Traditional Meet and Greets Return to Walt Disney World (Photos, Video)

Hi everyone!

Traditional meet and greets returned to Walt Disney World (and Disneyland) yesterday. This follows Disneyland Paris returning their meets to traditional a few weeks ago. We spent the afternoon at EPCOT and met some of the characters that were out.

We stopped by Creations Shop first and picked up the new 50th Anniversary autograph book. It includes photos of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto on the pages.

Here is our video with Mickey, Donald and Goofy first.

Our first stop was a visit with Mickey Mouse at the Imagination pavilion.

He can be found just inside the entrance to the Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival. This was the longest line we experienced except for Donald Duck (the lines were about the same).

Mickey is in his location but now gives hugs and signs autographs for guests who want them. PhotoPass photographers were located at every meet and greet we stopped at except for Goofy.

Mickey posed for me.

We took a photo with him.

Characters haven’t signed autographs since March 2020, I am sure a lot of autograph books were sold yesterday.

Joy and Vanellope also meet at the Imagination pavilion. They returned here a couple of months ago with socially distanced greetings and now the meets are back to normal.

Joy posed for photos.

Here is a look at her autograph after we met her.

Vanellope was fun.

The lines for Joy and Vanellope were maybe 5 minutes long at the time we met them.

She signed her autograph in the book with a mustache and smelly feet on Donald (after changing the page from Minnie to Donald).

Just a note before moving on, there are no characters yet in the Disney Visa Photo Spot.

We stopped to see Donald in Mexico. He and Mickey probably had a 15-20 minute line each, Donald is always popular here.

He signed the autograph book.

He showed off his signature.

We posed for a photo.

As we walked around World Showcase, we spotted other characters who were now greeting guests, including Alice in the United Kingdom. She has been interacting with guests from a distance for almost 2 years.

On the way out of the park, we stopped to visit with Goofy.

Goofy took the autograph book and signed it behind his head.

The signature came out good!

We took a photo before heading out for the day.

While the distanced greetings have their pros – for example, not having to wait to meet a character and just taking a quick photo or two – the return of traditional meet and greets is going to be welcome by many. Having close interactions including autographs and hugs is a unique experience, one that guests are happy to queue for.