Theme park characters should walk around the park
Instead of staying on the same spot signing autographs with a long line of kids waiting, they should surprise you at any place.
Is it my imagination or did characters walk around the parks in the past? It's more magical than standing in the line and waiting for your turn to say hi to a character who is sitting and surrounded by cast members like if they were bodyguards.
When I was at Universal Hollywood, Frankenstein was walking around the park, and he surprised me when he suddenly appeared and shook my hand. Now that was magical!
I think they probably did once upon a time, I remember Doc Brown passing me on his bike at USO.
Universal is much better about this than Disney. I remember just seeing Woody Woodpecker wandering around Islands of Adventure's Port of Entry. Random place, but still cool. And of course Doc Brown riding around.
You know what Universal needs to do? Add The Dude to the Hollywood characters. It's a Universal movie and it takes place in Los Angeles so why not?
They were nicer times back then until parents developed a "Gimme gimme" attitude and decided that their kids needed to stop the characters in order to satisfy their park-going experience.
A wise man once said "Nobody gives a care about the fate of labor so long as they get their instant gratification."
From Joey I
Posted June 23, 2013 at 7:08 AM
Actually in Disneyland, the characters do walk around. For example, a lot of times Pinocchio, Mickey and the gang just walk around Main Street. And if you ever see Peter Pan, he NEVER stays in one spot. He runs around the park. Disneyland is the best with characters walking around.
Both typologies are followed at the same time, with most major parks. Because they serve a different purpose.
Street entertainment is a different section (surprise, the show walks to you), from location entertainment (you walk to the show... meet & greet will always be location entertainment, because the visitors want to know "where" and expect some matching environment.)
From steve lee
Posted July 15, 2013 at 8:42 PM
Clearly someone has never seen a Disney character cower in fear of a Brazilian tour group.
I would be curious as to the point of view of the park when considering having characters move around or staying in one place with a line formed in front of them. Less congestion? A guaranteed picture with a character? There has to be a reason that parks are consistently moving to specific locations with lines.
It could be that as guests got more ravenous for pictures it just became easier to have them in one spot. Especially with the summer heat and humidity. Shortens the amount of time the actor is baking in a suit-oven risking medical expenses and/or a lawsuit for the park. You see how guests are these days...a walk would be a sloooow foot by foot progression if not a dead-stop anyway.
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