Is a 4:20 lunch at Ariel's Grotto worth it?

KayCA

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 23, 2017
Hello, I have been lurking for a few weeks, but this is my first post. Next week, we are taking our 8 and 5 year old daughters to Disneyland for the first time. I haven't been in 30 years, so I feel like a newbie myself. We will have 2 days at DLR and 1 at DCA.

My daughters are obsessed with Disney princesses (and other characters), and they have said they are more interested in meeting characters than rides (although that may change when they see the rides, lol). We will be doing the Frozen meet and greet first thing at DCA. I booked lunch at Ariel's Grotto, but the only time available (for all 3 days we are in town) is 4:20 pm. I called Disney Dining and they said the princesses stay until 5:30.

I booked the lunch so the girls can meet 5 princesses without waiting in a long line at Fantasy Faire. Now, I am wondering if it is worth it. The princesses will probably be tired by the end of the day, so I am worried how good the interactions will be. The lunch will cost $155, plus at least 90 minutes of our limited time at DCA.

Would you recommend keeping the late lunch reservation, or just waiting to meet princesses at Fantasy Faire in DLR?
 
I've never done this meal. Oldest daughter is more of a pirate. However, I've heard that it is excellent for princess lovers. I would think you would still see all 5 princesses in your 70 minutes. Be sure to get there early for check-in. However, people say that the princesses at the meal are more about signing the autograph book and taking a picture than any real interaction. The princesses at the Fantasy Faire were very friendly on the two occasions we've been there. So you may get more interaction at PFF, but you'll only see three for your time. Also, the Disney App will show you which princesses can be found where throughout the parks. You could likely see them all throughout Disneyland. So it's going to come down to time waiting in lines (plural) to see princesses at Disneyland on your two days there. Or time at the meal to meet them there.
 
We did a 4:30 lunch there last year (and actually just booked a 4:40 there for tomorrow) and found all the princesses to be wonderful. Definitely did not get a "this is the end of my shift" /phoning it in vibe at all.
 
I've never done the lunch myself, but $155 feels expensive to meet a few princesses. If it were me, I'd simply arrive at Fantasy Faire early and get in line. I don't think you'll have to wait more than 20 minutes or so. You could even do it twice -- once in the morning and once in the evening. In some ways, that almost feels more private than the lunch, to me. you're alone with them for a short time as opposed to them having to jump from table-to-table. Hope this helps and hope you all have a blast!
 


Keep looking at reservations, too. People cancel reservations all the time. Your ideal time may open up. That happened to me for WDW a few years ago - I was desperate for a dinner at BOG, and watched for MONTHS for something. Ten days before we left, I got a hit.
 
Hollyrose, I am glad to hear your late lunch with the princesses went well. Did they spend time visiting with the people at your table, or just do a quick autograph and photo?

Our lunch reservation is on Tuesday, and we have until Monday to cancel. I may try FF on Monday and see how it goes before I decide about Tuesday. I am nervous though, about meeting a few princesses at FF, then going to the lunch too, in case we run into the same princesses played by different actresses. That might break the illusion (I'm not sure whether or not my girls will realize they are just regular women playing the princesses if I don't tell them).

I saw a video online of the lunch and it looked like the princesses were spending a decent amount of time hugging and talking to the 2 little girls in the video, but I do not know if that is the norm. If we go, I plan to get there by 4 pm.
 
As a mother of 2 daughters we did this twice and I found it worthwhile both times. Yes, it will take 1.5 hours, BUT eating any meal can easily take 30-45 min, even for a CS meal. I'd say it'll cost you an additional 45 min of time, but that time would easily be spent in line at the FF. So the time is negligible for me (and you're sitting in a more relaxed atmosphere while someone is bringing you food/refilling your drinks, rather than standing in line to meet princesses or sitting curbside with a corndog in your lap). It's also nice to get away from the crowds for a bit.

As for the cost, $155 is pricy. But, again, the real cost to me is the difference between a more inexspensive CS meal and AG.... a CS can cost you $40-$65 for a family of 4.

For me, the added cost is about $85-100 and 45 min of your day. But it's also a nice rest and a great splurge. I'd keep your reservation.
 


Hollyrose, I am glad to hear your late lunch with the princesses went well. Did they spend time visiting with the people at your table, or just do a quick autograph
I believe it was a good interaction. The part where you meet Ariel at the beginning seems a little bit rushed (but not any more so than similar meals wbere you meet a character before or after... Beast at BOG or Cinderella at CRT) but i believe the rest was good. I will report back tomorrow after our 4:40 :)
 
As a mother of 2 daughters we did this twice and I found it worthwhile both times. Yes, it will take 1.5 hours, BUT eating any meal can easily take 30-45 min, even for a CS meal. I'd say it'll cost you an additional 45 min of time, but that time would easily be spent in line at the FF. So the time is negligible for me (and you're sitting in a more relaxed atmosphere while someone is bringing you food/refilling your drinks, rather than standing in line to meet princesses or sitting curbside with a corndog in your lap). It's also nice to get away from the crowds for a bit.

