The Season of Scares update for Disney Dreamlight Valley introduced a new way for you to express yourself while exploring. This is the emote ability, and since it wasn’t always around, there’s a good chance you may not know how to actually use it.
Emoting is a fun way to enhance your valley experience, whether you want to stop and take in the sights or pose with your favorite character. It’s a bit tricky to figure out at first, so here’s how to emote in Disney Dreamlight Valley.
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How do you emote in Disney Dreamlight Valley?

You can emote by pressing the emote button located in the bottom right corner in DDV. On PC, this option is bound to the Q button, but it varies by platform. Luckily, the exact button you need to press is displayed on the emote button across all platforms to help you find the right one.
The emote button is directly to the left of the Royal Tool wheel button. It’s got a smiling face icon on it, making it fairly easy to pinpoint once you know what you’re looking for. It blends right in with all other key controls, so you might overlook it the first time around.
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What does emoting do in Disney Dreamlight Valley?

Emoting causes your character to strike a specific pose or express a specific emotion depending on what you instruct them to do. It also causes nearby villagers to react in unique ways that vary based on the emote you perform.
How to change emotes in Disney Dreamlight Valley
You can switch out the active emote you’re using by selecting a different one from the emote wheel. There are eight slots on this wheel, so you can choose up to eight different options to access while exploring the valley.
How to customize emote wheel in Disney Dreamlight Valley
There are more than eight available emotes you can choose from, so you might want to customize your own emote wheel to switch which ones you have on standby. To customize your emote wheel, you need to:
- Press the emote button. You can find it in the bottom right corner.
- Locate and select the “customize” option. It’s located near the bottom right corner of the emote wheel that pops up right after you select the emote button. The button you need to press to activate it varies by platform, but is displayed to the left of this option to help you find and use the right one.
- Select the emote slot you want to change. Choose which one of the emote slots you want to edit. You can switch them all around, but you must work on one at a time.
- Choose your desired emote. With the slot now selected, choose the emote you wish to replace it with. Repeat these steps as desired until your emote wheel looks exactly the way you want.

All emotes in Disney Dreamlight Valley
As of the time of writing, there are 12 emotes you can use in DDV. This collection will likely be expanded upon in future updates, though, so we’ll add new ones here as they arrive. For now, though, here’s every emote you can use.
- Scary
- Confused
- Happy
- Hello
- Sad
- Cool
- Relaxed
- Heroic
- Celebrate
- Pleased
- Waving
- Angry

The valley has plenty of other tricky activities to tackle after mastering usage of the emote wheel. Next, you might consider working on unlocking the Astronomer’s Journey Star Path, completing Olaf’s Grand Exhibition Forgotten Lands room, unlocking Oogie Boogie, and creating some decoration presets.