characters (Mickey, Donald, Goofy, etc) near the Photo shop on Main St, and meeting Belle and Beast by the sword in the stone in Fantasyland.

The last time I went (March) I only saw characters near Cinemagique. It would be nice to see more out and about, but the lack of basic queues probably doesnt help./

[julesk]

I've been to both Disney World and Disneyland Paris, and I have to say, the Meet and Greet experience at Disney World is far better than the one at Disneyland Paris. Everyone at Disneyland Paris just pushes and shoves to get to see the characters, and I've even had people ask me a few times if they can step in front of me to take a picture of the character, even if it's not their family with the character. The experience I had at Disney World was so much more better! Everyone stood patiently in line for the Characters, and no one ever tried to push in front of me or my family.  Judt thought I'd share what I know as I saw people talking about it above  

Wow, now I really want to go to Disney World. We have been putting it off till our daughter turns 10 (so another 5 yrs) as people keep saying she is to young. Yet from what you have said, now I think there wrong as we dont go for the big thrills, its all about the Charactors for us.  

[TVTaughtMeHowToFeel]

I've been to both Disney World and Disneyland Paris, and I have to say, the Meet and Greet experience at Disney World is far better than the one at Disneyland Paris. Everyone at Disneyland Paris just pushes and shoves to get to see the characters, and I've even had people ask me a few times if they can step in front of me to take a picture of the character, even if it's not their family with the character. The experience I had at Disney World was so much more better! Everyone stood patiently in line for the Characters, and no one ever tried to push in front of me or my family.  Judt thought I'd share what I know as I saw people talking about it above  

This is what a lot of people say. And I agree with the situation in Paris (as I've never been to Disney World ... yet). I'm waiting for the day when people stop the parade just to get an autograph and a picture with their children .
But it makes me think, what the management  could do diffrently, to avoid such situations with people getting rude and stuff...  Because in my oppinion it's the fault of the rude people, not the cast members. The solution on Disneyland Paris' side was to install more controlled meet and greets where you have to wait in line, which, i admit, is the easy way out, and takes away a lot of the magic. But how can you appeal to such troublemaking guests without getting rude or harsh yourself. Of course you can tell them over and over again to be patient and to wait until it's their turn, but in my experience 5 minutes later they'll push and shove again.
If I were the boss    i would try something... Maybe it's drastic, but I'm curious on how it would work out:
I would cancel all meet and greet's which take place on special times and locations... only the character meals and the two character attractions would remain... then i would let the characters pop up around the park on various times and places... somehow unpredictable, but also a lot of them. So that you have at least 1 character wandering around in each park at any given time. This would take off the preassure of things, because only the people who are actually there at that time would be informed. I would let the characters appear in less crowded places, and if it gets too crowded i would let them go backstage again... But of course I don't know if that's possible in any way, and maybe it takes a lot more. But then again "It's kind of fun to do the impossible"  isn't it? .

[zara-x]

I would love to see more characters walking around in DLP! I saw more this year than I did last year but still not as many as I would like. I do appreciate there are probably difficulties surrounding having lots of characters out simultaneously/frequently but for me, seeing the princesses wandering around Fantasyland or even just cowboys in Frontierland is what makes Disney seem 'real'.  

[Aurora1]

I agree with what has been said; it`s not the CM fault that people are pushing and beeing rude! But they are the ones in charge for the character! I would love to see more of them telling the people that the "line" (at unscheduled meets) goes from the right to the left, or the other way around! For example, the train comes more then once a day! So no one needss to see all the characters at the same stop!

And I too wish people would behave a liitle less aggressive as some of them.

Nice idea, TVtaughtMeHowToFeel!!