I think one of the best parts of visiting Disney is seeing the characters all over the parks. Of course, the easiest way to see characters is to visit a character meal. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Chip and Dale, Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Jasmine, Belle and Snow White at different meals around the park. We also saw characters on the streets. There are certain places throughout the parks set aside for character meetings. The sites are often in areas related to the characters -- we found Flik in the Animal Kingdom near the Tree of Life Garden because the Tree of Life is a theater showing "It's Tough to be a Bug." Some of the classic Disney characters like Chip and Dale and Daisy hang out near City Hall at the beginning of Main Street. Mickey stays in ToonTown, in a special building near his house.We spent a lot of time standing in lines waiting for pictures and signatures with some of the characters, but it was worth the wait. The characters are fun and they interact with the kids -- young and old -- as they might if they were really the person they represent.
SPOILER ALERT! I'm about to give away a couple of Disney secrets, so if you don't want to know, skip to the next paragraph. On our "Keys to the Kingdom" tour, we learned some very interesting facts. First of all, if you think you do a lot of laundry, think again. It would take a normal family 42 years doing one load of laundry a day to wash the amount of laundry that they do in one day at the Magic Kingdom. They create one ton -- that is two thousand pounds -- of lint every day. Since every employee is a cast member, every uniform is a costume. Secondly, the best job at the park is to be Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell appears every night during the fireworks display. To be Tinkerbell, the person must be no larger than 4' 9" and weigh no more than 90 lbs. The character suits up in 90 lbs worth of equipment, is attached to a zip line that is hooked to the castle, is pushed out a window and she flies for 30 seconds. She gets off the zip line, takes off the equipment and goes home. She is paid for an eight hour day. Of course, the job is not as easy as it sounds. Imagine wearing your weight in equipment. If the zipper doesn't work and she gets stuck in the middle of the zipline, she must pull herself to the bottom with her own strength. Disney has three Tinkerbells on staff -- a full time, a part time and a substitute. Finally, the costumes, especially those that have furry bodies, are very hot and heavy. The length of a visit with many of the characters are very short. There is an established schedule that must be adhered to for the safety and well being of the cast members. In the heat of the summer, some characters must go inside every few minutes to get a drink and cool off. They do try to keep the characters in shady areas, but it is still very hot. You have to be patient when you decide to stand in line because you might have to wait while they go to rest.
You have to have patience if you decide to wait for autographs and pictures. We had a couple experiences that were disappointing. We waited in several lines to meet characters we found in the parks, but they left by the time we reached the front of the line. Sometimes we left, not wanting to waste any more time waiting. We waited in line to see Jasmine and Genie for a long time, but it was worthwhile because Zack was anxious to meet Genie. By the time we got to the front, it was time for Genie to go inside for a few minutes. We didn't mind waiting, but Jasmine stayed to continue visiting the guests. That meant that we were herded through the experience and Zack missed out on seeing one of his favorite characters. Genie's handler was kind and she did get an autograph for Zack, but we could not jump the line for a photo. Luckily we found the characters from Aladdin later in the week at another park, but it was disappointing for Zack at the time.
I really enjoyed the characters from Aladdin when we met up with them in the Magic Kingdom. They were in Adventureland near the Magic Carpets of Aladdin ride. We knew they were coming, so we got in line and were very near to the front when they arrived. They seemed to have a very special relationship -- especially Aladdin and Jasmine. Genie was jealous of their concern for one another and he pretended to choke Aladdin to get him away from Jasmine. It was all in good fun, of course. They chatted with the kids, joked with Zack and even got their picture taken with all of us. I enjoyed the camaraderie between the characters. I wasn't sure if they were acting as they were because they were such good friends or because they were in character. It was great fun whatever the reason.By early in the week we had all (except for Bruce) purchased some sort of Disney ears to wear as we visited the parks. As you might notice in our photos, Victoria and I wore our Minnie ears everywhere. Zack purchased Stitch ears because he loves Stitch (who we found in the Animal Kingdom). Zack does this really cool (or annoying if you ask Victoria) impersonation of Stitch. Whenever a character noticed his ears, Zack pulled out the voice. Victoria already told you about Belle commenting on Zack's ears and voice in an earlier blog. Those ears -- both Zack's Stitch ears and our Minnie ears -- were the topic of conversation at many of the character visits. At a breakfast with Goofy, he was offended that none of us had bought ears like his. He said that his were more practical and he used his to wipe his forehead. It was very funny.
When we were in Epcot, traveling near the village representing England, we ran into Mary Poppins. She was very prim and proper, as Mary Poppins should be. She was honored that Victoria was so thrilled to meet her, Mary Poppins was one character she really wanted to meet. Zack was standing near Mary Poppins when she noticed his ears. She asked Zack if everything was OK. She said she was worried about him because the ears did not look proper. She suggested that he should see a doctor. She had Zack laughing so hard. We met up with Mary Poppins later when we had lunch at Cinderella's Table. When we reminded her that we had met her before, she saw Zack's ears and asked if he'd seen a doctor about his ear problem. We were immediately impressed that she would remember that conversation but... (SPOILER ALERT! ... I think that the whole ears thing is a scripted response to seeing a kid in Stitch ears, especially since Stitch is very popular at the parks this year.)
My favorite character would have to be Captain Jack Sparrow. Jack was not available for consultation, he was busy teaching a crowd of people how to use a sword, but it was so fun to watch him in action. Of course it was not Johnny Depp, but I think the cast member did a marvelous job recreating the character from the Pirates movies. He had all the mannerisms, facial expressions and voice that we love. I wish I had been able to get my picture with my man Jack -- he is sooo bad, but soooooo good. After all, Bruce spent the week chasing after all the princesses (we have pictures of him with most of them as well as Minnie, Daisy and Mary Poppins. Take note of the picture in this blog.) As Jack finished his show and ran to escape whichever villain was after him today, I could not help myself. I screamed, "I love you Jack" much to the consternation of my family. They'll tell you today that they are still embarrassed by my boldness. How could I resist? It was Captain Jack.
Of the furry characters, my favorites from Disney will always be Chip and Dale. There's something about those cute and cuddly chipmunks that I just love. I was a little disappointed that I was not able to get my picture with both of them at the same time, but I did enjoy meeting them at the Liberty Tree dinner. That's me with Chip in the picture. I learned something new at that dinner. I was never able to keep the two straight -- I mean, they almost look like twins, of course they are hard to tell apart. However, there are differences. Chip has a black nose and one tooth in the front. Dale as a brown nose and two teeth. They have very different personalities. Chip is fairly calm, as calm as a chipmunk can be. He interacted with us, but like a gentleman. Dale, on the other hand, was crazy. When he was finished at our table he went to the next and grabbed a map from a man who was sitting there. At first he had the map upside down, trying to point out special features to the man. He suddenly realized it was upside down and turned it around, again trying to figure out where things might be. He eventually threw the map back at the man and went on his way.
We did wait in a lot of lines so that we could meet the characters and many visitors to the parks might think it is a waste of time. I thought that it was some of the most fun we had during the week. The kids certainly enjoyed getting autographs and I enjoyed watching them interact with the characters. Most of all, I enjoyed interacting with them myself. One of the current features found at Disney is a thing called "Photopass." At many points around the parks there are professional photographers ready to take your picture. Get as many taken as you can -- then buy the CD. It is expensive, $125 this summer, but with the CD you get the rights to use every picture however you like. You can even add Disney icons and autographs to the photos for the same price. Each photo would cost at least $13, so if you used more than 10 of them, it would pay for itself. Our CD had nearly 150 pictures, many of which are found in our slide show, so it was worth every penny for us.
