Disneyland Character Fan Days

[Greenlawler]

Did you guys see this? They actually had a vote on their facebook page and will bring out those with the highest number of votes at a weekend called Character Fan Days. The voting is over and the selections were honestly no one who is all that unusaul at Disney World, except Esmerelda and Clopin.

Sure with Disney World would do something for us character fans.

[like2workout]

i saw it and totally agree. if disneyland can do it, disneyworld should look into it also! character fans would love it!

[DisneyFreak1313]

I also saw this and was super jealous! I wish I could meet Esmerelda and Clopin! Why can't they do something like this at WDW? I understand they are probably trying to do it to drive traffic to them right now as the Construction Adventure continues, but why can't random rares come out at WDW once a day?

[Disney4us2]

I was at the Weekend Family Fun (behind Big Thunder Ranch) where the charaters were last Saturday. I got my pic with Clarabell the cow. The others were the usual ones seen in the parks all the time. I am going again on Sunday. That one is the fans favorites. Can't wait to see who is there.

[DisneyFreak1313]

Cool! Let us know if someone "special" comes out! I met Clarabell at WDW a couple of years ago.....

[Disney4us2]

Fans Favorite day at Big Thunder Ranch.

We got there early to see who was out.

The characters were..... drum roll

King Louie and Balloo from Jungle Book, Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. Donald and Daisy, Horace Horsecollar and Clarabell, The bears from Country Bear Jamboree, Esmeralda, Clopin, and Frollo from Hunchback. We only met with Country Bears and Esmeralda and friends. It started to drizzle so Frollo left and they had the rest of the characters go back stage until it cleared up a bit.

I wonder who it will be at next weekends meet/greet.

[like2workout]

very cool - thanks for the update!

[Greenlawler]

[QUOTE=DisneyFreak1313;2136500]I also saw this and was super jealous! I wish I could meet Esmerelda and Clopin! Why can't they do something like this at WDW? I understand they are probably trying to do it to drive traffic to them right now as the Construction Adventure continues, but why can't random rares come out at WDW once a day?[/QUOTE


Thus the question I have asked for almost 10 years.

[DaParkMan]

...but why can't random rares come out at WDW once a day?

Yes, they do.

Despite doing things like these Family Fun Weekends, DL is still extremely character-deficient, compared to WDW.

WDW always brings out a wider variety of characters for meet-and-greets than DL does.

[asianway]

Yes, they do.

Despite doing things like these Family Fun Weekends, DL is still extremely character-deficient, compared to WDW.

WDW always brings out a wider variety of characters for meet-and-greets than DL does.

No, they dont. They do have a greater variety than DL, no one would argue that, but there is zero randomness to it.

[Greenlawler]

No, they dont. They do have a greater variety than DL, no one would argue that, but there is zero randomness to it.

I think both of you are correct....


Disneyland does have more randomness, but far fewer characters. Of course only having two parks as compared to four makes a world of difference.

Disneyworld is more structured and randoms are unusual, however if you take into consideration the sheer variety you would have to say, at least from a DL fan perspective, it would seem like DW has crazy characters.

On any given day you can meet around 70 characters at the four parks in DW. Compare that to about 30 you can meet in Cali. This results in about 40 characters out everyday at DW that are no where to be found in DL.

What is frustrating about DW is the lack of change and variety. Even though there are 70-80 characters out, you can count on it being the same ones. There is a wealth of characters waiting in the depths of Disney looking for a chance to appear. DW proves this every year at special events where they trot out some long forgotten characters.

DL the other hand does occasionally bring out some fun characters, but not as often as everyone thinks. The grass is always greener on the other side.

[like2workout]

maybe we should all write to disneyworld asking them to do a character fan days like they had at disneyland?

[DisneyFreak1313]

I agree like2workout.....if we can somehow start a petition or something to do an event like Character Fun Days in WDW, maybe it would happen? The problem is that WDW does sooooooooo many events they would most likely claim that they don't have time to do "another event". Plus they would probably say that the event would be too busy cuz it is way busier in WDW than in DL (most days).

