PHOTOS: Traditional Character Meets Are BACK in Disney World

After Disney World reopened in July 2020, character meet-and-greets didn’t come back for another 14 months, and they were pretty different from before the closure.

Modified meet-and-greets, which Disney also referred to as “sightings,” took the place of traditional character interactions, and guests could only meet characters from a distance — no hugging or autographs. Today that has changed, and it’s time to pull out your autograph book!

With modified character meet-and-greets, characters were usually placed behind a rope or some kind of barrier to ensure distance was kept between the character and the guest. So while you could still have a brief, one-on-one conversation with select characters, you were limited in your interactions.

But today traditional character meet-and-greets are BACK! That means it’s time to get back to hugging our favorite characters and collecting those autographs and close-up selfies. We decided to visit Mickey Mouse first (naturally!), so we made our way to Town Square Theater where the wait was already up to 35 minutes first thing in the morning!

But if anything is worth the wait, it’s this moment right here! Check out Molly’s reunion with the main mouse:

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My emotional stages of being able to HUG Mickey Mouse again ? pic.twitter.com/eiKkOoAS2U

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) April 18, 2022

We’ll continue checking meet and greets throughout the day to see which ones return to normal (updating this post as we go), and you can check the My Disney Experience app for available characters and wait times. Note that this is a phased return, so not every meet and greet may be “normal” again today.

Keep following AllEars for more Disney World news!