Princess Character Dining?

[Solomani]

Hi all,

I am planing on my 3y old daughter having her 4th birthday at Disneyland and wanted to organise a princess character meal. But it looks like its only available in the California park side not Disneyland side. Am I right?

If so is it a big deal to walk back and fourth between the two parks assuming I have a park hopper ticket? Was planing on spending this particular day at Disneyland not California park.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Girimama33]

Correct. Ariel's Grotto is in DCA with characters available for breakfast and lunch. It is very easy to park hop in DLR. It only takes a few minutes to leave one park and enter the other.
If you have your heart set on staying in DL, you could opt for a makeover at BBB and then going to the Royal Hall to meet the princesses there.

 

[Solomani]

Thanks for confirming. I was planing BBB to be the first stop. If DCA is that close I don't think it will be an issue to jump between parks that day.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Correct. Disneyland is closer to DCA than the Magic Kingdom is to the Contemporary.

During the 24 hour party, I spent most of that time in Disneyland, but did hop to DCA for 3 hours including lunch at Ariel's Grotto. Having Belle tell me that the Beast had joined the Rebel Alliance was awesome since I was dressed as a Jedi.

 

[Tyggress]

The entrance to DL and DCA are about 100 yards apart, directly across from each other. I hop back and forth all day.

 

[Solomani]

Thanks all.

 

[lisachrystine]

We just did this for my daughter's 5th birthday... BBB appointment was at 10:10 and Ariel's reservation was at 12:40. We were planning to watch the princess show at 11:05, but they didn't take my daughter at BBB until after 10:30. We were out at 11, but the show was already full. We managed to hit two rides at DL before heading over for our lunch reservations. We walked in at 12:35 and I think we left DL at 12:15. It's easy to do, but keep in mind that it does take *some* time to walk the distance with a little one. I ended up carrying my daughter part of the way because she was walking so slow I was afraid we wouldn't make it.

 

[Solomani]

Thanks Lisa. We were planning booking the earliest slot at BBB then lunch at the grotto so sounds like there should be plenty of time.

We have done BBB with my older two girls at HKDL over the last two years and wonder if the process is different. At HKDL you don't generally need an appointment nor is the wait time very long. You pick the dress, makeover is done and then photos are taken (there is only one package in HKDL which is equivalent of the top end package at DLR it seems). Whole thing takes about an hour. There are no extra activities for the kids for example.

 

[lisachrystine]

You definitely need an appointment. Especially if you want to have the experience in the morning. When we checked in at 10, someone walked in and they said the first available time that day was at 3:10. We did one of the lower end packages, so I can't speak to picking the dress (we brought our own) or how long the pictures take, but she spent about a half hour actually in the chair, but they were running behind. And from what I gather on here, that's pretty common. If it helps, we checked in at 10 and left at 11. My DD had hair, makeup and nails done.

 

[Solomani]

Thanks Lisa