Character Interactions from an adult Solo's perspective

[Frank Bullitt]

People on this section of the board have on occasion posted questions as to whether it's okay for adults without kids or solo adults to go to character meet and greets.
Some of the old timers on this board might remember my 2009 January Trip Report, but having just gotten back from my May 2014 Star Wars Weekends trip, I'd post my own thoughts here.

As I said I just got back from a Star Wars Weekends May 2014 trip, and at some point I’m going to post a Trip Report, but work is so busy don’t know when I’ll get around to it. The least I can do it put together the jumbled notes and even more jumbled memories together into a coherent character report. And I promise as soon as I figure out the complexities that is the Photopass website, I’ll post pics.

To explain meself, most of these interactions were done when I was solo (my sis was along for the trip, although she didn’t do the characters greets).
To introduce meself; I’m 36, male, and (at least I’ve been told) reasonably good looking and reasonably fit, my day job has me wearing a suit and tie, so I get most of my casual styling cues from Esquire or GQ, I love watches and my well-weathered Saddleback Leather briefcase/satchel in Coffee Brown. Seriously I can’t stand these silly overglorified man-purses that various designer brands churn out and make the average male think he’s cool for having one. My rule of thumb is, if your satchel won’t survive a trip into the rainforests of Venezuela, and a dip in the Amazon River, or a trip in the desert you should probably leave it at home. Or give it as a gift to your girlfriend, it suits her better. And don’t even get me started on the dreaded fanny pack.

GET ON WITH IT!

*Ahem*

Now some of you are saying “Great, so this vain nincompoop has a thing for fancy stuff and likes to brag about his shiny toys, and is very opinionated when it comes to accessories, why is he bringing this up in a Disney forum, specifically the character thread?”

The answer, gentle readers, will become apparent as I recount my encounters with said characters.

First up is my experiences at Akershus. Now, every time I go to WDW I try to get a ressie for this restaurant because I love Norwegian food and I love the characters, and it serves my fav import beer Carlsburg, so it’s a win-win-win. As to why I go, for myself I’ve always found it difficult to pluck up enough courage to wait in line to meet characters in the parks.
This is particularly absurd because I’m a grown up, and more to the point I’ve been in sales for over 10 years, so talking to strangers is second nature to me.
I’ve given seminars to 100 total strangers about the necessity of ‘moving outside your comfort zone’ and ‘how to overcome your allergy to the phone,’ so you’d think waiting 20 minutes to visit with your favorite Disney character would be child’s play for someone like me.
Not for me. Meeting characters for me is like that first morning dip in the pool, when the water is still cold. You can either draw out the agony and slowing inch in as the icy water soaks your shorts, or do a cannonball off the diving board and take the icy plunge. And, if you’re waiting in line to see them at the parks, you can always get out of line and chicken out. So, going to a restaurant that is a character meal is my version of taking the plunge, there’s no way to chicken out. And to carry through with the pool analog, once you get over the shock, it gets easier with each passing time.

First up is the free Photopass pic at Akershus, on this occasion it was Belle in her evening gown. She was very sweet and exclaimed that I must be a fellow book reader because I had my bookbag with me.
(Saddleback leather satchel; 1, dorky fanny packs and effete man-purses; Zero)
So I asked her what her fav book was, and she said Sleeping Beauty, it had magic, fairies, a beautiful princess and a handsome prince and love conquers all. I lied and said that was my favorite book, too. In my defense she wouldn't have heard of my favorite book, Atlas Shrugged, so I was just playing along.

Hanne (pronounced Hanna) was my server and was very friendly and chatty about her country and the food. I was only half joking with the CM that I come here for the food, the peppered mackerel, the salmon, and the smoked cheese at the Koldbord are top notch. I’ve noticed over the course of the years that they’ve been adding more mundane items to the Koldbord so it now resembles a salad bar with a few more exotic offerings. Not that I’m complaining, they’re catering to a younger, more finicky crowd. Anyways the koldbord offerings were just as good as the last time, and my main course, the Traditional Kjottkake, was also very good. But, you aren’t reading this thread for the food, so on with the characters!

