Here are the characters in Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. Be sure to pick up a Times Guide each morning to see their exact meet and greet times.
Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater – 9 am to 8 pm – Team McQueen Headquarters near Streets of America
Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc – 10 am to 2:30 pm & 3:40 to 5:00 pm – Near Studio Backlot Tour
Phineas and Ferb – 9:30 am to 2:00 pm & 3:10 to 7 – Near Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano
Toy Story Friends near Pixar Place
- Meet Woody and Buzz from park opening to park close
- Green Army Men – Find them walking around in front of Toy Story Mania during the day
Disney Animation Building
- Sorcerer Mickey – 10 am to 7:30 pm
- The Incredibles* – 11:30 am to 2:30 pm & 3:30 to 6:30 pm
- Wreck It Ralph – 10:30 am – 1:30 pm & 2:40 pm – 6:00 pm
Characterpalooza – At 4:50 pm on nights that do not have Fantasmic, you might get lucky and catch these characters in the Art of Animation building:
1st set – Aladdin & Jasmine, Pocahontas & Meeko, Geppetto, Belle in her blue dress and cape, and Minnie.
2nd set – Hook & Mr. Smee, Rafiki, Mary Poppins, Queen of Hearts, and Goofy.
*Each set stays for 20 minutes and might or might not repeat.
Stars of Playhouse Disney
Found in the Animation Courtyard between 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
- Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates
- Sofia from Sofia The First
During Extra Magic Hours, you can have a Dance Party with some of your favorite characters at the Animation Courtyard!
Sorcerer Hat Character Greetings
9 am – 1 pm and 2:10 pm – 3 pm
I’ve seen the following (if it is raining, look for them in Art of Animation)
Minnie Mouse
Daisy and Donald (together!)
Goofy and Pluto
Stitch
Tigger and Pooh
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.)
- 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.
Here is a list of all the characters you can meet in the Magic Kingdom.
Learn more about the Walt Disney World Parks including attractions, secrets, tips and more. Plus my friends at Destinations in Florida can help you plan your perfect Walt Disney World vacation.
We were there a couple of weeks ago and both days we were there they had the Characterpalooza thingie at 4:50, and both nights had Fantasmic. The first day we knew about because one of the character handlers told us when we were waiting in line for Winnie the Pooh in the Magic of Animation building. On that day we saw Handy Manny, Pinnochio & Gepetto, Pocahontas, Stitch, Mary Poppins & penguin, Leo & June, and Minnie & Pluto. The second set of characters included Leo & blonde girl from Little Einsteins, Mulan, Rafiki, Goofy & Max, and Chip & Dale.
On the second day, it was raining a little and we were in the area so we thought we’d check it out just to see if anyone was there. Jackpot! First set included the Queen from Snow White, Pinnochio & Jepetto, Handy Manny, Pocahontas, the penguin from Mary Poppins, Little Einsteins, and Chip & Dale. Second set included Queen of Hearts, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Captain Hook & Mr. Smee, Mulan, and Minnie & Pluto. There may have been others but we waited a long time for the Queen from Snow White and I missed some.
I was also told that when it rains that the normally outside characters like Handy Manny and Little Einsteins move in to the building until the weather gets better.
About the Disney Animation Building, to get to the character area, you don’t have to go through “The Magic of Disney Animation” film/exhibit (although it is really terrific, so do it at least once). If you go through the “Animation Gallery” (the attached gift shop to the right – it sells figurines & animation cels) & go past the Oscars, you’ll find the character area. Also, regarding Lotso, as Jill said, that specific area is for the “latest” character to have a promotion coming out – through the years, we’ve seen characters from Toy Story 3, Up, Bolt, & Ratatouille, that I can recall offhand…
We have been very lucky twice, both times in the middle of the day, to be in the Animation Building when tons of characters have come out into the room. Both times a cast member heard us saying what we were doing next, and whispered to me to stay. Mary Poppins and Mr. Penguin, Belle in her town dress, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Max, Minnie, Pluto, Gepetto, Pocahontas and Meeko, The Sheriff (from Robin Hood), Pinocchio, Stitch, The Queen of Hearts, Jasmine and Alice.
Are you going to do an Animal Kingdom one before Sunday? We leave then for WDW and I have printed the other three and they are in my planning binder!!! Thanks for doing this, I know a lot of people appreciate your expertise!!
We were talking to one of the character handlers in line (Disneyland) and we mentioned that we were going to go over to Winnie the Pooh’s area to see the characters there. He told my daughter to make sure to challenge Tigger to a bouncing contest (like she wasn’t already jumping all over the pace). Needless to say, Tigger was happy to bounce with my daughter and I got some really cute pictures out of it.
These lists are going to be GREAT for our trip in March!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!
Happy to help!
I made a photo book on Shutterfly with pictures of our family with all the different characters from our previous trips. I “bought” 2 copies of the book with free credits I received for different promotions. I then took these books on our recent trip and used them as “autograph” books. We received so many comments from the characters and cast members and our kids have a unique keepsake to help them remember our trips.
What an awesome idea! I have to do this for our next trip! Thanks so much for sharing.
We also saw special agent Oso at Hollywood studios at breakfast at Hollywood and vine.
There is a rumor that Lotso will be leaving and being replaced the Pooh since he has a new movie coming out and the space Lotso is in is the place for characters from current movies