Character Meet and Greets: The Basics

It's Disney. Mickey is just standing around waiting for you to come up and hug him, right? Wrong. Meeting your favorite characters takes some planning and strategy, and a little waiting in lines. Ok, a lot of waiting in lines.

The Basics

Disney characters are positioned at specific locations around the four Walt Disney World Theme Parks. The best way to find where they are located is by using the My Disney Experience (MDE) app. This is the free, official, Disney World app. You should download and link your account before your trip. It's Florida, and it's hot. Some characters, especially in Toy Story Land, are standing outside in the sun. Others are in specifically themed indoor areas. We have never once met any of the Toy Story characters because none of us want to stand in the blaring sun with no shade to do so (Woody and Jessie's meet and greet spot pictured below). In Galaxy Edge (the Star Wars area), characters are just out roaming freely and you can approach them as you would like. In Epcot and Animal Kingdom, most characters are outside as well. In Magic Kingdom, the majority of characters meet in indoor (air conditioned) locations.

Since meeting Mickey, or Elsa and Anna, or all of your other favorite characters is such a huge part of what makes Disney quintessentially Disney, these interactions can draw wait times of over an hour! The good news is that for the larger known characters, you can often use Genie+ to skip the lines. Check out our post on the basics of how to ride the rides for a brief overview of what Genie+ is and how to use it. We waited almost 90 minutes to meet Moana this week. Moana started meeting (for the first time ever during non-parties) just 2-weeks after we left from our trip in April. She is my absolute favorite character of all time. I would have waited any amount of time to meet her.

How to Interact

Are you an expert on all Disney movies? Each character is also an expert of their specific story. I've pulled out some random obscure facts to talk to the face characters about before, and they always know what I'm talking about. However, if you are trying to talk to Moana about Mickey Mouse, she will have no idea what you are talking about. Go ahead and ask them questions that would be relevant to their story line. I talked to Moana about my time in Hawaii and the beauty of the islands. We've talked to Tiana about the time we visited New Orleans and the food we had there. You can ask Cinderella what it smelled like inside the pumpkin carriage (side note, her answer was pretty epic).

Non-face characters do not talk. They will nod/shake their head, use hand and arm movements to indicate things, draw hearts with their fingers, point to things, etc. It's usually pretty easy to figure out what they are trying to indicate, especially if you have ever had a toddler with a sever speech impediment. If you are struggling, the handler will "translate" for you. You can still ask them yes/no question. You can also ask things such as "where's so and so", like another character from their story, and they will usually point somewhere or make a motion to indicate eating, sleeping, riding rides, etc. They also get really excited if you are wearing anything resembling their character. Minnie loves polka dots and Daisy loves purple. Pluto LOVES to be pet on his snout or behind his ear!

Use Genie+ to skip the lines

At time of writing in June 2023, several meet and greets have Genie+ access where you can pay a daily fee to skip the lines. Here's a list of characters with Genie+ access. If your favorite character is not on here, then the only way to meet them will be a stand by line (except Star Wars).

Magic Kingdom

-Ariel

-Cinderella and "visiting Princess" (it's usually Elana of Avalor)

-Dashing Disney Pals (it will either be Donald and Goofy OR Daisy and Minnie)

-Mickey

-Tiana and Visiting Princess (usually Rapunzel)

EPCOT

-None. All characters are stand-by line only

Hollywood Studio

-Sully

-Disney Stars at Red Carpet Dreams (Mickey and Minnie)

-Edna Mode

-Olaf

Animal Kingdom

-Outpost Mickey and Minnie

-Moana

After Hours Events and Specality Parties

The ONLY way to meet certain characters is at an extra, paid, event. In the fall, Disney has Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Parry (referred to as MNSSHP) and in November and December they host Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP), both of which cost upward of $160+ per person. These event both exclusively host meet and greets for Jack and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. Since these two parties are the only times you will ever be able to see them, average wait times for them is 1.5 hours. We like to get there early and get in line before the "official" start time. We have found that, since they are one of the most popular meet and greets, they usually start meeting before party start time. I believe these parties are also the only times you can meet Genie and Abu from Aladdin. There are also other rare, or only at party characters as well. There is absolute NO WAY to meet all of the characters during a party. There are simply too many of them and the lines are crazy long. Heck, specialty characters are the main reason that I go to these events.

These parties also have your regular characters such as Mickie and Minnie, but with a twist. During parties, the characters will be in specialty themed costumes. During MNSSHP characters are in Halloween costumes, and during MVMCP they are in holiday attire.

We have never actually paid to do one of the regular (non-party) After Hours events that they do year-round. I don't think that they have any specialty characters. If you have done an After Hours Event, let us know if you saw any characters that are not typically there during the day.

Character Dining

One of the best, but also most expensive ways to meet Disney characters is to book a Character Meal in advance. You jaw will most likely drop when you see how much character dining cost. Keep in mind, you're not paying for the food, you're paying for the experience. I don't think that all of the character meals have returned just yet (yeah, I'm looking at you Trattoria al Forno...)

The breakfast option will be less expensive over a lunch or dinner Character Meal. Breakfast just returned to Garden Grill this week!!! (June 2023) We have been waiting three long years for that fantastic cinnamon roll sticky cake. Unfortunately, it's not the same. Click here for a full review of their revamped menu.

Lunch and Dinner meals will cost significantly more than breakfast. Breakfast with character's ranges between $42 to $65 per adult and $27 - $39 per kid. In contrast, Dinner prices range from $55 to $79 per adult and $36 to $47 per kiddo.

Restaurant	Breakfast adult/kids	Lunch/Dinner adult/kids
Akershus (EPCOT) Princesses	53 / 34	63 / 41
Cape May Cafe (Beach Club) Minnie Mouse and friends	45 / 29	No character for L / D
Chef Mickey's (Contemporary Resort) Mickey, Minnie, and Friends	51 / 33	62 / 39 (Dinner ONLY)
Cinderella's Royal Table (Magic Kingdom) Cinderella and other Princesses	65 / 39 (not buffet)	79 / 47 (not buffet)
The Crystal Palace (Magic Kingdom) Winnie the Pooh and friends	45 / 29	59 / 38
Garden Grill (EPCOT) Farmer Mickey, Chip and Dale	42 / 27	​55 / 36
Hollywood and Vine (Hollywood Studio)	42 / 27 (Disney Jr Characters)	59 / 38 (Minnie & Friends)
'Ohana (The Polynesian) Lilo and Stitch, and other friends (Pluto)	60 / 35	No characters for L / D
Story Book Dining at Artist Point (Wilderness Lodge) Snow White & Dwarfs, Evil Queen	Not open for Breakfast for Lunch	65 / 39 (Dinner only)
Topolino's Terrace (Rivera Resort) Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy	45 / 29 (not a buffet	No Characters at Dinner
Tusker House (Animal Kingdom) Donald Duck and friends	45 / 29	59 / 38

Isn't Mickey so cute in his farming outfit? While the breakfast menu at Garden Grill has changed with the reopening this week, I'm glad to see Mickey still in his overalls!

I hope this helps to give you a starting point when trying to plan your Walt Disney World Vacation. For help booking a room or Disney Vacation Package, check out Jillian with Destination Dreaming Travels. She's a FREE travel agent waiting to help you book your most magical vacation ever.

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