Ariel's Disney Princess Celebration

[daisy_77]

Hi, we are taking our little girl to Disneyland for her second birthday. Has anyone been to Ariel's Grotto for the Ariel's Disney Princess Celebration? Just curious what it is like. TIA!

 

[Katie0677]

Hi there. It sounds like you all are going to have fun, what a great birthday your dd will have!
We were at Ariel's Grotto for dinner on April 1st. As far as princesses go, they each come to your table and chit-chat, sign books, and take a picture. When we were there, we had: Snow White, Ariel, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Belle. They were super friendly! Make sure and tell your waiter about dd's b-day, and the wait staff will sing to her.
The dinner and lunch are the same foods. I'm not sure about lunch prices, but dinner were as follows: Adults/$20, this includes your drink, appetizer, entree, and desert! Kids/$13, again, this is drink, entree, and desert and a huge plate of cotton candy at the end. I'm not quite sure why they do the cotton candy. But the kids were happy.
They also bring out bread. I think the prices are really good for what they include. My kids, dd5, ds6, dd 22 months, had a great time!
Katie

 

[daisy_77]

Thank you, Katie for the info! I can't wait to take her...she is already starting to get into the whole "I'm a girl" thing and I know that she will love to see all the pretty princesses!

 

[amw]

Check out this thread on birthdays:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1089300

It explains how you can get a free cupcake for the birthday girl... you can get a party package for $5... or you can get a party bucket for $20 at the character meals.

 

[CamColt]

We really enjoy Ariels Grotto. The food is good and the atmosphere is great. I love the rocky road dessert however I missed that on our last visit there as our lunch was cut short due to a flooded kitchen.

 

[Luvmy2Js]

We just celebrated Jaedyn's 3rd birthday there in March. It was awesome. Honestly I can't recommend it enough. The food was really good. The view was great. We had a table by the window right by where California Screamin is launched.

The food was good. Oh and since your daughter is under three you don't pay for her meal. It is completely free. The exact same meal as the other kids get. We got Jaedyn the disney bucket and it was well worth the $20 in my opinion. She still carries that thing around with her. The lid has the mini cake in it. They had overcooked our hamburger buns a bit and we told them that and they ended up taking 10% off our meal. The way the menu works is that you order a starter, entree and a desert for the set price. This is a ton of food. We had some VERY large eaters in our party and nobody was able to eat the desert in the restraunt. We did take it to go though.

When we were there the princesses were Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, & Mulan. They started on one end of the room and worked their way around all the tables. They chatted, took pictures and signed autograph books. I do recommend booking the time and date now though as they fill up fast. While we were sitting waiting to be taken to our table many people were turned away that tried to walk in. We made reservations about a month in advance and the only time slot availabe for a party of our size was for noon. If I was doing it again I would have made it dinner. As it was our reservation time was right during nap time and we had to wake Jaedyn up.

Have fun!

 

[daisy_77]

Thanks Lizzy and Camcolt for all the info! I haven't been to DL in a few years....I had never even heard of that restaurant. That was also before I had a little princess to take there.

 

[scorp111]

This sounds great, we have a 1:30 reservation at an Outdoor table for our trip in May. I know my "princess" will love it. She is only 2, but this will be her 6th trip to a Disney park, but the 1st to DL.

 

[newfamilyman]

I'm surprised to hear all these positive reports, which contrasts from previous responses when this topic is raised. For our family, this third version of Ariel's Grotto character dining is by far the worst. While the food remains the same, having all the princesses come out at once makes for relatively rushed tableside encounters followed by long periods of no character interactions. I think the way the other restaurants do it is much better--having the characters come out slowly and steadily, rather than all at once.

 

[Dukland]

I'm surprised to hear all these positive reports, which contrasts from previous responses when this topic is raised. For our family, this third version of Ariel's Grotto character dining is by far the worst. While the food remains the same, having all the princesses come out at once makes for relatively rushed tableside encounters followed by long periods of no character interactions. I think the way the other restaurants do it is much better--having the characters come out slowly and steadily, rather than all at once.

So the Princesses all come out at once, instead of one at a time? We've only been to Goofy's Kitchen, and I scheduled a dinner at Ariel's Grotto this time around.

 

[amw]

So the Princesses all come out at once, instead of one at a time? We've only been to Goofy's Kitchen, and I scheduled a dinner at Ariel's Grotto this time around.

I haven't been to DL, but I have done Cinderella's Royal Table at WDW and I assume it's very similar. The restaurant is divided into three sections -- these are predetermined by your reservation. They seat each section at the same time. The princesses make their rounds to one section all at the same time. One princess will stop by and say a quick line -- more if your kids are talkative, but mine weren't -- sign autograph books, pose for picture (one), and move on. The next princess is immediately at your table. The whole process took maybe five minutes. They do not revisit the section.

Each section gets their visit at a different time. One got it a the beginning of the meal, one at the middle, we got it at dessert. So, we waited an hour (with food) to see the princesses, and then were rushed out for the next group's seating.

Now, it depends what you want from your character experience. I have 2 DDs and they loved seeing the princesses face to face even though they didn't say anything Especially at WDW where it is hard to come by face characters at the park. That being said, I wouldn't do it again because I felt the family interaction was limited.

We always did Chef Mickey's as well. There we would have the first evening seating, and would have the restaurant and characters to ourselves for the first 20 minutes. They would play with us, sit at our table, etc. We would see them at least three times each -- and with time in between each character to enjoy your meal. I assume this is very similar to Goofy's and hence its popularity.

This time, I think I'll bypass the character meals and do the Birthday Celebration thingy with and .

 

[newfamilyman]

So the Princesses all come out at once, instead of one at a time? We've only been to Goofy's Kitchen, and I scheduled a dinner at Ariel's Grotto this time around.

That's right. At all the other DL character dining locations, characters come out one at a time, but the Princess lunch/dinner at Ariel's Grotto, they are all at once.