First Disney Cruise-Characters

[Jones1978]

We will be taking our first Disney cruise in 2027 (DD's graduation!). I was wondering how often you see characters roaming the ship or on the private islands? Or if you need to go to the meet and greets to see them.

 

[hardcorestitch]

The Disney Cruise Line Navigator app will be your best friend in this case. It will list all available meet and greets. Some will be scheduled as indicated on the app, others may be that spontaneous and magically unexpected meets.

 

[Mommb]

There will be one or more characters at a scheduled greeting somewhere on the ship most hours in the afternoon and evening (except during dinner/show time), and in the mornings on sea days. Characters do also walk around, especially on the outside decks, but that is unpredictable.

 

[o&smom]

Meet and greets are a way to see characters that you know you want to see. Cast members will take photos with your phone or you can purchase photos. Sometimes you will see characters but they are just walking to get to where they need to be and don’t have time for much more than a hello. I feel like the spontaneous meeting of characters has been cut back over the years. On our first Disney cruise, we boarded and headed straight up to what is now Cabanas and found a table out on the back deck. Very soon Chip and Dale stopped by our table to welcome us and our DD who was only 3 months. It is such a special memory! We have had amazing spontaneous interactions with Captain Hook, Goofy, Alice, Pinocchio, Snow White, The Queen of Hearts and Peter Pan and Cinderella. No rhyme or reason for any of it...all on different decks at different times. In the evening you might even catch Goofy sleep walking in his pajamas! Have an amazing cruise!!!

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

The random encounters are really fun, but we haven't had it happen all that often. Our last cruise - 7 nights on Treasure, we encountered Goofy in a hallway & got a picture with him. The cruise before our most recent one - 5 nights on Magic - we met Mulan in one of the elevator lobbies and got a picture with her. I can't really remember how many we saw on our earlier cruises, but I don't think it was really much more than that. So really just one chance encounter per cruise for us. We'll occasionally see a character making their way to or from a meeting location, but often the handlers are moving them along quickly so it's not really like you can meet them or even have them pose for a picture. I don't recall ever seeing any characters just roam around Castaway Cay. If you want to meet someone you really need to do the meet & greets.

 

[Disneyworldlocal]

All of the above is correct. While sitting on deck 4 of the Magic on a sea day recently we saw Black Panther, Captain America, and Daisy roaming around. They all stopped and took photos for anyone that wanted it