They had some sort of Parade of Princesses or the like, which wasn't there the last time I was here in 2009, but it was fine. I had my nose buried in my Samsung Galaxy S4, so I didn't notice much beyond they allowed the kiddies to parade with their fav princesses to Disney muzak.

First up was Aurora, she must have picked up on the fact that I was nervous, (the trembling hands, sweaty forehead and knocking knees must have been a dead giveaway) so she went out of her way to make me feel more at ease. I think I defaulted to my standard icebreaker and commented on how hot it was outside, and she said she would talk to her friend Elsa about maybe helping with that.

Next up was Cinderella, she was also very nice and asked if I wanted to get a picture taken with her, and one of the CM’s close very helpfully took my picture courtesy of my smartphone. She remarked that she still couldn’t understand how those magic boxes worked, and I remarked that they were a blessing and a curse; you could be reached anywhere by anyone at any time, and she got a laugh out of that. When I offered my autograph book, I also admitted that the signatures were for me and not someone else, and she said ‘good! It’s always nice when persons are honest, and there’s nothing wrong with that.’

Next up was Snow White, she was also sweet and I got an autograph and photo with her, she was also very patient as my phone decided to pop up a reminder when CM was trying to take a photo.

Last was Ariel, she also was happy to hear that I was collecting autographs, she collected human stuff and promised not to make off with my dinglehopper (fork).

All in all, it was a good experience, and as previously stated having taken the plunge I now was a man on a mission to collect autographs.

I have to split this up since I've gone over my word count. Up next, interactions in the World Showcase!

[Frank Bullitt]

Being in the World Showcase there are places to get autographs if you know where to look. The My Disney Experience app is helpful, but not 100% foolproof as will be demonstrated with my next character experience.

Whilst in the France showcase there was the Belle meet and greet for the posting indicated that her 5:00 appearance was her last. Now, when I showed up it was around 5:20 when I arrived and the CM said that she was leaving at 5:20 and returning at 5:50. Maybe it’s the CM’s call or maybe because of the crowds they extend the meet and greet hours, whatever the case both the app and the postings didn’t indicate the extra hours.
Belle again was very enticed by my ‘bookbag’
(Satchel; 2, Fanny Pack; Zero)
and when she saw my watch she exclaimed that I had Mr. Cogsworth on my wrist, I chuckled and responded that my watch’s name was Bell & Ross, not Cogsworth, which she found funny, and asked if he bossed me around. I responded that no, this one didn’t but I had another clock that woke me up every morning, and was very bossy about it since I’m not a morning person. She said that Cogsworth takes his job very seriously and always runs the entire household, like *wait for it* clockwork. Hey, put down the rotten tomatoes, she said it not me! Anyways it was a nice experience.

After that I made my way to the China pavilion because, at least according to my app Mulan was coming out for a meet and greet. She was also very nice, and when I remarked that I felt like I’ve been walking around the world (bad pun, I know) she said try marching for days with buckets of water on your shoulders. She also liked my pen. An aside on the pen, it is one of those metal Disney pens with characters on it that I purchased back in 2005, I was sick of the plastic pens breaking on me so I went to a Disney boutique and asked for the most Ragnarok-proofed pen they had. And, true to their word, it has lasted all these years later. Anyways, she found it was a very heavy pen, and liked it, saying it was very heavy duty.

