Random Character Locations (Teardrop, etc.)

[SalmonPink]

Every park seems to have one location where with some luck you can chance upon random characters - Toontown Teardrop, Animation Building, Oasis, American Adventure.

I was hoping to hear people's experiences with these locations. Who did you see at which location? What time of day did you see them? What date?

I'm also including the notes I've jotted down for these locations over the past few months, hoping to get some feedback.

Magic Kingdom
Toontown Teardrop
My notes for this location are marked as being the pattern from February, so please assume they're out-of-date, I'm just putting them out there as an example and to pose a question. "First rotation of characters 11-11.25, second rotation 11.30-11.55. Quiet at noon. Repeated from 1." Is there any kind of pattern like this still in effect or is it completely random?

Animal Kingdom
Oasis/Outside turnstiles
The most I've been able to find about this location is that characters are most common in the morning. Is it likely to be one character, then another? Or a glut of characters for a short time, then nothing?

Epcot
American Adventure
Unfortunately this is another location I don't have any notes for, and I've never personally seen it in use, so I'd love to hear anything anyone can tell me.

Hollywood Studios
Animation Building
This is a little more complicated. My notes say "non-Fantasmic nights - first rotation of characters at 5, the second at 5.30. First set repeated at 6, second set repeated at 6.30." I believe on Fantasmic nights only the first hour occurs. However, with the added Fantasmic dates I'm not sure if the pattern has changed/if this meet and greet still happens, so any info would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance, looking forward to hearing about who you've seen (pictures a bonus)!

[Robo]

Anticipating another question-

The "Teardrop" is seen on the MK/Toontown maps below-

[mesaboy2]

I can add some info for DHS at the Animation Building.

Was there this past Saturday (11/14)--a non-Fantasmic night--specifically so DD5 could see "random" characters and based my timing on what I had learned here.

Just before 5:00 pm, in addition to the usual Mickey, Up, and Incredibles characters the flood began right on cue. The first group included Chip and Dale, Goofy, the Wicked/Snow Queen, Pinocchio with Gepetto, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum. About 30 minutes later, those characters disappeared and were replaced with Minnie with Pluto, Stitch, Jafar, Captain Hook with Smee, and the Queen of Hearts. DD5 and DW had a blast meeting them all! Did not stay for it, but CMs told me that the first group would return after the second group's 30-minute stint, but that second group would not return after that. So, roughly put, Group 1 at 5:00, Group 2 at 5:30, and Group 1 again at 6:00. Again, this was a non-Fantasmic night.

CMs told me they never knew who would be out until they showed up. We concentrated on Tdee and Tdum (a CM told me they were relatively rare) and Captain Hook and Smee, since they don't seem to appear for M&Gs at MK anymore.

Sorry, I don't have pictures with me at the moment....

[SalmonPink]

Thank you, Robo, your maps are always incredible. There's something about seeing real live photos with people walking the streets that gets me even more excited for my upcoming trip than scans of the regular park maps.

Great information, mesaboy2, thank you so much. Especially great to hear about such a recent experience. Sounds like a healthy mixture of regular and rarer characters, awesome that you got to see the Tweedles. We'll only have 2 non-Fantasmic days on our trip, so I'll have to be sure to visit HS both days.

My own experiences are from May this year. We happened to walk past the MK Teardrop a few minutes before 11am, just in time to see the gates open. We were the first ones there, and saw Meeko, Daisy, Pluto, Dopey, Pooh, Terk, Goofy, Baloo and King Louie. They appeared over the course of about five minutes, rather than all coming out in a rush. We also saw Flik at the AK Oasis at roughly 10am, but the queue had been cut off. We were told he was moving inside the park and we could see him there, but once inside we asked a different CM who told us Flik had gone home for the day. Makes me extra glad he has a regular spot now, so I can make up for missing him before.

[bradk]

with both the teardrop and the american adventure: these are spots that are used for new friends. they are intentionally in out of the way spots to minimize traffic. how often they're used really depends on how the hiring is going. the american adventure (there actually is a large cast member to the left of the pavilion as you're facing it, so if you are IN the American Adventure area, you're actually in the wrong spot) is typically only used close to 11 am or so when it is used.

as for the animation building, the times are (at least last I checked), 4:50 and 5:20 with repeat sets at 5:50 and 6:20. and it can happen on any night.

the DAK location is throughout the entire day and is pretty consistent. the only special thing about it is it's actually before the park's turnstiles.

[SalmonPink]

Originally Posted by bradk

as for the animation building, the times are (at least last I checked), 4:50 and 5:20 with repeat sets at 5:50 and 6:20. and it can happen on any night.

Awesome, thank you so much for the times, bradk. Also wonderful to hear more about the American Adventure spot. If it's only used around 11am/WS opening, unfortunately that means we might not be able to visit the characters (we'll be coming from the Future World side and we're slow walkers so any characters will have probably vanished by the time we get there ) but hopefully other people will see this and be able to use the info.

[Berlioz70]

Originally Posted by bradk

as for the animation building, the times are (at least last I checked), 4:50 and 5:20 with repeat sets at 5:50 and 6:20. and it can happen on any night.

Another tip on this - look at when Fant is showing that night. If there is a 6:30 show then there will be no sets as they'll be getting for the show. But it the show is not until later in the evening or there is no show then there is a better chance they'll be there.


As for Oasis, there are solid sets from the moment the park opens until about 1:30 ish (with and hour in there for the characters to get some grub). Nothing is a guarantee, but the following are common (most common listed first):

Br'er Bear
Br'er Rabbit
Governor Ratcliff
Timon
Meeko
Rafiki
Baloo
Pluto
Pocahontas

Check out my website for more information on random characters and their locations.

[Caitymackie]

So if it's a Fantasmic night then the characters don't come out? That's too bad, Fantasmic is on the whole week we're there and I was looking forward to seeing some unusual characters.

[bradk]

actually, she confirmed just the opposite, they're there every day except when there's a 6:30 F! (or earlier I suppose)

[SalmonPink]

Originally Posted by Berlioz70

Another tip on this - look at when Fant is showing that night. If there is a 6:30 show then there will be no sets as they'll be getting for the show. But it the show is not until later in the evening or there is no show then there is a better chance they'll be there.

Thanks for this update, Berlioz70. We'll only have a couple of days where there aren't any 6.30 showings of F!, so we'll have to make the most of them.

The Oasis list is also an awesome guide, thank you. I've always kind of wondered why Governor Ratcliffe appears at Animal Kingdom - don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I've never met him before so it's great that I might have a chance to do so, but he's not an animal or especially animal-friendly, beyond owning a dog he doesn't notice vanishes halfway through the film!

[PrincessAndie]

I would love some more info on the American Adventure location and who you all have seen there in the past.

We are leaving on FRIDAY!!!!!

[Berlioz70]

Originally Posted by PrincessAndie

I would love some more info on the American Adventure location and who you all have seen there in the past.

We are leaving on FRIDAY!!!!!

American Adventure is not used very frequently, the best times to visit there would be in January/early Feb, late May/early June, or August/early Sept. If you are leaving this Friday then I wouldn't expect anything to be there during your trip.