Where To Find the Villains - Maleficent, The Evil Queen, Cruella and More

Maleficent greets the crowd at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Some of my favorite Disney characters are the Villains and it was years before I could finally hunt down my favorite villains in order to get a snapshot. Yes. I wanted a picture with The Evil Queen and Maleficent. Sue me.

It's understandable why so many people want to find the Villains once they get to Walt Disney World. They're the epitome of cool. Here are a few ways to find your favorite villain so you too can take a photo with your favorite.

• Obviously, the best time to find the villains is during the Halloween season and particularly during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. They even have their own show, The Villains Mix and Mingle, which takes place on the stage in front of Cinderella's Castle. After the show, the villains come down to mingle with the crowd and take photos.
• Disney Hollywood Studios is a hotspot for the villains. During the day, you're very likely to see them hanging out in the courtyard in front of the Chinese Theatre. Um, that's where the big Mickey's Sorcerer's hat resides.
• Cruella can sometimes be found hanging out near Tony's Restaurant just near the entrance at the Magic Kingdom. There are *always* characters around this area and, if you can catch a Character Assistant (they'll be the cast member in the yellow, red and black shirt assisting the character), ask them if they know when Cruella, or any of the other villains, will be making her next appearance.
• The really "hot" villains seem to make random appearances near the Castle. I've heard of impromptu appearances taking place in Fantasyland, near the castle, during nightly Extra Magic Hours.
• Captain Hook is the easiest villain to find. He and Mr. Smee make scheduled appearances near Pirates of the Caribbean throughout the day.
• If you simply want to see the villains, you can find them in a number of shows. Currently, Maleficent and her ilk can be see in the Dream Along With Mickey show at Cinderella Castle's forecourt. You can also see them:
• During the Magic Kingdom's Disney Dreams Come True parade.
• The Evil Queen, Captain Hook and even Ursula make appearances during the nightly Spectromagic parade. This parade doesn't take place all nights, so check the daily schedule. Also, this parade *will* be canceled if weather is inclement.
• Fantasmic at Disney Hollywood Studios is a show centered around the villains and the havoc they can cause within Mickey's dreams.
• The Boo To You parade during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom is a villains fan's dream come true. You'll even see a couple of villains you don't normally see such as Captain Barbossa from The Pirates of the Caribbean.

Unfortunately, one of the best parades in which to see the villains was Disney Hollywood Studios now retired Disney Stars and Motorcar Parade. It was replaced by Pixar's Block Party Bash (grumble). Rumor has it that the parade will resume its "route" at Disneyland Paris (weep!).

Good luck with your villains hunt! Feel free to send me links to your photos.

And if you've had any great villains experiences, post them in the comments below.

Comments

[Claire]

Here's a good Disney Villain story for you.

At the end of September last year, my mother and sister came to visit me in Orlando, and I took them to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Well, I'm a Maleficent fangirl, so I made sure we watched the Villains Mix and Mingle, and then after, we stayed to meet the villains. My mother really wanted to meet the Evil Queen, so I took a picture of her, the Evil Queen, and my sister.

Well, they posed and I took the shot, and I guess my mother's hand brushed the Evil Queen's cape. The next thing I heard was my mother saying to my sister, "Oh! Did you feel that? It's so soft!" And then I saw the stoniest glare on the Evil Queen's face as she looked at my mother and said, "Did I SAY you could touch me?" I thought she was ready to cast a spell on my poor mother!

We left after that and I was very amused. My mother was shaken and thought she had actually gotten into trouble, but I explained that that was just the Evil Queen being in character.

[Glen]

I have been to MNSSHP twice. The first year I was dressed as a knock off Maleficent, i got to meet her and I was thrilled. She was not. She was cold and cruel (perfect!! After I met her I met the Evil Queen who was not pleased to see me dressed in Maleficent gear. I told her although maleficent was my fav I don't like Snow White. The second time I went I was dressed as a King. Well lady Tremaine and the Step Sisters just about died and the two were fighting over me. Then I met the other villains later on and the Evil Queen remarked that she's still the fairest of them all. The Queen of Hearts Was priceless. She bowed and posed for pics and then took my arm and we walked up to the castle as she waved goodbye to everyone!!! It was hilarious. Then while waiting in line to meet Jafar she popped up beside me waving and bowing again. It was so funny cause everyone else in line was baffled by her sudden appearance.

[Erin]

You can now visit with the Step Mother and Step Sisters during normal day hours at the Magic Kingdom. Just look for Belle's Story time Theater (a small nook before you enter Tommorowland from Main Street). When Belle isn't reading, these villains come out for meet and greets- and they are FUN to meet :)

For MNSSHP, they will frequent that area, but have a tendency to roam the park- so visit them early in the night where they will most likely be stationary.

[Kate]

Since the opening of Pixar Place, In Disney's Hollywood Studios, the small back lot studio where one could meet Mickey, in his Fantasia gear, with little to no queue, was closed.
In order to still meet Mickey, this character greeting spot was moved to the exit of The Magic of Disney Animation, just after meeting an artist and Mushu.
In this large hall, Disney characters from successful animated movies have taken to appearing here throughout the day.
Although the characters are not specified, this often includes the villains, as I met both Maleficent and The Evil Queen!!!
Its a very good place to meet them, as it is air conditioned and the queues are not too long.
And its very unexpected if you do not know they are there!

[wdwhacks]

Hi Kate,

Thanks for the comment! That's very good information. :)

[Patrick]

Maleficent thinks shes so awsome just because she can turn into a dragon, well I can turn into five.

HUGS HUGS HUGS HUGS HUGS HUGS HUGS HUGS HUGS

[Ryan]

I am a HUGE villains fan and just came back from Disney World. I did not meet any of them, but i did see them in Fantasmic and the Spectromagic Parade. When I went to Disney in 2002, we met a bunch of Villains and I bought a lot of villains merchandise at the Villains n' Vouge store in Hollywood Studios. When we went this time, we did not see any villains walking around and the villians n' vouge store only had villians monopoly and a villians snowglobe, everything else was Jack Skellington from The Nightmare before Christmas. The worst part was we knew nothing about the villians at halloween time. 2 days before we left all the parks were switching over to Halloween to get ready for the Halloween activity's in 6 days. We missed all the villians by 6 days. My Favorite Villians are Cruella, Maleficent, and the Evil Queen.