Character meet and greet shuffle at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Jul 27, 2017 in "Character Meet and Greets at Disney's Animal Kingdom"

Posted: Thursday July 27, 2017 5:05pm EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

A couple of changes are coming to the character meet and greet line-up at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

First, Tarzan will be having his final appearance at the park on September 30 2017.

Second, Timon will begin appearing each day on Discovery Island from October 1 2017.

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IanDLBZFSep 28, 2017

Already, given the success of the Country Bears roaming in FrontierLand, if WDW can bring in more roaming characters that would be a benefit too.

DaveeeeedSep 27, 2017

Bands playing on the carousel while waiting in line for 15 minutes to get on Toad! Nothing beats that. Disneyland does day to day operations like that soooo much better.

toekneeSep 27, 2017

This! I completely agree. I understand the demand for character greetings is much greater at WDW and needs to be managed - but having been to DL - and seeing Belle and the Beast ride the carousel - nothing beats that. Seeing Goofy come out of back stage and then walking around holding the hands of 2 little kids - nothing beats that.

IanDLBZFSep 27, 2017

Reminder - Tarzan's last day at AK will be this Saturday! Timon's first day at AK will be Sunday!

brb1006Jul 31, 2017

Thumper and Miss Bunny were both briefly common during the final years of Camp Minnie Mickey starting between 2010 or 2013. Just wish they brought back Flower The Skunk who used to be at both WDW and DL starting in the mid 60's and vanished in the late 70's.

DaveeeeedJul 31, 2017

I think characters walking around is the coolest thing. It's the 1+ hour waits that I think are shameful. o_O

brb1006Jul 31, 2017

Okay maybe that was used on a different website that keeps track if when rare characters show up at the other parks.

RazgrizJul 31, 2017

I find it kinda weird they don't have the Rebels characters at DHS.

TabulaRasaJul 31, 2017

I always have trouble following MK pop-ups when I'm on vacation. They seem to be harder to spot on social media than when training happens in Epcot, or when pop ups happen in Animal Kingdom.

IanDLBZFJul 31, 2017

MK has been doing a few pop-ups every now and then. For instance, Mary Poppins may be paired with a penguin or 2, Snow White may get paired with Dopey, Suzy and Perla from time to time meet in Fantasyland.

TabulaRasaJul 31, 2017

Animal Kingdom is getting more 'pop up' meets on a pretty consistent basis as of late. Maybe as a way to curb the surge in attendance? In the last couple of months, Brer Bear, Brer Fox, Brer Rabbit, Thumper, Miss Bunny, Meeko, Ratcliffe, Terk, Jane, Dug, Chip and Dale have all made appearances outside of the park entrance, or with a counterpart (Tarzan - Terk). Hopefully AK starts adding some of these characters to the permanent roster.

Kman101Jul 30, 2017

I don't know that you can technically count the pop ups and training as 'regular' characters available to meet and greet. They're not guarantees.

wdriveJul 30, 2017

What? Where have you seen this used in Paris? Palooza isn't even a word in French.

brb1006Jul 30, 2017

That term is also used in Paris more than it does for WDW