Character meetings around the parks?

[TeamSy]

This is going to be our first trip post pandemic. Pre-pandemic we used to spend some days in the park going from character meetings to character meetings and see how many we could get in a day. I’ve been stalking the park apps lately and it just doesn’t seem like there are that many anymore? I haven’t seen any pop up on Main Street near the park entrance where we used to get a lot, etc. For example in magic kingdom I’ve only seen the main Mickey one, the step sisters in fantasyland, the princess hall, and then like buzz and stitch in Tomorrowland. Is that really all they have throughout the day nowadays????

Editing to add… is even Ariel now meeting by her ride?!

 

[PalmettoPath]

This is something that is evolving, ever since Disney announced a month or so ago that they would continue to slowly bring back character greetings over the course of the summer. So hopefully more characters will continue to be added little by little as the weeks go by. That's how it sounded from their announcement. They likely have to hire and train people for these positions as well.

 

[Karin1984]

If you want characters, it's better to go over to Epcot, we saw: Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Minnie, Anna & Elsa, Mulan, Snow White, Jasmine, Aurora, Belle, Alice, Mary Poppins, Vanellope and Joy there.

Magic Kingdom we saw: Mickey, Cinderella/Elena, Tiana/Rapunzel, Anastasia/Drizella and Belle.
Jack Sparrow was meeting as well, but his line was long. I'm from Europe, there was a time where Jack Sparrow was a regular to meet at DLP, so we skipped him.

Anastasia & Drizella in Magic Kingdom were once replaced by Aurora and on another day they missed their first set and were late for their second set. With the replacement a CM came by to tell the people waiting about the change. The missing set, no one came around, same for when they were late, we were about to give up when a CM showed up, who was quite annoyed when I mentioned the app not being updated.

 

[TeamSy]

If you want characters, it's better to go over to Epcot, we saw: Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Minnie, Anna & Elsa, Mulan, Snow White, Jasmine, Aurora, Belle, Alice, Mary Poppins, Vanellope and Joy there.

Magic Kingdom we saw: Mickey, Cinderella/Elena, Tiana/Rapunzel, Anastasia/Drizella and Belle.
Jack Sparrow was meeting as well, but his line was long. I'm from Europe, there was a time where Jack Sparrow was a regular to meet at DLP, so we skipped him.

Anastasia & Drizella in Magic Kingdom were once replaced by Aurora and on another day they missed their first set and were late for their second set. With the replacement a CM came by to tell the people waiting about the change. The missing set, no one came around, same for when they were late, we were about to give up when a CM showed up, who was quite annoyed when I mentioned the app not being updated.

This is a great tip about going to Epcot!!! That is a nice list of characters meeting there!!

Thank you!!!

Do you happen to know how the lines were for them/how far in advance we should show up to wait?? My kids go to Disney more for the characters than the rides so this is hard for us to plan haha.

 

[Karin1984]

Lines were reasonable, not too bad. We were there mid May, which was supposedly a slower time.
We did split Epcot M&Gs over two days. We started with Anna & Elsa first. If I remember correctly, they start as off 9:45, and got there around 9:00 - 9:15. This line moved the slowest. Minnie & Donald also had longer lines.

After that, just look at the app and try to make a schedule. Preferably, try to be there before a charactr arrives.
We hopped around from country to country, it was more walking, but it helped seeing all characters one after another. Keep in mind that lines are mostly in full sun.

Vanellope and Joy had short lines. Goofy and Pluto are at the entrance of the park. So they are busy in the morning when people come in, but later in the day when people have spread across the park, their lines were short too.