Disney - Characters

In previous posts, especially the dining ones, I shared many of the opportunities we had to meet characters.  One of the big perks of doing those character meals is that you don't need to stand in line to meet the characters!  Because, man, those lines can get LONG! 

But there are some characters that don't have meals and you just have to find them in the parks.  Since most of our favorites were at the meals, we chose not to stand in lines unless it was someone we REALLY wanted to meet, or the line was very short. 

One of our top picks that we did wait for quite awhile for, was Rapunzel!  We had hoped that Eugene would be with her, but he wasn't scheduled to appear for another month or two.  Drats.  But Rapunzel was there, and she was beautiful!  She was also very nice (of course).  Here the girls are with her and some others that we thought were worth the wait...

In Animal Kingdom, we found our way to meet Pooh and friends.  We were really hoping for another chance to visit with Eeyore but he wasn't available when we were there.  Acadia was disappointed, but it was still fun to see Pooh and Tigger!

Back at Magic Kingdom, we knew we would wait as long as it took in order for Rori to meet Jessie.  Jessie isn't found at any character meal but is one of Aurora's very favorites!  The line was a little long, but it was well worth the wait for Rori to have her special moment!  Jessie loved that Rori's hair was the same color as hers and that Rori was wearing a Jessie shirt.  Jessie felt so special that Rori loved her so much, and Rori felt so special that Jessie loved her!

Meeting Tinker Bell was another one that we knew we would wait for.  Thankfully, that wait takes place in an air conditioned building! :)  And really, it wasn't terribly long.  Besides, when we finally did get in, we had a lot of fun!  First, we shrunk down to her size and found ourselves in a garden area where the grass was taller than our heads!  Then we met Vidia.  She wasn't very nice, but was pretty funny.  She kept calling Tinker Bell, Stinker Bell.  Then when we went to Tinker Bell, she and Vidia got into a fight over the girls.  They were not nice to each other, but they were really nice to us!  Though, at first Tinker Bell was offended that while the girls liked to collect "tinkers" (their trading pins on their lanyards), they didn't have any of her.  But then we explained that we DID have some of her, but they were left safe back at the resort so we wouldn't accidentally trade them.  So, then she thought that was smart and she was happy that they liked her that much. lol

One of our favorites, though we didn't realize it until we actually met her, was Princess Tiana.  We knew we wouldn't get to see her anywhere else, and thankfully, her line wasn't too long.  But once we met her, oh my goodness, we knew we would have waited as long as it took.  She was absolutely the nicest character we met.  She just exuded Southern Hospitality!  She doted on the girls and even on Ryan and I.  She called Aurora "Baby Ariel" when she saw her from afar, before we even got in line, then when we met her later, she remembered Rori and told her us she was so glad we came back to see her.  She also said it looked like she wasn't the only one kissing frongs... that I had caught myself a pretty handsome prince, too! :)  Tiana was the only character that pulled us in to take a family pic with them (the other pics with all of us together were either taken as part of our dining package or when we asked to have all of us in it).  We love all of the princesses and they were all very sweet and friendly, but Princess Tiana made it extra personal, we are so glad we got to meet her!

The last character that we were willing to wait for, was one we had already met a few times, but he is just THAT worth it!  Of course, I could only be talking about Mickey Mouse!!!  In fact, we waited for him twice (once in Epcot and once in Hollywood Studios)!

(I love the one where Rori is kissing him on his nose!)

Getting to meet and interact with all of these characters was a really fun part of our trip.  Some were funny and teased us, some were silly and teased each other.  They were all nice and some were beyond nice.  They all made us feel special and we had a great time with them!