Princess Dining Watch 2018

[mom2rtk]

I'm really surprised Disney has not announced a replacement for Ariel's Grotto yet. I understand they want the space there for expansion on the lounge. But nothing to replace it? I thought it was strange they didn't have a replacement ready to go when it closed. I'm even more surprised now time has passed and they have announced their plans on the new lounge.

Anybody have inside information on whether princess dining is dead at DLR? You'd think they'd at least put a couple princesses into the rotation at Plaza Inn.

 

[agamble]

Oh I really want them to open a new character dining venue. I'm surprised they haven't announced anything, not even a non princess meal. Our oldest was never into Princesses much (or dolls, or anything girly), but our little one loves the princesses. It's really too bad. AND if they were just doing breakfast (and dropped lunch) they still could have used the same building since the lounge isn't going to serve breakfast. Perhaps they plan to put a princess breakfast in the new hotel, but that is still such a long time away.

 

[juxtapose]

We’re going in May for my daughters 6th birthday. I was hoping to take her to a princess dining and am surprised they haven’t announced anything!

 

[figment_jii]

I had kind of wondered if they were seeing whether they could get by without a princess dining location in the parks. With the large number of princesses that can be met in the parks, I wonder if they were seeing a softening in the demand for a princess meal. Maybe there were getting the sense that enough people wanted meals where all their kids could meet someone they were interested in (e.g., child A loves princesses, but Child B isn't interested in princesses at all, so we'll go to Plaza Inn because it has characters that both children like). The other character meals feature predominately head characters, so I wonder if there is sometime difficulty with mixing head and face characters together in the same location (I can't think of any, but I don't know the details of how the departments/unions/etc. work and what kinds of rules there are).

 

[momof2n2]

I had kind of wondered if they were seeing whether they could get by without a princess dining location in the parks. With the large number of princesses that can be met in the parks, I wonder if they were seeing a softening in the demand for a princess meal. Maybe there were getting the sense that enough people wanted meals where all their kids could meet someone they were interested in (e.g., child A loves princesses, but Child B isn't interested in princesses at all, so we'll go to Plaza Inn because it has characters that both children like). The other character meals feature predominately head characters, so I wonder if there is sometime difficulty with mixing head and face characters together in the same location (I can't think of any, but I don't know the details of how the departments/unions/etc. work and what kinds of rules there are).

That would make that a west coast thing, then, because getting meals at Akershus in Epcot is an effort at times.

 

[figment_jii]

That would make that a west coast thing, then, because getting meals at Akershus in Epcot is an effort at times.

Yup, dining reservations (in general and in terms of character meals) and characters-meeting-focus are very different between DLR and WDW. I was talking specifically about DLR and the loss of Ariel's Grotto and that princess meal.

 

[VandVsmama]

I can kind of see why the character meals at Ariel's Grotto might not have been as big of a draw at DL. We did it once 5 yr ago. It was an awful lot of money to spend for what amounted to about 1 min with each princess. Just enough time for them to sign an autograph, say hello, and take a picture. We've had better interactions with those same princesses as Princess Fantasy Faire in Fantasyland and we didn't have to pay $200+ for pancakes, sliced hot dogs, and macaroni & cheese.

** Edited to add **
Minnie's Breakfast at the Plaza Inn, by comparison, is a bit cheaper, has better food in my opinion, and is a better value since you see so many characters (often up to 7!) in a short amount of time. DCA **does** need a character meal in the park. It's unfortunate that there isn't one right now.

We've also never done the character meal at the GCH because my kids aren't interested in any of the characters that they have at that one. I saw the Brother Bear movie once and that was enough.

 

[lcp9]

We did Ariel's Grotto when my daughter was almost 3, and at the time I had a 1 year old son. I remember thinking on that trip and maybe the next that it was kind of lame we had to spend a day at DCA when there really wasn't a ton my kids were interested in at that time. My daughter didn't care about Cars, and at that point was kind of young to care about Monsters or Toy Story. Little Mermaid ride was kind of it...she was ALL about princesses. That led me to think it was purely to draw the princess-crazed kids/families who would typically only spend time at DL. So my point is, I wouldn't be surprised if that particular character meal wasn't as popular as the others because princesses are kind of a DL thing (at that point Anna/Elsa were still at DL too...another move that I think was an attempt to draw princess people to DCA.) I do think if there was a princess meal at DL it would do better.

 

[mom2rtk]

That would make that a west coast thing, then, because getting meals at Akershus in Epcot is an effort at times.

We do (did )Ariel's Grotto on every trip. And it always seemed very busy.

