New signature card at Crystal Palace

[lockedoutlogic]

It's a good idea...if a tad generic...the signing takes FOREVER and time is money for both the overlords and the customers there. Crystal palace took a particular long time for that.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

my girls love having characters actually sign their autograph books while visiting with them

1) Blame this squarely ON THE GUESTS.
2) People would ask for an autograph, then monopolize the character's time for conversation, photos, etc.
3) The characters did not have enough time to make their rounds.
4) By union contract, the characters can spend only so long "on stage" before they are relieved.
. . . CHARACTERS are relieved by another CM in the same costume, and each character alternates with their duplicate. . . example: 20-minutes On-Stage, 20-minutes rest period
. . . HANDLERS go with their assigned character without an alternating break period
5) In many cases, the characters couldn't get around to everyone before their break-time started.
6) When they left the room, guests would complain, and sometimes very loudly (even yell!) that Little Billy or Sweet Suzy didn't get to see the character.
7) It is better to "toss" these new coasters at people than waste the time for autographs.
8) This is a trial . . . look for other character meals to start the same thing.
. . . it saves time
. . . it complies with the union contract
. . . it gives a tangible souvenir for the guest
. . . it is like all other WDW changes, as people will learn to accept it

 

[hakepb]

We've received these types of cards at various events over the years.

I can understand the desire to help cycle the characters through at a good clip. We don't need or want a 70-90 min meal. It sometimes takes that long to see all characters, if that's what you've booked the meal for.

We go to CP for the food -- we like the breakfast buffet and would do it without characters.

They moved through at a good pace today. In 40min we saw all of them.

For our late breakfast a few weeks ago, we only saw Piglet and Pooh in the 60+ minutes we were there. Tigger and Eeyore never made it to our half of the dining room.
(We were the last table in our half, Piglet started our side as we were seated, but we made several trips to the buffet before Piglet made it to our table)

Fortunately, I was there more for the French Toast puffs and location a bit more than characters...

 

[lockedoutlogic]

For our late breakfast a few weeks ago, we only saw Piglet and Pooh in the 60+ minutes we were there. Tigger and Eeyore never made it to our half of the dining room.

I think you've identified the problem.

 

[JerseyJanice]

i won't be buying my nieces autograph books for character meals. Maybe scrapbooks instead.

 

[lorileahb]

A bit disappointed - we've been a couple of times, never done autographs. This time, I made a book of my kids pictures with each character, so we could get the characters to sign with the picture. We love the characters, but were hoping for the keepsake this trip.

 

[wanderingdee]

I'm so glad you posted this! My three year old is terrified of the characters we meet in person, so we have them sign the autograph book and take a picture of them signing it and she loves it later. I guess I'll have to try to rearrange our breakfast next week.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

I wouldn't believe one post on a board as absolute truth. Things may have been misinterpreted or misunderstood.

 

[buzzmom12]

We were there yesterday and told the sane thing. Given the same cards and told they are no longer signing the autograph books.

 

[addiln]

I am a little disappointed with this. We have been there before and have all the autographs but for people that don't it is a big part of the experience. We have been to most of the character meals and most times they would come around to our table at least twice. I have never seen them really that far behind and never missed a character during a meal. Maybe we are slower eaters and that is why we never had an issue

 

[Lisa F]

I'm trying to figure out how I feel about this. On one hand, our 100 minute breakfast there was hands down the longest meal we had (including signatures with appetizers) last december. On the other hand, the kid loves getting the autographs... he is on the spectrum and it is an easy introduction for him to interacting with the characters. I guess we'll see, it's on our list for next February

 

[DisneyHardin]

That stinks. Part of the reason we have an ADR at Crystal Palace for our Oct. trip was to get Pignet and Eeyore signatures in our book. We got Pooh and Tigger at 1900 Park Fare, but wanted the rest of the gang.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

CP is a must do for us each trip. In the past, even at peak volume times, we had no problem seeing all 4 characters at least once during our meal. Something seemed to change when we were there in 2014. We were there for our normal amount of time, but never got to see Pooh. We probably would have if we waited another 20-25 min for him to make it to our table, but we'd never seen a character timed this far out of order before. We went last summer and it was even worse. We only saw Tigger and Piglet outside of the little Friendship Day parade. The characters weren't anywhere to be seen as we were paying our check and the rotation started at the other end of the room, so we were at least 20-30 min out from seeing everyone.

I know people who regularly do autographs are upset, but if this means more people can see all 4 characters in a reasonable amount of time, I'm for it. For the price of the meals, I can get over not getting an autograph, but only seeing half the characters when I know it's possible to see them all in this amount of time is unacceptable. Hoping this fixes some of it.

 

[lorileahb]

CP is a must do for us each trip. In the past, even at peak volume times, we had no problem seeing all 4 characters at least once during our meal. Something seemed to change when we were there in 2014. We were there for our normal amount of time, but never got to see Pooh. We probably would have if we waited another 20-25 min for him to make it to our table, but we'd never seen a character timed this far out of order before. We went last summer and it was even worse. We only saw Tigger and Piglet outside of the little Friendship Day parade. The characters weren't anywhere to be seen as we were paying our check and the rotation started at the other end of the room, so we were at least 20-30 min out from seeing everyone.

I know people who regularly do autographs are upset, but if this means more people can see all 4 characters in a reasonable amount of time, I'm for it. For the price of the meals, I can get over not getting an autograph, but only seeing half the characters when I know it's possible to see them all in this amount of time is unacceptable. Hoping this fixes some of it.

Agree. Though, I have a question about what changed in recent years... are more people being seated in the same time? Would be nice if they could find what changed and fix that. Love these characters.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I wouldn't believe one post on a board as absolute truth. Things may have been misinterpreted or misunderstood.

LOL! Ok! Not a ton of ways to interpret: "here are your signature cards, one per person, because the characters no longer sign".

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I have never seen them really that far behind and never missed a character during a meal. Maybe we are slower eaters and that is why we never had an issue

We take MAX 1hr for meals (unless something multi-course for us like Jiko), and we very often miss a character or more at character meals. I wonder how many people would be happy to turn that table over earlier if they had seen all characters, but linger to catch them? That's not super efficient if you're Disney. Or if you like your TS meals but don't want to sink too much time into them.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I should also just add that like anything with any company -- and certainly true with Disney -- they could always change this back at any time.

I think it's more likely that we'll see these cards in more restaurants, personally.

 

[lorileahb]

I should also just add that like anything with any company -- and certainly true with Disney -- they could always change this back at any time.

I think it's more likely that we'll see these cards in more restaurants, personally.

I just hope they start after December - spent a couple of trips/years getting pictures of my kids with characters so I could make a book with them...and have the characters sign those photos. December is our trip for this - fingers crossed!

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I think it's a good idea. So much time is wasted with clumsy signing when they could be interacting live with guests. How many kids look at the book when they get home?

Well, this kid looks at the signature every time she wears the hat in the photo.

The one Pooh Bear is wearing? He signed it.

 

[HopperFan]

$$$$$$$$$$

- Large restaurant for characters to cover
- Most folks sit tight until they've seen them all
- We've had issues at CP, Ohana, CM and Tusker
- 1 hour meal can be 1.5 with time tied up with signing
- Very loose math, no grading
- Random number of 200 guests, probably more
- Random 12 hours divided
- Take 1.5 down to 1 and in 12 hours you gain 4 seatings
- 4 seatings x 200 x an average of $35 each = $28,000
- SO ... (just playing not saying it is right math) = $10 million dollars a year
- That will pay for lots of signature cards with lots of left over