A massive (and sad!) change just hit Animal Kingdom Theme Park — DinoLand, U.S.A. is now GONE.
The land officially closed on February 2nd to make way for the new Tropical Americas land. With that change, we lost a couple of rides, a few dining locations, and some incredibly themed character meets. But don’t worry, many of those characters have now moved to other spots around the park!
First up, you should know that if you’re searching for character meets, you should go to the map section of the My Disney Experience app! Here, you can select “Characters” and filter by location to see a list of the available meet and greets. If you click on each character, you’ll be able to see their showtimes for the day.
Now, on to the meet-and-greets that have moved! The first of the former DinoLand characters is Donald and Daisy, who used to meet separately. Now, you’ll find them meeting together in The Oasis, right after you enter the park. Look over near Garden Gate Gifts on the right side of the park.
They’re dressed in their adorable safari outfits! Donald wears this costume at Tusker House for the character meal there.
One of the things we’ll miss the most about the loss of DinoLand, U.S.A. are the previous dinosaur costumes that Chip and Dale used to wear there! Now, you’ll see them without special costumes, but they ARE in a special location. This is a character meet-and-greet that you’ll actually find OUTSIDE the park, in the Palm Courtyard. That’s the large area between security and the park entrance, near the Joffrey’s stand.
The first character to move locations from DinoLand was Pluto. For a few months now, he’s been meeting in the Oasis on the left side, near the rope bridge. He wears a cute little Animal Kingdom-themed bandana.
The other main character who needed to move with the closure of the land? Goofy! You’ll find him now at the Harambe Train Station in Africa. He will continue to meet here when Conservation Station (and subsequently the train) closes for refurbishment soon.
Speaking of Conservation Station, some major character changes are coming there as well. A Bluey meet-and-greet is coming this summer, so we’ll be saying goodbye to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. That means you only have a limited time left to meet Timon and Rafiki — until February 23rd, to be exact. It’s unclear yet if they’ll be moving locations or if their meets will disappear entirely.
These aren’t the only recent character changes, though. A few months ago, Dug and Russell moved their meet-and-greet to the Discovery Island Trails behind the Tree of Life. Their former home in Discovery Island is now occupied by Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, since it’s next door to Zootopia: Better ZOOgether.
Don’t worry, though; some of the other character locations in the park haven’t changed. Moana still meets in Discovery Island, and Mickey and Minnie remain at Character Outpost. You can also still find Pocahontas in The Oasis, and Kevin roams Discovery Island.
That’s all we’ve got in terms of character changes for now, but we’ll keep you in the loop if we discover anything else.
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