After getting a Kronnenbourg 1664 at the French pavilion to fortify myself, I felt like I was on a roll, and headed over to the Moroccan pavilion to try my luck. Tucked away in the back is a small shop called ‘Lamps of Morocco’ very nicely themed, and sure enough Jasmine was scheduled to appear. I was early enough to be like 3rd in line, but had a couple of very enthusiastic kids behind me who line jumped. The parents and CM’s were apologetic, but truth be told I was relieved because it gave me a few more minutes to muster up the old courage. Jasmine was very sweet and said it was very noble of me to allow the kids to go first, and I quipped the line about ‘it’s their world, us grown-ups are just interlopers’ and she got a laugh out of that. When the subject of weather came up, she remarked that it wasn’t as bad as Agabrah, although there at least it was a dry heat. I remarked as well I preferred a dry heat, saying that I too had been to a desert place. Then she asked where, and of course I didn’t want to mention the Sandbox (too close to home) so I blurted out the only other desert place I’ve been, Las Vegas. She got a laugh out of that, and I could tell she was struggling to stay in character over that quip. She said she’d never been to this Las Vegas before, and I said ‘No, probably just as well you didn’t’ and she said she would ask Genie about it. All in all a nice interaction.

By this point I was on cloud nine and was reminded why I come to WDW, it really does bring out the inner kid in you. And the inner pervvy princess fanboy, but that’s besides the point. So I was walking up to the England pavilion and saw Mary Poppins’ meet and greet on the trail to the tea place. Her line was long enough to where I wasn’t that interested in getting her autograph, and I already had a couple of hers from my last trip, and noticed that Alice’s meet and greet area was empty, and again according to the postings and the app she was done for the day. On an impulse I walked over to the toy shop at the back of the pavilion. I don’t know why, but I just did. As soon as I entered, I noticed there was a small workshop area in the back where the kiddies were coloring Duffy the bear pictures. Beyond that was a private room where Tigger and Pooh were meeting and greeting. But there was a small crowd gathered in the workshop, and my character-spidey senses were tingling. Sure enough, there was Alice!

The line was short, so I hopped in line and waited my turn. Boy, she was in rare form! She started off by asking if I had eyes on top of my head (I had perched my Oakley Gascans on top of my head), at first I didn’t get the joke, but then she replied that I must have eyes on top of my head otherwise why would I have glasses up there. I then responded by say that basically it was a trend started by one person and then everybody else followed his example, like lemmings. She got a laugh out of that.
She then went on to say it would be very interesting if she did have eyes on top of her head she could see both ahead and on top of her, that way she would not fall down a rabbit hole or have the Cheshire Cat sneak up on her. As we conversed about it, she then remarked that it would be difficult to see with both eyes, and determined that she didn’t quite think it all the way through.
She was enthused to get her picture taken with me, but the Photopass person had went into the next room where Tigger and Pooh were, so I said something to the effect of ‘don’t go anywhere’ and ran off to find a CM to get our picture taken. What was funny was when I returned, she was frozen in the same pose when I left and she remarked ‘See, I haven’t moved!’

All in all, the character interactions in Epcot were a home run. By this point I got a text from Sis who had recovered enough to want to go to the Magic Kingdom, so I told her I would meet her there. As I was on the monorail she texted me again that she got fastpasses for the Little Mermaid ride, so I hopped on the train and made for the new Fantasyland. A side note, the Dwarves’ Mine Train ride was in test run mode, and they were allowing MK CM’s to ride it. Basically if you had this particular ID that identified you as a Magic Kingdom CM you could walk on.

The evil corrupt corporate executive in me thought that an unscrupulous CM could make a fortune off his or her ID card by scalping it to well-heeled guests willing to pay for the privilege. I’m not saying I would stoop to buying my way onto a ride before it opened, but I certainly wouldn’t turn down the opportunity.

Up next, the last Character interactions of the trip, and probably the best!

[Frank Bullitt]

After riding Little Mermaid, I noticed the Standby Time for Ariel’s Grotto was only 15 minutes. And, more to the point, I’ve never seen the inside. I also noticed these two types getting in line, and to say they were odd looking was an understatement. They were both clearly by themselves (i.e. not with family or kids), and were large, biker looking guys with nose rings, tats and beards that would make Phil and the boys at Duck Dynasty jealous. I figured, if they’re getting in line, why not me? The theming of the queue line was very cool, and like the ride you could see the rocks and coral that they recycled from the old 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride that us WDW old timers remember, so that was a nice touch.

