It’s been a long time coming, but the Tinker Bell signage has finally been removed from the Town Square Theater at Magic Kingdom. Despite the fact that Tinker Bell has not met with guests since before the COVID-19 pandemic, signage for her meet and greet on Main Street USA has remained in place until relatively recently.
I’m not exactly sure when the signage was removed, but it was this year – perhaps signaling that the meet and greet may never return. Of course, it is also possible that it was causing confusion with guests and someone finally got around to replacing it while Disney figures out what they want to do with the space. Whatever the reason, the signage inside and outside of the Town Square Theater has been updated.
First, here’s a look back at the signage that was replaced.
And here’s an updated look at the exterior and interior of the Town Square Theater meet and greet venue. Note that things like the character banners haven’t changed, just the wait time signage, and the signage at the entrance to the meet and greet (as shown above). Instead of mentioning that Tinker Bell is “off to Neverland”, the Mickey Mouse meet and greet signage has just been copied and pasted over the old Tinker Bell signage.
The Tinker Bell meet and greet is significant in more recent Disney World history as it was the first location to roll out the controversial automated PhotoPass camera system. You can see the PhotoPass box installed on the left of the photo below before it was in use.
Guests wishing to meet with Tinker Bell will have to get lucky with an EPCOT pop-up meet and greet from time to time, or a special meet and greet at Disney’s Animal Kingdom during Earth Week (pictured below).
Back in 2021, Walt Disney Imagineering rolled out a limited playtest of an incredible meet-and-greet experience with a “life-sized” Tinker Bell. During the playtest, guests met with the roughly 5″ tall version of Tinker Bell, instead of being shrunken down to Tinker Bell’s size like you were at the Magic Kingdom meet and greet. Check out our article below for more on that test!
Moving forward, we don’t know what will happen with the space. The Tinker Bell meet and greet is typically transformed into a seasonal meet and greet space for Jack Skellington and Sally during the Halloween and Christmas seasons.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!