Meeting characters

[KrisM]

Should I plan a couple of character meals to meet a few or just do all the meets at the parks? Will there be better interaction one way or the other?

DS1 doesn't care about any. I'm not sure he'll be into any at all.
DD would like to meet mainly princesses. Jasmine, Mulan, Ariel and Rapunzel are her tops, but any are good.
DS2 likes Jake, Peter Pan, and the Toy Story characters. He'll like the princesses as well.

I go back and forth with character meals. My kids do fine in restaurants, but we only eat out a few times a year. I'm not sure they'll want to eat at a restaurant very often. But, it would give us a bit of a break and sitting down time, too.

I also don't want to be standing in a lot of lines for characters, which leads me back to a few meals :).

[123LuckyMom]

The characters no longer wander the parks. You have to wait in lines to meet them, go to a character meal, or see them in parades. We didn't do a character meal. Maybe we will when the kids are older, but the characters can be a little intimidating up close. I LOVE Disney, but I was always a little shy of characters as a kid. We just saw them in parades and from afar, and it was fine for us.

[brittone2]

I'm wondering the same thing. I am considering a character meal, but am not sure if we do breakfast if that means we'll have a tough time getting to rope drop for busier days. I was thinking about lunch or dinner for that reason. I thought about Cape May for breakfast or maybe Garden Grill for something later in the day on an Epcot day? I'm not expecting fab food at a character meal, just trying to get the younger two some character interaction. I really have no idea. DS1 will not be happy if we do an all-princess meal, so if we do a character meal, I think I'm going to try for something he can deal with too ;) I really have no idea what I'm doing, as you know already! ;)

Not sure what would be convenient without cutting into morning park time.

[KrisM]

I'm wondering the same thing. I am considering a character meal, but am not sure if we do breakfast if that means we'll have a tough time getting to rope drop for busier days. I was thinking about lunch or dinner for that reason. I thought about Cape May for breakfast or maybe Garden Grill for something later in the day on an Epcot day? I'm not expecting fab food at a character meal, just trying to get the younger two some character interaction. I really have no idea. DS1 will not be happy if we do an all-princess meal, so if we do a character meal, I think I'm going to try for something he can deal with too ;) I really have no idea what I'm doing, as you know already! ;)

Not sure what would be convenient without cutting into morning park time.

I don't have much idea either, I've just been planning longer :)

I was thinking either late breakfast or a lunch, so we could do the early park day and maybe be ready for a break. We might do Sci-Fi in Hollywood studios as I think DS1 would enjoy that. Maybe I need to consider other options - DD, DS2 and I could do the princess meal at Epcot while DS1 and DH did other things?

I was thinking Tusker House because a lot of people say it's good, but I'm not sure anyone cares if we see those characters at a meal or not.

[egoldber]

Caveat, all my info is from 2011, so it could be a little out of date. But both my kids LOVE meeting characters, so we have some practice at this. ;)

For meeting princesses, my favorite place is Epcot. They appear at various time throughout the park, usually the times are listed in that day's time guide. You can find Mulan (China), Snow White (Germany), Aurora, Belle and Beast (France), Jasmine and Aladdin (and sometime Genie and/or Jafar) (Morocco), and Mary Poppins and Alice (England). Also, feel free to ask any character "handler" where and when the characters will be out again. Then plan to be at that location about 5 minutes ahead of time.

In Futureland there is an inside, air conditioned location where you can find the biggies: Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy. Sometimes Daisy (although in general she is hard to find). The line can be long, but if you get there early, it's usually a great spot.

The MK probably has the most overall meet and greets. There is a princess meet and greet line in the MK, which can be FastPass'ed. Usually you will find Cinderella, Bella and Aurora, but that can vary. There are almost always characters in the Town Square at the front of the park, but most of these can be seen elsewhere as well.

Near Adventureland, there is often a meet and greet for Tiana. It is near the location where they sell the Dole Whips. Deeper in Adventureland you can usually find Jasmine and Aladdin near the Tiki Birds. There is a covered area near the bridge between the Crystal Palace and Adventureland where characters often appear. When it is raining, many character meetings are moved here.

Near the Pirates of the Caribbean ride you can often find Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. You can also often see Peter Pan and sometimes Wendy near Pirates of the Carribean ride (and also sometimes else near the Tea Cups in Fantasyland). FWIW, I think Peter Pan is well worth seeking out. The CMs who do Peter are AMAZING and give some of the very best character interaction. I remember seeing them when my younger DD was an infant and when Peter saw her he cried, "It's a baby fairy!!!!" And he and Wendy went on and on about her forever and talking to older DD about what a responsibility it was to take care of a baby fairy.

If they still have the Tinkerbell meet and greet, I highly recommend that as well. Tink is another with terrific interaction. We just saw her on the cruise and I think my girls talked to her for 10 minutes about life in general and their career plans. :) However, this means her line is often very long.

