Covid and Character Dining/Experiences

For those who are going during the pandemic, the character experience is different and perhaps a little awkward. No more kids running up and hugging Mickey or Pooh Bear. In the parks, they are in gated areas where you can still get decent pictures "with" the character. For the "human" characters, such as Anna and Elsa, they are separated but close enough to interact and a 3-year old Frozen fan with us was delighted to talk with them across the gate.

We did character dining at Tusker House and the character would come in the room, interact from a distance and you could stand at the end of your table with them in the background. No group hug pictures but it was obvious the character was engaged with the guests. Hats off to the characters maintaining connection with these physical challenges. It's not like the old days where Chip took my kids pillow and went to sleep or in Animal Kingdom I'm sitting on a bench and Chip (again) plopped down beside me and started messing with me. Hope we get back to those days.

Just wanted to set expectations for those going down based on our experience last week. :mickey:

Yeah, it's just not the same. Even for adults there is a special connection when Mickey puts his hands on your shoulder for a photo.

Like you I hope we get back to where we were. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I’m taking my son's girlfriend for her first visit in April. She is a huge Winnie the Pooh fan and I had hoped she would get a picture with him. Crystal palace isn’t doing their character dining right now. Is he still making an appearance in the UK at Epcot? Can she get a socially distanced pic with him?

Desperately hoping we can get back to where we were as well. Character photos are some of my favorite memories. We went for just a short visit last summer and experienced the whole characters at a distance thing. I will say it was still very cool to see them, and not standing in character lines did add time to do other things. But it would still be great to have the opportunity to do character photos the old way as well.

I'd check with a cast member when you get there. When we were at Epcot, Pooh was wandering in the garden area outside of JII. But guidelines change so I'd check closer to your trip.