A big part of the magic of Disney Parks is being able to meet your favorite Disney characters face-to-face, but things have looked different for some time now.

Over the past few years, Disney Parks have undergone a number of changes due to the global pandemic, with one notable change involving characters in the parks. As of right now, character interactions are modified, and if you haven’t visited a Disney Park in several years, you might be disappointed by the limitations. But if you’re hoping for things to change, we just learned some BIG news about Disney Parks character meet-and-greets — and how they could look different soon.

Whether you want to take pictures, get autographs, or have a chat, there’s nothing quite like getting to meet a Disney character in real life. If you need a recap, when Disney World reopened in July 2020, individual character meet-and-greets did not return. Initially, after the reopening, the only ways to spot characters were generally from spontaneous and distant locations around the parks.

Character meet-and-greets returned to Disney World in October 2021 in a modified way known as “sightings,” or interactions in which guests could once again meet with characters individually and take photos from a distance, with no hugging or autographs allowed. Although we enjoy our time with Mickey regardless, many people are wondering when they can get that traditional one-on-one interaction with characters again.

Today during the Q&A Session at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, & Telecom Conference, Christine McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of the Walt Disney Company, said that face-to-face meet-and-greets should be returning to Disney Parks “soon.” McCarthy stated, “With the trending of COVID, we’re definitely going to see some of those face-to-face interactions come back.” Orange County and Osceola County, Florida, where Disney World is located, have recently been downgraded to medium and low risk for COVID-19, respectively.

McCarthy noted that character meet-and-greets can also help balance crowds in the park, which would be beneficial for the long lines we’ve been seeing in Disney World recently. We’ll have to wait and see just how soon face-to-face meet-and-greets will return, so stay tuned to DFB for all your Disney Parks news.

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Are you excited for face-to-face character meet-and-greets to return? Tell us in the comments!

The post NEWS: Face-to-Face Character Meet-and-Greets Returning SOON to Disney Parks first appeared on the disney food blog.