Autographs at character meals?

HappyGal

DIS Veteran
Joined
Oct 29, 2011
In September it was announced that changes would be made to the autograph policy during character meals at certain table service restaurants as a test:

"Disney has had complaints that guests feel like they don’t get enough time with characters, so to resolve this problem, Disney has taken away the autograph option. This means that characters will still visit your table, but they will no longer sign autograph books.

Instead, guests get a card with the characters signature already on it. The card fits right into most autograph books (those that are specifically designed for this purpose) with an explanation on the back saying that this is in hopes of increasing efficiency and the time that you can spend with characters".

Does anyone know if this is the case at Crystal Palace or Cinderella's Royal Table?
 
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Wow that's disappointing. One of the main reasons we go to the overpriced character meals is it's an easy way to get autographs without having to wait in line. If we're still going to have to wait in line to get the autograph I might as well skip the character meal and eat counter service or try one of the many other table service places we never get around to. Lord knows we don't go back to the character meals year after year for the food. Well maybe Ohanas. And Tuskers. And Akershus. And we actually liked Garden Grill last time.

Dammit.
 
We had this happen to us this past August at Crystal Palace. We did not know about the change and were not given any notice of it. My DD & DS kept asking Pooh for his autograph and he kept shaking his head. DD & DS were upset because they did not know why he was refusing and neither did we. All the characters did this.

None of the characters spent more time at our table.

Needless to say, we will never go there again.

We went to Cinderella’s Royal Table and they all gave autographs the usual way. We all enjoyed it.
 


Wow I will really be upset if this is the case. You pay such a premium for character meals, you should be able to choose how you spend your time with the characters.
 
This was a huge thing on the boards around August timeframe, but it turned out that they only tried it out at a few restaurants for a very short time. By the time we went on August 20, all restaurants were back to doing signatures. We went to CRT, Bon Voyage, Garden Grill, Tusker House, and Crystal Palace and all gave autographs without question. Bon Voyage did have an autograph card but still did autographs without a problem. I really doubt anything has changed. As a PP noted, they were there recently and had no problem receiving autographs and there would have been a much larger backlash here on the boards if it was some new widespread policy. I think the thing several months ago was just a test and they quickly realized that people were not okay with just receiving a signed card at character meals so they reverted back to the the characters signing. At this time, I really don't think you have anything to worry about.
 
We just got back and we had no issues getting signatures at Chef Mickey's and Tusker House. I would be ticked off if that was the case due to how much we spend on those character meals. Folks just need to be more patient with the characters. At both places we were all done with our food so we just waited around until we could see the characters!
 


We got autographs without a problem at Crystal Palace and Garden Grill back in October.

The only place we ever got cards was at Hollywood & Vine when they first began the "Seasonal Dine" dinners.
 
When we were there in Dec all characters were signing autographs. We h:d dined at: 1900 Park Fare, Tusker House, Hollywood & Vine, Garden Grill, Akershus, Bon Voyage, and Crystal Palace.

The only meal where a character does not sign (and technically it's not a character meal) is when you meet the Beast after dinner at Be Our Guest.
 
I believe this test was an abject failure. When I hit my 180 days I had booked Stitch's breakfast and when I found out (at that time) that he was just posing for a picture outside the restaurant I went and called and cancelled the ADR. I always call in my changes. I actually got a call from Disney asking me if the reason was the character change. I was shocked to get the call.
 
We did 1900 Park dinner and Ohana breakfast last year, August and was happy that all characters signed. At Ohana breakfast Stitch still signs the autograph book but he was posted out front as opposed to inside the restaurant. My daughter loves stitch so much it didn't matter to her and we loved it. Weather they pass out a card or sign my girls' books, I don't think my girls really care. Just so long as they got to meet them. We've never had any complaints at character meals and have always enjoyed our time, never felt rushed and have never been skipped.
 
We did 1900 Park dinner and Ohana breakfast last year, August and was happy that all characters signed. At Ohana breakfast Stitch still signs the autograph book but he was posted out front as opposed to inside the restaurant. My daughter loves stitch so much it didn't matter to her and we loved it. Weather they pass out a card or sign my girls' books, I don't think my girls really care. Just so long as they got to meet them. We've never had any complaints at character meals and have always enjoyed our time, never felt rushed and have never been skipped.
"
Does anyone know if Stitch is back inside?
 
This was a short-lived test. Shortly after the reports that it was starting, I emailed Guest Services to complain. We love the autographs. After a couple weeks I got an email back saying that they had returned to giving autographs.
 

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