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View Full Version : Princess Fantasy Faire-- Thoughts Please...



jeffthechef
12-18-2006, 11:10 AM
We just got back from 4 days at Disneyland and I would like to chime in on the new Princess Fantasy Fair.

My 3 year old is a huge princess fan, so this was right up her alley. The redesigned theater looks great. But then the show started and it was a bit of a letdown. It was too short. Also, I thought it would be more like the story telling like they used to have in the Princess Shop.

The biggest farce is the meet and greet. After waiting for over an hour in line, we were treated to a whopping 2 princesses- Cinderella and Princess Minnie (and let's face it, she is not a real princess). My daughter had her Belle dress on and had her hair done as well, but Belle was nowhere to be found! Are we expected to spend another hour in line with the hopes that we get lucky?

I much more preferred the Princesses in front of the castle. You knew who you were in line for and the wait was never more than 15 minutes. I also liked the Princess telling her story in the shop. It was a great experience for a little girl. Why can't they just do a bigger version of it in the new location? And, why can't all of the princess just stake out a position in the courtyard at one time so that the kids can wait for the one they want to see?

tmptink
12-18-2006, 11:19 AM
First, I am sorry your dd did not get to meet the princess she wanted. That is such a bummer.

We went to the Princess Fair too. They had storytime when we went. We got to see Jasmine tell her story. We could not meet her but we did get a story. The person told us that storytime was at the half hours.

I agree on the waiting to meet the Princess'. The person told us that if the Princess' in the room are the ones you do not want to see then get in line and if it is the ones you want to see then don't get in line. The line did go really slow. The first time we were in line we waited an hour and the second time we only waited 20-30 mins. We went right before they closed the line.

Bolivar
12-18-2006, 11:37 AM
I haven't been since they started the Princess Fair, but it sounds like lunch at Ariel's is much easier and better.

woody9six
12-18-2006, 11:42 AM
Sorry that you had a bad experience.

I took my 3 year-old and she was in hog heaven! She enjoyed the dancing, the story time with Princess Aurora, decorating the crown and coloring pictures as well as getting her face painted. We decided to forego the line for the meet and greet with out too much protest. Had she insisted, I think I would have talked to a CM about which Princesses might be available. I have found that the CM's have been more than accomodating when it comes to this kind of thing.

I was also under the impression that there would still be princesses available from time to time in front of the castle. Is this not the case? Can we get confirmation on this?

I agree that it would be disappointing to know that it is a total crap shoot when it comes to which princesses you might meet. On our last visit over the summer (pre-Princess Faire), we had the opportunity to meet every princess, I would hate to think that might no longer be an option.

I'll definitely do my homework on this, next time I may not get off so easily.

emilousmom
12-18-2006, 01:59 PM
I totally agree with you on this. WE went last weeks and we didn't really care for it. The line was so long, the show wasn't starting for an hour.

I too would rather stand in line for a specific princess. I think we were spoiled doing the princess lunch. That is how we will do it next time!

By the way, we met Cinderella 3 times in a matter of an hour at DCA in that show near the animation building.

MammaSilva
12-18-2006, 02:25 PM
We did both this last trip, the wait at 11:00 was over an hour long....there are some pretty back drops and truthfully we'd probably do it again if the youngest princess were in a better mood, otherwise our choice is the Ariels lunch, we have happy kids stuffing their faces while the princess's come to 'us'....yes the meal is a bit pricey but my time is worth money so it all balances out.

woody9six
12-18-2006, 02:37 PM
.yes the meal is a bit pricey but my time is worth money so it all balances out.

It is so much easier to look at it from this perspective. My mom and sister joined us for the dinner at Ariel's Grotto and I explained to them that they should think of the cost as $10. for dinner and the rest is for the privilege of seeing their granddaughter/niece light up at getting to meet the princesses. They agreed afterward that it would have been a bargain at twice the price.

