Character Greetings and Interactions

Disney World’s official website has a great summary of what character greetings are all about: “During Character Greetings, you are invited to say hello, shake hands, share hugs, photograph and receive one-of-a-kind autographs from your favorite Disney Characters.”

Types of Characters:

There are two types of characters at Walt Disney World.  The first type are called "Face Characters".  These are real people dressed and made-up to look like Disney movie characters.  Face Characters include Snow White, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Jasmine, Arial, Alice, the Mad Hatter, and others.  Face characters will speak with you, sign autographs, interact with you and your children, and pose for pictures.  The second type are often called "Fur Characters", because of their costumes.  Fur Characters do not speak, but will "mime" their thoughts and intentions in order to communicate.  They will also sign autographs (provided the pen is large enough for them to grasp through the costume), pose for pictures, and interact with you and your children.  Examples of Fur Characters include Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Lilo, and Stitch.

There are several different ways to meet characters, including:

• Character Meals
• Character Greeting Locations
• Out and about in the park

Tips for successful character greetings:

• Create a character greeting schedule, with pictures of the characters.  Let your child check off each character that you meet during your trip.
• View videos of character greetings to introduce the process to your child. 
• Read a social story with your child about greeting characters, so they understand the process and have something to look forward to on the trip.
• Never force a child to meet a character.  Many children, including neuro-typical children, are afraid of characters.
• Let cast members and characters know that your child has autism.  Many have received training on autism, and they will often spend more time interacting with your child in order to draw them out.

Social Story:

To help you with character greetings, we have created a character greeting social story.  Please feel free to download and modify the story to fit your child’s needs.  The social story covers the best ways to greet and interact with the characters, to make the most of your experience.  By adapting, printing, and reading the story with your child you can help make their character greeting experience a positive one!

Finding your favorite characters:

Character availability is subject to change.  We have provided information pages listing characters we have personally met in the parks, along with suggestions of where to look for many Disney characters.  We recommend that you look at the park schedule each day to determine when and where characters will be, and that you ask Cast Members if you are trying to find one particular character - they are happy to help you!

Another great resource is the Walt Disney World Insiders Character Finder Utility page.  This webpage gives you an alphabetical list of characters, along with a color coded "Mickey Head" icon to let you know how frequently the character appears in the parks.  One of the best features is the "recent sightings" updates from site visitors - this is the best indication of whether a character will be in the park when you go.  Check it out a day or so before your trip to see how frequently your child's favorite characters appear!