Elsa and Anna meet & greet: how long did you wait in line?

[luckygirl539]

6 of us are going ( my hubby, myself our 2 DD's and 2 DS's) if I get early dinning reservations for my girls and I can my hubby and sons enter too or is it only the 3 of us who have reservations?

Make the reservation for 6, then you will all get in. As long as someone shows up, they count just the people that show up. If nobody shows up, they charge a no show fee for all people on reservations. So, as long as you know that someone will use reservation, that will be fine.

 

[MermaidMommy]

My recommendation is either make a reservation before park opening for akershus and have someone get in line before park opens or find a way to be at park opening at the back entrance so you are much closer to Norway and can beat the crowds in. This is all assuming the meet and greet starts at 9am.

I'm not sure that the International Gateway entrance is better than the main entrance for Anna and Elsa. The main entrance opens up before 9 consistently, but the IG often lags a bit behind, so those guests actually get to Norway a little later. I wouldn't make a special effort to use the IG if you're not staying at an Epcot resort.

 

[Khara]

I got to the gate at 8 and met them by 9:30 on 2/9...but this is a pretty unusual occurrence for a few reasons:

-It was the first day of the first 9 AM start test, so word might not have spread as far yet
-The 'reserve Akershus and ditch it to get in line' strategy gets more widespread and popular every day, so the amount of Akershus groups getting in line grows every day. I probably wouldn't see them before 10 if I tried this now.
-The relatively few groups ahead of me seemed to get through strangely quickly that morning

I got freakishly lucky this time, but I'm hoping a long-term solution for this comes soon.

 

[Texas Crude]

We have an 8:00 am akershus reservation as a family. What time do you think I need to duck out of breakfast to get a good spot in line? Think I can eat until 8:30 or 8:45, then wait in line til my family finishes up?

Anyone have some advice or input on this?

 

[Mac4life30]

I dont understand why does it take so long?????? I been there and seen what looked like a moderate line that should have been 30-40 mins tops but yet was 3 hours long. How is it 45 people in front of you translates to a 3 hours wait?

 

[Disney_Princess83]

We have an 8:00 am akershus reservation as a family. What time do you think I need to duck out of breakfast to get a good spot in line? Think I can eat until 8:30 or 8:45, then wait in line til my family finishes up?

Yes, you can jump in line and your family can join you later. The sooner you're out of Akershus, the better. If the park doesn't open until 9am, only people at Akershus can be the line ahead of you so even if you get in line at 8:30-8:45am, you should still be in the 9am meet and greet

 

[Disney_Princess83]

I dont understand why does it take so long?????? I been there and seen what looked like a moderate line that should have been 30-40 mins tops but yet was 3 hours long. How is it 45 people in front of you translates to a 3 hours wait?

It's not 45 people, it's possibly hundreds of people in front of you. The waits have gone up to 5 hours. Last Saturday, the girls saw 1200 groups. Not 1200 people - groups! So at minimum 2400 people saw the girls, even if they didn't all get photos as most groups have at least 2 people, often more. They meet for approx 7 hours each day. Using 2400 people, that means each hour, the girls have to meet 342 people. They only meet for 45-50 minutes during each hour period. Even if you say only one person per group is meeting them, that is still 171 people to meet, sign and take photos with per hour. This is why the meet and greet is getting such long waits.

They really need to move it somewhere that they can have some Disney Magic and move the line faster. FP+ would only make it worse

 

[triana00]

We have an 8:00 am akershus reservation as a family. What time do you think I need to duck out of breakfast to get a good spot in line? Think I can eat until 8:30 or 8:45, then wait in line til my family finishes up?

Yes.

 

[triana00]

By 915 yesterday the wait was over 3 hours

 

[Texas Crude]

It's not 45 people, it's possibly hundreds of people in front of you. The waits have gone up to 5 hours. Last Saturday, the girls saw 1200 groups. Not 1200 people - groups! So at minimum 2400 people saw the girls, even if they didn't all get photos as most groups have at least 2 people, often more. They meet for approx 7 hours each day. Using 2400 people, that means each hour, the girls have to meet 342 people. They only meet for 45-50 minutes during each hour period. Even if you say only one person per group is meeting them, that is still 171 people to meet, sign and take photos with per hour. This is why the meet and greet is getting such long waits.

They really need to move it somewhere that they can have some Disney Magic and move the line faster. FP+ would only make it worse

I don't think it was 1200 groups. If it is, that'd be the worst meet and greet ever! 1200 divided by 7 hours would be 170 groups per hour, or about 3 per minute, or about one each 20 seconds (which wouldn't even include the few seconds it takes to switch groups)

If you only get about 15 seconds for your whole group, something is terribly wrong!

