Anyone But Princesses at Ariel's Grotto?

[aliceindisneyland]

Please help with character breakfast specifics for DD's 3rd birthday; DS is 5.

I'd love to go to Ariel's Grotto since we'd possibly be able to skip the PFF, but are there any characters at all at Ariel's who are not princesses? Afraid DS will be bored as princesses are not his favorite.

Another option: Minnie's breakfast--do any princesses visit there? Both kids will be excited to see all the characters, but DD is absolutely in love with all the princesses.
Thank you!!

 

[aprincess@mail.com]

unfortunately, NO.
Ariels only has princesses, Minnies has tons of characters but no princesses.
You can always stand in line to get the Princess signatures by the Train station before Toontown or in DCA at the Animation studio. No guarantee who will be at the animation studio tho.
Have fun!

 

[Vala]

I think Goofy's Kitchen is the only other character meal where they have a princess or two showing up.

We saw Mulan, Sleeping Beauty and Jasmine. If I recall correctly others have met Belle (in blue dress) and Cinderella there.

They always have one princess appearing at the "Drawn to the magic" show in DCA, usually Cinderella. We've also seen Snow White there.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I recommend skipping the PFF if at all possible. It usually has extremely long lines and no guarantee who you will see. The princesses rotate every 20 minutes or so and there is not a set schedule other than you will see 3 princesses/female heroines. In addition to the princesses (defined by royal lineage and/or married a prince), you may see Princess Minnie, Pocahantas, Mulan, and on rare occasions, a prince with his princess. It's also extremely difficult if not impossible to time the line and hop in at the exact moment to see your favorites. The CMs will tell you that they do not know who will be there when your turn comes. Besides that, if Ariel is a must see, she will always be at the meal she hosts in DCA.

When I ate at Goofy's, Cinderella and Jasmine were there. You can usually see Cinderella at Drawn to the Magic and Snow White often shows up in front of the Animation Building in DCA.

Princesses may make appearances in front of the Mickey floral at Disneyland around 3:00pm, but that was much more frequent when there was a parade that featured princesses.

The nice thing about Ariel's is that it's pretty laid back. The characters come during the first 15-20 minutes right after each other and two or three are in the room visiting a table, sometimes even visiting a table at the same time. Once they've visited every table in the room, they move on to another part of the restaurant and you enjoy the remainder of your meal without having to worry about missing a character, plus they bring the food to you.

 

[Kayla's Mom]

The only non-princess we have seen at Ariel's was Wendy, but that was back in '04 or '05.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Thank you! Made the reservation for Minnie's; we'll have to visit the princesses later in the trip. We've had good luck (i.e. short wait) the 2 times we remembered to line up 25 minutes or so before the PFF opened--only about 10 minute wait after that.

 

[cruise cruise cruise]

I know you have maid your ressies, but have you concidered Goofys? I think that is a good mix, a few traditional characters mixed with one or two princesses. If you are going to do a character meal, perhaps you could plan Goofys for early in your trip and if you feel you have not had adequate princess time then go wait in line at PFF.

This is my plan anyhow for our next trip. Last time we went to Ariels with dd 4 and DS just about 6. DS LOVES the ladies, so he was fine at ariels, plus the gester took special liking to him and made sure he got some boy time. But it all comes down to what works for you