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jldev
03-05-2006, 01:19 PM
Our party is coming to Disneyland from New Zealand with six children, three of which are little gils who adore the Disney princesses. We are trying to decide whether or not to do a princess lunch at Ariel's grotto or just see the princesses at Disneyland. The problem is that we only have one day at DCA and I'm unsure how much time a princess lunch takes up. Would it leave us with not enough time to do most other things at DCA on a 10-7pm schedule? If we didn't do it, are there sure ways of seeing the princesses at Disneyland? If we do do the lunch, are there better times than others to do it? I would appreciate any advice.

rentayenta
03-05-2006, 01:23 PM
I highly recommend doing the Princess lunch or dinner. The time you may spend in line for all the Princesses will far outweigh the time for lunch. Plus you will be killing two birds with one stone. The food is also very good.



If you decide against the meal you can see the Princesses scattered throughout Disneyland but you'll need to wait in line to get autographs and take pictures. I like the Princess Dinner because they are all together. You can also see various Princesses inside the Animation Studio inside DCA.

hlbtimes2
03-05-2006, 01:48 PM
If your biggest concern is time, I wouldnt worry about it too much. Its not hard to do DCA in one day. I would just plan on breakfast before you go (easy, since it doesnt open until 10) and plan your other meal of the day to be a light, quick one, so that you arent spending hours on each meal. You are looking about about 1- 1 1/2 hours for a character meal- not that much longer then a normal sit down meal.

sixwoofys
03-05-2006, 03:31 PM
I would not miss Ariel's Grotto to be sure. In fact we had such a wonderful, positive experience there that we will go back everytime. It does not take that long and you should get a great meal also (we sure did). We saw (in order of appearance:

Snow White
Aurora
Cinderella
Ariel
Belle

They were incredible. Ariel kept coming back and hugging and visiting with our (especially cute) 2 year old boy and our (especially sweet) 4 year old girl. I think I caught Belle off guard when I asked her how her father was doing:eek: . But she responded with "oh, well, you know he's always inventing something";) .

Be sure to MAKE RESERVATIONS!! Waaaaayyyy in advance. When we were queing to enter there were many upset:mad: folks trying to get in (to no avail) who did not know reservations were MANDATORY. There are NO walk-ins allowed.

wwithers
03-05-2006, 03:40 PM
I too would recommend this except, if your kids love Ariel, she has legs at the lunch/dinner. If you want to catch her with fins, you've gotta do it over in DL.

Malcon10t
03-05-2006, 04:43 PM
I too would recommend this except, if your kids love Ariel, she has legs at the lunch/dinner. If you want to catch her with fins, you've gotta do it over in DL.
I agree, and if you are worried about limited time, this might actually save you time, as you often end up standing in line for 15-30 minutes waiting for pics and autographs per princess.

wwithers
03-05-2006, 04:50 PM
I forgot to add a strategy for seeing seeing Ariel. When she takes a break, DON'T get out of line!!! About half of the people will get out of line, frustrated. She'll only be gone about 10 minutes and you will end up saving a lot of time. :)

jldev
03-05-2006, 05:39 PM
How far in advance can you book Ariel's Grotto?

Malcon10t
03-05-2006, 05:45 PM
How far in advance can you book Ariel's Grotto?
Restaurant seatings can be reserved 2 months out.

JDBlair
03-05-2006, 05:48 PM
All this talk about Ariel's Grotto has me wondering if that's something I should plan for our trip next week or not. We have Goofy's Kitchen planned and reserved. But now I'm wondering if we women folk should partake of this girl fest.... I don't want to miss out on something great!!! :confused:

cfrith
03-05-2006, 05:59 PM
Has anyone's children asked about why Ariel has legs in DCA and but not DL? I'm sure I'll think of something, but does anyone have a good answer for a 4 year old?!

SeansMom
03-05-2006, 06:04 PM
Has anyone's children asked about why Ariel has legs in DCA and but not DL? I'm sure I'll think of something, but does anyone have a good answer for a 4 year old?!

