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Lou’s Inbox: Meeting Jiminy Cricket

Hi there, readers – Aly Miller here, coming to you from San Antonio, Texas.  I’m here to answer a listener question from Lou’s inbox today!  Caleb writes:

“My family and I are going down to WDW at the beginning of Sept. My wife and I had been discussing things we wanted to do, and we both had realized that neither one of us has ever seen Jiminy Cricket as a walk around character. I was wondering are their place and specific times that one can meet Jiminy? He is one of our favorite characters. Also, I love the show and listen every week. Thank you. Caleb from West Virginia”

Caleb, I won’t tell you my age, but I will say that Jimmy Carter was NOT president yet when I was born and leave it at that.

I have a theory about people over the age of about 35 and Disney movies.  I think we view what I call “the original classics” more fondly (and I am talking about everything before The Little Mermaid) because we remember movies like Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio being re-released into theaters since home video wasn’t really a huge thing until the mid-late 1980s.  I can clearly recall seeing Pinocchio in the movie theater with my little sister, who was absolutely terrified of Monstro the Whale.

Sadly, our children don’t have that same nostalgic feeling for those films because they were born after Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King – and some even later!  Because the original classics are now only available on DVD (and not all the time, at that), kids today are missing out on the wonderful personalities of the characters we kids of the 70s and 80s hold dear.  Because they are not as popular now (the princesses being the obvious exception), they are often missing from the parks, or only seen on special occasions.  I’m talking about favorites like Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh (look for him around Easter), Robin Hood, characters from Song of the South, and yes, our good friend Jiminy Cricket.

Meeting Jiminy Cricket

 Jiminy Cricket can be seen daily in the Magic Kingdom Park as part of the Festival of Fantasy parade.  Other than that, he’s a rare sight indeed!  He occasionally appears in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park as part of their Earth Day celebration, and he can be found along the race route for some runDisney races.  Which brings me to a story…

I ran the Enchanted 10K at Walt Disney World in February 2016.  My friends and I trained at home for a year before the race and would often talk about character experiences that might be available.  I told them all, “If we see Jiminy Cricket, I’m stopping!  You guys can go on without me if you want because I don’t care if I get swept out of the race. I am GOING TO MEET HIM!” Now, I do tend to have a flair for the dramatic but I was completely serious.

Imagine my excitement when we were trotting past the Germany pavilion  in World Showcase and there were Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket taking photos with guests in Italy! My tolerant friend and running partner Amy hopped into the line and waited.  We got up to one party in front of us when Jiminy Cricket turned and walked away.  I looked at Amy, shouted, “NO!” and burst into tears.  That’s right, a grown adult woman cried literal tears.  Fortunately, a handler told us he would be right back if we wanted to wait, so wait we did, and I got my picture with one of my personal favorites.

Jiminy

Caleb, I really hope that you and your wife are able to find this elusive little guy sometime.  It’s really fun to meet rare characters, isn’t it?  To all the readers out there: who are some of YOUR favorite rare character finds, or “hope to meets”?  Please comment below and let me know!

 

(Photos from the author’s personal collection.)

 

Aly Miller is a lifelong Disney fanatic. She recently discovered the WDW Radio Podcast  and became a member of the WDW Radio Nation. When she isn’t obsessing over all things Disney, she and her husband run Chad Miller Auto Care, an independent full service automotive repair shop in San Antonio, TX

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About Lou Mongello

Lou Mongello is a former attorney who left the practice to pursue his passion, and is now a recognized Disney expert, author, speaker, and host of WDW Radio. Learn more…

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