Meet Mickey and Friends at the Epcot Character Spot

Update 2023--The character meets discussed in this post are not available. Both locations listed below have been demolished as part of the extended refurbishment project at Epcot.

If you are looking to meet characters, try the Epcot Character Guide.

For more characters at Epcot, try these individual articles:

The information below is for historical reference only:

The Epcot Character Spot is the traditional place to meet Mickey and Friends and Epcot. Specifically, those characters include Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy. Additionally, a few more characters are part of the spot from time to time.

The Epcot Character Spot has relocated several times within Epcot. This review will cover the changes and new location of the character meet.

We will look at what characters meet here, the times, and how long you can expect to wait if there’s a long line.

Walt Disney World announced that this experience would close in the Fall of 2019 during Epcot’s extensive refurbishment. Thankfully, the Meet Disney Pals at Epcot Character Spot have only been temporarily relocated instead of completely closed.

During a recent visit to Epcot, we took the time to meet Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy. The Epcot Character Spot provides the opportunity to meet all three characters instead of standing in separate lines to find them.

Each character at the Epcot Character Spot has a separate meet within the actual area. Mickey Mouse is the first meet, followed by Goofy, and then Minnie Mouse.

The characters are currently meeting from the park open until close. Make sure to check the daily time guide or the My Disney Experience app on the specific day of your visit for exact timing.

Epcot Character Spot

The picture below is the former home of the Epcot Character Spot. Its home was within the Innoventions West buildings that have recently closed. However, the character experience has always been popular and often has relatively high wait times.

For a bit of history on the popularity of this meet, the picture above was taken on Memorial Day. On this day, I elected to use FastPass+ to meet the characters.

When I got to the park around 11:00 a.m., the wait time was 50 minutes when I passed by the location.

When I got to the meet again, the wait time sign dropped from 45 minutes to 20 minutes while taking the picture. Fortunately, there was only one other party entering the FastPass+ line in front of me. So we were into the actual meet within less than five minutes.

I’m mentioning this recent history because the Epcot Character Spot no longer offers FastPass+ ability as it has in the past. This could somewhat affect your touring strategy if the meet is deemed important on your list of must-do attractions.

New Epcot Character Spot Location

Below is a picture of the new meet for the Disney Pals at Epcot’s Character Spot. It’s located across the breezeway and outside from its former home. This meet will be on your right as you cross through the breezeway headed toward The Land Pavilion.

When you walk into this area, you will see where the line begins for this meet. There is a decent area in the building to take a break or wait if not everyone participates in the character meet.

Above is the reasonably extensive line that I met on my visit. Per my notes, I got in line at 1:35 p.m. on this day.

There are no wait times posted currently at the new Epcot Character Experience. When you enter the line, you can see the characters meeting out in front of you with other guests.

Below you can tell they had just come back from a break, and Mickey was meeting his first guest while Goofy was entertaining a bit since he was caught up.

The characters had just come back from a break when I got in line and then went on a second break before I got to Goofy. For reference, here’s precisely how my visit went:

1:35 p.m.–Got in line as the characters returned from a break.
2:02 p.m.–Met Mickey Mouse.
2:05 p.m.–Goofy left for a break and there were two parties still ahead of me to meet him.
2:09 p.m.–Characters all came back.
2:13 p.m.–Finished meeting all three characters and exited.

My visit was a total of 38 minutes to meet all three characters. That’s not bad, but it did feel long.

Sometimes when characters leave for breaks, it also makes the wait feel longer. On this day, the queue was full and looked even busier as I left.

As always, character meet wait times fluctuate primarily by how long the people ahead of you visit with each character. These characters appear to break about every 30 minutes and are gone for about five minutes.

So, reassure your family they will be back shortly if you see them exit during your wait.

Mickey Mouse is the first to greet you upon arrival.

He is always ready with open arms to greet his guests. The character interactions make these meet and greet fun for guests of all ages.

They also typically know how to handle a child who might be scared or intimidated.

The Epcot Character Experience provides fun, new backdrops as well. They are bright, colorful, and represent all things Epcot.

For comparison, below is a picture of the former Epcot Character Spot from earlier this year. Things have for sure changed for the positive in this new temporary location.

Mickey Mouse also signs autographs in addition to photo opportunities. The characters represented at the Epcot Character Spot are all non-speaking.

Next, we have our pal, Goofy.

Goofy was also a lot of fun! He looks like he is saying, “Hey pal, where have you been?” He is also very tall!

Goofy is a signing character so make sure to have your autograph books out and ready when you get close.

Below is a picture of the difference between his new meet and the old location.

Here’s a look at that autograph.

Goofy gets the monorail backdrop featuring a setting sun over the World Showcase and a little Friendship boat floating on the water.

Here we have Minnie Mouse in her classic dress. This is the only place to meet Minnie Mouse in this dress currently within regular meets at Disney World.

She can be seen in this dress daily at Magic Kingdom on the last float of the Festival of Fantasy Parade.

Minnie Mouse also meets in her safari outfit at Animal Kingdom with Mickey Mouse. They meet at Adventurers Outpost, the only place to meet them together in any of the four theme parks.

Minnie Mouse is a signing autograph character. Most characters seem to greet you first, sign autographs, and pose with you and your family for photos.

Minnie’s new backdrop is much improved from her old location, but I don’t think Minnie Mouse could improve in any way. She is the best!

Even her signature offers hearts and hugs and kisses. This one is truly a keeper.

If meeting the Disney Pals at the Epcot Character Spot is a priority, I would work them into my schedule first thing in the morning or later in the day after 6:00 p.m.

If I were in the area and interested in meeting them, I would pop in and check out the line.

At Epcot, only Future World is open for the first few hours, except for Frozen Ever After in Norway and Les Halles Boulangerie in France for breakfast. The World Showcase opens daily at 11:00 a.m.

Formerly, the Epcot Character Spot was open from 9;00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., which is in line with the park’s hours of operation. As I often mention, make sure to check that daily printed times guide in the park or the My Disney Experience app on the day of your visit for exact times.

The new Epcot Character Spot is a wonderful meet if you are a fan of original Walt Disney characters. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of opportunities in the parks to meet this many characters at one time either.

I try to be as respectful as possible when meeting characters as far as timing is concerned. However, they aren’t a priority to me.

But they are a big deal for children. That goes for some adults as well. So, I always try to keep this in the front of my mind when visiting.

It’s easy to get annoyed by little things (waiting), but your family is right there with you. So it’s just a good time to focus on them.

For more information on meeting characters, check out our complete guide.

Additionally, you might enjoy learning more about character dining meals at Disney World.

Resorts Gal specializes in characters, dining, and resorts. You can start with our complete list of Disney World Resort Reviews to plan which hotel is best for your vacation.

Some of our favorite articles include:

And you can view our complete list of dining reviews at Disney World.

I hope you’ll have an opportunity to meet pals at the Epcot Character Spot on your visit. Leave a comment below and let me know who you are looking forward to meeting!

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