Anyone else saying NO to waiting for Anna and Elsa?

[wdwgirl100]

We are staying offsite so won't be able to book FP until 30 days out. I know my 4year old would love to meet the sisters but I am not going to wait in that line. I will continue to check frequently to see if any FP open up but I am keeping my expectations in check for that.

I have asked my family and friends to not mention Anna and Elsa at MK to my daughter hoping that what she doesn't know won't hurt her!

Anyone else saying no?

 

[LSUfan4444]

Alot of people do, especially at that age. It should only be a big deal if you make it a big deal.

 

[Acedink]

We saw them on our recent trip ONLY because of getting lucky and snagging 5 FP's at overlapping times leading up to the trip.

I think your plan is good. Definitely keep trying for FP+, but if your DD doesn't know about them, there won't be any disappointment.

If we did not have FP+ for them, my DD definitely would not have seen them, unless her grandmother or grandfather wanted to wait in the line. I have trouble waiting longer than 30-45 minutes for a ride at WDW when each day's ticket costs so much.

So long story short, for what it's worth, I think your plan is spot-on.

 

[skater]

My daughter is all grown up, but when she was that young, it was easy to avoid the characters or attractions with long lines (though there was nothing that ridiculous). At that age, it is easy to guide the experience and they need you to do that. How great can a child's day be if she spends several hours in line? Good for you for taking control!

 

[BeccaA]

I think you will be able to get a fastpass later in the day to see them. One opened up for us at 7:00 p.m. And we booked our trip late.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

We are staying offsite so won't be able to book FP until 30 days out. I know my 4year old would love to meet the sisters but I am not going to wait in that line. I will continue to check frequently to see if any FP open up but I am keeping my expectations in check for that.

I have asked my family and friends to not mention Anna and Elsa at MK to my daughter hoping that what she doesn't know won't hurt her!

Anyone else saying no?

Easy to avoid that without a meltdown at that age--she won't even know it's an option.

We did go with our son at 3YO and by the third day, he knew you get in a line and ride a ride. We got in the Dumbo line (the old one where you were right there and could see the ride), then decided it was too long and started to leave. That was a melt-down for the ages.

 

[mikeyg1479]

Maybe some people would find this terrible, but I would never permit my kid to wait over 30 minutes, let along 4-5 hours for any character greeting.

Maybe its different if you have a season pass, or are a FL resident, but I live in the NE part of the country and get down to WDWevery 3 years if lucky. Every minute of park time is valuable, and I'm not spending it waiting to have pictures done withcollege kids dressed like Disney characters.

As I said, I just woudln't permit it. I truthfully wouldn't want to pass down such values where my kid just couldn't live without seeing Elsa (or any celebrity figure really, real or imaginary) , and simply HAD to wait in that line. I would just say "no". Maybe my kid would cry but they'd get over it soon enough.

I won't begrude those that do wait in those lines, its their time and it doesn't harm my life, but those lines are not for me. Those waits are why I do Chef Micky's/Akershus/Crystal Palace for breakfast/dinner, as it gets the character/princess stuff out of the way without the line.

 

[ilovebassets]

I would never wait more than 30 minutes for anything at disney. We have only done so twice in all of our trips. Once for Soarin' (before having kids) and then once for TSMM on our last trip when getting their for rope drop (still 45 mins). Totally not worth it when there's so much else to see and do. At 4, she won't know what she's missing if you don't make a big deal about it. They can be seen in the festival of fantasy parade if she really wants to see them.

FWIW, I won't pay those prices for character meals either. We do character meals during free dining or not at all. I can't bring myself to pay those prices. There are plenty of other character opportunities around the parks that don't require long lines.

I refuse to get into the mentality of "the trip will be ruined if we don't do X."

 

[DisneyFive]

My $0.02...

A&E meet and greet is extremely new to WDW, so think of all those amazing magical WDW vacations that millions of families have had over the years, before this meet and greet even existed.

Yeah, we can skip it without a second thought. Soooo much elsa (see what I did there? ) that you can do at WDW!

Dan

 

[SillySallySews]

Easy to avoid that without a meltdown at that age--she won't even know it's an option.

