In this quick guide, we talk about meeting characters aboard the Disney Wonder. We’ll cover some of the things you can book in advance before moving onto the details of the more common greetings around the ship, including where to find schedules, when to get in line, and how to catch the characters in their best outfits. Read on to learn about meeting characters on the Disney Wonder!
ABOUT THIS QUICK GUIDE
This quick guide is meant to give a simple, straightforward overview of how to meet characters aboard the Disney Wonder cruise ship. It supplements our lengthy Disney Wonder Alaskan Cruise Trip Report.
Bookable Character Greetings
As of this update, the only character greeting you can book in advance for the Disney Wonder is the Royal Court Royal Tea, a tea party with Disney princesses. You’ll book this at the same time you book your other onboard activities and Port Adventures (the date varies by your level of Castaway Club).
There are other bookable greetings on some of the other ships / itineraries, like the Royal Gathering and Olaf’s Royal Picnic, but those are not currently available on the Disney Wonder’s Alaskan itineraries. You should be aware, though, that these bookable greetings always sell out quickly, so it’s important to keep your eyes on the Disney Cruise Line website and to browse your options thoroughly when it comes time to booking in case anything new has popped up.
Regular Character Greetings Around the Ship
Outside of those bookable greetings, you’re mostly likely to meet the characters at scheduled greetings around the ship that can’t be booked in advance. You’ll need to just wait in line for these. But it’s not always so simple…
Character Greetings and Specialty Outfits
Characters are very popular on the Disney Cruise Line ships. The big thing you need to know about characters is that they often have different outfits. On out 2023 Alaskan cruise, for example, Minnie had greetings in her Captain Minnie outfit, her Disney Cruise 25th Anniversary outfit, and her Alaska Minnie outfit.
If you care a lot about specific outfits, you’re going to have to put a bit of work into researching them (beyond the information we can provide in this post), including asking the Cast Members onboard which outfits you can expect when. The Cast Members who attend to the characters were usually quite helpful on all matters related to greetings.
Specialty outfits are the most popular greetings, as you’d expect. Specialty outfits in specialty locations—like Alaska Mickey / Minnie greeting outside on the deck of the ship—are incredibly popular.
Extra Notes About Alaska Minnie and Mickey
On our cruise (your experience may vary!), Mickey and Minnie debuted their Alaska outfits on Day 3 (Glacier Explorer day), with their first greetings on Deck 10 (outside) at 9AM and 9:30AM. We were in line for Mickey 20-30 minutes early, and the line for Minnie, on the opposite side of Deck 10, was closed by 9:10AM.
Mickey and Minnie greeted four times that day. The first three times were outside and these were the only times the entire trip they greeted outside. They did wear the Alaska outfits inside for some greetings later on. We met Alaska Minnie inside on her last day, Day 6, Ketchikan Day.
Character Greeting Scheduling and Lines
Character greeting times are posted in the Disney Cruise Line app. They’ll include a time, location, and duration:
Most of the greetings are around the atrium on Decks 3 through 5, but there are outdoor greetings and greetings in other parts of the ship, too. For more information on navigating the ship, check out our deck-by-deck breakdown of the Disney Wonder.
The duration of the greeting is somewhat flexible and usually refers to something like when the queue will close. Everyone who gets into the queue for that character will get to meet the character.
Generally, you’ll want to queue at least 15 minutes before the greeting starts, and the queue will usually close about 10-15 minutes after the greeting starts. However, this is all subject to demand. We tried to meet Alaska Minnie on the ship deck and her queue was closed about 30 minutes before she started greeting.
When two characters meet back-to-back in the same location, the first character’s line will eventually be closed. Everyone who joins the line after that is lining up for the next character in that spot.
For example, Zoe wanted to meet Minnie one night. Minnie was greeting at 6:30PM and Mickey at 6PM. When I got there around 6:10PM, the Cast Member was still queuing people for Mickey. So I stood around with few other people waiting.
At about 6:15PM, he said “okay, the Mickey queue is closed, everyone who wants to get in line for Minnie can line up behind this person [the last person for Mickey].” Then as people showed up after that, he’d tell them “just so you know, you’re in line for Minnie, the Mickey queue is closed.”
I was very much in “chillin’ out on this cruise” mode, so I brought a book and was happy to stand around reading for an extra 20 minutes while Emily and Zoe had fun somewhere else.
Other Character Appearances on the Disney Wonder
There are other ways you might encounter characters on the Disney Wonder, but these aren’t likely to include photo ops or autographs.
Characters appear as part of some of the onboard entertainment. For example, Mickey’s Sail-A-Wave Party on embarkation day and the Frozen Deck Party include characters.
Characters make appearances at the Oceaneer Lab and Oceaneer Club, the clubs for the youngest kids. Donald came to play with the kids as part of a “pajama party” for example.
There are some events like dance parties or the Pixar Pals Party (which I don’t think was a part of our itinerary, but maybe we missed it), where select characters mingle and dance with guests. These are usually held in the lobby atrium.
We also had a few chance encounters with characters on the ship. Usually I think they’re on their way to or from some appearance. If they have time, they might be able to chat quickly or sign an autograph. Zoe got to meet both Belle and Cinderella this way.
