Meeting your favorite character can make a great vacation even better, but did you know there’s actually things the characters CAN’T do?

Here’s a list of rules the Disney Characters are supposed to abide by (we can’t say rules don’t get broken from time to time) — some of these will help you plan your character interactions, and some of them may just plain shock you!

(Psst – before reading this you may want to know it’s intended for an older audience. We won’t be ruining any magic, but it’s a close line.)

(Also note: Currently there are no character meet and greets in Walt Disney World due to safety restrictions.)

Weird Disney Character Rules

Mickey Mouse Can’t Sign Your Baby

Or your arm. And neither can any other character. Disney Characters can sign a lot of things (autograph books, plushes, pillow cases, hats), but they cannot sign your skin. This includes articles of clothing — if you want them to sign it you cannot be wearing it. Sorry if you intended to have GOOFY across your forehead.

Mickey Mouse

One weird caveat is that they CAN sign casts — but your family will have to help “angle” and hold the cast so the character doesn’t touch anything but the marker to the cast.

Minnie Mouse Can’t Hold Your Infant

Disney Characters LOVE meeting your little ones! But please don’t ask Minnie (or anyone else) to hold your baby. For safety reasons, they cannot. Sometimes the characters, especially the princesses, will get down on the ground and let your littles kinda perch on their knee, but overall, they aren’t going to “Simba” your child.

Cinderella Can’t Hold Your Sonogram

Or a onesie for your pregnancy announcement. Or your engagement ring.

Characters are excited to be a part of your celebration and are a fun way to share good news. You’re more than welcome to hold up a onesie that says “Future Mouseketeer” in a photo with Mickey or propose with Cinderella in the room (we promise she will react joyfully!), but the characters can’t be the ones actually holding the important items.

(Can you IMAGINE if Goofy dropped the ring?! What a disaster. Not to mention the fact that now it looks like Goofy is proposing.)

Belle Can’t Sign a Get Well Soon Card

This one is a little bit upsetting, but the characters aren’t supposed to sign “get well” on anything, the way they could say “Happy Birthday”! There’s an inherent sense of magic that comes with the characters, and some people might think that if Minnie says “Get Well Soon” that means it will 100% happen.

Aladdin Doesn’t Know Who “Will Smith Genie” Is

Characters are from magical lands — and for some of them, more than one. Many Disney characters exist in their animated film but also live action films or shows such as “Once Upon a Time” or “The Descendants.” Not to mention — many of these characters are famous from a wide variation of folklore and fairytales.

When you meet them, you’re meeting the character from the Disney animated story ONLY. Which means Jasmine shouldn’t know who Dahlia is (her handmaiden from the live action Aladdin), the Evil Queen can’t address anything that happened in Storybrooke (the town in “Once Upon a Time”), and Sleeping Beauty will be really confused if you bring up the fact she was in “Shrek 2.”

The characters are aware that animated sequels and animated tv series exist, so they may answer a question about them if you have a burning one, but please — don’t grill Aladdin on obscure plot points from “Aladdin the TV Series.” 😉

Tigger Can’t Smile with a Bud Light

Or a Dr. Pepper. That’s why photographers and attendants should ask you to place your drinks down — it’s a weird rule where Tigger and a Dr. Pepper could look like a product placement ad.

Additionally, alcohol and animated characters just don’t go together, so even if you’re holding a label-less beer in a cup, it needs to be put down. Which leads us to our next point…

Donald Duck Can’t Have a Margarita Named After Him

As cool as it would be to have a Donald Duck cocktail, it won’t happen. (It would be called the #1 Margarita, if I had to guess.) Alcohol and Disney characters don’t mix — which is also why the character sipper cups at Festivals and events can’t be filled with booze.

Gaston Didn’t Die When He Fell Off the Tower

Have you ever wondered how Gaston can be meeting in the park, even though he presumably fell to his death at the end of Beauty and the Beast? Well, if you ask him (like lots of kids do), he’ll have an answer for you as to how he got out of that sticky situation. Same way Rapunzel can explain why her hair is long and blonde again, even though Flynn cuts it off and it becomes short and brown at the end of Tangled.

I’m not going to spoil their answers as these are fun convos to have with the characters themselves!

Who is your favorite character to meet in the Disney Parks? Let us know in the comments!