Well, my turn came, and they take you through this corridor, and around the corner. Unlike some meet and greets, where you’re grouped together, here it’s strictly one on one. Which would explain why historically it was so slow. The grotto itself is very well themed, and when I rounded the corner and saw it and Ariel on her throne all I could say was “wow!” and she laughed and said “Wow! A handsome sailor!”

Now, Ariel that evening was very, very, very flirty and friendly, I don’t know if she had just taken a ‘swim break’ or if she was just happy to have a break from the screaming kids or the two Duck Dynasty dudes, but she was very friendly and in character and just interacting on so many different levels. She also noticed the watch
(Bell & Ross, you’ll be happy to know that your BR3-92 Heritage Edition watch has the Disney Princess seal of approval )
and I offhandedly said that it was waterproofed to 100 meters (as all B&R watches are, I wasn’t blowing smoke up her, ah, fins). She was impressed and said then if we go swimming I could wear the watch, and she wanted one as well. I did remark that I would have to swap out the band for a more waterproofed one.
When I told her that this was my last night, and I was collecting autographs before going back, she asked where I was from, and I said that I came from a far off land called Manhattan, and she asked what I did and I quipped ‘I sit around in an office all day and boss other people around’.
She got a good laugh out of that, and said that that sounds like her father, who could be very bossy. She also said that Sebastian could also be a bit bossy, and then whispered in my ear that Sebastian could occasionally be crabby (hey, enough with the tomatoes, they’re the ones belting out these bad puns, not me!).
I chuckled and replied that some of my minions could say the same about me that I could be crabby, and she said she didn’t believe me, that I was so nice and so forth. When she autographed my book she even left a nice kiss on it with a lipstick print, so I was ecstatic.
If Ariel or any of her ‘friends’ are reading this hugs and fishes to you for making my last evening at the Magic Kingdom so magical.

But wait, there’s more! How about a Japanese knife that can cut through solid titanium? No? Well, how about this last tidbit:
Sis and I’s last ride for the night was Splash Mountain, which was very cool to ride at night, but it had stopped for some reason mid-ride (Sis joked that Splash Mountain knew we were leaving and didn't want us to leave)
When we got out, Wishes was playing, and I told sis that trying to navigate the parks while any of the parades or fireworks displays were on was an exercise in futility so we should kill some time. And over at the Princess Hall they had Rapunzel and Cinderella, with only a 20 minute wait. So I decided to test my luck one last time.
It was a long wait, but in fairness it was our last interaction of the day, and I wasn’t going to brave the post Wishes crowd, so I didn’t mind. For those who haven’t braved the 5 hour wait to see Elsa and Anna at this Princess Hall (seriously I snapped a pic that showed a 300 minute Stand By wait time), you wait in this palace-theme room decorated with various portraits of the Disney Princesses, and you wait for your turn. Like Ariel’s Grotto, it’s strictly one on one.

When I arrived, there still was a couple of kids that the princesses were interacting with, so I kind of hung back in the corner, I distracted myself with my phone only to see Rapunzel come over to the corner and pull me to her area. Immediately she started to giggle and leaned over to tell Cinderella that she found a handsome prince. She also fell in love with the satchel
(Satchel; 3, Fanny Pack; Zero)
and wanted to make sure Pascal wasn’t hiding in there, or if I had nicked her tiara. When we were getting pictures I told her out of the corner of my mouth don’t tell Eugene, and she shushed me and said that’s her secret he’s still Flynn Rider the dashing adventurer, I said no worries your secret is safe with me. She said that she loved being in the castle away from her tower and didn’t regret it in the least, and talked about the mice Gus and Jacques running around the castle, and how they did not have bedtime, either.