Well, she gave up her fins to marry her prince, remember?
(Why didn't he give up his legs instead??? :rolleyes: )

cfrith
03-05-2006, 06:20 PM
Well, she gave up her fins to marry her prince, remember?
(Why didn't he give up his legs instead??? :rolleyes: )

Yes, I do remember, LOL...:) Just wondering what the kids will say as we will be going back and forth between the parks over 4 days! I'm sure it's not going to be a big issue, it's just another of those things that if I were a kid I'd be like "huh?" Like how alot of the characters are not the size you would think they'd be, or how Cinderella's face looks completely different at 6pm than it did at 11am! I'm probably just reading into it too much as an adult!

hippiemama
03-05-2006, 06:57 PM
we LOVED the dinner at ariels grotto. My daughter, 5, still talks about how ARiel held her hand and talked to her and hugged her - five months ago. She tells folks all the time about all the princesses we met, and seeing the parade across the water. We'll do it again for sure

JDBlair
03-05-2006, 07:07 PM
we LOVED the dinner at ariels grotto. My daughter, 5, still talks about how ARiel held her hand and talked to her and hugged her - five months ago. She tells folks all the time about all the princesses we met, and seeing the parade across the water. We'll do it again for sure
We're in PHX, too! :) You mention your daughter was 5. Was she 5 when you went? My daughter is 2 years and 4 months. She loves Cinderella and "No Wipes" AKA Snow White. I don't think she's seen Little Mermaid, yet, but there's still time before the trip. We're already doing Goofy's Kitchen in honor of my son's 12th birthday. But I'm seriously considering doing this as a "girls" thing for the 7 women in our party!

amarvel
03-06-2006, 09:42 AM
Ariels grotto was the best part of my vacation last summer BY FAR was better than Goofy's and I even went twice and we had no children in our party :)

kisroo
03-06-2006, 09:54 AM
Yes, I do remember, LOL...:) Just wondering what the kids will say as we will be going back and forth between the parks over 4 days! I'm sure it's not going to be a big issue, it's just another of those things that if I were a kid I'd be like "huh?" Like how alot of the characters are not the size you would think they'd be, or how Cinderella's face looks completely different at 6pm than it did at 11am! I'm probably just reading into it too much as an adult!

Well, you could talk about how her "home" in DL is King Triton's garden and she always puts her fins back on when visiting her dad. Of course, then you'd have to tell about how her "home" in DCA is her wildly popular restaurant which she opened with her other princess friends. ;)

Why, yes, I have created many a story to keep the Disney magic alive for the kids in my life! Why do you ask?? :geek:

ETA: jldev~You save so much time seeing all the princesses in one meal. The food isn't bad for a character meal either. In my opinon, DCA is easily done in one day with younger kids. I think we spent about an hour at our meal and I was amazed at how much time our niece got to spend with her favorite princesses.

Have a great time!!!

~kisroo:)

Gramiangel420
03-06-2006, 11:26 AM
I will be in DLR next week and DCA. I read this and called my daughter to see if she had made reservations for a Grotto lunch with the princesses and a dinner at Goofy's kitchen.
She had not, but thanks to you she called and got both. I was glad for the reminder and relieved that we could still get reservations.
My granddaughter would have been very disappointed. The princesses and the Incredibles are her favorites. Oh and Bert, who really impressed her last year, by remembering her name when we saw him in different areas. She is 8 and realizes that he won't know her this year, so she probably will introduce herself.
Again thank you for this thread or we may have forgotten to book our meals.:eek:
Counting down until we are in California!:cool:

jldev
03-06-2006, 03:28 PM
Thank you all so very much for your advice! We have decided to go ahead and book the Princess lunch as since it may be many years before we are back at Disneyland, we figure our girls will only be this age once. I have not called to book yet so just wonder if anyone has a recommendation about whether there is a better time to book for lunch (I presume dinner is no an option with a 7pm park closure?)

jswtsang
03-06-2006, 10:23 PM
I went for lunch for my friend's 31st birthday (I guess she's a big kid at heart). We arrived on time for our reservation and still had to wait a good 30 minutes to be seated, in the meantime I saw alot of crying kids and moms and grandmas trying to tell those little girls that ariel wasn't really there, or they didn't know etc. I am just mentioning this b/c you're not seated the instant you've reserved your time for, in case you want to eat at a specific time, i.e. they all get cranky if they get food after 1PM, I'd book at least 30 min before you want to actually sit and eat something.

