Universal Orlando Character Interactions Now Include Social Distancing (Photos, Video)

Hi everyone –

We visited Universal Orlando on Wednesday for a preview and today is the official opening day after several months closed due to COVID-19. One of the modifications that has been made is that characters are physically distant and the face characters are often in masks. Honestly, I like the “meets” and interactions quite a bit this way although I know that nothing replaces a personal interaction for many guests. For the time being, this will be the way guests will enjoy their favorite characters.

We didn’t experience all the characters, there were quite a few out – but we have video and photos of all we did see. And we plan to go back next week. Here is a look at the new character interactions!

First, here is our video with all the characters. There are enough characters we didn’t see for a full video again.

The furthest away character was King Julien. We were told Po was alternating but never saw him. Because of the off and on rain, we had a fairly short period of time for characters (although we were able to see quite a few anyway).

King Julien danced and waved to guests.

Raptor Encounter is in a new location and offers two different dinosaurs – Blue and then baby dinosaur Sierra. We got in line for Sierra but the rain kept being intermittent so by the time we made it up to the encounter, Blue was our dino.

The dinosaur interactions at both Universal Orlando and Universal Hollywood are always fun.

Popeye and Olive Oyl wore masks.

Spider-Man already had his mask on as did Cyclops.

The Grinch, Sam I Am and The Lorax were playing around. They did alternate with other characters, as was the case with most locations.

Jeff stands on a social distance marker for a photo with The Grinch.

We went over to the main park for more fun.

Hello Kitty was standing in the grass.

Marilyn Monroe was performing.

Beetlejuice took her place later, with no mask though he wore one today.

The Scooby Doo gang wore masks and stayed distant from one another.

Shaggy flashes a peace sign.

The Spongebob Squarepants group was out for a bit.

Patrick Star waves.

Squidward mostly just posed.

Bumblebee swapped out with Optimus Prime.

Optimus Prime waits for guests.

I almost didn’t see Puss in Boots, he blended with his background.

Spongebob was near E.T. at a different time than the previous photos.

The penguins from Madagascar waved to guests.

 Jeff stood on the social distance marker for a photo with Homer Simpson.

Here is a look at Homer Simpson with the marker in front.

Shrek and Fiona were almost hidden at times behind the plants.

Donkey was talking with guests.

And Guy Diamond and Branch were dancing around when we found them.

They showed off their backsides too.

Jeff took a photo with them.

And this is a look at Branch and Guy Diamond behind the rope.

The morning at Universal Orlando was too busy for us, we didn’t even leave the parking garage because it looked messy and went to Disney Springs. But we went back for the afternoon and had a great time walking around, seeing characters and picking up some Butterbeer. And next week we will try for a few rides (I haven’t been on Hagrid’s yet), more characters, a meal and hopefully more Butterbeer too on Monday or Tuesday.

There are new requirements for attending theme parks in Florida. Here, we wore the mandatory masks with no problem (we did take advantage of the no-mask rest areas twice) and tried to be as distant from other guests as possible. In the parks it wasn’t too busy except for a few locations like Hogsmeade, which we chose not to visit that day. Honestly, it felt pretty safe most of the time. The main issue will be social distancing in congested areas like the parking garage or Hogsmeade. Also, Raptor Encounter had distancing circles on the ground but not nearly enough. So there is still work to be done but it is great to be back at theme parks, we already went to LEGOLAND and look forward to Walt Disney World parks next month.