In October we saw a ton of characters.
For Princesses- go over to the Fantasy Faire Royal Hall area. In the tent across from the Royal Hall where they used to have shows they had several Princesses under the tent for distanced meet and greets. We didn't go through, but I can recall at different times seeing Cinderella, Tiana, Mulan, Aurora, and Snow White Rapunzel and Flynn were meeting outside the tent in the area with the steps and the little balcony and at different times we also saw Bell and Gaston outside the tent, and Anastasia once, We also saw Elena on the path near that area
Mickey and Minnie were in town square and also back in Toontown. We saw Daisy and Donald and Goofy in Town Square at different times. Mickey and Minnie Together we saw in that covered spot back by the clothing store and that is where we saw Daisy too---- but Goofy we saw standing outside of the train station and we saw Mickey with him there.
Marie was on the porch of Minnie's in Toontown sometimes.
The small fenced grassy area near the castle we saw the Pooh characters a lot and Alice and the Chesire Cat once.
Galaxy's Edge there are stormtroopers around to be seen, Kylo Ren comes out on the platform in front of the TIE fighter and so do the storm troopers. They were posing some for distanced pics there when we were there too instead of just doing their little show and leaving. The storm troopers also show up on other higher up raised areas quite a bit. .
Keep an eye out for Chewie under the millennium falcon working on it.
Vi Moradi and Rey can also be spotted at times.
We saw Mary Poppins and Bert on that raised area back by Small World. I've heard Alice can sometimes be found there too, but that wasn't where we saw her.
Miguel was by Rancho Del Zocalo
By pirates, characters were sometimes up on the balcony--- we saw Redd, Jack Sparrow and Jack and Sally at different times.
California Adventure.
Carthay Circle around the fountain the characters are on those platforms for distanced meets. There were almost always characters there. Anna and Elsa were there a lot. Sometimes together, sometimes alone. Oswald was there quite bit. The Citizens of Hollywood were there sometimes. Pluto was there. We also saw Daisy, Donald, Clarabelle Cow and Horace, Mickey and Minnie there at different times.
Avengers--- when you go see the Spiderman show look for the yellow box looking thing closer to the end were you enter the land with the graffiti behind it. That is where Spidey meets when he comes down for the show. If you are close to there when you watch the show, you can get near the front of the line.
Where the Avengers do their stunt show on the building they are often up there waving. We saw Black Widow, Black Panther, Shang Chi. There is also a spot on the ground up against that building where Avengers do distanced meet and greets. We saw Iron Man there and Black Panther and Captain America. I remember seeing Captain Marvel there, but I think that might have been during Oogie Boogie Bash- not the regular park hours. The CMs in that area won't tell you who will come out and when. You just have to keep an eye on it.
There is also the Doctor Strange show, the General Okoye and the Dora Malaje, and the Guardians how with Star-Lord and Gamora
The stage back by Monsters Inc. we ran across Mickey doing a distanced meet and greet there one day.
As you walk by Pacific Wharf, keep an eye up towards the balcony--- keep an eye on little step areas and balcony areas around the entrance and Carthay.
Mater and Lightening McQueen still alternate meeting at their regular spot in Carsland.
Pixar Pier-- We saw Joy and Sadness and the Incredibles on the platform for distanced meet and greets. We heard you can see Jessie and Woody back there, but we didn't spot them.
We didn't see him, but Miguel had a spot set up specifically for him back by Goofy's Sky School.
In our experience at Avenger's campus they really won't give you any information about which characters are coming out or when. In the Carthay Circle area you might find a character escort CM who can give you information on who is coming out or when Anna or Elsa or both are coming out. We found a CM that was extremely helpful in that area when we asked about a certain character that we knew had been meeting there.
We actually really liked the distanced meet and greets way more than we expected. With the crazy October miserable crowds, ridiculously long ride lines, and no fast pass/max pass, they were the highlight of our trip (outside of Oogie Boogie Bash which was the real trip highlight- but I didn't include any of the characters we saw there). Aside from the Princess tent, there were no lines. You just go up and snap a pic. The characters are interacting with everyone. You find an empty spot- go up to it- wait for them to acknowledge you if they are posing or talking to someone else and then talk to them and pose for a distanced pic. I'm sure for the little kids it is sad not to get a hug and autograph- but DD is older now and has always been a character fanatic and it was nice not to have to wait in long lines, but to still get to talk to the characters and get pictures. It was fun to watch them interact with everyone too, and DD had some really good interactions with them. Even the characters that don't talk can do some great interacting distanced. Oswald was on fire and had DD dancing with him. He was adorable. The others were great too.