Cinderella was also in love with the satchel
(Final Score: Saddleback Leather Satchel; 4, Fanny Pack; Zero)
Rapunzel leaned over to throw her oar in a few times, including telling Cindy to make sure that I didn’t have her slipper in there. When I told her that this was our last stop of the evening Cinderella hoped that I wouldn’t turn into a pumpkin and I checked my watch and said ‘No I’m good for another hour’ and she got a laugh out of that. She asked where I was from I said Manhattan, and she said “Ah, the Big Apple!”, and went off to say that she wanted to get a giant apple for Maximus and would have never ending apple pies for all the other princesses, she didn’t trust Snow White to get the apples, given her previous bad luck. She said that it would be quite a chore bringing a giant apple back to Disney World, and that Tinkerbelle and the Fairy Godmother didn’t have enough magic to transport it or keep it from going brown, so I suggested they make a giant Tuppeware container and she got a laugh out of that. I need to upload the pics from her and Ranpunzel’s interactions because the candid photos are a riot and capture the moment wonderfully. Finally she gave me a nice hug and said be sure to visit her again real soon.
All in all both of them were absolute darlings, kudos to both of them for making my evening.

Things to take away from this experience? What can I say; apparently Disney Princesses dig the preppy look, watches and satchels

Oakley, Brooks Brothers and Bell & Ross would be happy to know that, I’m sure. I also need to tell my buddy Dave at Saddleback Leather that his briefcases also get the Disney seal of approval. Seriously, Princesses aside, I had several of the Disney Security guys who check bags, a couple of Cast members and so forth who either complimented me on it or wanted to know where I got it. One of the Security guard jokingly said he had to confiscate it, laughing while he was saying it.

All joking and product placement aside, the character experiences on this trip were top-notch. I had good luck on my last trip in January of 2009, and I was afraid that with the passing time and the fact that it was near peak season might have put a dampener on it, and I am happy to say that that is not the case.
All of the princesses were absolute darlings, and for that matter all the CM’s I interacted with were very helpful and friendly. So, if you’re an adult struggling with the idea as whether or not to interact with characters, I say, go for it.
Of course it helps if you’re dashingly handsome and accessorize

Feel free to comment on your own interactions, and as I said, as soon as I get the pictures downloaded I’ll post them here. And at some point when I extricate myself from this mountain of work, I'll post a trip report.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I'm so glad it went well. DH often ends up meeting some characters without DD and I, and reports (like you) that it goes quite well.

[Frank Bullitt]

I'm so glad it went well. DH often ends up meeting some characters without DD and I, and reports (like you) that it goes quite well.

Thanks! It was very nice and reemphasized why I like Disney World so much. It really does bring the inner kid out of all of us.
Quick question for anyone who'll listen, how do you upload pics onto threads? I did it a long time ago, but now I've forgotten.
Thanks!

[PirateLover]

Quick question for anyone who'll listen, how do you upload pics onto threads? I did it a long time ago, but now I've forgotten.
Thanks!

Only moderators can post pics in the actual posts, but if you create an album on a photo sharing website you can link to it!

And thank you for sharing your experiences! You gave me a few chuckles. Sounds like you had a great time

[LoveofEVERYTHINGDisney]

Thank you so much for posting your character meet experiences! What a hoot! You made me laugh from beginning to end!

[joanna71985]

I'm usually in the parks solo, and I love meeting the characters (it's my favorite thing to do). I've had some awesome interactions over the years

[Frank Bullitt]

Okay. So I’m back. First was bogged down with woik, then got a cold. Finally I got some extra time to go over my notes and jot down some of my interactions.

So, this was a trip in September, which was the busiest I’ve seen it since the last time I went, almost as busy as May. Crazy. Anyways, on with the show!
First up, on my first full day I had a 1900 park fare ressie at 11:00am. Still had the same butterflies in my stomach, as this was the 1st time I was meeting a character that trip. I wonder if the other character fans still get that nervous excitement waiting on your 1st character interaction.

Couple of quick points before I proceed: it was excruciatingly hot (as is the case in September) and I had bought a new autograph book, since I was getting to the end of my old one (which was bought clear back in September of 2005) I wanted to reserve those last couple of pages for ‘new’ characters.

