April 18th, 2022, is when character meet and greets were reintroduced into the parks. Disney let us know that not all locations will be opening at once and will be a phased reopening. I love character meet and greets because they hold a very special place in my heart. For the past month, once a week, I dedicated a day to meet and greets one park at a time to see which park currently has the most meet and greet opportunities. I will not be counting character sitting and socially distanced interactions.
Magic Kingdom was my first stop. After a full day here, it felt like this park had the most meet and greet opportunities, but EPCOT might have more, so stay tuned. I met Mickey Mouse, Princess Tiana, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Elena of Avalor, Belle, Dizella, Anastasia, and Chip & Dale. In total, I was able to meet ten characters in one day. I hope they bring Pete’s Silly Sideshow because I love Minnie, Dasiy, Goofy, and Donald’s outfits at that location. I also hope that the Winnie the Pooh meet and greet comes back along with the Ariel meet and greet in her grotto. The My Disney Experience app made finding each character and their meet and greet times more accessible. Knowing the meet and greet time slots helped me plan it out better. This will come in handy over at EPCOT.
EPCOT has the most character meet and greets. In total, if weather permitting, you have the chance to see about 16 characters on your Epcot day. Throughout World Showcase, you can find several characters like Donald, Anna, Elsa, Mulan, Snow White, Jasmine, Belle, Aurora, Alice, Mary Poppins, and Dasiy. At ImageWorks, you can meet Vanellope and Joy. Mickey can be found in the lobby of the Pixar Short Film Festival. Over by the entrance of EPCOT, Pluto and Goofy can be found throughout the day. Pooh is not doing meet and greets yet at EPCOT, but he can be seen frolicking in the grass between The Land and Imagination!.
Time to check out Hollywood Studios. This park seems to have minimal character meet and greets, but that will be changing soon. At Hollywood Studios, you can meet Vamperina, Doc McStuffins, Fancy Nancy, and Pluto over by the Disney Junior Dance Party. At Red Carpet Dreams, you can meet Mickey, and Minnie Mouse dressed to the nines. If you want to meet Mickey Mouse in his sorcerer outfit, this is the only place you can. At Celebrity Spotlight, you can meet Olaf and have fun in his summer wonderland. Over at Walt Disney Presents, you can meet Sully from Monsters Inc. unfortunately; I didn’t get to meet him because the wait was just too long for the small area.
The park with the least meet and greet opportunities is Animal Kingdom. Recently Mickey and Minnie started meeting at Adventurers Outpost again, but before, the only character you could “meet” was Kevin from UP, but she is a roaming character. I miss Donald and all his friends at Dino-Bash, but I think they will be back by the time August rolls around. I am also hoping that the Pocahontas meet and greet will return soon as well. I loved the diversity of characters that could be found at Animal Kingdom, so I hope to see them all come back one day.
The number of characters in each park will change as the summer progresses. The soonest we will see new character meet and greets is July 6th, and you all know I will meet those characters. I am most excited for the Star Wars Launch Bay meet and greets to return on July 17th. Seeing more character meet and greets returning to the parks makes me so happy and creates more entertainment opportunities for guests.
Which character meet and greet do you want to see come back? Let us know in the comments.