I was originally going to talk about my impressions of Walt Disney World as a whole, now that I've been here for a while, but I've decided to write about character greetings instead, since my ideas grew and I felt it would be appropriate. Also I know a few people that are involved in the character world of Disney, whether it be fans, or people who actually worked in the area. So I thought it might be cool if they could hear my opinions as well.

Note: These are my opinions of character greetings. I like debating, so if you disagree or have any comments, feel free to write something, but please don't attack me personally.

"There's an approval factor from the characters to the public. The characters aren't judging you, and they never will. They're just gonna love you."

Every time I line up to meet Mickey Mouse in Walt Disney World, it's nerve-wrecking. Why? Easy. I'm a college student who goes to Disney World /alone/ and lines up to meet Mickey Mouse /alone/. I guess for some, living with Disney in any way is a phase you get out of once you get older. I love the world of Disney. I think it's awesome, it's interesting, and it's a great place to be young at heart. But being young at heart for me personally, is not that easy. Every time I line up for Mickey Mouse, I am afraid because I don't have the identity of one that would usually line up for the characters unless they're in for a joke or they're little siblings want to or whatever. I'm very sensitive and compulsive so every time I meet the characters there's something, no matter how minimal, I worry about. But putting those things aside, I think that the ideal character is basically what Taylor said: the characters welcome you in a way that the worry about age or identity no longer matters. Taylor emphasizes the word "love" afterwards, and I think I have to agree with her.

And that kind of thing is not just for people like me. OF COURSE it's for the children and their families as well. Kids just don't have to hesitate about all of the crap I talked about because they're kids anyway. Characters are similar to actors. I personally think that actors are responsible for keeping their image to some extent. Although viewers have to keep in mind that they're humans as well, but as people seen on television or movies and "loved" by millions of people around the world, they have the responsibility to be nice to their fans. If a character shows any type of "yeah whatever" or "yeah, okay, next!" or "..." attitude, they should be doing something else. I tend to be picky, but I have had the experience in both Paris and Hong Kong. One time in Paris Mickey Mouse was highly unenthusiastic I'm glad I wasn't a huge Mickey fan back then. But then I try not to generalize as possible. I've only met MIckey once in Paris and 3 times in Hong Kong.

I can say more about Tokyo and the US though, since I've been raised by both TDR and WDW. I think the characters from Tokyo are great because well, overall the quality of cast members there is excellent. And they're used to adults freaking out over the characters. Men aren't really huge about the characters in Tokyo as much as the women are, but I think Japanese characters are great with dealing with all types of guests. Also, out of my many experiences with Mickey Mouse, the best few are from Tokyo. I guess the only flaw about Character Greetings in Tokyo is the stupid idea of Oriental Land thinking it as acceptable to let the major Disney characters going out there freely (although not all situations), knowing that there will be a paparazzi scene of Japanese people. The flaws of character greetings in Tokyo overall come not from the characters, but the nature of the Japanese people and how Oriental Land has to deal with them.

On the other hand, characters in the American Disney theme parks have an ever bigger role, because that's where Disney originates, and that's where the truth of Disney is. My experience with Mickey Mouse has been quite interesting in the past month. In addition to the picture I take with Mickey, I take a picture of just him. And I found out that in the US, by comparing the poses of Mickey Mouse in his photos, you think "oh so Mickey's played by that person from that day!" And I've met Mickey that is very welcoming and happy, and I've also met Mickey that never places an arm on my shoulder in the picture unlike other times. You know I could maybe post those pictures up some time XD.

But overall the character experience in Florida has been good. Finally, I guess I would say that the best case scenario would be that Mickey understands that regardless of my age and gender I'm a big Mickey fan (being Asian might help with that actually XD). And if he actually would place an arm around my shoulder or something, 'cause I prefer that sort of thing (i.e. holding hands, hugging is great) than just taking a picture with me and Mickey next to each other with some space in between. That actually is one of the criteria of how I define a good greeting .

Well, I hope you got an idea of my point, and thanks for reading. It's quite fun to express my views towards Disney topics in this way.