4 Character Changes at Walt Disney World You Need to Know About (August 2019)

Wednesday, August 14, 2019 - 05:58

Character meet and greets are a big part of what makes a trip to Walt Disney World so special, and in recent months Disney has taken it upon themselves to make a number of improvements and changes to each park's character line-up. While not all of these changes are always popular with guests, Disney is constantly making adjustments to try and make character offerings as diverse as possible while still keeping things running efficiently around the parks.

This month, Disney brings back wandering characters in a big way for a limited time at select hotels and resorts, annual passholders get a special meet and greet opportunity with some favorites from Disney's Animal Kingdom, plus a long lost favorite returns to Disney's Hollywood Studios at the end of the month.

1. Special annual passholder character meet and greets coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom

Beginning August 29th Disney will have the following special character meet and greets around Disney's Animal Kingdom just for annual passholders:

Meet Baloo near Creature Comforts from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM.
Greet Jane and Tarzan near Island Mercantile in Discovery Island from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

This special character offering will only be available for annual passholders for a limited time, and though no end date has been set yet, we'd guess these characters will move on before the holiday season.

2. Wandering characters come to Disney resorts

Image: Disney

Disney is bringing back wandering characters for a trial run this fall at some of its resort hotels! Here's what characters are meeting guests, and at which resort:

Disney’s Wilderness Lodge: Chip and Dale can be found in and around the lawn area at Wilderness Lodge.
Disney’s Contemporary Resort: Chip and Dale will be interacting with guests at the Contemporary Resort playing lawn games like corn hole.
Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort: Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto canl be found in the lawn outside of the Great Ceremonial Hall.
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa: Pooh and Tigger can be found around the various sidewalks at the resort, whereas Mary Poppins can be found by Main Pool topiaries. Alice and the Mad Hatter will be found in and around the Mad Hatter Tea Party pool.
Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts Daisy, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy will be in and around the pool area ready to catch some sun with guests.
Disney’s BoardWalk Resort Daisy, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy will also be around the pool area at the BoardWalk to partake in the fun.

Right now this is only a test, so we're not sure how long these characters will be available, or if Disney has plans to make wandering characters a permanent part of these Disney resorts moving forward.

Amanda KondolojyView Profile

Managing editor of Theme Park Tourist and dark ride enthusiast. Amanda is a lifelong theme parks fan who lives just outside Orlando. When she’s not booking FastPass+ reservations, standing in a queue or eating the latest specialty cupcake, you can find her watching a Marvel movie, reading a book (probably by Neil Gaiman) or singing along to showtunes in her car. Contact: [email protected]