Need Advice on planning a "princess day"!

[BelleQ]

We are going to WDW 4/25 - 5/2/15 as a trip with my DH, DS12, DS10 and neice7. She has never been to WDW and this will probalby be her only trip as a child. We have already been as a family when DSs were 6 & 8 in 2011 so things have changed since we've been. I am planning a special "princess day" for my neice while we are there.

That morning at 8:30 a.m. we are scheduled for Bibbidi Bobbidi in MK! Yay! Then we will eat lunch at Be Out Guest at 11 a.m. or as soon as possilbe. We have a 5:00 reservation at Akershus so she can dine with the princesses!

Here's where I need your help. We are arriving on Sat. evening and we will have all day Sun at MK, Mon at Epcot, and Tues at HS. So Wednesday is our Princess Day and touringplans says that MK and E will be a level 4 crowd that day, so we are good for not being too crowded. I wanted to squeeze in more Princessy things to do. The guys will not be with me and neice during the morning or at lunch. We all will meet together that afternoon at Epcot so we can eat at Akershus together. What are some ideas on what to do between the MAKEOVER and LUNCH? and at MK between LUNCH and EPCOT?

Also how long does Bibbidi Bobbidi take? 30 minutes, right? So we will be done by park opening? Then what would be a good next thing to do with my little princess before lunch?

And how much time to allot for the earliest lunch at Be Our Guest?

Will we have time for FairyTale Hall? Do we need fastpasses for that? How long does it usually take to get through that with a fastpass? I don't even know how the new Fastpass thing works (they had the paper ones when we were there, so I will need to figure this all out at some point).

I also wanted to do Enchanted Tales with Belle that day and plan to ride the Little Mermaid too. Then head over to Epcot and arrive by 3 - 3:30 so we don't have to rush to get to our dinner reservation. How long does it take the monorail to get from MK to E?

Any other suggestions for our princess day? Maybe even an idea on a touring plan for the day? Thanks so much!!!

 

[DVCcurious]

To answer your questions in order:
I'm not sure how long bibbidi bobbidi takes, but 30 minutes sounds about right to me.
The next thing to do is Anna and Elsa; get in line immediately after leaving BBB if you weren't able to get a fast pass plus.
Not sure about Be Our Guest but I'd assume 45-60 minutes.
There are two sides to Fary Tale Hall; one has A&E and the other has Cinderella and Rapunzel. You can get Fastpass plusses to both, although A&E fast passes are tough to get and you have to be online right at midnight on your 60th day to have a shot. But it's Ok if you don't get A&E because you can get Cindy and Rapunzel, Enchanted tales, and Little Mermaid and have 3 princess fast passes ready to be used and save you time.
Fairytale Hall still takes 30 minutes with fast passes (from entering the line to leaving the building)


Here are my thoughts:

First, you should write out a plan and then walk-through your plan on one of your earlier days. Just walk from BBB to A&E's line, then walk from A&Es exit to Cinderella's line, then walk to Enchanted tales line, then Little mermaid's line and the Ariel meet and greet. Walk around and find out where Snow White is meeting. If you know where everything is it will make your day with your niece less stressful and more fun.

I have a 4 year old who was really into princesses when we went. Her favorite things were princess meet and greets. That's what I would do with your time.

Fastpass now is online, so you have to set up an account at disney's website. Then you go online 60 days before your trip and choose fast pass options. You need to figure out how to do this because FP+ will make your trip better than if you don't use FP+.

Now comments on your plan: You should wrap up Bibbidi boutique by 9:15 leaving you 2 hours before lunch. Lunch at 11 which should be done by 12. You have Askershus at 5 and you really need 1.5 hours between when you leave MK and take the Monorail to Epcot, so you'll have to leave MK at 3:30.