Also being the pen snob I brought one of my Mont Blanc pens with me
Right, so on with the show!
Finally got my name called and got the same seat I had the last time I was here, one of the two-person tables that butt up to the divider in the main dining area. Alas, no strawberry soup, I miss thee, I hardly knew ye. Another funny note, I ran across a mother with her 3-5 year old daughter who was sitting at a two-person table like me across the isle.
She was understandably a bit harried by all the brouhaha going on, so I had chatted her up a few times in between characters, and she was nice enough to take my pic with Alice. After the character left, she saw me slurping down a bloody mary and said something to the effect of
‘Boy, I could use one of those, but I’d hate to drink one and think what the (cast members/characters) think of me.’
I remarked that she had a refillable mug, so if she wanted to knock back some booze on the down-low she just had to spike her coke with her favorite beverage. She got a laugh out of that, and yes, I’m a terrible person for suggesting such a thing and corrupting a good mother

The only character who I got notes on was Alice, she was the 1st one, and the 1st one to autograph my new book, which she was very excited about. She also liked the pen as well
I got a picture on my Samsung Galaxy S4, like as before as soon as I’ve uploaded them onto photobucket I’ll post them here.

Got a fastpass for the park’s famed Scandinavian duo, which I have to say anyone who invented that deserves a gold star in their next quarterly performance review. The FastPass Standby line (for that shift) was the one closest to the gift shop that was the Brave Little Tailor shop. It was here that I ran a phenomenon that puzzled me until I hit Akershus (which I’ll get to soon enough.)
We were in line waiting for our turn, and again there was a mother with her two daughters in line with me. I should also point out that there was another solo male a couple of persons ahead of us, as well.
Well I chatted up the mom with the usual stuff (hey, I’m a salesman and a naturally chatty person), this was my first ‘real’ interaction with a character in a controlled environment, and also my first with A & E, so I was still a bit nervous. And I tend to hide the nerves of meeting characters by distracting myself through talking to other people. Like chatting up the person next to you in the dentist’s office, only with princesses instead of root canals.
Anyways, I was chatting the mom when she was called up, so I naturally stood back and waited to be called up, and the CM (a nice fellow from Puerto Rico whose name escapes me now) said something to the effect of ‘Come on, dads can go in as well.’ Apparently he mistook me for the dad .
Like I said I found out why this was the case at Akershus, but I’ll get to that later.

First up was Elsa, she was very sweet, loved my pen and wanted to know if I had any chocolate hidden in my satchel. I said no, it would have melted in this heat. Very flirty and wanting lots of pictures. She did something very cool, she autographed the left hand page of my book, leaving the righthand page open for Anna to sign.

Anna was also very sweet, but very energetic. Y’know how in the early parts of Frozen Anna is very hyper and ‘Attention deficit…Oooh shiny!’ mode? Yeah that was Anna, but it was very entertaining. And we did the ‘double jinx’ like in the film so that was a nice touch.

Next up was Mulan, in the China pavilion of Epcot. She had a relatively short line, so I hopped in. She asked how I was doing, and I said I was traveling around the world (hoo-hoo, yes bad pun). She like my ‘Saddle bag’, which I thought was a nice sly nod to ‘Saddleback briefcase’, and asked if I had any weapons stashed in there, I replied ‘Well, I did but the guards confiscated all of them, even my backup. She got a good laugh out of that, and said that her mom confiscated her sword before she came on stage, but she was thinking about bringing a bow and arrow for ‘ceremonial’ purposes. I enjoyed it immensely.

Next up was Belle in the France Pavilion. She was also very sweet, and asked if I had seen Gaston or if he sent me, saying that the brute was trying to marry her. I said now that you mention it, some weasley little guy by the name of Le Fou tried to give me something to give to her. She rolled her eyes, and asked was it a ring? And I replied, didn’t open it, but I bounced it off his head a few times and it rattled (the box, I correct, not his head) and that would be my guess. She got a good laugh out of that, so it was a good interaction.

Taking a pause for the cause, I'll try to post more observations later this evening. Next up will be Akershus, so stay tuned!

