Hollywood Studios Debuts New Character Spots Amid Park Updates

With the closure of Animation Courtyard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we’ve seen another significant shift in character meet-and-greet locations. Below, we’ll discuss some of the new character meet-and-greets we’ve seen pop up in the My Disney Experience app and where you might find them. We’ll also touch on what meet-and-greets have recently ended and why.

Sadly, the Disney Junior characters who were formerly part of this area are no longer meeting in the park. You may remember that Animation Courtyard was formerly “the Disney Junior” location at Disney World. The area consisted of multiple meet-and-greets over the years, like Sofia the First, Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Doc McStuffins, Vampirina, and Fancy Nancy, among others.

guests waiting in queue to meet Disney Jr characters in Animation Courtyard — Former Disney Junior Meet-and-Greet Area

This area was also home to the former Disney Junior Dance Party, in recent years called the Disney Junior Play ‘n’ Dance. There, you could interact with Mickey Mouse, Timon and the Lion Guard, and other Disney Junior Characters. You may even remember that this past summer, the space hosted the Get Animated Dance Party as part of a limited-time promotion called Cool Kid Summer.

Animation Courtyard closed in September of 2025 to make way for an area called The Walt Disney Studios. This area will feature an upcoming family experience called The Magic of Disney’s Animation, a fresh Disney Junior show, and an interactive Drawn to Wonderland playground area inspired by “Alice in Wonderland” concept art from Disney Legend Mary Blair. Below is a photo of the concept art Disney released when they announced the new animation-inspired experience. This reimagined park area is expected to open sometime in 2026.

Where to Find New Character Spots

Since Animation Courtyard closed, a few new character spots have popped up in the My Disney Experience app. Those characters and their locations are as follows:

Mary Poppins
- As of this update, Mary Poppins is meeting daily at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in front of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
Bert
- We’ve seen Bert from Mary Poppins listed as meeting in the same location. They appear to be rotating times. You may or may not see either of them meeting with penguins from the Jolly Holiday scene in the original movie.

Mary Poppins and Bert in Jolly Holiday Costumes

We’ve also seen two beloved characters from Pinocchio pop up in the app:

Pinocchio
- Pinocchio is listed as meeting in front of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
Jiminy Cricket
- Jiminy rotates this same location with Pinocchio. When one leaves, the other usually comes out, and vice versa.

While the app notes that the characters meet in front of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, you’ll want to be aware that there are two separate locations. If you look at the image below, you’ll see the hedges that surround the stage in front of the attraction. One character meet-and-greet location is near the hedge on the right, the other is on the left. (Because of the hedges, you really can’t see either of these meet-and-greet areas unless you’re within the immediate area. So make sure to check both sides.)

shows the area where you can find meet-and-greets in front of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway — Character Meet-and-Greets in front of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

We’ll keep an eye on these meet-and-greets for consistency’s sake and see what happens. With so many changes coming to the park, we anticipate it being a while before things settle back down. As always, you’ll want to check the My Disney Experience app for a list of exact characters, locations, and times on the day of your visit. Here are our quick instructions for how to do that:

How to Locate Characters in the My Disney Experience App

Open the My Disney Experience app and select the pin drop at the bottom of the home screen.
Scroll (left to right) through the icons at the top of the screen and select “Characters.”
After selecting characters, use the locations drop-down to select the park of your choice.
Then, on the bottom right of the screen, select “Show List.”
Scroll through the list of characters to see who’s available.
Select a meet-and-greet, and you’ll see the location and times for the day.*
As an alternative, you can use the map view to locate characters.

*As the day passes, you might notice that characters disappear from the app. When their last scheduled time passes, the meet-and-greet automatically disappears. A new schedule won’t be loaded until the following day. It is essential to check the app for meet-and-greets on the day of your visit. See our screenshot tutorial below for more details.

Learn More: Complete Screenshot Tutorial for Locating Characters at Disney World

Jiminy Cricket meeting next to the hedge in front of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway

Final Thoughts

We hope you get a chance to see some of your favorite characters on your next visit. For a list of characters who meet regularly in the park, see our Disney’s Hollywood Studios Characters Guide. Or you might enjoy our entire guide to meeting characters at Disney World.