On our most recent trip to Disney World, we met over 50 characters in 6 days! And how did we find all these characters you might ask?
The Times Guide. The free guide that Disney gives out with their maps at the entrance to the park. Anyone and everyone can read over the list and find out what characters are going to be where!
Here are the characters that meet at Animal Kingdom and the approximate time that they meet. Always check the Times Guide when you arrive though. You can also find it online here (just click on the park you want along the top). He posts it on Saturday for the next week.
Discovery Island
Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet and sometimes Tiger at the Character Landing across from Flame Tree Barbecue – 9:30am-1:30pm & 2:10pm-4:40pm
Lilo* and Stitch at Island Mercantile – 9:15am – 4:25pm
Flik* at Disney Outfitters Character Meet and Greet from 9:20 to 2:10 pm
Camp Minnie Mickey
Definitely the best place to meet the characters. I always find very short lines here! Characters come out at 9:30 am
Mickey Mouse
Minnie the Mouse
Goofy
Chip and Dale
Br’er Rabbit*
Fox*
Bear*
I’ve also seen Rafiki here
DinoLand U.S.A.
Goofy and Pluto 10 am to 2 pm and 2:30 pm to 4:55
Rafiki’s Planet Watch
10:15 am – 5 pm
Rafiki*
Pocahontas*
Jiminy Cricket*
Africa Greeting Trails
9 am to 3:30 pm
Entrance
During the day I have seen characters meeting at the entrance
My tips for meeting the characters:
- Almost all characters sign, make sure you have an autograph book (write your cell phone number in it) and pen for them to use (their hands are big so you might want to get one of the fat sharpies but don’t get green! They won’t use a green pen because it won’t come out of their clothes.)
- Character handlers (the cash members that work with characters) have a light blue shirt on. If you see someone standing around with a light blue shirt, it means a character is about to come out. Ask them!
- When you get in line, ask the cast member when the character plans to go get a snack. You might not want to wait the extra 5 minutes for their break.
- Only face characters (like the Princesses) speak. You could explain this to your child by saying that the other characters have to save their voices for the parades and shows (where they do speak).
- It is okay to ask questions to the characters about their movies, life, etc. It might be fun while you wait in line to come up with a question to ask them. Just don’t ask Chip and Dale where they keep their nuts!
- When we meet a character, we get the autograph first (make sure you open your book to a clean page while you are waiting in line), give hugs and then take a picture. The characters will help your children to turn around to pose for the picture.
- Don’t forget to say “please” when asking for an autograph & photo and then “thank you” afterwards.
Photo tips
- Take a picture of your child as they walk towards the character. I’ve caught some cute pictures of Jacob with his arms outstretched towards the character. It’s so cute.
- Most characters have a Photopass Photographer with them. They will take pictures with your camera too. Don’t be afraid to ask!
- It is okay to have a picture made with just your kids and then you jump in for a second shot.
- If you have more tips for this list, please add them to the comments so I can update it.
Disney World is the Most Magical Place On Earth. Be sure to learn how to make the most of your trip by reading the Disney World Training series. You can also browse all the articles I have written in an easy to use outline. And if you are ready to book your trip, be sure to read about the perks of using an authorized Disney vacation planner (plus it’s FREE!).
We visited the animal kingdom on an extra magic hour day. The park had almost cleared out at the end of the day. We spent a lot of time at camp Minnie mickey and were able to play and dance with the characters as there would only be one or two other families in line. This was in february.
I was in the Animal Kingdom in August, and I noticed that Flick is now outside of the I’s Tough to be a Bug attraction…. and his line is much longer than it used to be.
We met Koda bear at camp Minnie Mickey. My daughter loved him because he was small like her.
We were at WDW in December and asked a photopass photographer to take a photo of our family on Main Street with the castle behind. They said they weren’t allowed. :( Maybe the photographers with the characters have different rules?
thats weird- we had them take our camera in the same area and do pics for us about 3 different days we were there. Hmm…going there in two weeks- if one says no, I’ll try someone else I guess lol (I am sure I could find a willing park goer to snap one for me too!)
I had a photopass photographer offer to take my pic on Main Street last year, and he did it facing both ways to get all of the Christmas decorations. Sounds like you had a cranky photographer! Try again. I always use my own camera and have CMs use that as I don’t do photopass.