And according to my friends the food was of way better quality than their dinner at Pizza port the night prior which was about 17 dollars a person, this was 20.95 a person and included a beverage, a crown and a pin, and of course photos with princesses etc.

jt

MouseFaninQueue
03-06-2006, 10:37 PM
Gotta add some praise for Ariel's Grotto too.

We went in October 2005 and it was great. All the princesses coming to the table and spending so much time with our 2 girls (aged 8 months and 3 years 11 months) was priceless. The food wasn't bad. And you do save so much time rather than trying to find all of the princesses in the two parks and standing in line waiting. Our girls got their own crowns to wear and afterwards we got a little pail and shovel to take home with us.

The only downside is that we tended to forget to eat our meal. ;)

As for Goofy's Kitchen - we did that one when we went for our first trip in May of 2005. It was the first "disney" event we did when we got there. We had breakfast in Goofy's kitchen. As my eldest daughter is a bit (ok a whole lot) on the shy side we thought this might be a good way to help break the ice and introduce the characters to her. It worked pretty good. Yes she was shy and hid her face many times - but she still talks about how she met Goofy and Donald, danced with Belle, got a picture taken with Pluto and then had her picture taken BY Pluto on her first morning at Disneyland at Goofy's Kitchen. She also talks how she ate the various foods made specially for her by the various characters as I took her around the buffet and read all the cards to her which also stated who the "chef" was. A great way to start our first family vacation to Disneyland.

And it worked because we did it again 5 months later in October (as you can tell by the first part of this post).

Malcon10t
03-07-2006, 06:36 AM
I went for lunch for my friend's 31st birthday (I guess she's a big kid at heart). We arrived on time for our reservation and still had to wait a good 30 minutes to be seated, in the meantime I saw alot of crying kids and moms and grandmas trying to tell those little girls that ariel wasn't really there, or they didn't know etc. I am just mentioning this b/c you're not seated the instant you've reserved your time for, in case you want to eat at a specific time, i.e. they all get cranky if they get food after 1PM, I'd book at least 30 min before you want to actually sit and eat something.

And according to my friends the food was of way better quality than their dinner at Pizza port the night prior which was about 17 dollars a person, this was 20.95 a person and included a beverage, a crown and a pin, and of course photos with princesses etc.

jtJust to clarify, priority seating is not a reservation. Its more of a fastpass type situation. You may still wait when you arrive.

As far as the prices at the pizza port, not sure what your friends ate that cost $17 a person, but rarely do we spend more than $10 a person for pasta, bread, and a drink. And at that, the pasta is generally too much for my daughter and I to eat together (and we are NOT small eaters...)

One more clarification for people who arent sure, the photos of the princesses are the ones you take. Not sure if they still have the professionals there, but if they are, its $16 for a picture.

JDBlair
03-07-2006, 05:14 PM
We have seating reserved for next Wednesday at 3 pm. Wrote it on our agenda as "girls only". My 23 y.o. sister had wanted to do some tea with Mary Poppins but from what I gather, it's not offered any more. When I offered Ariel's Grotto up, she was giddy! Can't wait!!!

Malcon10t
03-07-2006, 06:06 PM
We have seating reserved for next Wednesday at 3 pm. Wrote it on our agenda as "girls only". My 23 y.o. sister had wanted to do some tea with Mary Poppins but from what I gather, it's not offered any more. When I offered Ariel's Grotto up, she was giddy! Can't wait!!!
I just scheduled our "girl time" for our upcoming trip. We will be hosting 3-5yo girls (and 5 adult girls.) Its going to be a blast!

JDBlair
03-07-2006, 06:19 PM
I just scheduled our "girl time" for our upcoming trip. We will be hosting 3-5yo girls (and 5 adult girls.) Its going to be a blast!

I think it will be a cute little thing for us girls to do. The oldest will be my aunt and the youngest will be my 2 year old daughter. I have a hard time figuring out who will enjoy it more, the adults or the little girls! But now my son is starting to whine that he isn't included. :rolleyes: