Confessions of a Disney Snob: The Interacting Characters
by thepoohguy
Ok, I admit it. I am a Disney princess snob. Correction, a Disney character snob. Correction again, a Disney talking character snob, well not entirely true as now Mickey Mouse talks too. I got it, I’m a Disney non-mask character snob.
First, I have to say that I love meeting and getting pictures with characters. One of my favorite memories was when we took our goddaughter a few years ago and we were meeting the princesses. She loved Cinderella. First up was Aurora. Well, in her autograph book our Goddaughter had written “Sign here” with a line, only being the 7 year old that she was wrote “Sin here”. A funny mishap when you think about it. When Aurora saw what it said, she said, “oh, that must be for Cinderella.” HILARIOUS!
Interacting with the characters that can talk is usually a great experience (except for Mickey which I admit I find a little creepy), however, more and more I have noticed myself becoming a bit of a snob about these characters.
I confess, if I see one of these talking characters, Belle, Mary Poppins, Bert, Peter Pan, Captain Jack, etc., and they don’t “look” close enough to the character, I walk on by and don’t get my picture taken with them. Yes, I’m a snob. Once my wife and I waited over a half hour for a Kim Possible character moment. The girl looked so different than she should, we walked away.
Please don’t take this the wrong way, and in no way am I criticizing ANY of the fine young men and women who portray these characters at all, but if you are of short stature, you shouldn’t be playing Cinderella, or Aurora. If you think you’re Belle, don’t have a voice that sounds like Snow White, because I admit that I turn my nose up at you and don’t want a picture.
Please don’t get me wrong. Again, I’m not criticizing these individuals, as I blame Disney casting for this. For a long time now, I have wondered if there was a pecking order behind the scenes. At the Magic Kingdom in Disney World, is there an importance to being cast as Cinderella? I mean it is her castle right? Is there some backstage fighting that goes on to get that coveted spot, a la “Showgirls”. Does everyone look down on someone like Rapunzel because she has to wear a really heavy wig? (I don’t know that it’s heavy, it would just seem that it would be.) What about on the villain side? Do Anastasia and Drizella desire the role of Lady Tremaine? Or do they all just want to be Maleficent?
But the truth is, Disney casting should be looking at the people in costume from top to bottom to ensure that they fit the mold. If you have chubby arms, should you be playing Cinderella in a sleeveless dress? If your belly isn’t exactly flat, should you be playing Jasmine in a crop top? If you’re like me, a 6’0 tall big XXL man, should I be playing Peter Pan? I have never seen something that bad from a casting standpoint, mind you, but you can see how that would deter people from wanting their picture with me.
The one place I do allow some leeway with this is the cruise ship. They are extremely limited with who plays the characters because they do more than just that all day. They are also crew personnel, but we did avoid a Captain Jack meet because a little guyliner is more than what it takes to make Captain Jack.
Why am I mentioning this? Everyone here loves to post their pictures, and sometimes when I see them, I think, “that wasn’t good casting. They don’t look anything like the character.” I admit, it has gotten so bad that I say to my wife, “eh, her nose isn’t right” or, “her face is too round.” To me, it takes more than the costume for these characters that interact with us. Their faces should “look” the part. Do you agree that sometimes it seems that Disney casting has gotten it wrong?
Let me hear from you. I can’t be the only one who feels this way.
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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Ammowife that is face character not non-mask. The others are referred to as fur characters.
Back on point, Some characters are so stylized in cartoon form that leeway is necessary. My favorite is Merida, casting seems to be done on the cast member’s ability to assume or actually has the personality desired.
I think the worst casting lately has been Elsa…. None of them were even close to looking like her. Although, I will say this past week I saw a couple of pictures of her that were finally getting a little better
I know what you mean, and I agree completely. We recently saw a Mary Poppins who looked nothing like she should. It made me sad. I know it’s really hard to find someone to look exactly as they should, but they should at least be fairly close. I guess I’m a Disney non-mask character snob, too 🙂