During the shutdown in 2020, one of the things I missed was being able to see and hug my favorite characters. When the parks reopened, we got cavalcades, character sightings, and eventually, we got physically distanced meet and greets that allowed us to take selfies with our favorite characters. All of this has been great, but it is time to get back to hugging our favorite characters. Disney has announced that we can finally embrace characters again starting April as early as April 18th!

This will not just be at Walt Disney World. We will see full meet and greets in Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and Aulani. This makes me even more excited because when I go on my first Disney cruise ever in May, I will be able to have the full meet and greet experience on the Disney Dream, which will indeed be a dream.

This is the best news I have heard in a while. I have been saying for months now that all I want is to be able to hug characters again. I used to be a character performer, so I hold this very close to my heart. Some of the hugs I gave while I was a performer were life-changing, and I could feel it. Giving out hugs was my favorite part of the job. I am so excited to take my nephew to parks because we have been waiting on this announcement to plan his first trip to Disney. I hope that Disney will be calling back more performers or holding more auditions to have a complete entertainment department once again.

Overall, this news is so great. Seeing this announcement made my heart soar, and things are starting to feel like we are getting back to “normal.” It almost feels like the world is slowly healing, even though it’s nowhere near perfect, but this is something that can put a smile on all of our faces. I know we will all be very excited to see all of our favorites characters but let’s remember to treat the performers with kindness and the Character Attendants.

What is your favorite character meet and greet? Let us know in the comments.