Here's what I would do (try to get Fps for these attractions):
BB 8:30-9:00
9:00 get in line for Anna and Elsa; hopefully done by 10:00
10:00 meet the other princesses at Fairytale Hall (probably Cinderella and Rapunzel)
11:00 Lunch at Be our guest
12:00 Enchanted Tales with Belle (done by 1:30)
1:30 ride Little Mermaid and then meet Ariel (done by 2:30)
2:30 meet Merida or Snow White each of which should have reasonable lines
3:30 head to Epcot

If you have FP+ try to get them for Fairytale hall (both A&E and C&R) and for Enchanted Tales. If you can't get A&E fast pass then do Fairy Tale Hall Cinderella and Rapunzel, Enchanted Tales, and Ariel meet and greet.

There aren't really princess "rides" except for Enchanted Tales and Little Mermaid. A princess-focussed day will be heavy on the meet and greets. That was fine with my daughter because all she wanted to do was meet characters, including characters of movies she'd never seen (the cat from aristocrats, the rabbit from alice in wonderland, etc).

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Just to add a little to the BBB experience, when I did it with my DD last year, you could walk to the gift shop next to the castle and they had a room where a Photopass photographer would take pictures. It wasn't necessary, but it was a nice touch. If you do that, you will add 15-30 minutes to your time. The makeover itself took around 30 minutes, depending on the style you choose.

Will your niece be dressing in one of the princess costumes? If she is, then I would recommend going to meet that princess. The pictures are always cute when they are dressed alike.

 

[twinsmama]

ahhh I just wrote a very detailed reply and my computer lost it!! I will try to include everything but in a hurry so it's not as pretty this time:

1. Make sure you have park hoppers since you will be going to MK and Epcot in one day. Akershus is an excellent way to end your princess day!

2. Because there are only 2 of you who need A&E fast passes, I am betting you will be able to get them for that day for a time that works (any time before 3:30 will do, so you can get to your 5pm Akershus). Unless the park opens at 9am that day with no morning extra magic hours, you could be waiting upwards of 1.5hrs to standby A&E. With persistence (it's worth it!) you will likely get A&E fastpasses. Stay up til Midnight (eastern) 60 days out and try and get them then (just for the 2 of you), and if you don't get them stalk the A&E cancellation thread for your month which will appear on Disboards Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies sometime around your 60 day mark. Subscribe to the thread with instant email notification!

I am going to build off of DVCcurious's suggested itinerary, assuming that you get a FP for A&E.

BB 8:30-9:00
9:00 get in line Merida, should be done by 9:45
10:00 meet the other princesses at Fairytale Hall, standby (probably Cinderella and Rapunzel)
Ride carousel and/or it's a small world
11:30-12:30 Lunch at Be our guest
12:30-1:30 Enchanted Tales with Belle (FP window)
1:00- ride Little Mermaid standby
1:30-2:30 meet Ariel (FP window)
Ride teacups
2:30 meet Tiana (check kennythepirate for location) she is fun and usually a short wait!)
At some point you will have your A&E FP. As long as your arrival window starts by 3:00pm, you should be able to make your Akershus ressie without worry. Build all plans around your A&E FP, including the BOG lunch
3:30 head to Epcot

 

[ElsasFan]

I took my daughters to BBB in November and it took closer to an hour, but our appointment was at 3:30 in the afternoon and we had to wait a while for a Fairy Godmother in Training. Just the same, I wouldn't assume that you will be done in time to rush to do a rope-drop "must-do". You don't want the stress of feeling like you have to rush at the end of BBB. If you are doing Memory Maker, I highly recommend going over to Kingdom Coiffures afterwards for the photo shoot. They took a bunch of pictures of my daughters, both together and separately, in different poses. They are professional quality, with a backdrop. If you have Memory Maker, there is no additional charge. If you don't have memory maker, you can purchase pictures separately.

Also, I don't think anyone mentioned Ariel or the Under the Sea ride, but both of my girls really loved the ride and also meeting Ariel.

Have fun!