A big part of the magic of Disney Parks is being able to meet your favorite Disney characters face-to-face, but things have looked different for some time now.
Princess Fairytale Hall
Over the past few years, Disney Parks have undergone a number of changes due to the global pandemic, with one notable change involving characters in the parks. As of right now, character interactions are modified, and if you haven’t visited a Disney Park in several years, you might be disappointed by the limitations. But if you’re hoping for things to change, we just learned some BIG news about Disney Parks character meet-and-greets — and how they could look different soon.
Whether you want to take pictures, get autographs, or have a chat, there’s nothing quite like getting to meet a Disney character in real life. If you need a recap, when Disney World reopened in July 2020, individual character meet-and-greets did not return. Initially, after the reopening, the only ways to spot characters were generally from spontaneous and distant locations around the parks.
Hey Mickey!
Character meet-and-greets returned to Disney World in October 2021 in a modified way known as “sightings,” or interactions in which guests could once again meet with characters individually and take photos from a distance, with no hugging or autographs allowed. Although we enjoy our time with Mickey regardless, many people are wondering when they can get that traditional one-on-one interaction with characters again.
Visiting Mickey always makes our day!
Today during the Q&A Session at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, & Telecom Conference, Christine McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of the Walt Disney Company, said that face-to-face meet-and-greets should be returning to Disney Parks “soon.” McCarthy stated, “With the trending of COVID, we’re definitely going to see some of those face-to-face interactions come back.” Orange County and Osceola County, Florida, where Disney World is located, have recently been downgraded to medium and low risk for COVID-19, respectively.
Anna and Elsa
McCarthy noted that character meet-and-greets can also help balance crowds in the park, which would be beneficial for the long lines we’ve been seeing in Disney World recently. We’ll have to wait and see just how soon face-to-face meet-and-greets will return, so stay tuned to DFB for all your Disney Parks news.
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Any news on when the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique will be up and running again?
Hi Gianny! Disney has not yet released that information, but we are keeping an eye on it and will update our readers as soon as they do!
Can’t wait to Lightning Lane some Princess Meet and Greets, with high demand princesses requiring either an Individual Attraction Lightning Lane or Virtual Queue.
Hoping for Ohana Character Breakfast to return! My children love Stitch the most!
Great news! Ps I swear that friend of Elsa has been in every single vacation, blogger and official parks photo I’ve seen for the past YEAR. It’s crazy how often I’ve seen her.
Will face-to-face meet-and-greets include the costumes characters e.g. Pluto and face characters e.g. Disney Princess(Cinderella).
We did a Lightening Lane for Cinderella and Elena and it was an amazing experience!! It was so nice to get 1-1 time and talk with the princesses again without masks. Highly recommend!!
Hi Carys! Face-to-Face meet and greets would include both fully costumed characters and face characters like the Disney Princesses.
Will Disney cruise return to face-to-face meet-and-greets include the costumes characters e.g. Pluto and face characters e.g. Disney Princess(Cinderella).