Characterpalooza at Hollywood Studios is the sudden rush of characters in the Animation Building in Hollywood Studios. To get to the character meeting room, you will want to enter the exit for the Magic of Disney Animation Attraction (it’s a gift shop), head through the double doors located at the back of the shop and follow the hallways to the right until you get to the meeting room.
Characterpalooza is based on Fantasmic’s schedule:
- If there is no Chracterpalooza if the first showing of Fantasmic is before 7:30 pm.
- If Fantasmic is at 7:30, there will be one 20 minute set at 4:45 pm
- If Fantasmic is at 8 pm, there will be (3) 20 minute sets starting at 4:50 pm
- If Fantasmic is at 8:30, there will be (2) 30 minute sets starting at 4:50 pm
- If Fantasmic is at 9 pm, there will be (4) 25 minute sets starting at 4:50 pm
- When there is no Fantasmic, there will be (4) 30 minute sets starting at 4:50 pm
There is no guarantee which characters will be at Characterpalooza, but here are a few that have been seen in the past:
- Aladdin and Jasmine
- Belle
- Bolt
- Captain Hook and Mr Smee
- Chip and Dale
- Eeyore
- Genie
- Jafar
- Mary Poppins and Mr Penguin
- Max and Goofy
- Minnie
- Mulan
- Pinocchio and Gepetto
- Pluto
- Pocahontas and Meeko
- Queen of Hearts
- Rafiki
- Snow Queen
- Stitch
- Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
The characters will come out the door to the right of Pooh’s Meet and Greet area and the one across from Pooh’s Meet and Greet. The characters come out in sets with each set remaining for about 20-30 minutes. When the first set is over, those characters will return backstage and a new set of characters will come out to the floor.
Each character will have their own line and you will have to pick and choose which characters you want to meet. Be sure to ask the Cast Members how many sets of characters they will have that night.
If there are 3 or 4 sets of characters, they usually mirror the first 2 sets of characters.]
My tip is to get there at 4 pm and go ahead and meet all the characters that greet all day in the Art of Animation Building (Sorcerer Mickey, Pooh and the Incredibles). That way you are in the building and ready to meet the Characterpalooza characters as soon as their sets begin.
Be sure to let us know if you have participated in Characterpalooza!
Here is a list of the characters you can meet at Hollywood Studios.
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By reading the schedule you said there is no Characterpalooza if Fantasmic is before 7:30. Does that mean in the winter when Fantasmic is at 6:30 they never have a Characterpalooza? We are going in December this year and would LOVE to attend the Characterpalooza.
We did this, BUT my kids were coloring pictures at a little table they had set up in the room and didn’t want to stop coloring when the characters all came out. We did manage to see Mary Poppins and Mr. Penguin though.
Hi my daughter and I hit the jackpot in 2012 for character palooza (btw didn’t know it had a name). But in addition to characters always there like Sorcerer Mickey we took pics with Goofy and his son Max, Jafar, The evil queen from Snow White, Mary poppins and penguin, Pochantas and Meeko, Lotso,mr incredible mrs incredible violet and frozone. Captain Hook and mr smee. It was amazing and when we went this year only pooh and sorcerer Mickey were there in the 12 days we were there:(
oh this is so neat! i never heard of characterpalooza before, thanks Kristin!
Yes, we have done Characterpalooza numerous times! We referred to it as the “Character Explosion” before learning that it had an official name. Thanks for the Fantasmic/Time/Character ratios!
Lois-I learned from couponingtodisney, go through the animation gallery door and get to the Sorcerer Mickey line at 9:50. We did this and had very little wait.
Sorcerer Mickey is available??? Sweet. I think we will have to make it into the Art of Animation this trip so we can meet Sorcerer Mickey. That would be so cool.