Entrance to the new Land of Oz Garden and play area. Follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick road. Follow, follow, you get the picture.
The Land of Oz Garden and Playland joins the 2013 Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival
Category Archives: Epcot News
Epcot character training spots
UPDATE: 1-6-2013
I UPDATED THE LIST WITH ADDITIONAL INFO. ALSO, SOME PEOPLE WROTE ME TO COMPLAIN THAT I’M “SPOILING THE MAGIC” BY MENTIONING TRAINING. WHEN I MENTION CHARACTER TRAINING, I HOPE EVERYONE REALIZES THAT THE ATTENDANTS AND PHOTOPASS PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE TRAINING. CHARACTERS ARE THEMSELVES AND HAVE TO TRAIN THEIR STAFF OF COURSE 
I’ve had a number of blog visitors ask about training spots in Epcot. Epcot offers more training meets than the other parks by far. There are a large variety of locations that I’ve personally witnessed character training including behind Innoventions near Journey in Imagination, the Fountain of Nations stage area and the International Gateway. But the two most commonly used training areas are the World Showplace gates between Canada and the United Kingdom pavilions and the American Adventure gates to the immediate left of the attraction. The best times to see rare characters are times near marathons, when the Disney College Program begins its new sessions, and the week before Halloween and Christmas parties begin.
American Adventure training location
Epcot New Year’s Eve character schedule adjustments
Epcot will feature special character meet and greet times for New Year’s Eve on Monday. Be sure to check these over if you plan to go character hunting on the busiest day of the year!
United Kingdom
Alice 9:30, 10:30 & 11:30am, 12:30, 2:20 & 3:20pm
Mary Poppins 10:00 & 11:00am, 12:00, 1:00, 2:50 & 3:50pm
Winnie the Pooh & Friends 9:30am-1:45pm & 2:30pm-5:15pm
France
Aurora 10:00 & 11:00am, 12:00, 1:00, 2:50 & 3:50pm
Belle 9:30, 10:30 & 11:30am, 12:30, 2:20 & 3:20pm
Morocco
Aladdin & Jasmine 10:00 & 11:00am, 12:00, 1:50, 2:50 & 3:50pm
Germany
Snow White 9:30, 10:30 & 11:30am, 12:30, 2:20 & 3:20pm
China
Mulan 10:00 & 11:00am, 12:00, 1:50, 2:50 & 3:50pm
Mexico
Donald 9:30am-12:15pm & 1:10pm-4:45pm
Epcot Character Spot temporary location
Effective tomorrow morning, as a result of the closing of the current Character Spot for refurbishment, Sailor Donald will no longer offer regular Walt Disney World meets. He does appear as a sailor often in training locations around Epcot, but will not offer regular meets in his sailor suit. He will continue to meet in Mexico in his Caballero costume on a daily basis.
Goofy will relocate to the position that used to host Stitch next to Daisy on the right of the Lagacy Plaza just before Spaceship Earth.
Mickey, Minnie and Pluto will move onto the new, temporary Epcot Character Spot. The new location is just beyond the Fountain View ice cream shop and just before Club Cool.
After entering the doors above, you’ll walk down a hallway where the restrooms are located and make a quick left. The new room is immediately on the left.
The room was closed to the public, but I was given an opportunity to enter the room. For a temporary location, it looks quite nice with an Epcot style backdrop and there’s some short railings and greenery that will remind one of Epcot itself. There’s a monorail, spaceship earth, Imaginations pavilion etc in the backdrop. This photo was taken on the grand opening day.
Background for the new Epcot Character Spot
The manager I spoke with told me that one can enter from any of the 4 entrances, but the preferred one is listed here. The only entrance that isn’t being used is the old entrance.
When the Character Spot returns from refurb, it will only offer Mickey, Minnie and Pluto. It is said to offer Fastpass+ at that time too.
Evidently Stitch will no longer be offering scheduled meets at Epcot. He wasn’t out today when I stopped to meet Daisy. I asked the attendant where Stitch is located and she said, “Magic Kingdom.” (He’s still at Hollywood Studios at the hat too). Other character schedules around Epcot should remain the same for the time being and Aurora is now meeting in gazebo on the far right hand side of France.
Happy character finding!
Epcot Character Spot to undergo refurbishment
If you read the blog regularly, you’ll remember that I have posted several different rumors concerning the Epcot Character Spot and other Future World character meets. Well, it appears that the Character Spot will be closing until late January or February to provide a much needed face lift. It will likely close Sunday.
Goofy will join Daisy toward the opening of the park. Mickey, Minnie and Pluto will move elsewhere. I’ve heard that Donald will only meet in Mexico. I would love to see Mickey and Minnie together in futuristic costumes, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
I value the indoor meets for the AC and how it helps characters stay cool in the Florida heat, but I love how characters meeting in open spaces really bring life into the parks. Of course, I would be willing to give up one of the fabs in order to see Figment return.
What do you think?
Possible changes with Donald and Goofy in Epcot
Rumor has it that Goofy is moving out of the Epcot character spot to join Daisy in “Legacy Plaza” at the front of the park. Does this finally eliminate Stitch from that area? Stitch has been off the schedule for a couple of weeks.
Donald is said to be leaving the Character Spot and will only be offering his meet in Mexico.
Epcot extends character meets
In direct opposition to Animal Kingdom’s character approach, Epcot has chosen to offering additional meets and extend the hours of many of the current meets. Many characters will offer at least one extra meet set to accomodate summer crowds. I will update schedules this evening.
KtP
Merida’s first theme park appearance
According to the Unofficial Disney Character facebook Merida made her first theme park appearance today in Future World in Epcot. It is considered a “training set” and these may or may not happen over the next couple of weeks. Keep your eyes out if you’re in Epcot!
Additional photos can be found here:
Epcot Character Spot “Bonus” Hour
Beginning tomorrow, April 16, 2012, Epcot Character Spot will remain open until 10:00 PM. That’s one hour after the official closing time of 9:00 PM. In addition to this, all attractions in the Land (Soarin, Living with the Land and The Circle of Life) will also remain open until 10:00 PM on nights the park closes at 9:00 PM. Epcot is considering this bonus time for those in the know while Test Track is closed for refurbishment.
