What’s the polite amount of time to spend with characters?

[JETSDAD]

We've witnessed some that were a bit annoying with the length they were taking but only 1 where it just got really awkward for everybody. It was at a party and I believe it was with Nick & Judy. There was a solo adult who obviously wanted to spend A LOT of time with the characters. Had all sorts of questions, walked away from them to check out the backdrop, came back to talk to them.....the handler tried to move her along, the characters tried to move her along, she would begin to walk away then come back to the characters. The characters kind of looked at the handler, the handler would shrug, everyone in line was looking at each other and just cringing. The next family in line would start to walk over then have to stop and wait..multiple times. It was weird. Other than that we just pack our patience and wait our turn. We tend to move along pretty quickly ourselves (some go longer depending on the specific interaction with the character but nothing really long).

 

[DrunkJam]

You do realize that kids are within those heights, right?
DGD was 5 when she reached 48"
I'm positive 5 year olds are kids.

Heck, she's 11 now and still a kid. 5'4" but a kid nonetheless.

Yep. DS rode Everest at 5yo. He was still a kid when he rode FOP at 11yo (he also did not get preferential treatment in the queue when he went to order the avatar boba ball drink with his own snack credit.) I worry that differentiating too heavily between kid allowed and adult allowed activity at Disney (other than for safety reasons / legal reasons) reduces EVERYONE's enjoyment, because kids notice when adults are merely tolerating something, and if adults really do hate the things their kids love, the whole holiday becomes a chore.

 

[Meglen]

How long my kids want is how long. It’s not my concern what others think is too long. Not do I care. It’s our vacation. And there is no rule on this. So that’s that. If my kids spend a minute. That’s it. If they spend 5. Then that’s it. I certainly don’t spend my day trying to please anyone else. I can’t imagine any kid there more than what 3-4 minutes? Not really a big deal.

It's also other people vacations. And if everyone took 5 min than the wait for others is amazingly long plus we all know the feeling when your waiting for 20 min and you get to the front and the family infront of you meeting takes soooo long and the CM has to tell you "sorry after this family the character has to take a break".

Be respectful of other people's time as well as your own. To say no one else matters is rather rude.

 

[AngiTN]

Seriously, it's not that complicated and no one is being rude if they take 6 min instead of 4. Just tossing arbitrary figures out there.
I am not responsible for having concern about someone else's vacation and how it's spent. And I'm not being rude if I say (in my head) I'm taking an extra minute here, it's my favorite character. Nor is any other guest. No one should be made to feel responsible for the wait times of others.
A handful of guests that take longer than whatever some feel is appropriate is not enough to impact your total wait time by any measurable amount.
Besides, for all the guests that take an extra minute or two you have those that speed right on by taking only a few seconds, maybe a min.
It all avg out to having no impact on the overall wait.

That's not talking about someone being out of control, such as mentioned when they leave and then return This guest is on the Handler to take care of. They are the ones that are responsible for keeping them from interrupting someone else. They are trained on what to do and should do it. Or the rare guest that goes to an extreme time. Those are exceptions and so rare they are really of no concern. I'm talking about the vast, vast majority.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Yes. Some are tall enough at a young age. True. Many aren't. Many of the 4-9 year olds that don't meet those height requirements are the ones who just wanted to meet the princesses anyway.

Oh my goodness. You don’t really believe that, do you?

 

[GillianP1301]

I think most people are overestimating how much time people are spending with a character. I haven't stopwatched it, but whenever I'm in line, the average is about 30 - 60 seconds. You sometimes will see longer than that when a character gets a little more into it with a certain family and it will be 2 minutes or so. I think a lot of it depends on how many people are in line as to how interactive experiences are, the mood of the CM (i.e. are they having an off day, end of shift... they may not be as into it vs a fresh CM in a great mood) and how engaged the person is meeting the character. I usually just follow the lead of the character and if they are wanting to spend more time, I'll definitely take part in that, but if it's a hug, picture and wave, then that's okay too.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

It's also other people vacations. And if everyone took 5 min than the wait for others is amazingly long plus we all know the feeling when your waiting for 20 min and you get to the front and the family infront of you meeting takes soooo long and the CM has to tell you "sorry after this family the character has to take a break".

Be respectful of other people's time as well as your own. To say no one else matters is rather rude.

