Akershus PPO/FEA/E&A Meet and greet update

[gigem_aggies]

So, we spent the morning at Epcot and are back at our hotel for our mid-day break. I know people have asked how this all works, so here is what happened for us today. It worked very, very well!

We had a 8:10 reservation time for our party of 5. We arrived at the park gates around 7:40. We were let into the park at 7:50.

We walked back to Norway and were inside the restaurant and in line to meet Belle at exactly 8:10.

We had a really nice breakfast and sweet server. We told her about midway through our meal that we weren't going to order anything else and if she had a moment to close out our check, we'd appreciate it so that we could get going after the princess procession. She was happy to do so.

The princesses made their ways around the room and the procession started right around 8:45ish. The last princess we had to meet (Ariel) happened to come to our table RIGHT after the procession. That worked out nicely for us. Princesses were Belle, Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White, and Aurora.

Since we'd already closed out our tab, we just gathered our stuff and walked right out. We were IN the line for FEA at 8:53 and actually boarding the boat at 9:02 am. It did not seem to be a huge mass of rope drop people coming at us as we got in the line like I had expected. Yes, there were RD people, but more of a trickle than anything. We loved the ride! Side note: PEOPLE. When they say NO flash photography, they mean it. It's a little distracting when they have to come over the loud speaker and interrupt your ride to say that AGAIN. Both the ladies in front of us kept using their flash. :/

Immediately after the ride, we walked over to Royal Sumerhus. We were in line by 9:15ish. Wait was 7 minutes.

And, all done in Norway by 9:23 am. My girls could now care less about going back to Epcot today.

 

[ELSA711]

This is great! We have an 8:15am ADR at Akershus and would love the same. Of course mine is the day after Thanksgiving so who knows if EP will open prior to 9am.

 

[abarriger]

SO happy to hear this! Will be trying for the same in 5 days...

 

[BrianL]

Side note: PEOPLE. When they say NO flash photography, they mean it. It's a little distracting when they have to come over the loud speaker and interrupt your ride to say that AGAIN. Both the ladies in front of us kept using their flash. :/

Try to take solace in the fact that those photos probably won't look very good. Flashes completely ruin the proper lighting of a dark ride, and in the case of the newer animatronics with the projected faces, they might even end up with a creepy Elsa with no face. At the very least you'll be able to tell what is made of plywood.

There are tons of great, low-light photos on the Internet that I can enjoy, so I don't usually take photos on rides at all.

 

[maxiesmom]

When they let you in the park did they let people in according to their time slot? Or did they let everyone in at once?

 

[Corey127]

Did the breakfast seem rushed at all?

 

[gigem_aggies]

Breakfast did not seem rushed to us at all. I mean, we did kind of hightail it out, but we weren't scarfing down food or anything.

When we were waiting at the gates, there was a CM with a clipboard and scanner that came around at 7:45. He scanned our magic bands and saw that we were an 8:10 time and moved us to a shorter line. The people in front of us stayed in the original line and I later saw them coming in to the restaurant while we were already eating. I'm assuming they moved us to the shorter line because our reservation time was earlier. But, I'm only making guesses here (though they seem logical).

 

[Missyrose]

For the record, we walked up to Royal Sommerhaus two Fridays ago at 1 p.m. and the wait was 10 minutes.

 

[MouseMama11]

This is great to hear! Both my girls are obsessed with Frozen so that was one of the top things to do at Epcot besides Test Track and the aquarium!! We have a 10:30 ADR at Akershus so we were planning on getting to Anna/Elsa at RD to meet them before breakfast. It's good to hear that will work out nicely Thank you for sharing your experience!