Meet Timon at Rafiki's Planet Watch at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Timon from Disney’s animated film The Lion King meets guests daily at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. You can find him at Rafiki’s Planet Watch. The beloved meerkat rotates this location with Rafiki. Timon debuted here a few years back to celebrate the film’s 30th anniversary. Then, he disappeared for some time, but as of late, he’s returned to the regular character lineup in the My Disney Experience app. So, below, we’ll discuss the details for meeting Timon, including a few photos and one very big need-to-know for this particular location.

Timon the meerkat at Rafiki's Planet Watch

Before we dive into the details, there is one important thing to mention. With so much construction going on at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, changes are inevitable. Our best advice is:

Always (always) check the My Disney Experience app on the day of your visit for available characters, times, and locations. (Directions for this step are provided below.)
If a character isn’t listed (who you are pretty sure meets there regularly), ask a cast member wearing a blue shirt if they can help you locate them. The cast members who work the character meet-and-greets wear blue shirts and khaki pants or shorts. The best place to find them is at another meet-and-greet.

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 with their times and locations.

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.

Learn More: How to Use the My Disney Experience App to Locate Characters (Full Tutorial)

As mentioned above, there is one other big thing you need-to-know about this meet-and-greet. Rafiki’s Planet Watch is not your average location. You must take the Wildlife Express Train to reach this location. As an example, if you’re standing at the front of the park and see that Timon meets in the next 10-15 minutes, you’ll have to walk to Africa, find the Harambe Train Station, and then take the next train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Then, you’ll have to exit the train and walk down to find the meet-and-greet.

With these extra steps, realistically, you probably wouldn’t make it to that scheduled time. Say the meeting was scheduled at 10:00 a.m. and his next meet-and-greet was at 10:30 a.m. If that were the case, you could wait until his next appearance—no big deal. If, however, the time was scheduled at 12:30 p.m. and there was a 1.5-hour gap between his next scheduled time, you probably wouldn’t want to wait that long. Therefore, you’ll want to take into consideration location logistics and timing a little more here than you might elsewhere.

Rafiki’s Planet Watch is in a separate area of the park. The train station’s entrance is at the back of Harambe, near Kilimanjaro Safaris. A large sign hangs over the walkway leading to the Wildlife Express Train. You must board the train and take it to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. The train runs approximately every 10 minutes. While you’re at it, you might run into Goofy, who has a meet-and-greet at the Harambe Train Station.

Timon meets outdoors on the immediate right when you reach the entrance to Conservation Station. Here is a photo of where we found him on our visit.

the location where Timon usually greets guests

A pair of restrooms is available immediately inside Conservation Station, should you need one.

Timon is an autograph-signing character. A PhotoPass photographer was not available at this location during our visit.

We hope you have the opportunity to meet Timon on your next visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Remember to check the schedule in the app to confirm availability, times, and location. You might also enjoy our guide to meeting characters at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It offers a list of all the other meet-and-greets in the park. Visit Resorts Gal again soon to see what’s new!