We will be at WDW tomorrow for our first visit!!! So excited! But I started thinking about getting character autographs last night. Is it appropriate and acceptable to get/ask for autographs at random character meetings that you may have, or is that something you only do at official character meet&greets and meals? Also, when you are at character spots (like Town Square in MK and the character spot at Epcot) do you meet just one or two characters, or are there several? Thanks so much.
Yay for your first visit! Don’t forget to pick up “First Visit” buttons. They are fun to wear and keep as souvenirs.
As for autographs, it’s absolutely acceptable to ask for them whenever you interact with a character. Don’t expect to have too many “random” meetings though. At WDW, it’s very unusual to find a character just wandering around. You have to get in line and wait to meet them. You should have your autograph books open to the page you want them to sign, and have your writing utensil ready to use, just to make it easier for the character and quicker for everyone waiting.
As for how many you can expect to meet - it depends. At Town Square, you meet with either Mickey or Tinker Bell, depending on which line you wait in. At the character spot in Epcot, you meet several characters in succession after waiting in one longer line. I think it’s all of the big 5, but it has been awhile. At the Epcot Chase card meet and greet, there are usually two characters there at a time, but that seems to be less typical. I believe that with Frozen, you meet with both princesses, but one at a time, not together anymore.
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If you look at Kenny the Pirate’s website, there is a lot of character meet and greet information available.
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Thanks for the info! I’ll check out Kenny the Pirate tonight. We’ve go FP for Anna/Elsa, Mickey at Town Square and also character spot in Epcot. We will stand in line in AK. There are lots my boys will want to meet in HS. I saw you can meet Pooh by his ride and also Toy Story characters by Splash Mtn so we will try to hit those up as well. Glad to know what we can expect. We will definately have to find one of those pins as well :-).
It never hurts to ask. Typically, you wouldn’t just randomly run into a character - they’re going to determined locations (published or not) for an “official” M&G experience, and autographs are a normal part of that experience.
If the character is in transit (say, to/from backstage) it is unlikely (s)he will stop to sign autographs, as that will cause crowds to form in the wrong places and delay the character from being where (s)he is supposed to be.
One tip: I suggest getting retractable “sharpie” pens for signing, in a variety of colors to match the character - in general avoid green, though because that doesn’t wash out of costumes.
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I’m fairly certain that the character spot at EPCOT was mickey, Minnie and goofy. Pluto was closer to the main entrance of EPCOT.
Be aware that character meet and greets can take a lot of time out of a touring plan (if you’re using one). I think Mike and sully was about 30 mins for example. Others though can be quick (we happened to be waiting for our fish and chips in EPCOT when Mary poppins and Alice in wonderland came out to start their sets so we were really near the front of the queue, 5-10 mins for those including out meet). We have about 50 characters signatures from our trip, so we’re definite fans, but they sure do take a chunk of time.
Oh wow. I didn’t realize they were that big of a time commitment. Luckily, with two boys we aren’t too worried about princesses other than A&E but at HW it could be an issue.