I have my own personal standard of time that tries to be considerate of others while getting a good interaction. But that said, one of the great things about Disney is the opportunities to teach kids. Put a positive spin on it. "We can be the very first to meet Mickey at the next session. Wouldn't that be so cool?"

I think most people are overestimating how much time people are spending with a character. I haven't stopwatched it, but whenever I'm in line, the average is about 30 - 60 seconds. You sometimes will see longer than that when a character gets a little more into it with a certain family and it will be 2 minutes or so. I think a lot of it depends on how many people are in line as to how interactive experiences are, the mood of the CM (i.e. are they having an off day, end of shift... they may not be as into it vs a fresh CM in a great mood) and how engaged the person is meeting the character. I usually just follow the lead of the character and if they are wanting to spend more time, I'll definitely take part in that, but if it's a hug, picture and wave, then that's okay too.

This is so true. I like meeting characters and the interactions feel so long IMO. I really felt like I was with Tiana & Naveen as well as Flynn & Rapunzel for forever when it was probably only a couple minutes each.

 

[AngiTN]

Yes. Some are tall enough at a young age. True. Many aren't. Many of the 4-9 year olds that don't meet those height requirements are the ones who just wanted to meet the princesses anyway.

While there are always exceptions, most 7 yo are tall enough for every ride. And most 6 yo are at the 44" limit
So your notion that many, many rides are not for kids is just bizarre.
I'd dare say it's a very rare 9 yo that is below 48"
I'm sure all those too short boys at Disney are loving meeting a Princess, LOL

 

[Jonfw2]

Fair enough. The fact that the average height of a 9 year old is 52 inches puts of thousands of them below 48, but, again, fine. The fact remains that adults w/out kids make lines longer. We can disagree that some attractions should focus more on the kids. That's fine.

 

[Meglen]

Fair enough. The fact that the average height of a 9 year old is 52 inches puts of thousands of them below 48, but, again, fine. The fact remains that adults w/out kids make lines longer. We can disagree that some attractions should focus more on the kids. That's fine.

of course more ppl in line makes a longer line what your saying is that a child is more important than an adult on vacation. Both have rights to see the characters heck most kids are scared of them when they finally see them where as adults useally just want photos and move along.

 

[Jonfw2]

of course more ppl in line makes a longer line what your saying is that a child is more important than an adult on vacation. Both have rights to see the characters heck most kids are scared of them when they finally see them where as adults useally just want photos and move along.

A child is not more important than an adult on vacation. There are some activities on vacation that are more appropriate for kids and adults should defer to them. In my opinion, of course.

 

[Melissa55]

I have my own personal standard of time that tries to be considerate of others while getting a good interaction. But that said, one of the great things about Disney is the opportunities to teach kids. Put a positive spin on it. "We can be the very first to meet Mickey at the next session. Wouldn't that be so cool?"

I hope that I have this opportunity with my son at least once, honestly, which I know sounds a little crazy. I am one of the few people that really is not bothered by waiting in line, because my dad is the OPPOSITE. Huffs and puffs and grumbles if made to wait more than 10 minutes for anything, anywhere - grocery store, theme park, whatever. When I was little, I totally fed off that and I was terrible at waiting. Then when I was like 13-14, I was like “Why am I so annoyed? This is fine.” When I started driving, my friends would always ask me to drive downtown because I really didn’t mind sitting in traffic. At Disney, the line gets cut off at me all. the. time. I think because I’m never in a rush. And as a result, I get some really cool interactions when the characters come back, like the Donald M&G I mentioned earlier, it’s also happened with Belle in Epcot, Anna & Elsa when they were in MK, etc. Now my son is the big, blue-eyed, super-smiley, everyone-is-drawn-to-him kid so I suspect it will happen to us less with him around. But I think waiting at the front of a character line is its own kind of Disney Magic honestly.

 

[Boopuff]

I don't like to linger too long at meet and greets, however, one time a few years ago, my DD (then 21- gasp) waited in line to see Dug and Russell. She had a Yoda backpack on, Dug "stole" it and sniffed it, wouldn't let my DD near it. I'd say this crazy encounter lasted a good few minutes. However, all the people in line were laughing at the antics!

 

[AngiTN]

I don't like to linger too long at meet and greets, however, one time a few years ago, my DD (then 21- gasp) waited in line to see Dug and Russell. She had a Yoda backpack on, Dug "stole" it and sniffed it, wouldn't let my DD near it. I'd say this crazy encounter lasted a good few minutes. However, all the people in line were laughing at the antics!

