Last year, Disney announced that Bluey is coming to Walt Disney World. It was an exciting moment for many families with small children, as the popular pups will finally make their first-ever meet & greet appearances in the parks. This offers an update on where things stand and what’s happened since with Bluey, Bingo and the Heeler family in the Disney Parks.
Things started out promising enough for the prospects of Bluey’s arrival at Walt Disney World. Less than a month after the announcement, Bluey and Bingo made their debut on the Disney Cruise Line! You can find these characters onboard Disney Wonder sailings originating from Australia and New Zealand through 2026. The pups are available for character meet-and-greets and even an interactive game and dance party.
According to Disney Cruise Line, this is for real life. Get ready for fun character greetings and a clue-filled game that ends in a paw-some dance party where you can unleash your flossing skills. Plus, enjoy all the immersive magic on board, including imaginative dining, Broadway-style shows and adult-exclusive spaces. So pack your bags—this holiday is perfect for kids, mums, dads… and even grannies! So that’s great and all that Bluey and Bingo have been aboard the Disney Wonder for several months now, but what about Walt Disney World?!
Per the original announcement, the producers of Bluey are working closely alongside BBC Studios and Disney on a number of special activations for fans to enjoy. Details about how guests can meet Bluey and her family at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort will be shared “in the months ahead.”
In the months ahead is sufficiently vague such that it could mean anything. It could be any time between this January and December. (Technically, it could be beyond December 2025, but at some point, “in the years ahead becomes more apt.”)
Our hope had been that Bluey and Bingo would arrive by Memorial Day for “Cool Kid Summer,” which is the big marketing push that’s heavily aimed at young families (see our Guide to “Cool Kid Summer” at Walt Disney World). It would stand to reason that Disney would want Bluey, the most popular character with this demo at the moment, to be front and center during this celebration that runs from May 27 through September 1, 2025. Or so you’d think.
Cool Kid Summer will see the Goofy takeover of CommuniCore Hall, otherwise known as GoofyCore Hall. Get ready to dance and play along with Goofy in this immersive experience. Show off your best moves in DJ-led dance parties and join your favorite games with silly twists, like Loopy Limbo and Parachutes ‘n’ Pipsqueaks.
Over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Cool Kid Summer will take place in Animation Courtyard. Families will be able to jump into energetic fun, with games and crafts that’ll keep kids moving and creating all day long. From magicians and jump rope performers to surprise character appearances, you never know what delightful moment is waiting around the corner. Keep the fun going as you join Mickey Mouse and Disney Junior friends at a lively indoor DJ dance party where little ones can move and groove.
Cool Kid Summer would’ve been the perfect time to roll out the blue carpet for Bluey and Bingo, and either CommuniCore Hall or Animation Courtyard would’ve been perfect locations.
Could you imagine a blue wrap on the exterior of BlueyCore Hall or a literal blue carpet leading through the DHS archway? Either would’ve beckoned guests into these locations, adding real meat to the otherwise kinda hollow Cool Kid Summer.
It’s still possible that Bluey will make a surprise appearance during Cool Kid Summer, as it does feel like this event is being thrown together at the last minute. But both CommuniCore Hall and Animation Courtyard have their slates set, so Bluey would just be tossed in at the last minute (if at all) as opposed to an offering that revolves around the Heeler family.
More likely, Bluey’s omission from the Cool Kid Summer slate suggests that these dogs will not be arriving at Walt Disney World until after Summer 2025. Or that if they do show up earlier, it won’t be a prominent presence.
Because, again, if something were happening soon, Walt Disney World would make a big deal about it. There isn’t much happening this year at Walt Disney World, and it’s very clear that Bluey is a big deal–bigger than pretty much anything outside of Starlight and Test Track 3.0 that is happening in 2025.
That’s what makes this so odd. It’s not as if Walt Disney World has a jam-packed slate and Bluey is being preempted by higher priorities. There’s not really anything else–Cool Kid Summer isn’t going to move the needle on new bookings, whereas Bluey and Bingo might. That’s how passionately some young families (the target demo!) feel about these characters.
However, we’ve seen this happen before. Disney announced the return of Figment as a meet & greet character back at the D23 Expo three years ago, and it took over a year for the character to finally arrive at EPCOT.
It was a similar story with characters from Encanto, who didn’t appear in Magic Kingdom until far too long after the movie was a smash sensation. That was also around a year, at least for the meet & greet, after Mirabel first appeared at Disneyland.
In both of those cases, there are somewhat valid explanations. The Figment decision was made relatively last-minute, and a costume had to be designed, as did backdrops. For Mirabel, the Fairytale Garden was redesigned to feature whimsical décor inspired by La Familia Madrigal. Still, there’s nothing that justifies just how long either character meet & greet took. The sad fact is that Walt Disney World moves glacially slowly when it comes to characters and entertainment. There are always no shortage of excuses, but zero sense of urgency.
So where does that leave the status of the Bluey and Bingo meet & greet at Walt Disney World? Honestly, who knows.
In all likelihood, there will be an announcement that Bluey and Bingo are coming, and then another multi-month delay in order to fabricate a space and bring the characters to life, or whatever. So even a summer announcement will likely put the character appearances in the fall.
It’s also entirely possible that Walt Disney World plans to paywall Bluey and Bingo, adding them to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, or Jollywood Nights. That would give those special events something new, and incentivize families to purchase tickets to those parties. I hope that’s not what happens, but it wouldn’t surprise me–especially not with Jollywood Nights, which has become more character-centric and still isn’t nearly as popular as the Magic Kingdom parties.
For what it’s worth, there is no actual need for all of this to take so long.
Blue and Bingo first appeared in a character meet & greet at last year’s D23 Expo. That experience was insanely popular, so it should’ve proven to Disney that demand for these characters is sky-high. But that’s not really the point.
More so, it’s that these character costumes have already been designed, as have backdrops and settings. All of this stuff has been designed and is already out there in the wild, which is precisely how Disney Cruise Line was able to deploy Bluey and Bingo in the span of only ~3 weeks from the original announcement. Now ~6 months later, there’s really no good excuse for radio silence from Walt Disney World. Bring Bluey and Bingo to Cool Kid Summer!
Ultimately, it’ll be interesting to see where Bluey ends up landing at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. My hope is that Disney bets big and goes bold on Bluey, and proves me wrong with a splashy, surprise announcement of Bluey and Bingo coming to the parks this summer. In case you can’t tell, I cannot wait to Bluey myself–and for our daughter to meet these lovely pups.
A character meet & greet will be great, easily posting triple-digit wait times, but here’s hoping there’s more meaty entertainment–like a cavalcade, stage show, dance party, or interactive experience–given the wait for the characters to come to Walt Disney World. Bluey is an international sensation, and its theme park presence should be treated accordingly.
Disney already regrets passing on the theme park rights to Bluey, Bob Iger loves synergy and acquisitions, Bluey’s current rightsholders are obviously open to immersive experiences, and Walt Disney World needs a near-term shot in the arm. But at this point, I’ll accept anything in the near-term, so a character meet & greet for Cool Kid Summer would suffice. I doubt we’ll get even that, so look for something during the Halloween or Christmas seasons.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about Bluey coming to Walt Disney World? Surprised the meet & greet hasn’t debuted yet, and appears that it won’t arrive in time for Cool Kid Summer? Does the Heeler family deserve a big presence in the parks? Think Bluey entertainment or characters would be good additions in Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, or Animal Kingdom? Hopeful that Bluey, Bingo, Bandit and other characters are added to entertainment or as meet & greets ASAP? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