It reminds me of that old definition of what a cynic is...someone who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

babytmakes5
12-18-2006, 03:00 PM
I waited in line for almost an hour with my six year old princess--way too long in my opinion, but my little one insisted, and the hour did go by pretty fast. We were able to meet Snow White, Aurora, and Mulan. The day before we went to Ariel's and met Ariel, Mulan, Jasmine, Belle, and Snow White. We were only disappointed because we didn't see Cinderella even once during our five days at DLR. Even though we met Snow White and Mulan twice, my little princess was happy to chat with them again. To be honest, I probably would have tried to talk her out of it had I know which princesses we were waiting for, since we saw two of them at Ariel's. But when we got in line we were told that Minnie, Cinderella, and Jasmine were the ones in the meet and greet area. Well, because we were in line so long, they ended up rotating the princesses. However, it was a bonus seeing Aurora since my princess was dressed like her little twin that very day! The whole Princess Faire was a positive thing, even for my two boys. A couple of princes kept them company while my husband and I oohed and aahed over our daughter's face painting and fancy hairdo.

I'm not sure really if I would rather pay for the over-priced meal at Ariel's or wait in line at the Princess Fantasy Faire. It was nice having each princess come to our table, but to be honest, the food is horrible. Even the kids' meals are bad--I don't know how they did it, but they even managed to make a hot dog kids meal look really, really gross (my kids didn't touch their food there, even though they were hungry). I think the key is to wait in line at the Faire close to closing time, so you don't have to wait so long.

I have to put in a good word for Mulan. Both times we met with her it was the same gal, and she was wonderful. She chatted with my little girl about rides and brothers, and it just really made our day when she remembered my daughter the second time we saw her. To be honest, I don't think my daughter would have waited in line to see Mulan before this trip. But because of how charming she was, she is now a favorite "princess" to my daughter.

animalx
12-18-2006, 06:25 PM
Me too. over an hour . My daughter was so happy to be in line for Cinderella and Jasmine but of course 15 minutes before we made it in they left to do the show and we got Mulan instead. She was devastated. On a positive note i liked how they had let in maybe 4 families at a time to meet the princesses. It was nice to have somewhat private time with them as they chatted with the girls without being rushed. I guess that's why we were in line for an hour. It was worth it ONCE.

disney jones
12-18-2006, 06:40 PM
my girls are pretty content at the PFF, though i miss not seeing them at the Castle.

one big lesson learned from previous posters is just ask the CM when a Princess will be there and time your entry into the line accordingly.

In our case in October, the one we never met before was Princess Minnie, so that's who we wanted to see. we got her schedule from the CM escort there and knew the line was about 45 minutes so we got into line about 30 minutes before Princess Minnie was scheduled to appear - it worked perfectly.

tikiking
12-18-2006, 07:22 PM
I too wish they would have separated the princesses into multiple, shorter lines. We went in November, and my 4-year old wasn't willing to stand in the hour-long line to see the random three princesses. She did have fun making a crown, listening to a story, and then dancing around the May-pole (right next to Mulan, luckily), but I kept feeling that they could have done a lot better with that amount of space.

woody9six
12-18-2006, 09:47 PM
Why is the rum always gone?

Ooops... my bad! sorry.

Koala Gurl
12-19-2006, 07:48 AM
We lucked out I guess...we waited 20 minutes in the middle of the day, and got to see Aurora, Minnie & Snow White (characters my DD knows.)

The CM at the front of the line does have a schedule, so like PP have mentioned, you can ask when the princess you want to see is going to be there, and try to time the wait.

momuvseven
12-20-2006, 07:43 AM
We were not impressed. Our kids want the Snow White show to come back. We were in line near the front one day about fifteen minutes before they opened the line and still waited an hour. We asked about the hairstyling and it was not something I would pay for unless it was a birthday or a once in a lifetime trip to DLR. We would have had to wait around for the rest of the activities and had to ask to be given the stickers, crowns and coloring pages. In one word it was boring. Not something we ever plan to wait for again.

DangerMouse
12-20-2006, 07:49 AM
Just so I have this straight, is this the only venue where you can visit with a princess now? Is there nowhere else in DL or DCA where you can see the princesses (outside of Ariel's, of course)?

I used to really enjoy meeting characters in the Animation Studio in DCA. Do they not have character greets there at all anymore?