We had one of our most amazing meets with them
We’d just lost our dog due to a sudden illness. I forget exactly how it came up, I think they “asked” about any pets. Anyway, when they heard we’d lost our dog they were so sweet and attentive. The greet went on and on, all driven by them

 

[Heather07438]

We've witnessed some that were a bit annoying with the length they were taking but only 1 where it just got really awkward for everybody. It was at a party and I believe it was with Nick & Judy. There was a solo adult who obviously wanted to spend A LOT of time with the characters. Had all sorts of questions, walked away from them to check out the backdrop, came back to talk to them.....the handler tried to move her along, the characters tried to move her along, she would begin to walk away then come back to the characters. The characters kind of looked at the handler, the handler would shrug, everyone in line was looking at each other and just cringing. The next family in line would start to walk over then have to stop and wait..multiple times. It was weird. Other than that we just pack our patience and wait our turn. We tend to move along pretty quickly ourselves (some go longer depending on the specific interaction with the character but nothing really long).

I'm laughing! Sometimes people think they're entertaining the masses... but they're not really that funny and everyone's thinking Enough Already!

Our last long M&G was Mary and Bertie quite late during MVMCP (11pm). They spent 5 minutes with us doing a skit with my son's hat and Bertie's hat. It was awesome! Truly magical characters ad-libbing and playing off each other. 2 young ladies were the only ones waiting and they got the full treatment on their turn too.

I think all age groups are important interactions for characters. Important to capture a moment when kids change so fast. I love watching them fuss over toddlers or grandma/grandpa at the meals. Non-kids can be just as important because recapturing the magic of imagination beyond childhood is a big reason why people flock to WDW.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I agree with those that mention using your own inner guideline although obviously that varies from person to person.

I don't think anyone needs to feel like they've been rushed but I also understand the feeling of balance. Seems more the frustration comes from when there are a chunk of items to sign like books, pillowcases, pieces of paper, etc etc. I don't think each child having an autograph book should drum up much ire but I could see how having each child have multiple things to sign if enough people did that could lead to at least mild feelings of frustration. And totally agree that butting back in to get reshoots is totally out of line.

I think we all however, can appreciate those special stories we hear when characters spend a bit more time or do something very unique with guests (who may or may not be kids ) .

 

[cobright]

In terms of food, I would find it very unlikely that the child is queued up to purchase something without an adult involved in the process.

Yes, but an adult without children getting in line means that adults with children (and by extension, the children) will have a longer wait.

The difference is that there are many, many rides that are not only appropriate for adults but that kids just aren't allowed to go on.

MK - Space Mountain
EPCOT - Mission Space: Orange
AK - Expedition Everest
AK - Flight of Passage
HS - Rock n Roller Coaster
AK - Primeval Whirl

Not counting the water parks, three rides at Animal Kingdom, and one each at the other three parks.

So this is an odd philosophy to me and I wonder if it's just applied to children? Like there are rides that are just not suitable for people in wheelchairs, should able-legged people refrain from getting in line at the other rides? Instead of making the line longer for handicapped people, the rest of us can just ride the few attractions wheelchairs just don't get to?

Your position that children deserve exclusive access to the character meets is troublesome because it assumes that children enjoy the characters more than adults do. That's an impossible determination to make on both ends. I'll grant that a parent probably knows how much their child likes to meet the characters, but how ... by what metric do you compare that enjoyment to the enjoyment of a stranger, regardless of age? You can't; not with a straight face anyway.

This is my guess, and I'm not trying to roast you here but it's the only way this fits. You know how much your kids enjoy meeting the characters, your kiddo still wants to do it at the near adulthood of 12. And you know how much you like meeting the characters, quite a bit less it seems. And you consider both the kids you know and yourself to be more or less normal specimens of the species, it's a short leap to view the rest of us through that lens.

It's developed into a question of morality for you, adults who put their enjoyment of this particular sort of Disney attraction ahead of the enjoyment of other people's children are being discourteous. This is a dangerous form of judgmentalism, because in real life people are less likely to be kind, forgiving, helpful, charitable, all around good people to others they view as discourteous.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

The OP’s question has been well discussed at this point and it’s trending more towards personal commentary and arguments, closing.