Pirate League vs Face painting

[JB212]

We're going on a 4 day trip to Disney. I have one full MK day scheduled with a couple extra evenings/nights set to fill in with more MK time as needed.
I know that DS6 and DD10 would LOVE the pirate league makeover, but Im a little concerned with time. I don't really want to give up premium rope drop time for a makeover, and Ive read a few reviews where the entire process took an hour or more to complete. I'm iffy about scheduling it later in the day because I feel like you should do something like that early as to wear it all day ya know?
I saw that there is also basic face painting available at every park. Is that totally cheaping out though? I know the pirate league experience involves more than just face paint. I like that the face painting isn't locked into an appointment and we could do it when we have time. Also there are far more choices for face painting than the ones in the pirate league.
Thoughts from those who have done either?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We've done both. Pirates League twice and face painting countless times. Yes, Pirates can take an hour or so. With two kids it will probably be longer as they rotate the kids in when chairs become available in the "salon". If your kids aren't begging to do it and your goal is to do more rides and attractions, I would skip it. The face painting is great. As you mentioned, it's walk up and lots of choices. My DS asks for face painting every trip but has no interest in doing pirates again.

 

[BMonhaut]

For what it's worth - we did a 10am Pirate League with my 4 year old son with a 9am park opening. At rope drop we did Jungle Cruise and then PoC twice - and I think the Flying carpets as well. It did take an hour of valuable touring time, but at least for us it was worth it. He wore it for 10 hours that day - got some great character interactions with Sheriff Woody and Jessie and Peter Pan, as well as characters in the FoF parade acting scared of him during the parade. He loved every second of it. I just adjusted my fastpasses and touring plan accordingly and we did everything we wanted to in 2 days minus Big Thunder Mtn RR and Haunted Mansion - but that was more due to cranky kids. So if you decide to do it, although it takes valuable touring time, there are positives that come from doing it in the morning and letting the kids run around in the get up all day.

 

[MamaMaleficent2016]

We did Pirate League our last trip. Yes, it was a time eater. Other members of our party went on rides while I stayed with my pirates. But it was AMAZING. The kids still talk about it a year later. And the makeup was so well done. Several random people asked to pose with them for pictures. I never regretted it!

 

[piglet1979]

We did both on our last trip. Pirates did take a lot of time. When we did the face painting my son asked to have Jack Sparrow done and they did it. It looked great. The only down fall was we went Labor Day week and it was really hot. We ended up having to take the paint off of his face only an hour after having it done because it was bothering him. It could have been from the heat and sweating or from his sensitive skin. We were able to leave on the painting of the bandanna on his forehead.

 

[Hannahinwonderland]

Face painting is really fun and I think that would serve your purposes and be less of a time eater. It looks really cool! And if gets messed up throughout the day they will touch it up for yoU!