Are Disney Parks now making people wait three hours during character meet and greets now?

[DodgerGirl]

I heard from my mom that if people want to do character meet and greets at Disney Parks they make people wait for three hours now and I would like to know if you heard about this? According to what my mom learned on the news yesterday people are always having to wait for three hours at Royal Fairytale Hall at WDW to get autographs and photos with the princesses. To me it's surprising that Disney Parks are doing this to people now and what I think Disney Parks should do is limit character meet and greets to one family at a time and there would be a line just for solo visitors too. If I had a family there is no way my children could wait three hours just to see Mickey and Minnie and I think this is gonna be the new image of character meet and greets for Disney Parks. I mean if your daughter wants Snow White's autograph or your son is dying to meet Marvel characters how can they wait three hours for their turn to meet characters? I think this will become the new trend with Disney Parks and people will most likely see characters at character breakfasts and dinners instead of waiting three hours in line
Has anyone started to witness this and do you think this is the new image to meet characters?

 

[halcyean]

I was in WDW this September the longest wait (100mins) I did was for Mickey and Minnie at Magic Kingdom, in Hollywood Studiois I waited 50 min for them and no wait at 10am. There are two queues for princesses Fairytale Hall, usually Tiana and Rapunzel and Cinderella and a visiting princess I got Elena and waited about an hour each. No one minds if kids need to leave (assuming a comfort break) and come back. EPCOT had shorter waits but the characters are usually outside. Use the Characters on the Map function in My Disney Experience. No three hour queues but definitely pack your patience and enjoy chatting with your fellow queuers!

 

[smilechaser]

I heard from my mom that if people want to do character meet and greets at Disney Parks they make people wait for three hours now and I would like to know if you heard about this? According to what my mom learned on the news yesterday people are always having to wait for three hours at Royal Fairytale Hall at WDW to get autographs and photos with the princesses. To me it's surprising that Disney Parks are doing this to people now and what I think Disney Parks should do is limit character meet and greets to one family at a time and there would be a line just for solo visitors too. If I had a family there is no way my children could wait three hours just to see Mickey and Minnie and I think this is gonna be the new image of character meet and greets for Disney Parks. I mean if your daughter wants Snow White's autograph or your son is dying to meet Marvel characters how can they wait three hours for their turn to meet characters? I think this will become the new trend with Disney Parks and people will most likely see characters at character breakfasts and dinners instead of waiting three hours in line
Has anyone started to witness this and do you think this is the new image to meet characters?

Could explain what you mean by 2 lines, one for families and one for solo travelers? Solo travelers have as much right to see characters as families and shouldn't have to wait longer. Also, you mentioned "one family at a time". They only interact with one family at a time. They allow 5-10 groups into the meet and greet area but only one group meets at a time.

 

[BrianL]

This is likely a combination of high demand and lack of staffing. Usually at Fairytale Hall there are different rooms and many "friends" to meet to keep the lines moving faster. It's certainly not something Disney is intentionally doing and probably doesn't happen all the time.

 

[MinnieMSue]

I heard from my mom that if people want to do character meet and greets at Disney Parks they make people wait for three hours now and I would like to know if you heard about this? According to what my mom learned on the news yesterday people are always having to wait for three hours at Royal Fairytale Hall at WDW to get autographs and photos with the princesses. To me it's surprising that Disney Parks are doing this to people now and what I think Disney Parks should do is limit character meet and greets to one family at a time and there would be a line just for solo visitors too. If I had a family there is no way my children could wait three hours just to see Mickey and Minnie and I think this is gonna be the new image of character meet and greets for Disney Parks. I mean if your daughter wants Snow White's autograph or your son is dying to meet Marvel characters how can they wait three hours for their turn to meet characters? I think this will become the new trend with Disney Parks and people will most likely see characters at character breakfasts and dinners instead of waiting three hours in line
Has anyone started to witness this and do you think this is the new image to meet characters?

None of this is true and your suggestions seem illogical. I don’t know why you would separate single people in line from families. What point is in that? What about groups of friends? Meet and greets are one group at a time (family group friend group or single person etc). They don’t make people from different families meet a character together. This news story your mom quoted is just wrong. Yes meet and greet lines can be long but not 3 hours to meet each character

 

[unbanshee]

I heard from my mom

Tough thing to hear, but your mom is wrong.

Average wait times at Fairytale Hall are under an hour. Even high averages are not close to three hours.

 

[bbeagle]

Long waits happen, but are rare.

Back in 2013, at the height of the Frozen craze, we waited 3 hours in line to see Anna and Elsa. Because our kids 'needed' to see them. The adults took turns waiting in line while the kids went on rides. When we were almost there, our entire party of 10 or so came back. This was typical of all the families there. No kids waited.

 

[Narcoossee11]

Disney is not putting a gun to any ones head .
It is up to you to wait 1-2-3 hours for anything.

I know to meet/greets at holiday parties is VERY long. That may have been what the person had seen/heard.

 

[focusondisney]

Meeting Mickey at MK has always been popular. When he’s in special outfits, like his 50th or at a holiday party, it’s even more so. So the lines for Mickey are often long. There are ways to avoid the longest lines, like park opening, during parades & using lightening lane. Luckily there are other places to meet Mickey too, like other parks or character dining. Families often have to make priorities. If your kids won’t wait an hour, choose a different option.

Except for the Frozen character mania years ago & the holiday party rare character meets, 3 hour lines aren’t a thing to worry about.