He took the photo with my camera, and asked me as I was taking pics myself of Main Street.
Not an official character but I love the talking palm tree that you can sometimes catch at the entrance to Animal Kingdom :)
Last year, we say Timon and Meeko at the entrance to AK. Also Miss Bunny in Camp Minnie Mickey. Is the Good Time Gathering spot going on anymore? We saws a ton there last year.
When my sons were smaller, first time we went they were 2 and 3 and then we went the following year at 3 and 4, they were scared to death of Rafiki… Big strange looking monkey was too much for them.
We’ve seen Donald and Daisy and Koda and Kenai at the Camp Minnie Mickey greeting trails. Also, we always catch lots of characters just before the entrance to AK. some we have seen were King Louie, Baloo, Governor Ratcliffe (from Pocohontas), and others I can’t remember right now :)
Pocahontas, Miss Bunny and Thumper in the Camp Minnie-Mickey area. We also got a good photo of Terk on the Africa Trails on our latest trip. Let me know if you want me to send you a copy.
We have seen Daisy, Donald, Koda and Kenai (from Brother Bear) and Thumper and Miss Bunny in Camp Minnie Mickey. We have also seen Meeko and Terk. Once we saw Pocahontas right outside Camp Minnie Mickey, and then we saw her at the Planet Watch wearing a different outfit.
Ooops, meant to say Thumper and Miss Bunny, lol
I have seen Thumper and Miss Bambi right across from where the line is to meet Mickey
We saw Thumper and Miss Bunny at this same spot too!
Us too!
THANKS:)!!!!
I also have seen meeko with pocohontas. He came out just before her. And in camp Mickey Minnie I’ve seen miss bunny and thumper too.
We do the Character Landing with Pooh every year. We have never seen Piglet there though. We always see Tigger instead, which is great, because he is my son’s favorite. I think Tigger is almost always one of the best character interactions we have.
In general though it seems like most of the characters at AK spend just a little extra time with the people. Lilo and Stich are usually really good there. One year when my son had a birthday button, Lilo made a big deal out of it. It was really nice.
Even if there is a long line, which we almost always have a huge line for Mickey, it seems like the characters take just an extra few seconds over other parks. We always do seem to have bad timing though with Mickey, but still enjoy it.
Also a great time to go is when the park is decorated for Christmas, because the characters are dressed for the season. At least I know that Pooh and friends and Mickey and friends are dressed for the season.
The characters also love it when you wear shirts with them on it. And even the characters who don’t talk make their thoughts known and the photopass and character handlers will help with this. Like one time at AK, my son was showing Tigger his orange Mickey Mouse. And Tigger was like wow same color and me and then he took the sharpie and acted like he was going to make stripes on the Mickey, to make him look more like Tigger. It was really cute. And the photopass guy count on to what TIgger was doing and was able to make sure we understood too. Or another time, this at Epcot, but still, Donald got all upset because my son gave him a Mickey pen to sign with. It was really cute.
And let me tell you from experience, even if you know you are going to buy the photopass cd and therefore get all the photopass pictures, still take pictures yourself. There are times when the photopass person’s camera messes up. Just last trip at AK, the photographer for Pooh took pictures of my son and then was like oops the camera isn’t working. So I did at least get one picture I had taken, but that was it.
I went with my boyfriend back in May to AK and it was the first time for both of us at that park. The line for Mickey was pretty short compared to at MK. My boyfriend had one of those water squirt bottles with the fan on it, and when we got up to Mickey, he took it from him and went and sprayed his handler guy with it. I have a picture from right after that, with Mickey with his hand over his mouth like he is laughing, and it is my favorite picture of all, just because every time I look at it I think of that moment and laugh.
Right afterwards we saw Thumper and Miss Bunny. There were kids in front of us, and Miss Bunny was signing their autograph book, and then she gave the book to Thumper, but pulled the pen away as he was grabbing for it and kept teasing him. He got “mad” and started to make his foot thump. Then she motioned for a kiss, and he did and she gave him the pen, and then acted like she was blushing. It was so cute!
I had so much fun meeting the characters at AK. They do seem to spend more time with the people there. And they also seem to have more personality, at least in my experiences.
I have also seen Flik and Turk on the African Greeting Trails