Advice! Advice! Advice!

[Boo-Skellington]

Greetings everyone! First time poster and I am in need of some expert advice. I've been to DL about 8 times and know my way around the park for the most part. HOWEVER... I haven't been in about 4 years and this Saturday I'm surprising my family and taking them there for 2 days!!! Yes... only 2 days. My daughter is obsessed with Princesses and my boy is 2 but is a big 2 year old.

Sooooooo... just asking for advice basically on how we can get everything done in the 2 days we have. I've never been at halloween time (which is my favorite holiday) so I've never seen the Holiday Mansion!!! (So STOKED!) Anyhoo... just looking for tips or advice on what not to miss, how to get autographs, best stuff for kids, etc. Like I said... I've been plenty of times but never with kids and I want to make this as magical for my kids as I can. THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!

 

[bclydia]

I think that if your daughter is into princesses, then I'd definitely invest in doing the princess lunch at Ariel's grotto. The food is quite good and not too much more expensive than a sit down meal elsewhere. The best part is that we were able to get photos and autographs with Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Jasmine and Cinderella all in less than an hour!
The princess line ups in the park can be endless and you can easily spend a day trying to see them all. There is nothing more heartbreaking than having a cast member tell your little girl that the princess has to leave and won't be able to visit with her.
The meal at Ariel's grotto was so worth the money to be able to get the visits done with a minimum of fuss. Call today to make your ps reservations and you'll be glad you did!

 

[Boo-Skellington]

You Rock! I just called and they only had 2 reservations left for this Sunday. My only concern is whether or not my daughter will be able to wait until the 2nd day to see the Princesses!!!

The website lies though. It says $10-$30 per person varies. But when I called the cast member told me $26 per adult and $17 per child... OUCH! Oh well...This is going to be suhhhhhweeet!!!

 

[REMSC4]

My DDs 5 & 7 always enjoy the Princess storytelling in the back of Once Apon A Princess. There is an area with a rug for the kids to sit on and a princess comes out and tells "her" story. It is usually Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, or Princess Aurora. Each day they have 3 different princesses, 1 at ( I think) 11:30, 12:30, & 1:30. The storytelling takes about 20 minutes with pictures and autographs to follow. It is a great way to spend a good amout of time with a princess. It is a fun little show with some comedy thrown in, and the princesses do a fantastic job of getting the kids involved.

 

[Boo-Skellington]

That's just in the Princess shop then? That's awesome! Thanks for the tip! Do they have a schedule posted in the store or something? I couldn't find anything about it on the web.

 

[Albort]

yea, the Princess storytelling is by its a small world. THey dress the kids into princess. Thats why you will see a lot of kids wearing princess clothing...

 

[REMSC4]

The Princess Storytelling is in the princess shop to the left as you enter Fantasyland through the castle. The only place I have ever seen it posted is in the daily activities schedule they hand out as you enter the park. You know the one that lists all the parade and fireworks times? My girls have gone to the storytelling probably 7-8 times. They always love it. Now that they are getting older, we usually just sit for one of the stories. We go early and ask the CM in the store who is going to be out when and plan accordingly for the one they happen to want to see. We like to start our morning in Fantasyland and do all the attractions there because there are no Fastpass options in Fantasyland. This puts you right there for storytelling just as the park is filling up. Hopes this helps.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

There is a whole new experience called the Princess Fantasy Faire, and it is located in the Fantasyland Theater. I have a bunch of pictures & we'll get them up to share.

 

[Zoemakes5]

How fun and exciting. I know it was a different world making plans to go with children than when I had gome so many times without children. An entirely different focus!

Not to miss, I think, with kids that age: Tomorrowland's astro blasters, Buzz Lightyear, autotopia (if it's open and you have an adult who can go on with each child), pretty much all of fantasyland, but if I had to make choices, I'd say Alice, Small World, Carousel, and Pinoccio. Pirates, HM, Treehouse, Tiki birds, Jungle Book. If you have extra time, Tom Sawyer's and the boats, if it meant missing something else, I'd skip it.
I'm not as familiar with DCA, but I'd say one Must do's would be Muppet Theatre and the Alladin show. My kids all really enjoyed Soarin', but not sure you can/would want to bring the 2 year old on. But, maybe a good time for baby swapping!