As for the cost, $155 is pricy. But, again, the real cost to me is the difference between a more inexspensive CS meal and AG.... a CS can cost you $40-$65 for a family of 4.

For me, the added cost is about $85-100 and 45 min of your day. But it's also a nice rest and a great splurge. I'd keep your reservation.
After I read the original post, I was going to make every one of these points. It's not that you're spending $155 to meet princesses -- you're paying somewhere around $90-$115 and 45 minutes more than counter service, or $60-$80 and 15-30 minutes more than a table service dinner to meet and dine with the princesses. Also, the food was actually pretty good at AG. One of the best meals we had there.
 
IMG_3007.JPG We enjoyed our experience. Seating outside was gorgeous and food was good.
We did the 4:40 to treat as dinner while still getting the character dining. And look at those desserts!
 
Also, you don't need to arrive early. They actually do specific seatings of the groups. They seat everyone for the inside tables with reservations between 2 and 2:15 and outside at 2:30 to 2:45 for example. Then they let the inside completely empty and seat for it again at 4 and outside at 4:40. So a little early, gets you to the front of your seating group. Actually, we were 5 minutes late and I think that might have been the best way to do it.
 
After I read the original post, I was going to make every one of these points. It's not that you're spending $155 to meet princesses -- you're paying somewhere around $90-$115 and 45 minutes more than counter service, or $60-$80 and 15-30 minutes more than a table service dinner to meet and dine with the princesses. Also, the food was actually pretty good at AG. One of the best meals we had there.

2princesses*mom and Xenorye, those are good points. There would be time and money involved in eating anyway. We will treat it as an early dinner and get snacks to eat later while waiting for WOC. I think my biggest concern was being locked into the 4-5:30+ meal time (rather than just grabbing a bite whenever it is convenient), since it forces us to go to the Frozen show at 12:30, which I assume will be the busiest show since it is the first of the day. Since I have 2 big blocks of time reserved for Frozen (11:30-1:30) and Ariel's Grotto (4-6), it is tricky to plan the rest of the day with Ridemax. I have to be very careful about return times for FPs. I am glad to hear the food was good at AG. The lobster salad is calling my name, lol.
 
Also, you don't need to arrive early. They actually do specific seatings of the groups. They seat everyone for the inside tables with reservations between 2 and 2:15 and outside at 2:30 to 2:45 for example. Then they let the inside completely empty and seat for it again at 4 and outside at 4:40. So a little early, gets you to the front of your seating group. Actually, we were 5 minutes late and I think that might have been the best way to do it.

That's good to know. I thought we might get to choose indoors or outdoors if we arrived early, but I guess it is already chosen for us based on our reservation time. I had read we should arrive early to avoid a long wait in line on the stairs with the kids.
 
MacMama, those desserts look great - thanks for posting pics. I like eating outside, but was worried the girls might miss out on the announcement of the arrival of each princess. Did the princesses spend enough time with you, or did it feel rushed?

Hollyrose, I look forward to hearing how your 4:40 goes today.

I have not told the girls about this lunch -- it will be a surprise.
 
I would highly encourage the girls to wear princess dresses. When my girls were younger and still wore dresses (miss those days! :sad: ), I always found the interaction to be much more special and the princesses spent more time talking with them. Once when my girls dressed as Rosetta and Silvermist, we spent probably 1/2 hour in Pixie Hollow. Five fairies including Terrence came out to meet and take pics. Maybe it was just shift change, but they all stayed until we finally insisted we should go. I got awesome pics of all of them together and my kids still talk about it. I'll apologize now for those waiting in line behind us!
I say go and enjoy the time. It will be really special for them and the food's not bad either. You'll have plenty of years to worry about "big kid" rides and fast passes and wasted time. Soon enough they'll out grow this magical age and move on to another, but enjoy this one while you can!
Have a wonderful trip!
 
Hopefully the positive posts above are recent experiences and AG has improved. I have 3 DDs so we've been playing the princess game for almost 10 years now since my oldest's first trip. The first few times we went to AG were great. Food was good and princess interaction was excellent. They even did a parade/dance with the kids in the dining room or out on the patio. We did inside and outside several times and it was great. Then princess interaction started to get shorter and shorter and the food also seemed to go downhill. We finally stopped going a couple years ago after 2 trips in a row where the princesses pretty much flew by, signed autographs, quick photo and move on.

The lines really aren't that bad at the Royal Hall and we find the interaction to be much better...and photos are generally better too since we're not mid-meal etc. If you have the option to test out the Royal Hall/PFF and still cancel your AG reservation I would definitely do that. As far as seeing the same princesses (who are not the same actors) at both the Royal Hall and AG, that is very likely to happen. Your kids may or may not notice (or care). You also will not see the same Anna and Elsa at the M&G as you will at Frozen live. I'm guessing your 8yr old already has a pretty good idea they're not the "real" princesses and your 5yr old may as well. My kids have all picked up on this around 4-5yrs old at the latest.
 