The Rapunzel meet and greet (when we did it) was fun, but you have to wait a very long time, unless you time it exactly right.

You can find Pooh and friends near the Pooh ride in the MK. A better place to see them is in the AK. There is a character greeting right outside Dino Land (kind of behind the restrooms there) that not many people know about. You can find all the Pooh characters most of the day with very little line.

There are also character greetings near the Lion King show at AK. Sometimes there are more obscure characters there. Pocahontas used to have a meet and greet near there as well.

In Tomorrowland, you can often find Buzz near his ride, many times with very little wait.

DHS has several meet and greet locations. There are often characters our by the sorcerer's hat, but the lines there can be very long. There is an interior meet and greet with Woody and Buzz (and sometimes Jessie) across from Toy Story Mania, but the lines can be very long.

You can see various Disney Jr. characters near the Disney Jr. show as well. These rotate based on who is currently popular.

There is also a character meeting location inside the Art of Animation experience near the Disney Jr. show. They will try to make you think you have to watch the Art of Animation show first, but you don't. If you go in through the gift shop and head in that way, you can skip the show and just go right to the characters. You never know who you will see there, so it's like a surprise box. :) Besides the usual, we have seen Gepetto, Pinocchio, Timon, Rafiki, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, etc.

Also, at AK, there are character greeting areas near the Safari ride entrance. Also, if you ride the train to the petting zoo, there are usually characters in the lobby there as well.

ETA: I assume there are character greeting areas in the new Fantasyland. We have not been there since they re-did FL, so I can't give any insight on that, but I would assume that the lines are long.

[egoldber]

So to be even more long winded :p , to expedite greetings, I think that a character meal with Mickey/Minnie/Donald/Goofy is a wise use of time. Since they are costume characters and not face characters, the interaction is somewhat limited to gestures and hugs anyway. (Although they can be amazingly expressive.) I think that the face characters are well worth seeking out away from meals. The interaction IME tends to be much, much better. At the restaurants, they are on a definite schedule and MUST see all their assigned tables. At the outside locations, they are limited to the length of the line. The handler cuts off the line at a certain point. They usually give very good interaction for the length of the line and they are not in a hurry to get to the next table, etc.

My younger DD does not really enjoy rides with intense movement of any sort. So we tend to see a lot of shows and meet a LOT of characters. It's a game for us to see as many characters as possible in any given trip. :) She's also happy to meet the same characters many times. So we have become somewhat character connoisseurs over the years. ;)

[KrisM]

Wow, that is fantastic! I will be printing that out and taking notes for sure. Thank you so much for the details.

So, even with no real interest from the kids in Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, we should still try a meal with them? Might be fun! DD would like the line meets better for princesses from the sound of it.

[egoldber]

I think it is the rare kid who goes to WDW and does not eventually end up wanting to meet the big 4 (Mc/Min/D/G). Pluto is usually a fun character as well, as are Chip and Dale. Finding some combo of these guys is pretty much a must do IMO.

[egoldber]

Sorry, to go on and on, but meeting characters is one of our fav things. :o

If you have some kind of conversation starter with the characters, that really helps. Younger DD loves Daisy and once she was carrying a plush Daisy Duck we had bought earlier. We saw Daisy that day and she went NUTS for younger DD, because no one ever has Daisy (according to her handler...). And Donald went nuts because he loves Daisy, etc.

One year (when I had way too much spare time LOL!) we made an autograph book that had a page for each character with stickers. The characters all LOVED that and the face characters especially went crazy for it. If you write your name in the book, sometimes even the costume characters will write messages personalized to the kid. If you wear a pin or a shirt with the character they will often comment on it, etc. even if it is not that character. Captain Hook will "scold" a kid with a Peter Pan pin, etc.

[fivi2]

Quick note - epcot character spot now only has mickey Minnie and Pluto. Ariel (with tail) is in new fantasyland. Tink and one other fairy are just past entrance to adventureland - long wait. Rapunzel is different now - maybe with other princesses currently at fro t of park. Not sure what happens when princess hall in fantasyland opens.

The lines for characters in wworld showcase close quickly. So a meet listed from 1:30 to 2, the handler might close the line at 1:35.

Will type more after work. Easy wdw has good character info.

[scrooks]

I agree with pps about tinker bell....great interaction but her line was by far the longest and the estimate they gave of wait time was WAY off. I thought Dh was going to freak out!

[klwa]

As PP mentioned, some of the previous info is a bit dated as they keep changing things up. Steve Soares site ( http://www.wdwent.com/ ) has listings for each park & what characters are in the times guide for the current week & where. Kenny the Pirate ( http://kennythepirate.com/disney-world-character-schedules/disney-world-magic-kingdom-character-schedule-list/ ) has a listing for each character as to where you can find them.

