Favorite Character Experiences 1

One of my favorite things about going on a Disney vacation is some of the character interaction and the photos that go along with it. Not only do the pictures create magic memories, but so do some of the experiences that you have with these character, whether it be a funny conversation, a photo bomb or maybe something as simple as a hug from one of your favorites. There are a number of different ways that you can do meet and greets, could be an attraction area, randomly walking by, character meals, special ticket events or even a RunDisney race, below I will list some of my favorites.

Character meals

Character meals have always been a must for our family for a number of reasons. They are a perfect way to meet a few of your favorites and get a picture and autograph without waiting in a line, they also offer a unique dining experience at places like Ft. Wilderness where the menu is inspired by the story of Snow White

Some of our favorite spots are Cinderellas Royal table (princesses), The Crystal Palace (Pooh and friends), Hollywood and Vine (Characters vary), Story book Dining (Snow White) and Tusker House (Mickey, Minnie and Donald). Now the meals are not cheap, but they make up for it by saving you time waiting to see characters in the park.

Character meet up spots

One of the easiest ways to make sure you get a character experience is to go to a designated meet up area, some even have a Fast Pass option so you can avoid a long line. A large portion of our day use to be consumed by going to each and every character spot we could find. Now that our children are a little older we do not go out of our way to find every character in the park, but we definitely have a few favorites that we do go and get a picture with. I also highly recommend you take advantage of Disney’s photopass option, they take some great pics and you can edit them in different ways when you get home.

Some of our favorite spots would be the Characters from UP at Animal Kingdom, Star Wars characters at Launch Bay in Hollywood Studios and Mickey/Tinkerbell at Town Hall in Magic Kingdom. A couple of these locations now use the photobox to take the pictures, I prefered the ones taken by a cast member, but are still worth a visit.

Random Walking Around

This is one of my favorite ways to meet a character because its usually random and by surprise. Galaxy’s Edge does this with all their characters, they just wander around the area interacting with guests, residents (cast members) or their surroundings. My daughter was stopped by Rey for some quick help in avoiding Stormtroopers, it’s something she still talks about to this day. A couple that I love to run into are both at Animal Kingdom, one is Kevin from UP and he just looks larger than life, the other is Devine and we find that she is usually out in the morning, take a right when entering the park and keep a close eye out, she blends in well with the trees.

Hard Ticket Event

There are a number of hard ticket events that not only offer Character meet and greets, but they are usually ones that you don’t see very often. We have done MNSSHP, MVMCP, DVC Events, After Hour events and Media events where we have meet some really cool characters like Jack and Sally, Oswald, Bolt, Sweetums, Dark Wing, Captain Phasma and others. If you have a little extra money to spend during your vacation, I highly recommend that you look into what events are being offered during your trip.

RunDisney Events

Now this one comes with a little downside, you have to run a race. I was never a runner before, so it took Star Wars to get me off the couch and start running. I have done 5ks, 10ks and Half Marathons and to be honest, I don’t do it for the characters, I do it for the overall atmosphere, that being said, they do have some great characters on the course. The one I always stop for is Darth Maul, but we have done a few others, its a good excuse to take a break from the race. The one downside is that there are some long lines and if you fall to far behind, they will remove you from the race…….lousy balloon ladies.

We would love to hear about some of your favorite character meet ups and experiences in the comments below and as usual, make sure to tune into The Behind the Ears Podcast. Have a magical time on that next trip…..