I would highly encourage the girls to wear princess dresses. When my girls were younger and still wore dresses (miss those days! :sad: ), I always found the interaction to be much more special and the princesses spent more time talking with them. Once when my girls dressed as Rosetta and Silvermist, we spent probably 1/2 hour in Pixie Hollow. Five fairies including Terrence came out to meet and take pics. Maybe it was just shift change, but they all stayed until we finally insisted we should go. I got awesome pics of all of them together and my kids still talk about it. I'll apologize now for those waiting in line behind us!
I say go and enjoy the time. It will be really special for them and the food's not bad either. You'll have plenty of years to worry about "big kid" rides and fast passes and wasted time. Soon enough they'll out grow this magical age and move on to another, but enjoy this one while you can!
Have a wonderful trip!

I wonder if the girls will be comfortable walking and riding in costumes in 75-80 degree weather. They both have Elsa costumes they will want to wear to the morning M&G with Frozen characters. (They had Elsa & Anna for Halloween, but the 5 year old insisted she wants to be Elsa too. I hope Anna won't feel slighted at M&G.) I was going to take t shirts and shorts for them to change after. I can put them back in their Elsa costumes before AG. I am sure they would rather change into different costumes to match the princesses at AG (between them they have Cinderella, Ariel, Belle and Jasmine), but I can only carry just so much stuff around the park! They do have Ariel T shirts.

Sadly, we don't have fairy costumes for Pixie Hollow. The girls do have wings, but those would be a pain to deal with all day.

I am probably trying to squeeze in too many rides. We can go again in a year or too. They are so into the characters right now, and I know this phase won't last (how I convinced DH we needed to go this year before it was too late for the magic princess experience).
 
Hopefully the positive posts above are recent experiences and AG has improved. I have 3 DDs so we've been playing the princess game for almost 10 years now since my oldest's first trip. The first few times we went to AG were great. Food was good and princess interaction was excellent. They even did a parade/dance with the kids in the dining room or out on the patio. We did inside and outside several times and it was great. Then princess interaction started to get shorter and shorter and the food also seemed to go downhill. We finally stopped going a couple years ago after 2 trips in a row where the princesses pretty much flew by, signed autographs, quick photo and move on.

The lines really aren't that bad at the Royal Hall and we find the interaction to be much better...and photos are generally better too since we're not mid-meal etc. If you have the option to test out the Royal Hall/PFF and still cancel your AG reservation I would definitely do that. As far as seeing the same princesses (who are not the same actors) at both the Royal Hall and AG, that is very likely to happen. Your kids may or may not notice (or care). You also will not see the same Anna and Elsa at the M&G as you will at Frozen live. I'm guessing your 8yr old already has a pretty good idea they're not the "real" princesses and your 5yr old may as well. My kids have all picked up on this around 4-5yrs old at the latest.

I hope AG as improved since your last experiences. For the prices they charge, they really should focus on making it a premium experience.

We will try the Royal Hall if the lines aren't too bad. It looks like a cool setting to visit princesses. We are going to try to hit most of Fantasyland and Toontown before noon on Monday, then spend the afternoon/early evening meeting characters, hitting Indiana Jones, Big Thunder and Space Mountain with FP, and resting. I think we will do the early parade that first night and then head back to the hotel to get rest for DCA on Tuesday. Wednesday will be the rest of the lands and fireworks, maybe the afternoon parade.
 
The princesses at PFF are not necessarily the same as the ones you get at AG. Last time we did AG (August, 2015), we got Ariel (of course), then Rapunzel, Belle, Tiana (whom we later saw at NOS - same actress), and Snow White. Last time we did PFF (two weeks ago), we got Snow White, Mulan, and Elena. This was the first time we'd seen either Mulan or Elena: the last few times we had Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow.
 
We just did a lunch there a couple of weeks ago. I found the food to be quite good. Actually better than any of the other character meals. I commented that I would eat there again if it were not for the princesses. We are not princess people (we ate there because our goal is to eat at all resteraunts and ride everything in the park this year at least once).They do like a Royal Announcement thing before the princesses come in and then they come in one at a time and start circulating. They do it separately for inside and outside. So whether you are in or out will not matter as far as interaction. My guess from your time is that you are outside, last lunch seating. Our experience is that it was closer to a quick hello and photo and autograph op than true interaction (with the exception of one princess and Ariel), but that could be because we were two adults, an 11 year old boy and a very disabled non verbal child who appears to be grade school aged. It appeared the table with the little girl who thought they were real and were actually excited to meet her was getting much more interaction. It really was quite an enjoyable experience to sit there on the pier and relax. You won't regret it but the interaction might not be hugely significant. If you want the best interaction with the princesses, this is probably not it, we do get FAR better interaction waiting in line in the park as a general rule.
 

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