Ariel Grotto Questions/Meet and Greet

[Caseheidi]

We had lunch there in Oct last year, and Belle, Cinderella, Aurora and Snow White visited our table. It does rotate, so you do take a chance on who you see.

 

[bmccorquodale]

I ate at Ariel's Grotto for my 20th birthday (I know, I'm old..) on April 16th and we met Snow White, Belle, Princess Jasmine and Princess Tiana! So it really is just random.. I don't even think there's a set schedule for which princesses at which times on which days. It's probably just whoever's visiting from their kingdoms that day, are the ones you meet

 

[sherilaine]

To comment on the "moved along very quickly" that was mentioned. We ate there last week - we did not even have reservations, my DD and I went to the parks earlier than the rest of our party and we were just looking around and decided to pop in to see if they have any availability - and they did.

My DD had as much time as she wanted with Ariel - they talked for quite awhile about school and where she was from - a good 5 minutes at least. There was no rushing, but it was not busy either.

The other princesses that she met were Jasmine, Belle, Aurora and Snow White and they all came around to our table - they did not spend as much time talking to her as Ariel but I also find since my DD is taller and older looking the princesses don't seem to interact the same way they do younger kids and while she is 10, in her heart though she is 4 when at DLR.

 

[sherilaine]

Yes you only meet her at the door (not as a mermaid) and then not again, its just a photo and she will sign your autograph book but no other interaction. Our girls were there for their birthdays we had birthday pins (and 1st visit pins) we hAad bought balloons, presents and prdered a cake and had no other interaction. Also we had a group of 12 (and had to pay 18% tip) but our only options with Ariels were 1 photo with everyone or one with just the girls we werent allowed both (our the girls seperatly) which I thought was off, if we had booked two tables of 6 then we could have so whats the difference?
Ariels is on rotation at the meet and greet at iasw, we were trying to track Tiana down there and were told, there a 3 princess out of 7 out at a time that rotate every 45 minutes so 1.5 hours is the most time a princess will not be out however short of standing there for 1.5 hours you arent guareenteed.

We have friends who had a picture taken with her at lunch and she was in her mermaid costume so I think that varies as well.

 

[wiigirl]

We had lunch there in Oct last year, and Belle, Cinderella, Aurora and Snow White visited our table. It does rotate, so you do take a chance on who you see.

Yeah...but they are all good.

 

[momof4fans]

Yet another thread I'm glad I found to help me prepare for my very first character breakfast.
I called the Dining help line to switch from a Minnie breakfast to lunch with Ariel, because I just wasn't sure that the "it's Minnie Mouse for sure and Could Be ANYBODY ELSE" would work for my little one, because there are a whole lotta characters she hasn't met in movie-form yet! What if it was scary Cap'n Hook and like...Peter Pan and Chip and Dale or other characters she just does not know!?
So, I've been force-feeding her princesses having made this decision...and no one on here has mentioned meeting Belle! Oh dear!
The Dining hotline people were very helpful and did explain that it's always Ariel and x other princesses, so I did ask if it is ever Tiana (my kiddo's fav), or if it's possible that Merida will be a Character Meal Princess. Not really sure what the answer was on Merida, and with Tiana, again, it's a maybe.
I would follow that up with a "hope that was helpful!" but...I know it wasn't.


I am mostly glad I found this thread because in a few Trip Reports I've read though, it seemed like guests had lots of interaction with their princesses or other meal characters...but this will give me a little bit more preparation for the 1-2 min autograph signing scenario.

Oh yeah and I remembered the other perhaps helpful tip I feel like I gleaned from the dining hotline - Ariel's dinner does NOT include meeting princesses! Breakfast and lunch at Ariel's Grotto, meet some princesses, dinner, no. Can you veterans back me up on this info??

We met Belle, Cinderella, Aurora and Snow White. My girls loved them all and they've only seen Sleeping Beauty once. That evil queen was a little too scary for us! It was an awesome experience! Yes, it is expensive, but it's worth it. If you look at my picture, you can see how sweet Cinderella was with my girls. Belle was the same way, in fact she interacted with all my kids, even my older boys.

And we met Ariel at the front for pics. I think you could have sign your autograph book though. I didn't feel all that rushed. We had been waiting a while, with reservations so I figured it our turn!

 

[pennyring]

We were there mid-April. It was Ariel plus Aurora, Belle, Jasmine and Mulan.

We didn't ask for three photos with Ariel. We just told them that's what we were doing. It was important for oldest niece to have that particular photo. If they would have denied us, I would have pulled the photog aside and explained why it was going to happen. . Nicely, but firmly.

Nieces are adopted. They're biological sisters, but also have a brother between them in age. Brother was adopted to a different family. Oldest niece has a framed photo in her bedroom of brother with Ariel and she needed one to match. This was the ONLY desperate/urgent request she had on the entire trip. I was going to make it happen.

At the time, I had no idea it was a big deal though. I just told them it was happening and it happened.

 

[momof4fans]

We were there mid-April. It was Ariel plus Aurora, Belle, Jasmine and Mulan.

We didn't ask for three photos with Ariel. We just told them that's what we were doing. It was important for oldest niece to have that particular photo. If they would have denied us, I would have pulled the photog aside and explained why it was going to happen. . Nicely, but firmly.

Nieces are adopted. They're biological sisters, but also have a brother between them in age. Brother was adopted to a different family. Oldest niece has a framed photo in her bedroom of brother with Ariel and she needed one to match. This was the ONLY desperate/urgent request she had on the entire trip. I was going to make it happen.

At the time, I had no idea it was a big deal though. I just told them it was happening and it happened.

I think that is awesome! There is nothing wrong with that. I would have done the same thing! We all pay a lot and put in our wait time. Disney is about those special moments. That's why we go! You're a good Auntie!

 

[profa]

I splurged and took DD4 last summer for lunch. It was expensive but they brought tons of food and I took some back to the hotel.
She had a lovely photo w/ ariel and was in awe.
We were there in July but I felt that the princess visits were nice not rushed. Definitely they had to get to all the other people but I didn't feel like we were short changed. - Belle, Aurora, snow white, cinderella. It was perfect. We saw them at the meet and Greet in FF the next day and many recognized my dd from her autograph book that I made her. It was the same aurora there too. We were happy to get to see Tiana at FF. I thought going to both were well worth it as these are the princess yrs.
Merida so far does not do AG. Maybe that will change or has changed. It was her first day at DL when we were there and she had her own area. Now I know it' s already changed.