And I agree with Greenlawler, yes you can meet approx 70 characters in WDW in one day, but how many of them are the fab five - just dressed in different outfits (or sometimes not dressed in different outfits just out).

[Greenlawler]

I agree like2workout.....if we can somehow start a petition or something to do an event like Character Fun Days in WDW, maybe it would happen? The problem is that WDW does sooooooooo many events they would most likely claim that they don't have time to do "another event". Plus they would probably say that the event would be too busy cuz it is way busier in WDW than in DL (most days).

And I agree with Greenlawler, yes you can meet approx 70 characters in WDW in one day, but how many of them are the fab five - just dressed in different outfits (or sometimes not dressed in different outfits just out).

No, you can meet 70 different characters. I do think they overkill the Fab 5 but just consider this.
Peter Pan, Wendy, Rapinzel, Flynn, Pinocchio, Chip, Dale, Big 5, Buzz, Stitch, Tinkerbell, Alice, Mad Hatter, Tweedles, Aladin, Jasmine, Snow White, Tremaines, Fairy Godmother, Vidia, Terrance, Fawn, Silvermist, Iradessa, Rosetta (although I am certain one of these faries no longer comes out) Pohh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Tiana, Naveen, Belle, Beast, Mulan, Duffy, Handy Manny, Mary Poppins, Little Einstiens, Lotso, Incredibles, Frozone, Mike, Sully, Lightening, Mater, Darth Vader, Stromtroppers, Baloo, Louie, Oso, Indiana Jones, Marion, Flick, Terk, Brer Bear, Thumper, Miss Bunny, Jiminy Cricket, Pocohantus, Lilo, Ariel, Aurora, Marie, Rafiki, Timon, Brer Rabbit. On top of those there is the Fantasmic Meet n Greet which features other characters like The Snow White Queen, Gepetto, Jafar, Meeko and others although they tend to switch this up. There are also the training characters depending on where you see them you could see, Bolt, Launchpad, Suzy, Perla, etc....
The fact is this number has gone down over the past five years and it is a shame. Just look at the sqaure at MK. When I first used to visit you never knew who would be out there. It was magical. Everyone from Friar Tuck to Horace Horsecollar and there were always 6-8 out. Now days I know exactly who is going to be there and there's only going to be, Daisey, Pluto and Pinocchio maybe Chip and Dale too. Snow White after lunch.
Back in 2007 you could meet at least 90 characters in one day.

[Greenlawler]

As far as a petition goes, I would be game, but would be skeptical at best as to how many people we could get to sign it. Or if the powers at be at Disney would even pay attention to it.

I think about two years ago I wrote a letter suggesting a special character weekend at Disney World.

It just makes too much since. There are so many of us character fans out here.

[DisneyAJB]

I always thought that disney should have a meet and greet alone the lines of the rare character of the month. Pick an unused/or currently used area of any park and every month there is a new rare character. The month period will give Disney plenty of time to staff the right friend for that time period. If it's an uncommon height use shortened hours.

Advertise the character schedule online, on the Disney website, or let the info trickle to fan sites. Give a 3 month advance on who will appear. It'll cost Disney no money, and the opportunity cost is tremendous.

I have had my picture with over 300 characters. I have my holy grails, but if I could guarantee that I could find one of them I would book a trip for my family. Disney would gain thousands by me, and I KNOW there are ton of character people that would make special trips to see someone out of the blue.

It'd give Disney the opportunity to pull out the real randoms. Regular guest would visit them because it's a meet and greet and hardcore fans might make special trips.

<Begin Rant>
I've never understood the logic of the people in charge of Characters. They continue to drop the ball. I've been doing character for 14 years now and it's been too predictable. I understand you want each part to stand on there one for day guests. But make each park a unique visit or experience. Mickey excluded you shouldn't be able to see the same characters at each park, and in the same outfits nonetheless... Animal Kingdom has been open 13 years now and still no safari Pooh or Tigger, yet a Safari Pooh shirt has been out for 13 years...
<End Rant>