PHOTOS: Thumper and Eeyore Surprise Guests at Rafiki’s Planet Watch
Over the last couple of weeks, the character meet and greets at Disney’s Animal Kingdom have gone through a significant shakeup.
May kicked off with the park celebrating Earth Week by having surprise characters meet guests at the Tree of Life Gardens. Over the course of the week, we saw Goofy, Max, Rabbit, Piglet, and Pooh out and about, among others.
Then, last week, Disney announced that Animal Kingdom’s character flotillas were being discontinued, and Goofy would be returning to his pre-pandemic meeting location in DinoLand while Pocahontas set up shop in the Oasis. Timon and Rafiki, meanwhile, are expected to arrive at Rafiki’s Planet Watch next month for the Lion King 30th Anniversary festivities.
And speaking of Rafiki’s Planet Watch, when visiting the remote Animal Kingdom land today, we were surprised to find both Thumper and Eeyore meeting guests!
A Couple of Furry Friends Arrives at Rafiki’s Planet Watch
Both of these furry Disney friends were meeting guests on the pathway between Rafiki’s Planet Watch train station and Conservation Station.


Thumper
Thumper, as always, looked adorable as he interacted with guests.


Thumper
Eeyore, meanwhile, may not have cracked a smile, but he seemed happy to be meeting with fans.


Eeyore
Here is another look at Eeyore.


Eeyore
Both characters rotated meetings with guests and stayed out for 10 to 15 minutes at a time.
The Meet and Greets Are Not Permanent
The meet and greets do not appear to be permanent. Instead, it is one of the happy surprises that you can often stumble upon at Walt Disney World.


Thumper
Hopefully, with the flotillas discontinued, we will continue to see more surprise meet-and-greets pop up around the park.


Thumper
As always, be sure to check back with MickeyBlog. We will continue to update you on all the news coming out of Walt Disney World!