Disney's Animal Kingdom Characters to Meet and Greet

What characters can you meet at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park? This guide to Disney’s Animal Kingdom characters will tell you who you can meet and where you can find them at this popular Disney theme park.

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When planning a Disney World vacation most guests want to add character meet and greets to their itinerary. Walt Disney World has four parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.

Typically each park has Mickey and Minnie to meet, but there are some characters you can only find at certain parks.

With a little planning you can easily incorporate meeting characters into your Animal Kingdom itinerary. The characters at Animal Kingdom follow the “animal” and “adventure” theme of the park, and there are a few characters that you can only meet at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

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Characters to Meet at Animal Kingdom

The characters at Animal Kingdom are located throughout the park with the majority in DinoLand U.S.A. or the Discovery Island area of the park. Be sure to check the Walt Disney World app for the most up-to-date character times and meetings. Due to the pandemic these have changed.

List of Characters to Meet at Disney Animal Kingdom

Rafiki & Timon
Kevin from Pixar’s UP
Mickey and Minnie
Pocahontas
Dug & Russell
Scrooge McDuck
Launchpad
Chip and Dale
Goofy
Pluto
Donald Duck
Baloo and King Louie
DiVine: a tree like creature that walks around and blends in with the landscape

Not all of these characters are always available and this can change at any time. Always check the app for the days of your visit before you arrive at the park.

Rafiki & Timon at Discovery Island, Character Landing

Rafiki & Timon welcome guests at the Character Landing area of Discovery Island. On our last visit Rafiki was meeting guests at Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

It was a fun meet at great at Animal Kingdom but a bit out of the way for some guests. This new meet and greet is a unique character in a convenient location.

Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse at Discovery Island, Adventurers Outpost

Mickey and Minnie meet at Adventurers Outpost as you are headed to the Asia area of the park. Here guests can meet Mickey and Minnie in their Safari outfits.

Pocahontas at Discovery Island, Discovery Islands Trails West

Pocahontas is the only princess meet and greet at Animal Kingdom. You will find her to the left of the Tree of Life as you enter the park and head back towards Africa.

Dug & Russell at Discovery Island, Dug and Russell’s Wilderness Explorers Club House

Dug & Russell are one of my absolute favorite to meet. They are so fun and engaging with the kids and we love to stop by to say hello when we visit Animal Kingdom.

Another fun thing to do at Animal Kingdom is based on Dug and Russell’s movie UP!. Guests can participate in the Wilderness Explorer program and earn badges as they explore the park. Learn more about How to Become a Wilderness Explorer.

Scrooge McDuck at DinoLand U.S.A., Scrooge’s Outpost

Guests can meet Donald’s money loving Uncle who has been introduced to a new audience with the new Ducktales. We think meeting Scrooge is a fun addition to Animal Kingdom.

Chip & Dale at DinoLand U.S.A., Upper Cretaceous Trail

Chip and Dale are always fun to meet and at DinoLand U.S.A. it is no different. They are fun and playful. We always have a blast meeting them no matter what park we are at.

Launchpad McQuack at DinoLand U.S.A., Aerial Adventure Base

Launchpad McQuack is one of our favorite characters from DuckTales! He is the comic relief and adds so much character to the show. He can be met near Restaurantosaurus.

Goofy at DinoLand U.S.A., at Slam-o-Saurus

Goofy is always fun to meet. He meets at DinoLand U.S.A at Animal Kingdom but you can also meet him at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

Pluto at DinoLand U.S.A., Near Chester and Hester’s

Pluto is also a fun meet and greet at Animal Kingdom. Pluto can be met at all four Disney parks and you can find him at Animal Kingdom near Chester and Hester’s area of DinoLand U.S.A.

Donald Duck at DinoLand U.S.A., at Celebration Welcome Center

There are a few other places at Walt Disney World to meet Donald Duck, like the Mexican pavilion at Epcot, but in DinoLand its a festive and fun meet and greet.

Character Parades at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Due to the pandemic and social distancing, Disney announced character cavalcades at the parks. These are short parade floats, boats at Animal Kingdom, that run throughout the day.

At Animal Kingdom there are currently 3 that run daily. Times can be found on the Walt Disney World app. They include:

Discovery River Character Cruise: Pocahontas or Disney’s The Lion King Characters
Goofy and Pals Set Sail: Goofy, Chip & Dale
Mickey and Friends Flotilla: Mickey, Minnie, Pluto

Character Dining at Animal Kingdom

Tusker House at Animal Kingdom offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner options with your favorite Disney characters. Characters can change but are typically Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Daisy Duck.

Character at Animal Kingdom can really enhance your visit to the park. We like to visit characters as we explore each area of the park and work it into our itinerary for the day. I highly recommend making reservations for this character experience.

Hopefully as we move further into 2022 more character meet and greets at Disney’s Animal Kingdom will return. Be sure to catch one of the character floats during your visit if there is a specific character you are hoping to see.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Characters to Meet and Greet