The Disney Jr characters used to go inside the Animation area and meet guests when inclement weather was present in the area. The other day I was in the park to check out Character Palooza and lightning was striking in the area, so I thought I’d drop into Animation to see if these characters were there. They weren’t!
I found them under the covered area to the LEFT as you enter the Animation Building through the regular entrance. One would normally turn right to see the 15 minute Mushu movie in this area. The covered area is usually blocked with plants, so one doesn’t mistakenly enter this ghost town of an extended queue area.
The wait for Sofia the First was so short, I didn’t even have time to share the location on Twitter (www.twitter.com/kennypirate) before meeting her. I share a lot of live in-park information on Twitter btw. Jake didn’t have a line, so I met Jake after meeting Sofia and we compared muscles and did some sword training.
If it’s raining, look in this area first. If you don’t see them here, then move into the Animation Building to see if they are present.
View of the area where the characters were meeting
Photo copyright Banks Lee and Attractions Magazine. Sofia appearing at Magic Kingdom Disney World Parade
I was emailed a link to a post on a message board in which Drew81 stated that Sofia the First will begin meet and greets soon.
“Sofia is starting next month. I would look for early/mid July.” Drew81 Posted June 17th
NEW: “Sofia will start July 19th taking Handy Manny’s spot. Handy Manny will only appear at Play n Dine.”June 23
UPDATE: She is supposed to begin appearing August 11th!
If the rumor is true, a lot of Sofia fans would be happy. On June 14th I posted this info on my Twitter and Facebook accounts: “It’s been reported to me that Sofia the First has been seen backstage at Hollywood Studios!” So, it’s certainly possible that she could begin meeting that early. I have no other confirmation and there’s no insight on whether it will be in-park or at Hollywood and Vine or both. Don’t book a trip in hopes that this will be true. If it happens during your trip, see it as a nice bonus!
Playing with some graphs.
June 19 at Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland and Mountains
My brother and I were tossing around an idea recently that we could create an interface that would allow www.characterlocator.com users to create graphs of the ride wait times for four parks at Walt Disney World. Our thought was to allow the user to choose a park, then choose different attractions to see the wait times in a park. The chart would show the wait every 30 minutes. Well, in less than 24 hours, my brother had created the tool that we discussed. There’s still some errors like spelling (umm bob). Once it’s finished, you’ll be able to choose the park, the date, the attractions and the type of graph you prefer. Additionally, we want to create one that allows you to check waits for a given ride for an entire week at a time.
You’ll notice a huge drop in the outdoor rides, those are from a thunderstorm that passed through the parks. If you see a single ride at zero suddenly or for long periods of time, that’s because the attraction went 101 for a while.
June 19th at Animal KingdomJune 19th at EpcotJune 19th at Hollywood StudiosJune 19th at Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland
Green Army Men added to the schedules.
Green Army Man at Hollywood Studios 2012
A Cast Member friend has provided me with the schedule for the elusive Green Army Men. The person said they may stay out as late as 8:00 or 9:00, but felt safe with the meet and greet hours listed in the Character Locator app and here on the blog.
There’s one thing that Disney knows and does better than any other entity – Princesses. Princesses rule the Magic Kingdoms of Disney theme parks around the world. People are known to wait an hour or longer to meet with their favorite princess. Walt Disney World currently offers regular meet and greets with 10 “Princesses”: Jasmine, Merida, Tiana, Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Belle, Aurora, Pocahontas (Her dad was Chief Powhatan), Mulan (who isn’t a princess or related to one but often marketed as one). Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins, Fairy Godmother, Tinker Bell and the Tremaine family also represent strong female lead characters who appear in their human form.
To read the remainder of the excerpt of the article I prepared for Attractions Magazine, click here.
***Handy Manny first appeared for meets in 2007 which was about 1 year. He replaced other characters at Hollywood and Vine in 2010
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