As a Guest I gotta know; How do you guys handle it?!

[GaTechGal]

We have an old home movie somewhere of my brother (this had to be around 1976) pulling Eeyore's tail. Eeyore punched him (not hard!) and my whole family was of the opinion he deserved it. Got in big trouble with the parents. My brother, not Eeyore. We love Eeyore. (!) Same brother is now a cop and SWAT officer - ?????

Years later, with my kids, it was always a struggle to keep other parents and children from running over my quiet, polite girls. Really - they would stand there, and pushy parents would try to just go around them. Luckily the girls' mother is not afraid to say "EXCUSE ME - the line is BACK THERE"

Being a Southerner though, I'm sure that you would accept an apology from someone who didn't see your sweeties in line. When we were at Castaway Cay, a some kids didn't see a little girl who wasn't quite ready to go up to Mickey, so they kind of jumped in. The father (who was foreign) started to berate their mother. She was very apologetic, but his response to her was "That's NOT good enough". She looked at me with big eyes and all I could do is shrug. By the time he had finished raking this poor women over the coals, it was time for his little darling to go up (which she was still reluctant to do). The whole point of this story is that when kids make a mistake and the parents apologize, accept it and move on.

[Princess Susi]

LUNATIC ADULTS WAITING FOR A PICTURE!!!!!!!!!! I always get in line for a picture with the characters and an autograph. I love pictures with characters and what? I'm not ALLOWED to do this after a certain age????? Is it ONLY for children? Quite fankly, Disneyland is for kids of ALL ages and god help me, I do not ever want to lose the childlike joy and happiness I feel when I am at the parks. I have NEVER had a bad experience with the characters, quite the contrary, they are so much fun when I get my pic with them, they have a little more silly behavior for the adult who wants the picture. I LOVE these CM's because they make my trip. These pictures are among my VERY favorite souveniers and everyone loves to see them when we pull out trip pics, in fact they ask, "Didja get your pix taken with Goofy? Mickey? etc...etc... Actually I love ALL the CM's and treat them with the utmosr respect and kindness. It is the pushy parents who have tried to get in front of me in line because as they put it, "you have no child with you so until your child comes back, no saving a place for him/her!!!! I tell them I do NOT have children, I am in line just like everyone, WAITING my turn and NOT cutting in front of someone so that I can have a picture. That is when I usually get the deregatory statements about how I am taking up a place in line that a child SHOULD have, that It isn't fair of me to do that because sometimes they cut off the lines and some children do not get a chance with the character because I have taken their place. It is MY fault!!!!!!! :2fingers: They usually give me dirty looks and I can hear em talking to eachother about "stupid people" or "retards", that is the one I really like, since I have 3 college degrees. I am a baby boomer and YES I AM going to take my place in line to see the characters because I love Disney and I love and cherish the pictures I have of my hubby in his pooh ears with Winnie the Pooh :pooh: :hysteria: and my pics with Ariel even though we are grown adults. I have just as much right to be in those lines as anyone else. And I do nor kick or spit on, or scream at or cry in the ear of these characters. I give em a hug, say thank you and smile and go on my way. They make my day. And I hope we give them a little smile too. I have NO idea what the CM's are thinking when they see us, two 6 ft. tall growed up people coming for a pic and an autograph, but they always do it for us and at the character meals they are great. EVERY one of them signs my book(which I will pass on to my nieces) and poses with us. We love these encounters. We even get our pics taken with the great CM's at the resorts that we like, the concierge people become like family to us. We actually treat them better than we treat our own families HEHEHEHEH!!!!! :p: So don't tell me I am a lunatic for wanting a pic and an autograph when I am more polite then any of the children I see doing the same!!!!!!
It is the parents of these children that are usually the lunatics, (not all), but they push them up there, yell at them to go get a picture with said character and give me s*** when I am in line. :duh:
Thank you to all the great CM"s in character out there, to all the CM's out there. We heart you! :love2:
sues and hubby ralph :sparky:

[Yeti Chaser]

LUNATIC ADULTS WAITING FOR A PICTURE!!!!!!!!!! I always get in line for a picture with the characters and an autograph. :

You are not a lunatic, just a child in an adult's body. I like to get in line and have my pic taken with characters when I'm not working. However, the best thing that happened to me was on Mickey's Birthday while in costume. I walked into Character Connection and was immediately approched by the Entertainment folks and asked if I had any birthday buttons. It seems that no one had given Mickey or Minnie buttons for their birthday. Not only did I personalize one for both Minnie and Mickey; but was asked by the entertainment cast to present them. :mickey1: Now how cool is that? Made me feel like a young child again.

My one message to you Susislicker is to never grow up and just smile :D: at those SG's you think that just because you don't have kids with you, you shouldn't wait to see the characters.

[hobie16]

I've always been chicken to get my picture taken with the characters because I'd be taking up time that a kid could have. After reading the comments here I'm gonna go for it. Besides, it'll probably embarrass my daughter to no end. :D:

[svickersart]

I have never had a bad experience with a CM at DL or WDW and thanks to all of you for doing a great job. The characters do have a tuff job out there and since I talk to CM's all the time I have heard quite a few stories abbout what people do and how bad they get when its time for the character to go in. They just dont understand what its like to be in those costums. I normally dont wait in line for a pic with a character, I usually do character dining but if I see a short line sometimes I will try to get a pic. I'm an adult and I know how it can be with a bunch of people crowding you so I just dont feel I need to add to the madness and the dining is much more relaxed.

A few years ago when I was married we went to dinner at Goofy's Kitchen and Chip pulled up a chair and joined us, got a pen and started writing notes to my then 18 year old step son. Chip was with us for more than half an hour and we could see other people getting angry, it was kinda funny.

