Ariel Breakfast

[citygirljtucker]

hi, we are going to Disney in June of 2004 and my five year old daughter is an Ariel fanatic! Any advice or suggestions as to how I can get up close and personal with that character for her would be appreciated.....also, this is our first trip and we rented timeshare points to stay at the boardwalk...any opinions on that are welcome. We are trying to decide whether to drive or fly...so far it seems that rentaing a minivan from St. Louis is $500.00 not including food on trip, gas, lodging etc (19 hour trip)..I priced flying for the four of us at $1,000...do you think it is a better deal to just fly and get htere in 2 hours instead?

I appreciate any help...my family is so excited about this trip...we've really never had a real family vacation. My son is 13 and daughter is 5....I may be in my 30's but I think I am the most excited of them all! lol

Thanks, Jules

 

[pamluvsdisney]

As of now, there is not a character meal that I know of where you can meet Ariel. I have 3 girls who love Ariel too. BUT,
In the Magic Kingdom, they have meet and greet Ariel in Ariel's Grotto every day!!

Line can be long, I think it opens at 10:00am. I suggest going there first thing in the morning when it opens or even get in line before it opens. Lines get long later in the day.

Ariel is in a cave sitting on a big rock and your girls can sit right next to her and get her autograph and you can take photos.

It is a must do! Have fun planning a great trip.

 

[MaMudduck]

Yes I agree with pamluvsdisney, at Ariel's Grotto, Ariel talks with the kids wonderfully. Last year she asked DD (7) then, where she was from, about Mom & Dad ( who she could she taking pics) etc.
Tell your girls, to talk & ask questions to all the character they meet...they love to "play their parts" and the kids feel feel the magic that way. Have a great time!

 

[Big V]

Hi Jules! First of all welcome to the Dis!I think you will get more answers if you post your question on the "Theme Park Strategies and Attractions" forum. Also stop by the Community Board and say hi to all the great people over there!
Scott

 

[torismom]

You can meet Ariel in her grotto. There are a couple of women who play Ariel. One of them remembered (msp) my dd over the span of a 2 year time period and also that I was pregnant and she saw Connor once he was born. That is just part of the Disney magic.

 

[Cara]

Just a note. . .

If you ever have a chance to go to Disneyland in Anaheim, there is a character lunch with Ariel at Disney's California Adventure. They wheel Ariel around on a cool cart, LOL. My daughter loved it.

Cara

 

[beattyfamily]

Originally posted by Cara
Just a note. . .

If you ever have a chance to go to Disneyland in Anaheim, there is a character lunch with Ariel at Disney's California Adventure. They wheel Ariel around on a cool cart, LOL. My daughter loved it.

Cara

You know I thought I heard about that at some point! My DD's would LOVE that!

I guess I'm going to have to tear us away from WDW at some point to check out Disneyland California!

 

[ceecee]

Of course Ariel can not be at a character breakfast.....she has fins! Shen needs to be in her grotto for the meet and greets!

 

[powellrj]

keep checking those air prices. We went last june and were able to get tickets from Delta for $136 each person r/t from Indy including all fees and taxes. I started checking all the airline sites about the first week of Jan and by the end of the month I found the tickets at the price I wanted. We have made the drive before and I am not sure we would do it again. Its about 18 hours for us and we make it a 2 day trip, so you have already lost 4 days on the road, plus the tired factor. I will never forget one time when we flew down and the piolt came on as we were landing and said do you know that if you were driving down, you would just now be getting into Louisville? That kinds summed it up for me. If you have an ATA or Delta flight out they seem to have the best deals to Orlando (at least out of Indy). Check mousesavers for car rental prices and you may find that you can fly down and rent a car for not much more than your $500 for the van rental.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Welcome fellow St Louis girl! We are not finding any "good" airfares for our Nov trip. American has some pretty expensive flights right now. We have both driven and flown many times. I prefer to fly, but Dh much prefers to drive. We have a van and suburban so we do not have the rental cost, but having a car when you are there is nice. The drive is about 18 hours and really not to bad at all. I think this trip we are going to try to pull out of our driveway at 5:00 am and do the entire drive in 1 day. I hope it goes well!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We live in NW Louisiana and usually drive. We have done the entire drive in one day twice and will be doing it again on Dec 31. It works for us. Just depends when we can leave. Our trip is about 14 hours.

 

[AuntMinnie]

Originally posted by citygirljtucker
hi, we are going to Disney in June of 2004 ... We are trying to decide whether to drive or fly...so far it seems that rentaing a minivan from St. Louis is $500.00 not including food on trip, gas, lodging etc (19 hour trip)..I priced flying for the four of us at $1,000...do you think it is a better deal to just fly and get htere in 2 hours instead?



Thanks, Jules

You have plenty of time to find cheeper airfare. Remember you will need to spend money on gas. Does a minivan get about 25mpg? About 1000 miles from St. Louis to WDW time 2 . ( 200 miles round trip) at 25 miles per gallon, thats about 80 gallons of gas. Gas is really high right now, but lets hope it comes down by next summer, so figure average $1.40 a gallon . Thats about $120 for gas. Figure also $80-$100 per night for your hotel to and from. Even figure low at a great rate of $80 a night, that adds$160 for extra lodging

Already that adds $280 to your trip or w/o figuring in tolls or food along the way. Now your paying at least $780 to get the 4 of you down there. Try looking at www.expedia.com and put in the dates you want. They give you all of the airlines and the best deals are listed first. saves a lot of work for you,looking up different airlines and it doesn't cost anything to look!!

 

[RIDISNEYLOVERS]

I think they could have a character meal with Ariel with legs. Both "The Little Mermaid" and "The little Mermaid II: Return To The Sea" she had legs. Ariel getting her legs was a big part of the movie so I think they could have her walking around like a human rather than pushing her around like a mermaid.

Just my opinion - anyone else agree?

Lisa

 

[dgaston]

And be sure to visit "voyage of the little mermaid" over at MGM. I have trouble getting my family to go with me now, I have to do it alone. So maybe your 13 yo will ride RnR or ToT while you enjoy the show!!!