 

[LSUmiss]

I heard from my mom that if people want to do character meet and greets at Disney Parks they make people wait for three hours now and I would like to know if you heard about this? According to what my mom learned on the news yesterday people are always having to wait for three hours at Royal Fairytale Hall at WDW to get autographs and photos with the princesses. To me it's surprising that Disney Parks are doing this to people now and what I think Disney Parks should do is limit character meet and greets to one family at a time and there would be a line just for solo visitors too. If I had a family there is no way my children could wait three hours just to see Mickey and Minnie and I think this is gonna be the new image of character meet and greets for Disney Parks. I mean if your daughter wants Snow White's autograph or your son is dying to meet Marvel characters how can they wait three hours for their turn to meet characters? I think this will become the new trend with Disney Parks and people will most likely see characters at character breakfasts and dinners instead of waiting three hours in line
Has anyone started to witness this and do you think this is the new image to meet characters?

We just came home from wdw. Longest waits I saw posted were 80 min for any characters. Some lines offer genie plus also. Most lines were way shorter especially those that didn’t offer genie plus. I usually wait in the lines while DH takes DS to do other things. I saw a lot of families with young kids doing this too. It does bug me when I am in a line full of adults. For one, they often take longer than the families w/ small kids especially if it’s a group. They all gotta get their individual special pic with the characters & often time also in multiple variables like person 1, then 2, then 3 & then 2 & 3, then 1&2…. I blame social media for that nonsense. I know everyone has the right to meet the characters, but it’s ridiculous to me that a grown adult wants to hug a teenager in a costume. We went to wdw plenty times as adults only but never did meet & greets w/o children but whatever. This past trip was mostly families in the lines we were in & was much faster.

 

[Karin1984]

You really should ask your mom where she gets this information from. You have had more posts that started with "my mom told me..." where it turned out your mom was incorrect, or heard half the story.

Next time:
- ask your mother who her source is
- check the source yourself
- judge if the source is reliable

 

[Jennasis]

Your mom and my mom must get their "news" from the same place. I'm constantly having to debunk her insane "news" posts on Facebook.

 

[bbeagle]

Your mom and my mom must get their "news" from the same place. I'm constantly having to debunk her insane "news" posts on Facebook.

'Nobody is going to DisneyWorld anymore' and 'DisneyWorld is too crowded' both exist in some people's universe of ‘News'. It’s amazing they believe it without question.

 

[GoingSince1990]

When Anna and Elsa first started doing meet and greets (in Norway in Epcot) I asked how long the wait was and I was told 5 hours! Needless to say, we decided not to get in line.

 

[1lilspark]

Like PPs have stated… Jack & Sally especially at the start of Halloween party can have 3+ hours waits but that is an outlier

The waits for other characters have been trending longer lately as they don’t have as many “friends” to keep meets fully staffed and guests who purchase Genie+ get priority vs guests waiting in Standby

 

[HopperFan]

When Anna and Elsa first started doing meet and greets (in Norway in Epcot) I asked how long the wait was and I was told 5 hours! Needless to say, we decided not to get in line.

I was there Friday and the wait was 20 minutes.


OP, your Mom got bad info. A wait that long would be for specialty guests at the parties like Jack Skellington and Sally. Folks know that going in. Otherwise waits are fairly normal 20-40 minutes in a queued line and often those also have Genie+ so you don't have to wait very long at all.

Times also fluctuate all day. We saw DHS Mickey/Minnie and Olaf times hit over an hour and then later they were 20 minutes.

There is zero reason to set up lines by type of group, that makes no sense. They already have Lightning Lanes for many of them.

Outdoor meets are usually short. We waited 5 minutes to meet Alice. Snow White looked about 20 minutes.

^Walt Disney World

 

[SL6827]

I wonder how long it will take for you to meet characters ONLY through a dining experience?

 

[VFL]

No one “makes” anyone do anything. If the line is long you either make a decision to stand in it or you don’t.

 

[DisneyOma]

We just came home from wdw. Longest waits I saw posted were 80 min for any characters. Some lines offer genie plus also. Most lines were way shorter especially those that didn’t offer genie plus. I usually wait in the lines while DH takes DS to do other things. I saw a lot of families with young kids doing this too. It does bug me when I am in a line full of adults. For one, they often take longer than the families w/ small kids especially if it’s a group. They all gotta get their individual special pic with the characters & often time also in multiple variables like person 1, then 2, then 3 & then 2 & 3, then 1&2…. I blame social media for that nonsense. I know everyone has the right to meet the characters, but it’s ridiculous to me that a grown adult wants to hug a teenager in a costume. We went to wdw plenty times as adults only but never did meet & greets w/o children but whatever. This past trip was mostly families in the lines we were in & was much faster.

WDW is not just for kids though. It's even advertised (in the past, at least) for the "kid at heart". Everyone there paid to be there, so they can take as long as they want (or the CM allows). It's ridiculous to me that "small kids" seem to have more rights than other people, KWIM?

 

[jo-jo]

We just came home from wdw. Longest waits I saw posted were 80 min for any characters. Some lines offer genie plus also. Most lines were way shorter especially those that didn’t offer genie plus. I usually wait in the lines while DH takes DS to do other things. I saw a lot of families with young kids doing this too. It does bug me when I am in a line full of adults. For one, they often take longer than the families w/ small kids especially if it’s a group. They all gotta get their individual special pic with the characters & often time also in multiple variables like person 1, then 2, then 3 & then 2 & 3, then 1&2…. I blame social media for that nonsense. I know everyone has the right to meet the characters, but it’s ridiculous to me that a grown adult wants to hug a teenager in a costume. We went to wdw plenty times as adults only but never did meet & greets w/o children but whatever. This past trip was mostly families in the lines we were in & was much faster.

We do get pictures with characters and it just us two adults. We won't wait more than 15 mins though. But a few years ago, it was the photo pass person that did the extra pictures. Large family. Everyone, just the kids, kids and parents, parents, grandparents and grandkids, just the boys, just the girls. etc. He was doing all the directing. The family was confused half the time.