Other not to miss, the Electrical Parade at DCA, Fantasmic and the fireworks. My kids at that age loved parades, too, but others find it a waste of time.
I'm so glad you're going to Ariel's. I've posted this way too often, but it was THE highlight of my DD's last visit. We had gotten one of the pink princess autograph books and took pic's of her w/each of the princesses next to her autograph. She sleeps with it under her pillow! I'd do it again, and in fact WILL be doing it again in March. A suggestion, if time/space allows, have her dress up as her favorite princess when you go in for the meal. We brought her outfit over in a backpack and tossed the backpack into a locker when we went to the park in the morning and then right before dinner we got her all dressed up. She felt so special, she just glowed, and the princesses gave her a bit extra attention, I think. This is fairly common at WDW, but doesn't appear as common at DL. We were there for a fairly busy dinner seating and there were no other dressed up little princesses.
For your DS, and your DD would certainly enjoy, I'd recommend having a meal at Chef Mickey's (or is it chef goofy's....now I'm getting WDW and DL confused....the character meal at DLH!)
Counter service meals with kiddos are frankly nightmares!! You wait in line forever! If you can, I'd bring fruit or veggies or something with you that you can give to them to snack on while another adult is in line for food. OR, simply schedule TS meals for all your meals.
Hmmm, I'm sure I'll think of more, but that's it for now!

 

[nick262]

There is a whole new experience called the Princess Fantasy Faire, and it is located in the Fantasyland Theater. I have a bunch of pictures & we'll get them up to share.

Hi Mary Jo,

I am very excited to know more about this. I have not yet heard about it. Please post your pics.

Thank you

 

[Boo-Skellington]

WOW! You guys all have some amazing suggestions! I would also like to hear more about the Princess Fantasy Fan Faire. I was thinking about bringing her Cinderella costume but thought she might not want to wear it the whole day. Now I know EXACTLY what to do! THANK YOU!

I am getting a bit overwhelmed just trying to get everything planned that we want to do... so I think I'm just going to plan on the things we for sure don't want to miss and then just relax and have fun with my kids and my wife.

I LOVE the suggestions about hitting Fantasy Land first since there are no Fast Pass lines!!! I would never have thought of that! I would have just gone straight for the "popular" rides first I think. Great suggestions everyone!!! Keep 'em coming! I have until Friday at 3:30 PM. Woo-Hoo!!!

 

[JosephTNielsen]

If you want to get a lot of autographs right away make sure you're at Main Street right when the park opens. I typically see Donald, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Alice, Mad Hatter, and a few others there in the morning. Also, if you're doing California Adventure head over to Golden Screams. You'll be able to get autographs by some of the RAREST villians to walk around the park; witch from Snow White, Stromboli from Pinocchio, Chernabog, Jafar, Madam Medusa, etc.

...Joe...

 

[Boo-Skellington]

Where is Golden Screams and should I be there when the park opens as well? Thanks!

 

[ScooterL]

Are they still doing the Princess Storytelling at the shop? The last few times I've been there on a weekend it hasn't been on the schedule, and I wondered if it had been replaced by the events at the Princess Fantasy Faire.

 

[Albort]

Where is Golden Screams and should I be there when the park opens as well? Thanks!

i heard Golden Screams isnt that good... its just a movie...

Hit these rides first...
Indiana Jones
Haunted Mansion
California Screams(DCA)
Splash Mountain
Soarin Over Cal (DCA)

Those are the more general rides that have higher lines... To my suprise, Space mountain isnt as long as you think...

 

[dletz]

Princess Fantasy Faire: They have taken out most of the seats in the Fantasyland theater. The two sections on left near where they sell food (up on top and the middle section, that used to have seating) has walls around it now. When you walk up they give you a crown and and sheet of stickers. There are lots of stickers on the sheet. They have tables set up in the walled off areas to the left with baskets of coloring pages, crayons, and you can sit and color and design your won crown. My daughter put tons of stickers on her crown, and probably still has half a sheet of stickers left.

The back area up on top is now an area for princess autographs. There was a HUGE line when we were there. Unless it goes really fast, I would guess it was probably at least a 45 minute to an hour wait. It looked like they had at least 2 princess in there, and I think there were more. The walls were just high enough that it was hard to see. I looked like they rotate who shows up.

Down on the floor area in front of the stage all the seats are gone. On the left there is a velvety chair to sit and take a Princess picture. On the right Is a shield background to take a knight picture. You take your own pictures here. I'm not sure how often they do it, but we did see them do a little show while we were there. They showed the kids how to be Princesses and knights. How to bow, dance, waive that sort of thing. Then they had people up on the stage dance, and eventually 3 princesses came out. When we were there it was Jasmine, Belle, and Cinderella, I'm not sure if they rotate these as well. At the end they brought out poles with ribbons and had the kids hold onto the ribbon and walk in a circle.

There are some seats left maybe about 5 or six rows, where the sairs are, in the middle. Most people just stood down below or sat down down below.

