Anna & Elsa Hit The 4 Hour Mark Today

[kneedeep]

Question...is the whole party actually waiting in line for 5 hours, or is one parent "holding" a place for the rest of the group?

My 4 kids are long grown, but thinking back, I don't think any of them would have waited 4-5 hours for ANYTHING when they were 4-10 yrs old (guessing the age this appeals to)

Thankful my kids were never into the character thing back in the day. We just waved and yelled Hi if we happened to see one walking by with a handler...never waited in a line.

This is my question, too. I know at Epcot CMs specifically asked only one family member to wait, but does that hold true at MK?

Any reports yet from anyone who actually waited for hours at MK?

 

[isabellea]

I really think A&E should be FP+ only. They should have FP+ released at the 60 days mark, at the 30 days mark and keep some for the day of for last minute visitors until the craziness dies down a little bit.

When my Elsa-fanatic dd4.5 asks me if we will see Elsa when we go to Disney and always keep everything vague so that if I don't get a FP+ for our day at MK she won't be disappointed because there's no way I'm waiting more than 45 minutes to meet a character, even Elsa. If she doesn't know they are there it won't ruin her day if we by-pass the Fairytale Hall that day.

 

[morethananyonex]

Wouldn't it be too complicated to have people holding places in the line at MK? Aside from the fact that the line is not exposed like at Epcot, do they have set meet times anymore? Before the CM could tell you that you're going to see them in the 1:00 PM set for example, so the family knew to come back then. Does that work anymore?

But my god, if whole families are actually waiting 5 hours those kids must be a mess by the time they make it up to Anna and Elsa. Part of me wonders how long until merchandise, food and drink are being sold in the Anna and Elsa line. They should make those "I survived _______" shirts for this line.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Wouldn't it be too complicated to have people holding places in the line at MK? Aside from the fact that the line is not exposed like at Epcot, do they have set meet times anymore? Before the CM could tell you that you're going to see them in the 1:00 PM set for example, so the family knew to come back then. Does that work anymore?

But my god, if whole families are actually waiting 5 hours those kids must be a mess by the time they make it up to Anna and Elsa. Part of me wonders how long until merchandise, food and drink are being sold in the Anna and Elsa line. They should make those "I survived _______" shirts for this line.

You could do one person in line if you make it the family's responsibility to know when to come back. Like, the person in line has to text where they are in line, etc.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I really think A&E should be FP+ only. They should have FP+ released at the 60 days mark, at the 30 days mark and keep some for the day of for last minute visitors until the craziness dies down a little bit. .

I don't understand the logic behind this. If people are willing to wait 5 hours, let them wait. I can imagine how angry people would be if they were told they needed a special "ticket" (i.e., a FP) in order to meet a character. Disney needs to fill in the space between FP guests with something...why not use a standby line to allow more people to meet A&E?

 

[mom2rtk]

Question...is the whole party actually waiting in line for 5 hours, or is one parent "holding" a place for the rest of the group?

My 4 kids are long grown, but thinking back, I don't think any of them would have waited 4-5 hours for ANYTHING when they were 4-10 yrs old (guessing the age this appeals to)

Thankful my kids were never into the character thing back in the day. We just waved and yelled Hi if we happened to see one walking by with a handler...never waited in a line.

I bet anyone who hangs out on the DIS managed to snag fps for this attraction. It might be a while before we have a first hand account of anyone waiting through that line.

 

[aprilchem]

Holy moly. We waited about 20 minutes to see one of these (the one with the braids, not the ice one) on the Dream in January and I thought that was too long!

 

[wdwfanatic80]

We are going in less than 3 weeks. The FP+ was booked almost instantly at the 60 day mark. I just went back and checked as I have been daily and was able to snag FOUR for May 15th! There were still more as I checked to see, so if you are there May 15th go try! I had to do one at a time. My daughter is going to be so excited!! I had told her it was a no go, but now it will happen!! YAY!

 

[Cals dad]

I wonder how many people are booking pre-rope drop breakfasts and willingly paying the no show cost so that they can get in line early.