[mechanic]

Well here I am. Out and about and on a whim I popped in late last night and saw the frozen sisters, and the beast. I have to say it was quite fun . More details and trip report coming soon.
Thanks,for the inspiration Frank.

[Frank Bullitt]

Well here I am. Out and about and on a whim I popped in late last night and saw the frozen sisters, and the beast. I have to say it was quite fun . More details and trip report coming soon.
Thanks,for the inspiration Frank.

I'm glad you decided to take the plunge, you'll have to share it with the rest of us!

And for myself I would like to apologize for falling off the map for the last year, between work, personal life and other writing commitments intercot fell off my radar.

I've dug out my old Word document which had some of my notes on character interactions, regretfully much of the memories are too distant to be of much use, but I did have some detailed information about my interactions with Merida, Pocahontas and Tink. I'll copy and paste what I have a bit later this evening.

Thanks again for sharing, and I'm happy that my little tales have inspired you all.

[Frank Bullitt]

I would like to apologize again to all the fans of this thread for effectively abandoning it, a combo of work, life and other commitments caused me to fall off the map. Regretfully most of the interactions have fallen into the void and vanished forever a la Inside Out, but I did find my old word document with some notes and was able to reconstruct a couple of interactions based off them and what memories I recalled...

Aurora (Akershus)
Another memory from Akershus, WRT Aurora, she actually sat at my table and chatted me up, asking if I was a prince, and I quipped something like ‘Well, depends who you ask LOL’ she went on to talk about how her prince Philip slew a dragon, then asked if I had slain any dragons recently. I said the closest I came was slaying a lizard (little cousin to a dragon) in my hotel bathroom in Costa Rica, which she got a kick out of.
Also that she liked to sleep, that she was going to take a nap after this, that she could sleep 14 hours a day. I told her she was lucky, I had to manage on like 5 hours of sleep LOL. After she got a picture with me she told the CM that I wasn’t to turn on my phone except to get a picture with her friends.

Merida
For the old hats on this forum, Merida’s character greet is over where Storytime with Belle used to be, by the side walkway (the 3 o’clock position on the Spoke in the center of the park). It’s pretty packed, but if you get in early the line wait isn’t too bad.
Basically she is standing in an alcove (which has AC being pumped in at a high speed, very important on a hot muggy FL day!) so I did my standard joking with the CM handler, who happened to be from Chicago. We lamented how the Navy Pier had turned into a tourist trap, and he told me how they now have a McD’s there (Horrors!) but I had to disagree with him on the subject of haggis, he liked it, I said anything involving non meaty bits of the animal were a nogo for me . In fairness Merida sided with me.
Anways, on to her, Merida was very charming and had a lovely Lancashire accent (if her ‘friend’ wasn’t from the UK she was doing an excellent job, I’ve heard on boards from WDW fans that come from the UK complain that some of the characters think Irish and Scottish accents are interchangeable )…So as an icebreaker I complimented her on her bow, and we traded stories on bow hunting (I have done it, but with deer not bear) she asked if I ever hunted bears, and I said no, but if I was I’d rather be armed with something that packed a bigger punch. All in all, a good interaction and a nice break for those who have already met with the Fab Five Princesses.

