Credit: DisneyGoing to a Disney Park like Disneyland or Walt Disney World is an absolutely magical experience that generations of fans have enjoyed for decades, and nothing brings the magic to life more than mingling with our favorite animated friends. However, there have been some changes to the lineup that have Guests more than a little upset.
Disney’s Character Meet and Greets are a quintessential part of visiting any Disney Parks, but the experience between Disneyland and Walt Disney World is night and day. Not only does the original California Park get more in terms of variety, but their characters are practically everywhere, and many of them are unfairly exclusive. It was only a matter of time before someone took offense.
Disney World Makes Meet and Greets Minimal
Granted, every Disney Park in the world has the essential Fab Five (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto) running around, but photos and posts on social media clearly display a huge difference between the characters at Disneyland and the ones at Walt Disney World. Although Disneyland is the original Park, its Floridian counterpart has arguably the larger audience.
A post on r/WaltDisneyWorld asked, “Does anyone else wish WDW had more characters?” and it seems like multiple Guests are asking the same thing. Additionally, many are noticing a drastic decline in the quality of Character experiences at the Florida Park.
Many Guests, like u/LegitimateMeat3751 reflect on how the experience used to be by writing,
“This!!! I remember as a kid and on our honeymoon (many moons ago) just bumping into characters. It really made each pathway a chance for a magical encounter.”
And u/LizzyDragon84 brings up an interesting observation with,
“I think WDW had characters roaming ages ago, but eventually crowd control became an issue, so that’s why they’re in the meet and greet format now.”
To which u/Purple_Quail_4193 replies,
“With [Disney World’s] culture there are some characters that would cause a bottleneck if they were roaming. Happened recently with Mando”
Additionally, some fans speculate that Disney is trying to cater to a completely different clientele of audience members and Guests. u/redoctober25 shares their theory with,
“Disneyland is more of a “locals” park… in order to keep the locals coming back regularly they have a wide assortment of characters for them to meet-n-greet with. On the flip-side, Walt Disney World is considered by brass to be a “once in a lifetime” (or at least once every four or five years) park. And guest going every five years want see traditional main characters. They don’t have time to meet a hundred different characters… so Disney puts those characters in various outfits (but still the main characters). It’s a terrible policy if that’s what they are doing… and I wish they had more rare characters outside of the paid parties..
The user makes a very interesting statement with that last thought, as it does seem like Disney is beginning to charge extra just for those rare but desired character opportunities. With the recent announcement of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, even classics like Stitch and Timon are essentially being locked behind a pay wall.
The Reddit post is loaded with several other testimonies that go on about how the Parks “used to be” with their characters. While we will never get tired of getting hugs and selfies from characters like Mickey and Minnie, there has been a noticeable downgrade. Variety is the spice of life and Disney can’t afford to be bland.
Have you noticed a change with Character Meet and Greets? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!