 

[Viva Las Disney]

Viva Las Disney - I hope you get a less than 2 hour wait at DL. We had friends there last week (Tuesday) and I was telling them the DL wait is much better than WDW. And the dad waited 5 1/2 hours!! Their daughter doesn't like rides so it was a character trip (and general Disney ambiance). It was one of the busiest weeks at DL - but I had not read reports of their wait being so long. Good luck!

I'm not even meeting them, I just noticed the time because it was so high.

I'm going for BTMM, F!, and RDCT I've never ridden BTMM (at DL) because of it's long rehab, I've never seen F! (at DL) because I usually go midweek, and Sunday is RDCT's last show of the season and it's my favorite fireworks show in all the Disney parks so I have to see it once more before it changes to Magical.

I love getting pictures with characters but only if they are walking around the parks or there is no line. As a single male adult I'm uncomfortable waiting more than 5 or 10 minutes to meet a character.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I wonder how many people are booking pre-rope drop breakfasts and willingly paying the no show cost so that they can get in line early.

Lots of folks did that for Akershus (or they had one person sit out breakfast to get in line) because Akeershus was right next to the A&E line and people could just go and get in it.

Now, say you booked Crystal Palace for breakfast but you really wanted to go to A&E and get in line. You can't get right up to Fairytale Hall; that area is still roped off until park opening. The best you can do is be the first one at the rope, which will help, but it's not as good as getting right into line. Some folks will still do it.

 

[sunshine1]

I sobbed like a baby when I met the Beast (my absolute favourite character from everything ever since I was a child) on my Honeymoon. The most I could squeak out was, "I'm so happy," to him in between bouts of ugly-crying.

I can't speak for everyone, only for myself. In my case it was a combination of it being my first day in Disney World in over a decade and a half and being just completely doped up on Disney Magic (I think being in Disney World might release Endorphins? Surely there must be a study on that...), and this weird suspension of disbelief. Yes, that is some guy in a suit. He isn't the character- but at the same time he is. He is Disney putting the Beast in his castle and letting people meet him. I don't really know how to explain it better.

I was much more collected the second time I met him. Maybe that lady just really loved Aladdin and was absolutely stoked to meet "him."

I am the same with any fur character i meet. You know it is someone in a suit but all you can see is mickey mouse and cant help but get excited.

 

[sunshine1]

OMG!!! We witnessed nearly the same thing except it was for a line with Genie. We hadn't been waiting long, maybe 15 minutes, and the Beast had to be swapped out (er, take a break).

My kids were fine with that, the other kids in line were fine with that. But the 40+ something woman who would have been next in line wailed "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! But Genie, it's me!!! It's me!!!!!" (Um, was he supposed to know her?)

She grabbed onto him whole sobbing and dropping to her knees as we all (children included) sat there with our jaws to the floor.

Her husband was kind of dumbfounded and tried to control her but she was out of control. Granted, this was in Epcot, and maybe she had had a few too many but wow, what a scene!!!

We still joke about that to this day and randomly yell out "But Genie, it's meeeeeeeeee!!!!!"

Blimey. I wonder how disney prepares the actors for when that sort of thing happens?
I wonder if it happens alot?

 

[brownierose]

I had a first grade student return recently from WDW. Her favorite thing she did - meet Anna and Elsa. Her wait - 4 hours. She didn't meet some college kids dressed up, she met Anna and Elsa. Her classmates are in awe. I know plenty of people who have waited longer for concert tickets or who would wait that long to see their favorite actor/actress. For a child, this is meeting the biggest movie stars they know. I would totally wait in that line for someone who believed.

Agree!!! My dds love the frozen sisters (as almost every little girl their age ). We went end of jan abd I waited 3 1/2 hrs in the rain so they could meet the frozen sisters. Granted my dd1 fell asleep before it was Our turn but the look on my dd5 face is priceless and totally worth the wait. Anna talked to her how she wanted elsa to create a law about always eating chocolate and elsa was showing dd5 how she makes her ice powers. They were great with her abd understood how important it was that dd 5 got an autograph for sleeping dd1