Timon and Rafiki Meet-and-Greet Brings New Life to Rafiki’s Planet Watch

Timon and Rafiki have a new character meet-and-greet location at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, bringing new life to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Many years ago, Rafiki met at this location regularly, and Timon met elsewhere in the park. However, in 2020, both characters were moved to river cruises due to social distancing restrictions. Those character cruises ended earlier this year. Since then, a significant number of traditional character meets have returned to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Guests can now find Timon and Rafiki meeting intermittently throughout the day. Both characters meet in the same location. However, they meet separately. Their times are listed in the My Disney Experience app.

Rafiki poses for the camera at Rafiki's Planet Watch

We arrived at Rafiki’s Planet Watch at approximately 12:45 p.m., 15 minutes past the 12:30 p.m. listed meet-and-greet time. Unfortunately, Timon’s line was already closed, so we had to wait until the next scheduled time to meet him. This turned out to be a good experience because if you want to meet both characters, you’ll need to plan to arrive early enough to see them within a reasonable time frame.

Rafiki’s Planet Watch is in a separate area of the park. Its entrance is in the back of Harambe, next to Kilimanjaro Safaris. A large sign hangs over the walkway leading to the Wildlife Express Train. You must board the train and take it to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. The train runs approximately every 10 minutes. So you will need to account for how long it takes to get to the train station, the train ride, and the couple of minutes it takes to walk to Conservation Station when you reach Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

Signage to take the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch

Timon and Rafiki meet outside on the immediate right when you reach the first entrance to Conservation Station. A pair of restrooms are immediately inside the entrance should you need one. Here is a photo of the overall location, followed by where they meet.

the location where Timon and Rafiki meet at Rafiki's Planet Watch

Since Timon was wrapping up his meet-and-greet, I went inside and found a bench to wait. The next listed time for Rafiki wasn’t until 1:30 p.m. For me, it’s not a big deal to wait an hour because it’s what I do. However, as a guest with limited time, you will want to be more strategic about timing. Ideally, I should have arrived by 1:15 p.m. for the 1:30 p.m. meet-and-greet. So I would have needed to be at the train station by 1:00 p.m. at the latest. Then, I could have met Rafiki at 1:30 p.m. and stayed for Timon at 1:50 p.m. (Instead, I waited an extra 45 minutes!)

A line started to develop for Rafiki about 15 minutes before his next meet-and-greet. If you’ve read any of our character coverage, you know we always recommend getting in line at least 15 minutes before the next scheduled meet-and-greet.

guests waiting in line to meet Timon and Rafiki

Here are a few photos of Rafiki, along with his character autograph.

Rafiki poses for the camera with an arm extended.

Rafiki's autograph — Rafiki’s Character Autograph

After meeting Rafiki, I rejoined the line and let the cast member know I wanted to meet Timon. Several others did the same. In the meantime, the cast member let any new guests who walked up go ahead of us to meet Rafiki. After he left, Timon came out for his meet-and-greet.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of Timon’s character autograph. But he was happy to pose for a few photos, and he does sign autographs. A PhotoPass photographer was not available at this location during our visit.

How to Locate Characters in the My Disney Experience App

Open the MDE app and select the pin drop at the bottom of the home screen.
Select the “Characters” category at the top middle of the screen. (The default is “Wait Times”.)
After selecting characters, use the park filter to select the park on the top left side of the screen.
Then, on the top right side of the screen, select “Show List.”
Scroll through the list of characters with their times and locations.

*As the day passes, you might notice that characters disappear from the app. When their last scheduled time passes, the meet-and-greet automatically disappears. A new schedule won’t be loaded until the following day. It is essential to check the app for meet-and-greets on the day of your visit.

Overall, we enjoyed meeting Timon and Rafiki and are happy to see more traditional character meet-and-greets! During your visit to Rafiki’s Planet Watch, you might also enjoy Affection Section (a petting zoo) and the Animation Experience, which is not to be missed.

For more characters at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, you might enjoy:

In the Comments

Do you plan to meet Rafiki and Timon on your next visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom? Are they some of your favorite characters? Let us know in the comments below or on social media.