 

[Mac4life30]

I have been there and I have seen lines but no where near 1200 people. I was there last weekend and in January. Longest line I saw was 5 hours long and I still didn't see enough people to merit this wait. The line started in front of the church and then continued in front of she shop and bakery. That was it.

Is it rude for Disney at this point to tell the lovely Princesses to limit there time with each guest to under 3 mins. Hey I am all up for the magic and not complaining about that. However in a situation like this perhaps limit the interaction with each guest. You can still have a wonderful experience with everyone. I am not saying be rude but also don't carry on a 5 minute conversation about where Olaf went.

 

[mom2rtk]

I have been there and I have seen lines but no where near 1200 people. I was there last weekend and in January. Longest line I saw was 5 hours long and I still didn't see enough people to merit this wait. The line started in front of the church and then continued in front of she shop and bakery. That was it.

Is it rude for Disney at this point to tell the lovely Princesses to limit there time with each guest to under 3 mins. Hey I am all up for the magic and not complaining about that. However in a situation like this perhaps limit the interaction with each guest. You can still have a wonderful experience with everyone. I am not saying be rude but also don't carry on a 5 minute conversation about where Olaf went.

Keep in mind that with a wait that long, entire groups are not physically waiting in the line. CMs are actively telling groups to have one person wait while the others go off and do something else. They don't want the area any more clogged up than it is already.

 

[Rjmdds]

I think that part of their charm is the personal interaction. I don't know that you want to make people feel "rushed" after waiting so long in line. I think Disney needs to approach it from a supply and demand perspective and perhaps open up a Meet and Greet in the MK in addition to Epcot.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think that part of their charm is the personal interaction. I don't know that you want to make people feel "rushed" after waiting so long in line. I think Disney needs to approach it from a supply and demand perspective and perhaps open up a Meet and Greet in the MK in addition to Epcot.

 

[Sundancer UK]

Yes, one of the reasons I want to meet them so much is because they seem so much fun! And I keep in mind - these are TWO band new characters from a movie that is still really big right now. I would wait in line once for each - I might wait longer for both but it's like we get one free at the end of the queue!

 

[Mac4life30]

What's the latest you can get in line?

 

[AliceandAriel]

My friend took her DD to meet Elsa and Anna last week and she waited in line for 4 hours.

Just wondering how long you waited in line?

Anyone on here lucky enough to wait for less than 30 minutes?

Waited on 2/13 for a pinch over 3 hours, arrived in line at 9:13AM on a 9:00AM opening at EP.

I'd love to see someone make an entire chart out of how long people have been waiting for A&E. And a second chart showing how long they waited and what time they got in line.

 

[AliceandAriel]

What's the latest you can get in line?

It varies.

Once the lines hits a 4-5 hour wait time estimate, they cut off the line, or so I was told by another person. Once the line dips down to around >2 hours, they open it up again, and refill the line until it hits max for the girls to stop M&Gs at their scheduled end time.

Some reports have said they got to the line in the morning, saw it and balked, and left. Came back in the afternoon and caught it on a down side, jumped in and saw the girls in under 1-2 hours. Some reports have said the line never shrank their day, and waited an ungodly amount of time to get pictures.

 

[Itinkso]

Is it rude for Disney at this point to tell the lovely Princesses to limit there time with each guest to under 3 mins. Hey I am all up for the magic and not complaining about that. However in a situation like this perhaps limit the interaction with each guest. You can still have a wonderful experience with everyone. I am not saying be rude but also don't carry on a 5 minute conversation about where Olaf went.

Typical "fur" characters interact with guests for a maximum of 90 seconds...Anna and Elsa interacting for three times as long equals the huge waits.

It was reported that Disney's movie division originally paid for A&E's meet and greets and the lengthy interaction was encouraged. Disney entertainment division now covers A&E and all the support staff involved (so goodbye Ziti sisters) and they are still trying to figure out how to improve upon this.

 

[mom2rtk]

It was reported that Disney's movie division originally paid for A&E's meet and greets and the lengthy interaction was encouraged. Disney entertainment division now covers A&E and all the support staff involved (so goodbye Ziti sisters) and they are still trying to figure out how to improve upon this.

Here's my problem with that. And I could be totally off base. Every time Disney adds something new, they seem to need to pay for it with the elimination of something else. At some point, don't uber-popular draws like this actually generate additional revenue with more attendance? Maybe with more merchandise sales (OK, that part was a joke). But really, it's just so frustrating. They needed to eliminate Belle to put her at ETWB in the MK. Didn't New Fantasyland help draw in a lot more people? Does an addition always have to come at the expense of something else?