Animal Kingdom Character Meet and Greet
Updated: Jul 23
Animal Kingdom is a great place to meet some of the most iconic and well loved characters Disney has to offer. Knowing where and when they are available is important when strategizing your meet and greets. Click here to go to our downloadable Character Meet and Greet Maps.
Main Characters:
A number of characters are available to meet throughout the day at a permanent location, you will find wait time information for these characters in the MDE app under either Attractions or Entertainment.
Intermittent Characters:
Pop-up Character Sightings:
Character Dinning:
Tips for meeting the characters:
Character meet and greets tend to be very popular. For characters that have set meeting times, we recommend getting in line to meet them at least 15 minutes before they are scheduled to appear. Since these characters are only out for a set period of time, the line gets cut off once a specified number of guests has been reached.
Many meet and greets have photopass photographers on hand to capture the moment. We are big proponents of getting memory maker (more on that here) but if you don’t have it you can also ask the photographer to take a photo with your camera.
We recommend becoming familiar with your My Disney Experience (MDE) App, where you will be able to find available characters and times, under Characters, for when you are in the park.
Almost all the characters who do actual meet and greets are happy to sign their autograph, which can be a fun souvenir and memento from your trip. You can buy autograph books around the park, make your own, or get creative and have characters sign an object. We’ve seen people carry around the matte from a photo frame, and then they can frame their Disney photo with the autographs, or a jacket that they ask characters to sign the back of. If you do a little thinking outside the box you can have a unique and fun souvenir to bring home.
Types of character experiences:
Main Characters
Mickey & Minnie Mouse - Go see Mickey and Minnie, both decked out ready for a safari adventure, at the Adventurers Outpost on Discovery Island. The wait time for this meet and greet can get long so we recommend going early in the day or else be prepared for a roughly 45 minute wait.
Intermittent Characters
Chip & Dale - You can meet Chip & Dale outfitted in dinosaur costumes ready for the DinoBash in DinoLand U.S.A. on the Upper Cretaceous Trail. Then in the evening you can dance along with Chip & Dale at the Dino-Riffic Dance Party which takes place across from Chester and Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures (the souvenir shop you come to when leaving DINOSAUR). Each of the DinoBash meet and greets is popular so we recommend getting in line shortly before scheduled meet and greets. You can find scheduled times on the MDE app.
Daisy Duck - Also along the Cretaceous Trail you can meet Daisy at her Design Studio (that’s what it’s called, but it’s less of a design studio and more of a design board). Daisy is decked out in her own DinoBash outfit, ready to meet guests. Each of the DinoBash meet and greets is popular so we recommend getting in line shortly before scheduled meet and greets. You can find scheduled times on the MDE app.
Donald Duck - Donald Duck is the star of the DinoBash show, he’s easy to find as he is located at the DinoBash Welcome Center across from DinoRama. The story goes that Donald found out that birds are descended from dinosaurs so he threw a big dino themed party to celebrate. Each of the DinoBash meet and greets is popular so we recommend getting in line shortly before scheduled meet and greets. You can find scheduled times on the MDE app.
Moana - The newest character meet and greet in Animal Kingdom is Moana. You can find her on Discovery Island across from Isle of Java near the bridge that leads to DinoLand U.S.A. She’s a very popular meet and greet right now so check your MDE app for when she is meeting guests and plan to show up shortly before she is scheduled to start meeting guests to ensure you get to see her.
Pop-up Character Sightings
Kevin - You can catch sight of Kevin, the brightly colored bird from Up, roaming around on Discovery Island. You’ll typically see her to the right side of the Tree of Life roaming between the entrance to Asia and DinoLand U.S.A.
DiVine - If you are really observant, when the park is less crowded, you can sometimes find DiVine. She is an Animal Kingdom character heavily dressed in vines and plants so she blends in with the surrounding plant life. She walks on high stilts and moves with slow fluid motions. Keep an eye out in the Oasis area or between Africa and Asia, that’s where we’ve seen her most often.
Floatillas
Floatillas are boats carrying characters and performers around the Discovery River multiple times throughout the day. You can check your MDE app for when some of them are scheduled to float around the river, but others are not scheduled and are just a fun thing when you see them. You’ll know a Floatilla is nearby because you’ll hear music playing from the river as they pass. Below are the current Floatillas you might see while enjoying your day at Animal Kingdom:
Discovery River Cruise with Pocahontas and Meeko
Discovery River Cruise with Rafiki and Timon
Adventure Flotilla with Launchpad McQuack and Scrooge McDuck
Adventure Flotilla with Russell and Dug
Dino-Bash Flotilla with Goofy and Pluto
Discovery Island Drummers
Character Dining
Tusker House Restaurant - Over in Africa you can find Tusker House Restaurant where you can dine with Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and Daisy, all decked out in their Safari garb, ready for adventure. Each of the characters goes table to table greeting guests, and they have a fun little parade around the restaurant that kids of all ages are invited to join in on. Reservations for this restaurant are available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and food is served buffet style. The character interactions here are top notch but the food can be a little hit or miss. If you have picky eaters in your party we recommend snagging a breakfast reservation as the food at lunch and dinner is generally more for adventurous eaters. Breakfast however, has plain breakfast foods along with the more interesting dishes.
Click here for our guide to Character dining across all of Disney World.
Click the map below for PDFs our Downloadable Character Maps.
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