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[sunshine1]

Read it on twitter.
Apparently the character meets in the Disney hotels from dec 19th to march 4th was a 'test'. 
Not sure what that means? Maybe to see if the characters were popular.

[rebecca20]

I've read various theories on the reasons why. The most viable I can see was due to the weather situation as fewer people went to EMH during winter so they moved indoors.

It would be interesting to see what it actually did for EMH attendance.

[sunshine1]

That would make sense.

When i went in January i couldnt face being at the park for 8am! And in the Cheyenne wear i was at Cowboy Goofy was meeting from around 9.30am onwards.

One character meet and you dont have to leave the hotel!

[gldc]

I think the characters are a real plus and one of the only things that differentiate the Disney hotels from the cheaper off-site ones.

[HildeKitten]

I think the characters are a real plus and one of the only things that differentiate the Disney hotels from the cheaper off-site ones.

I agree in part.
What people often forget is that yes, Disney on-site hotels are very expensive but if you don't have an annual passport, you have to start calculating prices separately.
Tickets are very expensive, if you would want to go for several days, it might actually be cheaper to stay on site, where tickets and breakfast (and EMH) are included, than to stay offsite and pay everything separately (and don't benefit of EMH).

Of course, if you have an AP, then staying off-site is always cheaper
And you still have the EMH benefit (with a Dream AP at least, I don't know about the other two).

[billy]

the only thing i found with the character meets in the hotel was that it was always the same character, Goofy, plus it is not advertised anywhere, although reception were more than happy to give you the timetable.
we stayed at the Sequoia.

[sunshine1]

the only thing i found with the character meets in the hotel was that it was always the same character, Goofy, plus it is not advertised anywhere, although reception were more than happy to give you the timetable.
we stayed at the Sequoia.

Did Goofy wear different outfits in the different hotels?

I think it was only Mickey that was at Newport Bay. Dont quote me on it though!

[billy]

Did Goofy wear different outfits in the different hotels?

I think it was only Mickey that was at Newport Bay. Dont quote me on it though!
[/quote]

he was in the same outfit both times we saw him, he came out after 9am and there was virtually no queue to see him.

[wimmekepunk]

the only thing i found with the character meets in the hotel was that it was always the same character, Goofy, plus it is not advertised anywhere, although reception were more than happy to give you the timetable.
we stayed at the Sequoia.

Pluto and Goofy were on rotation last time we visited Sequoia Lodge

[sunshine1]

I spoke to someone at Newport about the characters not meeting in the hotels anymorw and he said they might bring them back for summer.

[Andybear]

The reason the characters were taken out of the hotels was that people who weren't staying on site just went to the hotels and had their photos taken with the characters.  One of the things that Disney pushed about staying on site was meeting the characters at the hotels but obviously they couldn't push that point when people were just going there to have their photos taken and not staying there.  That's why they put them in the parks during EMH - that way only people who had park tickets could have their photos taken with them.  I was lucky and was able to have photos taken with them at Sequoia Lodge (I was staying there!) in September 2014, not long before they stopped doing them.

[DisneyDuckLover]

If that was their reason, and we don't actually know that, then it was ridiculous.

There was rarely lines of longer than a few minutes; it's not like thousands of people were descending upon the hotels in the morning to have a picture with Pluto.

The likely reason was cost cutting - each hotel had two characters per morning (sometimes more); move the characters to the park and you save a a minuscule amount from the payroll.

[Andybear]

If that was their reason, and we don't actually know that, then it was ridiculous.

There was rarely lines of longer than a few minutes; it's not like thousands of people were descending upon the hotels in the morning to have a picture with Pluto.

The likely reason was cost cutting - each hotel had two characters per morning (sometimes more); move the characters to the park and you save a a minuscule amount from the payroll.

It's something I heard/read about in lots of different places, hence I mentioned it. 

[petals]

The reason the characters were taken out of the hotels was that people who weren't staying on site just went to the hotels and had their photos taken with the characters.  One of the things that Disney pushed about staying on site was meeting the characters at the hotels but obviously they couldn't push that point when people were just going there to have their photos taken and not staying there.  That's why they put them in the parks during EMH - that way only people who had park tickets could have their photos taken with them.  I was lucky and was able to have photos taken with them at Sequoia Lodge (I was staying there!) in September 2014, not long before they stopped doing them.

If that was the reason the solution would seem obvious have the CM attending the character ask the guest to produce their room keys. If they don't have a room key for the hotel then they don't get to line up for the character.

When I was at the Cheyenne in January there was Goofy in a Cowboy outfit one day and Pluto the next. I think it was a nice touch to have them there. We would have breakfast, get photos with the character and then go to the parks

[polar vixen]

Noticed in the new brochure it says that ask Disney hotels apart from Davy Crockett will now have characters again. Yay!!