[KrisM]

Thanks for the great information. Gives me even more to consider! I think we'll do 2 character meals. One with the basic characters and one with princesses. It'll give us a couple sit-down meals, plus hit some highlight characters.

[acmom]

We really like the character meals bc it takes the pressure off getting to the character spots in the parks at the right time and waiting in the lines. We did several last trip and made sure to do meals that included the characters DD and DS wanted to see the most (for us that was princesses and Jake so we did the Epcot princess meal and Hollywood and Vine in HS, along with Chef Mickeys for the clubhouse characters). I hate feeling like we have to find a character in the parks or risk a disappointed kid. And sometimes, as PPs mentioned, you can wait in line for a long time and then the handler will cut off the line so you don't even get to see the character after you waited.

The other thing that helped us with the characters was the Disney app bc that gave location and times for characters meet and greet. So we did hit many that way too without a big wait.

I think timing and balancing favorite characters and favorite rides for all members of the family is tricky! For us, the meals helped that be less stressful! HTH! Good luck!

[fivi2]

I like character meals for important characters. (If only Tink had a meal...). We did the castle this time, which was great for being in the castle, but terrible for the food. We did a late breakfast for that, and it was a bad idea, imo. The mornings are usually lowest crowd times, so we took away from that time, and it was hard to figure out what we'd have time to do before reporting for our adr, because getting stuck in a line while having pre-paid reservations elsewhere would suck (castle is pre-paid in full). I would either do one before park opening or a lunch or dinner. The characters were okay, but it felt rushed - but we saw Cindy, Snow, Aurora, Jasmine, and somebody who I am forgetting.

We have done a before park opening Tusker House every trip (3 times) and always enjoy it. Interaction isn't phenomenal, but good enough.

Crystal Palace is cute, but the food is terrible. (Pooh and company).

Ariel in new fantasyland was great. I believe it is the only place to see her with a tail. She spent a lot of time talking to the kids. Same with Tink (Vidia was with her when we were there, but it changes). Those lines build quickly. Unfortunately Tink opens 15 minutes after park opening, so you pretty much have to kill rope drop one day.

Look up Enchanted Tales with Belle if Belle is a favorite.

I believe that Mickey at MK is now fast pass, and the fast pass is not connected to the other fast pass system (verify that.) I think MK Princesses are on a fast pass, but not sure about that. They are building a new princess meet area in MK - no clue when that is available.

We didn't see them kick people out of line at Epcot, but the handler would stop people from getting in line really quickly. So if you were in line you got to see them, but you couldn't join the line.

No info on DHS characters!

[acmom]

Yes- MK princesses can be fast passed. That's how we did them last time so that we could see rapunzel (we had seen the rest at Epcot dinner).

I agree that Ariel in her grotto was great. She really chatted with kids, wait after the ride wasn't too long and it was fun to see her in her tail. Tink and fairy friends were good too- we have gotten lucky with our waits there and it has never been too bad. Plus they play one of the fairy movies in the lobby where you wait.

We have also had good luck with the princess interactions at both The Epcot dinner and 1900 park fare Cinderella dinner. The characters chatted and the kids enjoyed the princess parade (Epcot) and the dances (1900 park fare). My kids also loved the Disney jr characters at our Hollywood and vine lunch. They loved dancing with them throughout the meal and my DH and I liked that too bc it gave us time to eat! :) The Crystal Palace and Chef Mickeys meals were fine to see those characters, but there was less time/interaction with characters. I do like the chef Mickey breakfast though and the kids had fun watching the characters dance around- fun way to start the day. (we have done early breakfasts there and been at MK for rope drop). We did Garden Grill at Epcot once too and enjoyed that- liked the food and thought character interaction was fun (Mickey, Pluto, chip and dale).

[megs4413]

Thanks for the great information. Gives me even more to consider! I think we'll do 2 character meals. One with the basic characters and one with princesses. It'll give us a couple sit-down meals, plus hit some highlight characters.

I think this sounds like a good plan. I didn't read all of the replies, but there is a little-known DHS character opportunity in the animation building. I can't remember for sure if our times guide for that day said anything about it or not, but it's in the afternoon and you get more rare characters. Last I heard it was Wreck It Ralph characters...we got some really cool ones the last time we were there and since I knew ahead of time (whereas most people don't realize it's going to happen so the line forms spontaneously) we didn't wait long at all. just a tip for your DHS day.

ETA:
i don't like trying your luck in MK with character lines....they are always long and we were frequently the first people to get "cut off" in line. It was very frustrating. The only luck we've ever had at MK was with Santa! I did love the WS greets. I would say our best in-park meets were at DHS in the animation building. Our least favorite park for meet/greets is AK, but I just generally hate on AK all the time, so I'm biased. those stupid trails though, YEESH.