We did go with our son at 3YO and by the third day, he knew you get in a line and ride a ride. We got in the Dumbo line (the old one where you were right there and could see the ride), then decided it was too long and started to leave. That was a melt-down for the ages.

Haha this made me smile. The first and only Disney meltdown my oldest daughter ever had was also at the "old" Dumbo, where you could see the ride from the line. We thought the line was too long so we left and she just lost it. I think I'll still be having nightmares about that when she's in college lol.

OP I would keep checking for FP+. Now that they've extended the hours you could very well get one before your trip. And people's plans do change. My oldest son just decided recently that he'd rather skip Disney and do some other Florida adventures with his Grandma instead so I just released all his FP reservations yesterday. One of them was for A&E for next Tuesday. You never know!

 

[practicallyperfect77]

I don't have kids of my own (but a veru involved aunt of 9). A niece (age 5) and 2 nephews (almost 7) will be with me on my.next trip. Likely a 1 and done for them. If I am unable to get FPs for A&E, I highly doubt we will wait. If I told the kids the line was 4-5 hours and that is the equivalent of watching 8 cartoons and they would have to stand in line that long, the kids would choose on their own to do something else. Plus we can see them in the parade.

 

[JJJDisneyBuckeyes]

There's no way I'm waiting several hours for a meet & greet

 

[ibela]

Keep playing around with times and # of people at a time, you never know. I was playing around in the system earlier this morning, trying to get ready for my 60 day window in a few days. And at 11am a A&E fp was available for 6:25pm tonight! I had a friend who was able to book her A&E fps (for 2 people) at about the 25 day mark - 2x within the same week (both evenings).

That said, I explained to dd8 that she could pick 1 FP+ for MK, either A&E OR a ride, she said a ride with no wait and she'll wave to them in the parade (another option).

 

[Imagineer5]

Just returned from a total last minute trip (had about 2 weeks advance notice to start booking ADR's and FP's). Got every dining ressie we wanted (almost all character meals plus Ohana) AND got two different FP times for A&E. So just keep checking. No, I wouldn't stand in a long line for them, but I would def keep trying for FP's.

 

[GillianP1301]

My son has no interest in meeting them, so easy going for me on this one. But, I would likely handle it like I do any other attraction with him (he's now 6, been doing this method since he was 4). He gets the choice to wait or not after I tell him how long it will be. If it's really long (like the near 1 1/2 we waited for Minions at US last year), I'll ask several times in the first 5 minutes (are you sure, it's going to take a reaaaaallly long time) and once he's confirmed yes, he's not allowed to complain about it (if he ever did, we'd leave the line and that would be the end of it). He's never once complained and the kid has no issue at all with waiting in an hour or sometimes more line. He doesn't always agree to the long wait, sometimes he'll decide that no, it's not worth it to him and we move on. So for us the key really is in allowing him to make the choice and then we have no problem and with amusement park attractions, we allow him that choice.

 

[shadeauxe]

I would not wait for more than 30 minutes. So, without a FP, no way. If the FP wait is longer than that, then no.

My children don't even know that these characters are available, so it's not an issue.

 

[tsme]

I'm with you. There is no way in this world that I would waste my vaca hrs standing in a line to meet ANY character. It's crazy.

 

[sonofanarchy]

I'm saying no to Frozen all together. Most overrated movie ever.

 

[Bilierka]

Three years ago I took dgd to disney when she was four. Rapunzal was the drawer and her favorite princess, the lines were insane and she was only there for certain times, we did get to see her, though we met several other princesses.
I simply never mentioned Rapunzal , if she asked a bout her I simply said she and flynn rider were off visiting in other kingdoms, it was no muss no fuss!!

 

[Drusilla]

DD13 wants to meet Elsa - no interest in Anna tho - and DD9 has no interest in either of them but will meet them if she "has" to b/c DD13 wants to. Crazy!!! I told DD13 she'd only meet them if we can get a FP, she understood as soon as I told her the average wait time in stand by.

Is 13 too young to do a A&E FP by herself while I take DD9 to do something else? I'm torn about it....