"Is Her Birdday.," ... Character Woes of the Day

[madhatter04]

Hey gang!
Well, I'm sure the crowds and hot weather are boiling up some nice guest tricks.

Birdday:

Today was a particularly crazy day in the entertainment world. Goofy was running around in Town Square and was leaving after his 30 mins on set, and a lady came running up to him with a pen.
"Please! Is my daughter's birdday!" so Goofy decided to be nice and sign the book. The lady brings up another kid. "Is her birdday too." So Goofy signs that book. Then Goofy notices a slough of children next to the lady as she brings the next one up. "And is her birdday..." but Goofy just walked off. Now Who on Earth would think that trick would work for 10 kids in a row? That must have taken some very careful planning!

"... Follow Goofy!"
Is it just me, or are guests getting darned lazy?!?!
Goofy was walking from the break room across town square today to find a nice shady spot, and a lady with a stroller asked "Can I take my son's picture with you?" Of course, if a character stops at one point on the journey, he is there for the rest of the set. So, Goofy motioned for her to follow. About 10 steps into the journey, the lady starts complaining. "Goofy all we need is one picture. ONe SIMPLE picture!! That's All I need! Goofy! Why are you making us chase you?! All we need is ONE SIMPLE picture!! I'm tired!! I don't want to walk after you!"
Cry me a river, lady, but goofy isnt going to stop for you after 10 steps. Countless times, Goofy will be walking offset and people are just like "Hey, Goofy! Come here! We want a picture!" Umm, no. If you want a picture, YOU come TO GOOFY if you want your wife and 289 kids to take individual pictures and group pictures with every possible combination of people...

"... all questions should be directed to Goofy. Maybe he'll answer if you treat him like a person!"
People just want to line up. They do not care about the character interaction (generally speaking). Families just kept throwing their kids in front of goofy, taking the picture, and walking off without saying "hello" "thank you" or anything like that. So Goofy was walking around the town square today and got sooo many rude guests with their "Peeeecture!? Sign here now!" that he didn't stop to sign, only to interact. So people start asking his host "Can Goofy sign my daughter's book?" "All questions should be directed to Goofy. Maybe he'll answer you if you treat him like a person!" Goooo Host! These people get so ferocious over autographs and pictures (as I mentioned in another thread), it's crazy! I ESPECIALLY love "Goofy can you stop walking so we can just make a line for autographs??" No, thanks! haha

[mentu]

and I absolutely love what I call "snipers": Aladdin and Jasmine are signing autographs and talking to children while random people walking by stop and fill up the exit, waiting for an opportunity to take a picture when the group leaves.

Not only does this create a hazzard with all the people in the exit area, but it also detracts from those waiting in line. You want a picture, you wait in line.

[madhatter04]

YES! As soon as the character leaves, like 400 people throw their kids in their paths and snap away. I dont think they care that 100 other children are around theirs while the parents say "Tackle Goofy down!! You wont get a picture unless you hurt him!!" Parenting at its best :)

[Mommytomjm]

Guests (hopefully me excluded) can be rude and mean...I'm sorry you had a bad day.....I almost always forget to take MJ's picture if she will consent to seeing a character, for us it is ALL about the interaction....

[madhatter04]

Haha it's okay. I was in foods for almost a year and a half... other departments definitely have it way worse than us, but being in front of thousands of guests definitely makes for good tales :)

[Ho-say]

I've never understood those who I call "Kamakazi Guests"..dive-bombing the end of the line..do you not see all those kids who have been patiently waiting (or at least trying to be patient! lol) in that line? Oy...

One of my closest friends was in WDW entertainment for a few years - having seen her on stage, in parade and on set - plus having heard many of her "battle stories" - makes me appreciate our entertainment CMs all the more. My friends and I always make a point to chat/interact with the character while we're getting our picture taken...makes for a much more fun experience, no?

I personally get a huge kick out of the character interaction as opposed to getting autographs,etc. One of my neighbors used to be really great pals with Chip and Dale - and one day while some friends and I were visiting DAK as guests, we were suddenly attacked by hugs from a very playful Dale. ;)

The pictures and memories from that afternoon are some that I will treasure forever........I think some guests tend to forget it's these type of memories that are far better than a quick photo any autograph book that will get stuffed in a drawer when they get home.

[LostMalfoy]

Just last night, I saw an eager kid almost get run over by Sorcerer Mickey because he was trying to get to him and they just didn't see the kid. He couldn't have been more than two.

We get characters walking through Off the Page all the time because of it's connection to the animation building. It's funny to see Mickey or Cinderella walking off with some kids' autograph book because the child, and/or parents, don't know he has to leave and means for them to follow him until he's done.

[LittleOriginalOne]

I was in Magic Kingdom with family on Saturday and they were doing the picture and autograph thing. Now while I'm waiting to take my cousin's picture with Wendy, she see's my hat, (it was a Pittsburg Pirates hat) after which she asks me why one earth I was wearing a pirate on my hat.

It was too good a situation to pass up so of course I tell her "Well, because I AM a pirate." The she asked me why I'd want to be a stinky nasty pirate? "Well, because pirates have more fun!" "Not when Peter Pan is around" she replies. "Ah but Peter isn't here" says I. At which point I stumped Wendy Darling.

Now, what did my cousin enjoy more you ask? It wasn't having "Love Wendy Darling" written in his book, it was the banter between me and Wendy that's he'll always remember, that he'll tell people about over and over again.

Autograph books get lost and pictures crumble and fade, but a great memory will always be with you, and without interaction like that with characters, we don't get those great memories.

[madhatter04]

Yesterday's hilarity:
the Alice in Wonderland unit was playing Musical Chairs at Plaza Pavilion, and the Queen of Hearts (yours truly) was the "Cheatscreener". An older woman pushes her way through the crowd with her book and pen ready and leans over to the queen/tweedles, who were clapping and dancing to the music. Pretended not to see. She asks the character host "Hey you... can I get their autograph now?" "I'm sorry ma'am, but we're not signing autographs now. We're playing a very involved game of musical chairs!" "What?! THIS IS INSANE!!!!! THIS IS CRAZY!!!!" as she looks around to everyone, dumbfounded. Then , the Hatter chimes in "Yes! We're ALL quite... MAD... here!" She stuck around and watched, then the host gave the tweedles / queen/ white rabbit the cue to go in, and so they all chased the white rabbit in, when queen hears "YOUR MAJESTY!! GET BACK HERE!! WAIT! AUTOGRAPH! AUTOGRAPH!" Jeeze... you'd think she'd be the perfect candidate for a queen of hearts face character!! Treating royalty with such rudeness... hmph! ;)

[PirateJohn]

I'm sure I've seen you several times before -- I'm a good friend of Rod's and I've watched him do the musical chairs dozens of times.