Our best interaction at a meal was for sure at Akershus, but I hate Akershus otherwise. Park Fare was good, too, in terms of time spent, but I hated Park fare otherwise. The only real poor character meal interaction we experienced was at Chef Mickey's. I mean it was OK, but they really are in a hurry there. Tusker House has a much better interaction feel to it with similar characters and better food at breakfast, so I tend to recommend it now over CM's.

[ett]

I think this sounds like a good plan. I didn't read all of the replies, but there is a little-known DHS character opportunity in the animation building. I can't remember for sure if our times guide for that day said anything about it or not, but it's in the afternoon and you get more rare characters. Last I heard it was Wreck It Ralph characters...we got some really cool ones the last time we were there and since I knew ahead of time (whereas most people don't realize it's going to happen so the line forms spontaneously) we didn't wait long at all. just a tip for your DHS day.

We were there this past Feburary. Sorcerer Mickey was there as well as characters from Wreck it Ralph and the Incredibles.

[KrisM]

Maybe the Epcot princess meal, the DHS Disney Jr meal (didn't know Jake was there), and Tusker House would do it. Or maybe skip Tusker House and just have 2. I think the Epcot meal has more of the princesses that DD would enjoy. I think eating in the castle would be fun, but I think we'd get more enjoyment from another meal, really.

[Indianamom2]

For princesses, I recommend Akershus (Norway in Epcot) for BREAKFAST. I cannot comment on any other meal, but breakfast was yummy.

We are going to have a late breakfast at Hollywood and Vine to meet Jake and other various characters (can't remember now) for Ds, who is 4. We've never done that before, but we're going this coming week, so I'll try to remember to let you know how that was.

For us, Cinderella's castle dinner was just okay. It's very expensive, I've never been overly impressed with the dinner food and you see (and get pictures with) Cinderella before the meal, then only the Fairy Godmother and mice are around during the meal.

[FTMLuc]

We just came back from WDW on Friday and did 2 character meals, the Princesses at Akerhus for a late lunch (3:20 reservation) and Tusker House for Mickey and Daisy and Goofy. Both times worked out really well for us as we were the last people before dinner/lunch and the place was not super crowded. Because it was not busy we were able to do a lot of characters through the parks, the lines were never longer then 15 min or so. Princesses and Minnie and Mickey at MK right by the entrance can be fastpassed, by the stand by line was only 15-20 min. Minnie and Mickey in AK had the longest stand by time when we checked, but they also had a fastpass. Mickey, Pluto and Minnie in Epcot had a fastpass as well, and around 8:30 pm before Illuminations had absolutely no line.

Disney was beta testing their new bands that will replace the room keys as your pass for everything and piloted an app that links your tickets/band to it. You can get your fastpasses up to 60 days in advance through the apps, but are limited to only 3 per day on the app so fat and it did not let me book 2 in 1 park and 1 in another for the same day. It was really great to use the app to get the fast pass from you room the night before, rather then running to the attraction in order to pick one up.

[KrisM]

For princesses, I recommend Akershus (Norway in Epcot) for BREAKFAST. I cannot comment on any other meal, but breakfast was yummy.

We are going to have a late breakfast at Hollywood and Vine to meet Jake and other various characters (can't remember now) for Ds, who is 4. We've never done that before, but we're going this coming week, so I'll try to remember to let you know how that was.

For us, Cinderella's castle dinner was just okay. It's very expensive, I've never been overly impressed with the dinner food and you see (and get pictures with) Cinderella before the meal, then only the Fairy Godmother and mice are around during the meal.

Thank you. Good info! A Jake review would be awesome!


We just came back from WDW on Friday and did 2 character meals, the Princesses at Akerhus for a late lunch (3:20 reservation) and Tusker House for Mickey and Daisy and Goofy. Both times worked out really well for us as we were the last people before dinner/lunch and the place was not super crowded. Because it was not busy we were able to do a lot of characters through the parks, the lines were never longer then 15 min or so. Princesses and Minnie and Mickey at MK right by the entrance can be fastpassed, by the stand by line was only 15-20 min. Minnie and Mickey in AK had the longest stand by time when we checked, but they also had a fastpass. Mickey, Pluto and Minnie in Epcot had a fastpass as well, and around 8:30 pm before Illuminations had absolutely no line.

Disney was beta testing their new bands that will replace the room keys as your pass for everything and piloted an app that links your tickets/band to it. You can get your fastpasses up to 60 days in advance through the apps, but are limited to only 3 per day on the app so fat and it did not let me book 2 in 1 park and 1 in another for the same day. It was really great to use the app to get the fast pass from you room the night before, rather then running to the attraction in order to pick one up.

Thanks so much! I am figuring the new system will be in full use by April. Makes me nervous!