Off to the right by the train station they have a merchandise area. They also do face painting and they had someone doing hair. The one I saw wasn't really a braid, but was really pretty. They had no signs as to the cost. I saw one hair style I liked and I tried to get the price but the lady was really rude. She charged the lady $38 and I asked if that was for the hair. The CM replied no it was hair and face painting. When I asked what the hair cost all she said was who was next. I said, well I'm trying to figure out how much it costs, and she turned to the people who walked up after us and said, okay, I guess you're next. She never did tell me the price. I'm not sure if they only have one hair style or not. The CM wouldn't even look at me when I tried standing there to ask her more questions. You could tell she definately didn't want to be there.

They do take credit cards for the hair and face painting. Also for the merchandise, but there are two different registers for that (at leas the hair lady wouldn't let the lady pay for merchandise and her hair at the same time).

I have some pics, I'll have to remember to post them.

Golden Screams: My daughter didn't want to see this said it would be scary. I convinced her to go see it. We got there about 20 minutes before it was to start. They didn't have people lining up inside by the doors, but outside. It looked like they had a small area behind where the autographs are done for a line. So we got in line. Eventually they let us line up by the doors. They started the line in and we didn't move. I just figured they were clearing out the little seating area ahead. Then we started walking, and we walked almost the whole length of the theater before turning back toward the door area. When we finally walked in all of the lanes were pretty full. I don't think they let in too many more people after us, maybe 50 or so. The rest of the line was let go. When we got in it was packed. There were some places where people didn't sit next to the person next to them so there were some single seats left. There were about 20 people who they had to look hard to find seats because people left open seats throughout, or on the far end. If you're expecting something great you probably won't like it. I thought it was kind of cute. Showed different villian scenes. It made me realize that while my daughter has seen a lot of disney movies, she hasn't seen all of the older ones that I grew up watching. She knows the stories, but I don't think she's every seen the whole movie of pinocchio and a lot of the others. I will have to dig them out and play them for her. She sat covering her ears the whole entire time (nothing new, she watches almost every show/movie this way). When we got out she said, I though that was going to be scary, it wasn't even scary. I like it.

If you have plenty of time, you might want to check it out. If you are only there for a short time, and don't have time for everything, it's probably something you would want to skip. We went to check out all the halloween and new stuff, so to us it wasn't a waste of time.

Donna

 

[Boo-Skellington]

Wow... Thanks Donna. That was alot of typing and information. I really appreciate everyone's efforts so far! I'm seriously so excited to go back! The last time I was there was about 4 years ago and I can't wait to see how much has changed in that time. Woo-Hoo! Gettin' pumped!!!

 

[Boo-Skellington]

Oh yeah! I forgot to ask about strollers. My daughter is 4 and my boy is 2. Someone said not to bother with strollers 'cause they're a pain and always get in the way. Someone else told me that you get to go in the "stroller lines" or something like that and save some time if you have one. I just wonder which options would be better. Won't my tykes be getting pooped by the end of the day after so much walking? Advice! Advice! Advice! Thanks!

 

[Boo-Skellington]

So... just a follow up question. I read another thread a little about strollers, but should we bring our own then or rent one if we need it. I'm guessing that we will almost certainly need one for a 2 and 4 year old. Someone said DL rents out double occupancy strollers? Is this true? What would be best for our trip? Thanks in advance!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

We have some pics of the Fantasy Faire up and they are located at the Photos link at the top of the page.

Here they are, though, for your convenience.

As you enter the venue, you go under this sign:

There are areas set up where children can do crafts while they wait. These are set at both sides of the theater, looking down where the storytellings take place.

To the right is an area where young children can get costumes and be made up

Down below, Minnie Mouse was greeting young guests, as well as a young girl (I'm not sure what she was called, but she was charming, and made sure to greet a lot of young guests)

Up on top, there was a line where children stood with their autograph books and parents to go get a picture with Belle. This was in an enclosed area, and I did not want to stand in line, nor would they let me slip in to take a pic, so I don't have a picture of it. I did peek over the fence, though, and saw Belle taking pictures -- Meet and Greet.

Down below, there is a stage set up beautifully, and then on the sides two areas set up for photos. The whole area is really pretty, and they played a medieval sounding type of music.

Here is the stage - nothing happened while I was there, so not sure what they use it for.

Here is one of the set-ups. Parents were taking pics of their little princesses & princes while I was there.

In front of the stage is an open area, and at the back are stadium seats where parents and other guests can sit and watch. You go up some steps, and these seats are behind a railing. Behind these seats is a wall, and on the other side of the wall, up on top at normal ground level, is the meet & greet that was going on while I was there. Facing from the stage, the costumes are on the left side in the back. You can't see them from the stage area.

I sat there for awhile, just taking in the atmosphere. Then children started sitting on these circular mats around another set-up (on the left when you face the stage), and Snow White came to tell her story. She had a page help her, and she was soooo in character I sat and watched and really enjoyed her story.

There may be more to the Princess Fanstasy Faire, but this is what I saw while I was there.