1 Month to go and time to start a character strategy

[Hayden's Dad]

Ok well as of today we are officially 1 month away from leaving for Hayden's Make A Wish Trip, and obviously more so now this time than before we are going to be looking for characters.

We are staying at the Boardwalk so we will be within walking distance of both Epcot and Hollywood Studios. I have heard from some of you that sometimes if you ask the castmembers before the show you may beable to meet some of the characters in the shows, such as Beauty and the Beast, and at Indianna Jones. We are going to ask at all the shows we go to (all they can say is no and some may even say yes.)

Now this time we don't have any character meals planned although MAW is working on setting up a "Lunch with Mickey" for Hayden. Now what that means I don't know, but it sounds like a lot of fun. So we will have to find some of the regulars too, like Donald, Minnie, Goofy, Chip, and Dale, etc..

Any suggestions, tips, etc that has worked for you guys in the past let me know. Also we are going to the Halloween Party, so any tips you have for that too would be great!!

[megustamex]

There are plenty of opportunities to meet the characters. They are usually listed out on the Times Guides in each park. Some are our favorite regular character meet and greets are:

Pooh and friends at England (throughout the day - they also appear throughout the day at MK in front of Pooh's splash area). I believe they are also at the old boat landing in AK throughout the day.

Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy at AK in Camp Minnie Mickey (never a long line and it's neat to see them in their safari outfits). They also have them in one of the pavilions at Epcot, again throughout the day.

They always have the characters out in front of the sorcerer's hat in DHS, and you can always go to Toontown in MK, but these lines are usually quite long.

There are other character greetings throughout the day at MK for Peter Pan and Wendy, the toys from Toy Story, Ariel at Ariel's grotto, etc.

In recent years Disney has made it VERY easy to
see the characters. So while you don't have to do anything special like a character meal to see them, it is a nice relaxing way to have personal character greetings. We got to try a lot of the character meals for free when we went to Disney during a free dining deal one year, and our favorite character meals are Liberty Tree Tavern (Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Chip and Dale) and the Crystal Palace (Pooh and friends). Both are worth the money in my opinion and a nice break at MK.

[AnnetteFan]

The Halloween party is a great chance to see a lot of the usual characters plus some rare ones. It's nice because lines are usually short and the characters are having a lot of fun and feel as though they have more time for you and the interaction is awesome. So it's a good time to get autographas out of the way. You'll probably want to meet the regulars more than once because I'm sure you'll want pictures with them in their classic outfits as well as their special occassion outfits but it might be helpful to get their autographs at the halloween party when they have the time and then when you see them again only have to worry about pictures and having fun with them.
My favorite part of MNSSHP and any of the Disney parties is the dance parties they have set up. There's always one in Tommorowland in Cosmic Rays and one in Ariels Grotto. They have a dj and then the characters come out and dance and play with the crowd. Best interaction ever, the characters won't do autographs during a dance party but they will dance and play with you which is something they really don't get to do during their usual meet and greets.