Pocahontas
For those of you who don’t know, Pocahontas does a meet and greet at the Discovery Island Trails, which is actually kind of brilliant, as it gives the parents a reason to show kids the various animal exhibits. Anyways, I happened to be getting a pint of Tusker Lager at the Tusker House bar and checked the Disney App on my phone, and sure enough, she was due for a meet and greet.
A side rant about the Disney Experience App, although they may have debugged it since, at least back when I was using it back in Sept of 2014 two things were clear upon attempting to navigate it.
One: Someone obviously spent a sack of dinero on this application, which is unsurprising given that WDE released it.
Two: It was obviously not beta-tested with a focus group comprised of potential users. Translation: it was programmed by geeks who thought it worked fine because they programmed it. It’s a pet peeve of mine because in my work I sometimes have to take project lead and whenever I field a complaint from the client to the geeks and tell them “Fix this, because the client can’t navigate X properly” they’re like, “Well, all they have to do is perform this complex workaround that is simple for us but next to impossible to non-tech literate users.” In fairness to WDE I haven’t used it since my last trip, so maybe my rant is unnecessary.
GET ON WITH IT!
*ahem*
Right, so, Pocahontas’ line was nice and short, and recalling a distant memory from the movie that there was some sort of greeting that she gave to John Smith I went ahead and consulted the Oracle…or in this case googled ‘Algonquin/Iroquois greeting’. When that failed I pulled up the video clip on youtube, and eureka! Found it. (Wingapo) = Greeting, friend.
So when it came my turn I did a passable impression of the greeting, which thrilled her to no end. She asked where I was from, and I said ‘Manhattan’, and she said that I must have been very brave to come from such a large place like manhattan. I’m pretty sure I quipped “Talking about brave, try taking a taxi to DFW in an ice storm during rush hour!” Again one of those nice 'easter egg' character spots that is a pleasant break from the usual.

Tinkerbell
For anyone who's been under a rock for the last two years, Town Hall in Main Street hosts a talking Mickey, whose popularity rivals only that of the Scandinavian sisters in Fantasyland, but what you may not know is there is another, shorter line for Pixie Hollow. This was a holdover from the Pixie Hollow at the former Mickey's Toontown Fair. If you time it just right, even standby lines are only about 15-20 minutes long even in the busy time when I went in May.
Tinkerbell was very cute and tiny (I’m no giant, I stand a very average 5’ 9.5” barefoot or 5’ 10” in shoes) and I was practically leaning backwars to be on level with her with the pics. The CM who was her handler was a nice kid from Puerto Rico and we quipped back and forth about vacationing there (pristine white beaches, ‘chicas’ etc etc).

Fun bit, I asked the CM, as I was wearing a pair of designer sneakers (I won’t name the brand, they’re mostly famous for making women’s purses and their initials are LV so I quipped with him saying “I’m going to come back as my right size right? Don’t want these shoes being too big or too small.” He got a good laugh out of that. Also nice touches were the oversized props like the poker card and the teacup (which IIRR was stamped JM Barrie China Company or something)

A bit of heartwarming is that the person ahead of me was a ‘special needs’ kid, and Tink was very very sweet to him and clearly made his day. Makes even hard-hearted capitalists like me get soft and mushy on the inside
We talked mostly about her inventions and I tried unsuccessfully to explain to her how an internal combustion engine worked. As someone who works with engineers all the time it was amusing trying to explain complex concepts like that.
I believe the way I conveyed it was, ‘You know how when you mess up and there’s a big explosion, if you contain the energy from that explosion you can make things move with it!’
She got a kick out of that, and as I said before, I had to practically crouch to let her lean on me. All in all, Tink was an absolute darling and the CM’s were all very helpful, I especially would recommend Tink to anyone who is shy, because 1.) being very short she's less intimidating than the royalty, and 2.) the environment gets you in the mood!

Anyways, that’s all I have, I really appreciate all the kind words you have given, and have been edified to hear that my narcissistic ramblings have inspired the grown up character fans to take the plunge. As I’ve repeated over and over, you don’t need to be super glib or whatever, just throw the characters a ‘hook’ (like bowhunting for Merida or the like), and above all, be polite.

Oh, and for more randomness, I'll be attending a trade show in Long Beach later this month for work, but plan on staying a couple of extra days in Anaheim to check out the original DL. I don’t have any illusions about seeing every character in such a short time, but I plan on at least trying to see a couple, and it will be interesting to see how they stack up vs WDW.

Have a magical evening!

[Lindslou]

I just had a blast reading this thread. Thanks for posting! I was shy during character meet and greets at first too... glad to know I'm not the only one! I agree that it's hogwash for adults to avoid meeting characters. Isn't the motto "kids of all ages"? Coincidentally I just went to DL for the first time this past October. I think you'll be glad you went to the "motherland" but it doesn't hold a candle to WDW.