My GF and I and her 10 YO son went to GK last year during Thanksgiving week and we hd fun with Pluto and The Mad Hatter, my GF made one of those "normal" comments that can be percieved as dirty, it had to do with a hot dog and she got a "tisk tisk" from Pluto. Belle stopped by and she was really wonderful.

I took my 18 YO niece first week of FEb this year and we met Alice, she was great, along with all the regulars.

All the CM's that do the characters I have incountered have been really great, its to bad so many people can be rude, if the kids crying dont force them on a character, some of you are just kids yourselves and really dont need it.

Thanks and keep up the great work
Steve

[dizneeluvr]

i love to get pix w/the characters. my kids have an autograph book w/room for a pix next to the autograph. this year on our annual trip my husband & i will get our own books for our pix, since my kids aren't always interested in getting pix. i remember last year chip and dale got all excited because my daughter had a t-shirt on w/their photos. it gave me some great pix. i really love the photopass. not only do we get our own pix, but we can view the photo pass pix when we get home and order more.
last trip i had my pix taken with the evil queen from snow white. my husband likes to say "can you guess which one is the evil queen?" funny guy.
i totally get annoyed at the parents who try to push their kids ahead and cut the line. one time my kids were up to see Mickey and Minnie and some little girl about 4 or 5 was wandering infront of the characters, no parent to be found and the CM asked if she was ours, i said no. then Minnie tried to get the child to stand off to the side, which she did and my kids got their pix and autograph. still no one claimed this child. unbelieveable. anyway, sorry for the long post . thank you CM for all you do.

[Hugmonster]

I just wanted to say thank you to Genie. :genie2: I am a “grown-up” in the sense that I am an adult in the laws eyes, but I will never grow up.

On our last trip to WDW, Mid Jan 2007, I was a little disillusioned thanks to what our best friend’s told there five year old about the characters so they would not scare her. I wonder if they told her about Santa too? I was collecting signatures on a hat as I usually do. I missed The Genie earlier in the day but was given the time he would be back. Having not seen Genie in sometime I was very excited to get the signature. So in line I went about 5 minutes before his return. Along comes Jasmine, Aladdin and Genie. So I wait behind lots of little princesses that really only want to see Aladdin and Jasmine.

When I get up to the front I politely explained to Jasmine and Aladdin that I enjoyed visiting with them earlier at Breakfast in EPCOT, and I was really waiting for Genie. At this point he had wandered off, but came running back. I spent a good ten minutes dancing and laughing with Genie while Aladdin and Jasmine had a break. It was funny when Aladdin had to point out my husband and Genie tried to take me away from him. This reset my Disney Magic. And later I got to watch a little girls eyes light up in away her parents could not stop. Cause her Aunt danced with Genie and she told Mickey so.

Thank you so much for letting me be a child again and again. I know sometimes your work is thankless. But without you I could never dance with Genie.

If you happened to know Genie please tell him his dance partner hopes to be back next fall.

[Tinker Bell]

I think it's nice when adults wait to meet the characters. It's just when the parents push the kids at the characters (when they clearly do NOT want to see them) then I get annoyed.

I hate it when parents do this. Patience my dear parents, patience. I don't know why adults don't see this from the kids perspective. If you are hardly 3ft tall and there is a Goofy, Tigger or even a Mickey, you are clearly in disavantage there. I had a small child be deadly afraid of Mickey because Mickey was suppossed to be a mouse and normally a mouse could fit into a hand. I finally convinced him to go, telling him that Mickey was made bigger by the fairy godmother. This, so he could take pictures with the guests] I've always been chicken to get my picture taken with the characters because I'd be taking up time that a kid could have. After reading the comments here I'm gonna go for it. Besides, it'll probably embarrass my daughter to no end.[/QUOTE]

Oh you should take a picture, it's so much fun. I absolutely hate it when guests complaint that we should take the adults out of the lines and let the kids go instead Err...no! If you want to see a character then check the time guides and make plans. Disney is all about having fun and your lack of planning does not constitute a problem on our part. I think it's absolutely great when adults take pictures and many times I have find them even funnier than the kids and I enjoy the kids interaction with characters too.

What I don't like is when the adults attack the character. I find it unacceptable because you should know better and most of the times that they decide to 'tackle' a character they end up hurting the CM badly.

[screnwriter]

We watched poor Cinderella for a few minutes, out in the 98 degree heat in what has to be a heat lethal combo of costume and makeup, patiently taking time with every (often crying) child thrust/pushed forward by their keeper. And I won't even mention the lunatic adults waiting for a picture.

Back in my character days, I went thru a lot of this stuff. Rude things like a jerk taking a BIG hit from his cigarette and blowing it into the airhole of my Br'er Bear costume (really made my day suck), to a punk throwing a kidney punch with all of his might FROM THE BACK (coward) - luckily that time, also in Br'er Bear, the costume was solid fiberglass, so he might just have punched the side of a house. Didn't hurt me, did hurt him.

Why do/did we do it? Because the kid's smiles are so worth it. You fall in love with the sparkling eyes of the children as they meet Goofy for the first time. Many of the adults are a blast too. Some are developmentally disabled, and they are like kids themselves. Some came from politically unsound countries and Disneyland and the characters mean that they're someplace 'safe' someplace they always hoped they'd find.

And don't forget the hot looking moms who will grab your ass when posing for a picture - sure make you wish you could see them out of costume! :D:

[hobie16]

And don't forget the hot looking moms who will grab your ass when posing for a picture - sure make you wish you could see them out of costume! :D:

So there ARE times the characters like to be assaulted!!