Complete Guide to All Characters at Animal Kingdom (with our favorite tips!)

Long ago Animal Kingdom used to have a parade but its narrow walkways and lush landscaping made it challenging (to say the least).

But now the park has a fun, new way to enjoy characters: with cavalcades!

Except, in the case of Animal Kingdom, those cavalcades are even referred to as character cruises or flotillas and they are a ton of fun to see. 

In the post below, we have a list of every character you can see at Animal Kingdom. To make it easier to plan out your day, we’ve broken them down by land. There’s even a handy checklist at the bottom that you can use to keep track of all the friends you meet during your visit.

Let’s go!

Looking for info on the other parks?

Check out our other posts for character information across Walt Disney World:

• Cavalcades and Characters in Epcot
• Cavalcades and Characters in Hollywood Studios
• Cavalcades and Characters in Magic Kingdom

Tips for meeting characters in the parks

• Character meet and greets can be extremely popular. For characters who have set appearance times (for example 9:00 am, 12:00 pm, 3:30 pm) we recommend lining up no later than about 15 minutes BEFORE the scheduled appearance time. Otherwise, you may miss out, since they will cut off the line as soon as the number of people waiting is the maximum the character can meet in the scheduled appearance timeframe.

• Some of the meet and greets will have PhotoPass Photographers or automated camera boxes to capture the moment. Cast Members (including PhotoPass Photographers) can also take pictures with your camera or phone, too. If you think you’ll be capturing lots of pictures, consider purchasing Memory Maker which will enable you to download all photographs for one price.

• Most of the character meet and greets can be found in the My Disney Experience App. If you need help with how to do that, we have an entire post with screenshots that will walk you through it.

• Some character meets are available with Genie+. While we don’t recommend making them your first selection of the day, if meeting one of the characters available is a priority for you, it can be a good use of Genie+ for later in the day.

• Autographs make a fun and inexpensive souvenir. You can purchase autograph books in the parks, or if you are crafty, you can make an autograph book yourself.

• Disney Visa cardholders have a couple of special character opportunities located at Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

DinoLand U.S.A.

DinoLand U.S.A. is home to a fun celebration called Donald’s Dino-Bash and is where you can find some of your favorite characters prepared for a prehistoric party.

Chip

Dale

Donald Duck

Daisy Duck

Discovery Island

Discovery Island is where you can find the main mice – Mickey and Minnie Mouse. You can also see some favorites from Up, as well as Moana.

Mickey Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Russell

Dug

Kevin

Moana

Dining

Character meals are a popular way to meet lots of characters without waiting in long lines.

Animal Kingdom has 1 character meal: Tusker House.

Reservations for this dining experience can be hard-to-get, so make sure to check out our tips for snagging difficult reservations if you think you’d like to check one out on your next trip.

Mickey Mouse

Donald Duck

Daisy Duck

Goofy

Character Checklist

Looking for a handy checklist you can take with you into the parks? Here’s one you can save to your phone!

Flotillas

While the other parks have full length parades or shorter cavalcades, Animal Kingdom has something a little different: flotillas!

Here are the different flotillas you might see during your next Animal Kingdom visit:

Discovery River Character Cruise

Adventurer’s Flotilla

Dino-Bash Flotilla

What is a Flotilla?

Flotillas are kind of like a mini parade but in a boat on the water. They typically have 1 boat and some characters and/or Cast Members on board.