Character Meets at Walt Disney World

You really do need at least five or six days to properly do all the parks (not including water parks) at Walt Disney World, and a big part of the reason why are all the character meets.  Because, lets face it, even an adult only vacation to WDW has to include character meet ‘n greets!

Most of the time, you just hop in line and wait it out.  And some of those lines can be LONG.  We were there during the off season and even then there were a couple of characters whom we waited for over an hour in line to see.  Now, if you were to skip all the character meets you could chop a couple of days off your trip, but why would you want to do that?  The characters are what makes Disney the fun that it is – otherwise it’s just a bunch of theme parks.  People love Disney World and Disneyland BECAUSE of the magic that is Disney, and that is ALL about the characters.

And let’s face it!  Most of the rides are no camera rides (though some people are asshats about it and snap pictures anyway – ruining the experience for those around them), so the character meets?  They’re your very best photo ops.  And some of the cast members really are fabulous and are SOOO worth seeing.  Peter Pan pops into mind.  Seriously, he spent about ten minutes with Lily-Ann…  who happened to be in her fairy costume.  He even tried shaking pixie dust out of her.  He really was fabulous and made the girl feel that way too.  😀

So, here are a whole whack of character meet-ups from our trip!  None of the photos have been edited or enhanced.  I am not even going to THINK about that yet.  It’s going to be a STUPID amount of work considering the two or three thousand images I have.  LOL  So it was just a RAW to JPG conversion.  LOL

Dug and Russell are totally cute, and so much fun!

We only got a few minutes with them, but they made it worth the wait.

We were thrilled to see Baloo and King Louis.

Damon had to get in for a photo op with these two – they’re his favourites!

Pocahontas wanted to know if the girl’s bag was for raccoon treats.

Ariel is one of the girl’s favourite princesses, so I made her a tail for this meet-up.

❤

Gaston was a lot of fun, charming and silly too.

I tried to convince Jewles and Lily-Ann to play the parts of the flustered girls who are head over heals for Gaston, but they wouldn’t go along with it… so it was just me. LOL

Pooh Bear actually took the time to spread out the girl’s mermaid tail – which was really sweet.

Jewles has always been a nut for Winnie the Pooh, so this was a dream come true!

Lily-Ann was over the moon to meet Merida – and she told her so.

“Who’s your favourite princess? Let me guess, is it Ariel?” “No. It’s YOU! You’re my favourite.”

Two BRAVE grrrls.

I told her that our family had gone as Elinor, Fergus, and Merida for Halloween. She loved it!

When I tried to straighten Damon up before our picture was taken she laughed and said “You really are like Elinor.” 😉

Okay, yeah… I’m sharing six pictures of us with Merida. We love her! LOL

Big hugs for Chip and Dale!

Goofy was really sweet with Lily-Ann.

Kid kid was super excited to meet Pluto…

…and called us over for a picture with him too.

YAY Phineas and Ferb! We love Phineas and Ferb… yes, I have pictures with them too. LOL

Playing with Jake (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates).

It’s Handy Manny!

The girl couldn’t believe that Mr. Incredible kissed her hand!

High fives for Frozone!

She was head over heals for Mr. Incredible after that kiss. LOL

Lily-Ann insisted I have a picture with Frozone and Mr. Incredible too. I don’t really have a super hero pose in my back pocket – but I did my best.

We didn’t see Wreck-it Ralph (the movie) until AFTER our Disney trip – or I’d have been in there too. LOVE Vanelope, one of my favourite princesses. 😀

Considering how “old school” Mickey is, I was shocked over how excited Lily-Ann was to see him. She didn’t want to let him go!

I wasn’t sure we’d ever get her to stop hugging Mickey Mouse. She was just sooo in awe of him.

Even teenagers need a squeeze from the mouse.

How can you NOT love Buzz and Woody? Toy Story is Fabulous!

We had to get a family photo with these guys! I just wish Jesse had been there too.

Jewles tried to get away with avoiding the “toys”, but they weren’t about to allow that. 😉

The hall of princesses was one of the few character meets that has a fast pass.

We were rushed a little here, but it was still a real treat for the girl – who asked Rapunzel where her frying pan was. 😉

My favourite Disney princess from my childhood and youth was always Aurora.

Gotta love a princess who’s such a good friend to animals, as Briar Rose was.

So is it any surprise I have such a giddy goofy smile on? LOL

Lily-Ann was too in awe of Cinderella to say much, but we took pictures, just the same.

Even Jewles got one with this classic Disney princess.

We spent quite a bit of time with Marie. Lily-Ann wanted to adopt her! LOL

We made sure to point out that as much as Marie would love Canada and staying with us, that she and Duchess would miss one another terribly.

Lily-Ann wasn’t happy about having to leave Marie there, but she could understand not separating her from her mom.

I appreciated her spending so much time with us when there were so many others waiting.

This was our second meeting with Daisy, we saw her our first day too. This is at Magic Kingdom, but she’s at Epcot as well.

Lily-Ann was almost as excited to meet Minnie as she was to meet Mickey. Again I wasn’t sure she’d be willing to let go.

Had to get a photograph of all the girls with our ears!

Tiana is another princess we really like. Gotta love a strong female roll model – who just happens to end up a princess.

…all I could think was how hot she had to be under all that fabric! Yikes!

Lily-Ann was SOOO excited to meet the fairies she could barely speak.

So Tinkerbell made sure to give her lots of hugs – which was really nice.

Periwinkle was happy to meet a water fairy – as frost fairies and water fairies often have to work together. 😉

They actually had a really cute visit… it was sweet. 🙂

This is Peter Pan… the fellow I raved about in my blog post.

He was SOOO good to Lily-Ann. He played with her, made her laugh, and was so genuine and sweet.

He mimicked her, and was silly with her. He visited and asked her questions.

He even tried to shake some pixie dust out of her, and wanted to know how she was able to fly there without it.

He spent way more time with Lily-Ann than anyone else we saw him interact with… we were just tickled.

Not too many of the characters took the time to really get involved with you, but he was AMAZING.

I don’t know how long they’ll be able to keep him young outside of Neverland, but let’s hope it’s for a good long while.

We had to try THREE times to get in to see Jasmine and Aladdin. They were always busy!

It was worth it though. Aladdin was silly with Kid Kid, tickled her, and made her laugh. It was nice.

…now one “good one” for the scrapbook. LOL

One more meet-up with Pooh Bear. This time at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

EEYORE!!! YAY!!!! 😀

Awww… 😀 Jewles + Eeyore = True Love Forever!

Snuggles for Tigger (who the girl DEFINITELY out bounced).

Rafiki was very cool to see. 🙂 And next to NO line. I was amazed!