 

[Vala]

We do (did )Ariel's Grotto on every trip. And it always seemed very busy.

Agreed.

It was a traditional birthday gift that a friend of mine has been paying for a meal at the Grotto ever since I started visiting California. I never saw the place anything less than busy.

 

[katyringo]

We did Ariel’s in December and it was very very busy. I don’t think demand is an issue.

It totally weird to me that haven’t replaced it.

I’ll be honest though I wish there was more character dinning at Disneyland. A marvel or Pixar theme would be amazing.

 

[ADisneyFamilyof5]

I’ll be honest though I wish there was more character dinning at Disneyland. A marvel or Pixar theme would be amazing.

I was thinking the same thing! I always wished there was more character dining options. I think this would be a great opportunity for them to do a Pixar theme dining. That would be awesome.

 

[momof2n2]

Character dining seems underrepresented at DLR. and even the highly touted Plaza seems haphazard vs well-themed. I like how themed the WDW character offerings are.

 

[momof2n2]

I was thinking the same thing! I always wished there was more character dining options. I think this would be a great opportunity for them to do a Pixar theme dining. That would be awesome.

But - just a clump of unrelated Pixar characters would be -meh- to me. Lots of Toy Story or Mike & Sully with Dug and Kevin... but not a wee bit of lots.
For me.
YMMV

 

[ADLFAN]

Are they still doing character dining at PPH? That might be a good location for the Princesses and may help drive some business back to the restaurant in there...

 

[ellamama]

I really liked having a character lunch option in the parks - we like the Plaza Inn but prefer not to spend the precious morning hours at a long meal. My girls loved the Princess lunch at Ariel's, though with my youngest being 5 we are close to aging-out of the princess phase. But I really hope they replace it with an in-park character lunch - can't see us trekking to DLH or PPH for lunch.

 

[katyringo]

Are they still doing character dining at PPH? That might be a good location for the Princesses and may help drive some business back to the restaurant in there...

That’s where surfs up is.

I agree. I wish there was more character meals inside the park and for lunch and dinner.

 

[mom2rtk]

I was thinking the same thing! I always wished there was more character dining options. I think this would be a great opportunity for them to do a Pixar theme dining. That would be awesome.

Character dining seems underrepresented at DLR. and even the highly touted Plaza seems haphazard vs well-themed. I like how themed the WDW character offerings are.

I totally get why there are fewer character meals at DLR. Different clientele from WDW, way more repeat and day guests. But the difference is substantial. They could really use something new. Maybe with something new, they could even attract in some of those frequent visitors.

I also wish WDW would mix things up a bit with their offerings. I would love for them to do a rotating character thing at Crystal Palace like they do at Plaza Inn in DLR. The same 4 characters we saw on our very first ever visit to the MK in 1999 are still there for every meal every day.

I really liked having a character lunch option in the parks - we like the Plaza Inn but prefer not to spend the precious morning hours at a long meal. My girls loved the Princess lunch at Ariel's, though with my youngest being 5 we are close to aging-out of the princess phase. But I really hope they replace it with an in-park character lunch - can't see us trekking to DLH or PPH for lunch.

I agree with that. We love being able to go get some things done, then have our character meal when we would have been ready for a break anyway. And I can justify the cost of lunch more than I can the breakfast since we usually stop and buy lunch but frequently skip breakfast or just grab a muffin in the room.

That’s where surfs up is.

I agree. I wish there was more character meals inside the park and for lunch and dinner.

Surf's Up is the one character meal that never seems to be busy. We have stayed at PPH many times and it was never full when we went by. Of course that's probably why everyone raves about how great the character interaction is.

I think the change in security at DTD has really made PPH a pain to get to and from (although it never seemed that busy even before that change). I probably would be less inclined to do a character meal there just because it's harder now (if I wasn't staying there) to get to/from. Sure you can exit the parks through the GCH, but if you want to return to the parks, it's farther than I want to walk mid-day to go back around to the end of DTD and all the way back.

 

[momof2n2]

I also wish WDW would mix things up a bit with their offerings. I would love for them to do a rotating character thing at Crystal Palace like they do at Plaza Inn in DLR. The same 4 characters we saw on our very first ever visit to the MK in 1999 are still there for every meal every day.

You want them to mess with Pooh?!?!?!?!!!!!!

You think you know a poster.....



Oh Mom

 

[mom2rtk]

You want them to mess with Pooh?!?!?!?!!!!!!

You think you know a poster.....



Oh Mom

So YOU're the reason CP is so stagnant!

Come on. It's been a Pooh character meal for at least 19 years. Put some Marvel characters in there or something.