Advice on scheduling Character Dining, please!

[smiles33]

Advice, please! We get in late Thursday, Sept. 15 and we leave on Sunday morning for a long drive. I'm trying to debate between doing the character meals on the first day we're there or on Saturday.

I know DD5 definitely wants Ariel's Grotto and will bring her to BBB beforehand so these two need to be the same day. Do I do all this on our first day, Friday, even though it means walking by many rides we haven't gone on yet? It's a non-MM day so I assume it will open at 9 am on a Friday in Sept. based on historical hours. It may still be crowded as it's also the first day HMH will be open.

We don't have MM access for Saturday unless I buy a 3 day hopper (even though we leave Sunday, so I'm still debating this). Or, I could make a Plaza Inn reservation for as early as possible, eat fast, take some photos with the characters (not a priority for my 2 and 5 year olds who like princesses), and then rush off to FL and get FP for ST.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

 

[Eeee-va]

Good question! I personally wouldn't do BBB first thing in the morning either day--the first couple hours in the parks are the best time to do rides without massive lines. But above all else, you definitely don't want to spend early Friday morning at BBB since you don't have MM. Unless your kids can stay until well after fireworks, Friday morning is really your best chance to do Fantasyland without long lines.

I think I would choose BBB/Ariel's on Saturday, just to end the trip on a "special" note.

That said, I'd keep an eye on the weather forecasts. In the HIGHLY unlikely event that forecasts are for almost certain rain on Saturday, you might want to move BBB and Ariel's to Friday.

I personally wouldn't buy a 3-day pass just for Magic Morning, UNLESS you were able to use the third day for at least a couple hours (arrival or departure date). It sounds like you have a really long drive, and with the age of your kids, I'm not sure there's any way to do the parks on either day. (If the adults can tolerate it, I guess you might be able to squeeze a couple hours in Sunday morning?)

I also wouldn't buy breakfast at the Plaza Inn primarily to maybe get in a bit early, but I'm also really cheap. You SHOULD be able to do everything in FL once even without MM, and for Star Tours you can almost certainly get at least 1 set of FPs each day if you get to the park at opening.

Have a great trip!

 

[marcemc]

Would you consider going Sunday morning to a character breakfast in a hotel?

Goofy's kitchen is a great option & we have met princesses there (Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty). I've also heard good reviews from Mickey's Surf Up at Paradise Pier.

 

[OrcaPotter]

I just got back from my first trip to Disneyland, and we did our character breakfast first-thing the next morning after we arrived. We did it at 7 AM at Goofy's and it was the best start to our vacation! Our passes were comp, so we never qualified for a MM--and we're also all in our mid-20's and older, so Fantasyland rides and other big priorities weren't that important to us (and since we're local to WDW, that was another reason). We were early enough to miss the crowds and had a lot of quality time with the characters; we saw 7 in all: Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale, Aurora, Baloo, and the Mad Hatter. It was money well-spent and truly memorable!

 

[mrswh]

Why don't you enjoy the parks until about noon on Friday, then do BBB, then a late lunch at Ariel's? It can be your afternoon "down time," and then you can rally in the late afternoon/early evening. I find that by noon the parks are hot and crowded anyway, so we usually try to find something else to do (pool, lunch, etc.) between 12 and 4 anyway.

 

[andee2000]

I loved when we started our trip with a charater meal, it really was a great start to our trip. Our next trip, next summer, we are going to do our character dinner on our arrival night which will be a non-disneyland day.

 

[smiles33]

Thanks for all your feedback, it inspires more questions for me to think about.

My 2 year old probably won't nap in the stroller, so I had hoped DH would bring both DDs back to the HoJo by 1:30 pm. This means, working backward, lunch at Ariel's probably has to be 12 or 12:30 at the very latest to ensure he's out the door by 1:15. And if BBB takes 30-60 min and we need to budget in time for a 15 minute walk, we need to have that appt around 10:30.

We pretty much plan to hit FL and baby-swap ST. I hope to also catch Aladdin and maybe fireworks (will RDCT be up in Sept on Sat night?). When DDs are napping,I will SR all the mountains, Soarin, and Screamin (if not closed for refurb).

I'm skipping other character meals as I think DDs will be too scared/shy around characters other than princesses. I have to think about whether MM is worthwhile or if I should just get Plaza Inn breakfast. We like hot breakfasts so we plan to buy something anyway from Mimi's or McDs rather than continental style breakfasts in the room.

I think I will go with BBB and lunch on Saturday then. That is likely the busy day with the APs coming in for the HMH opening.

 

[Eeee-va]

We pretty much plan to hit FL and baby-swap ST. I hope to also catch Aladdin and maybe fireworks (will RDCT be up in Sept on Sat night?). When DDs are napping,I will SR all the mountains, Soarin, and Screamin (if not closed for refurb).

I believe the fireworks will be RDCT.

If I recall correctly, the only mountain with SR is Splash Mountain (and then Indy (SR works great!), Soarin', and Screamin').

If you're the only one riding a lot of these rides, you could potentially get several FPs using a runner, since you'd only need to use one ticket for each FP. The only problem is if you get a Star Tours FP, you probably can't get another FP for two hours. But if you get 3 FPs at 8:15 AM, you could snag 3 more FPs (for 3 different rides (1 per ticket) if you feel like walking) at 10:15 AM.

It appears to me that Soarin' is often faster with FP than with SR. There will be construction at DCA; reportedly, presently the entrance will actually wind around and come out near Soarin'. So IF you end up having to go so close to Soarin' anyway just to get into the park, you could easily get a FP.

I don't know your kids' endurance, but I would consider doing a late lunch at Ariel's Grotto instead (going back for an EARLY break and then coming back for a late BBB appointment and lunch)...but not having kids, I don't know how the makeovers hold up through a nap. If they hold up well or the kids aren't coming back later, then early is good.

 

[smiles33]

They won't fall asleep until closer to 2 and AG doesn't have princesses at dinner, so I think we'll still do a standard lunch hour. Thanks for the tips on FPs for me. I definitely plan to use DH and DD5's tickets to get extra FP for me. DH only want to ride ST, as he doesn't care for roller coasters. More FP for me!!!

 

[kappygolucky]

I was there in June with my daughter and 6 yr. old grandaughter.

I know many people on the boards will disagree with me about the Ariel Breakfast and BBB ....However, I found a clip on You tube about BBB showing the complete transformation of a youngster and to tell the truth it looked like way too much-glue and glitter and not a single smiling face and from those I saw around DL as well as the breakfast most of the young ladies who had been primped and pasted at 9:00 am looked fairly itchy and unhappy by 2:00pm.

My GD was able to purchase a Jasmine(her favorite) costume in BBB and wear it to the princess breakfast at Ariel's with a $10.00 tiara I bought her at Claire's (similar to those high school girls wear at homecoming). Her mother did her hair fancy and we tossed a pair of shorts and a shirt in our bag- She changed after the breakfast and was happy as a clam all the day long.

The breakfast is huge..........read way to much food...but the "price of attendance is priceless" .when Cindy walked throught the door even I was convinced she was real and all the princesses gave huge amounts of attention to the young guests. Belle even danced with my GD around the room.

Originally I was concerned that if all the little girls at the breakfast were in costume and "dolled up" my GD would feel out of place. Only about 1/5 of the little girls had been to BBB would the full deal. GD had a great time in clothes that were comfy and hair that was not itchy and prickly.

Have a super time whatever you choose and enjoy the magic!