Waiting Hours for Anna and Elsa...Worth It?

[mjaclyn]

I've seen recently that some guests have waited 4+ hours in line to meet Anna and Elsa. Do you think it was worth it? I was able to grab a FP+ for their new location in the Magic Kingdom for our next trip, but I'm sure the standby line will still be hours long. Do you have a limit on how long you would wait to meet them? My kids LOVE Frozen so I think if I wasn't able to get FP+ my husband and I would probably have sucked it up and taken shifts in a 2 hour line....maybe even 3. But 4 or 5? No way. What are your thoughts?

 

[WEDWDW]

It is totally subjective.

Some Guests feel it is definitely worth it-others not so much.

 

[MC0810]

what are the stand by wait times throughout the day? Is there somewhere i can check this? On the MDE app it doesnt show me wait times for character meets.

 

[3Gsandme]

I think whether or not it's worth it will depend on your kid. If it is the must do or it won't be the same sort of thing, we'd probably wait. We prepared the girls for a long wait when we met them in February, but we got lucky and didn't have to wait long. They were prepared for a three hour wait, though, and still insisted they wanted to do it. Dh and I died inside a little bit. But, this trip was really about the kids and doing what they wanted, so we'd have waited.

 

[TX Southern Belle]

We would have waited & took turns in shifts. I know for a fact meeting Elsa & Anna is something my girls really want to do, but luckily I got a fastpass+ for all 6 of us in May!

 

[MichelleVW]

Sorry but nothing is worth waiting that long. Our wait limit for anything is 45 minutes and that needs to be something we REALLY want to do. I can't imagine wasting 2-4 hours for a 2 minute meet and greet.

 

[xipetotec]

I've seen recently that some guests have waited 4+ hours in line to meet Anna and Elsa. Do you think it was worth it? I was able to grab a FP+ for their new location in the Magic Kingdom for our next trip, but I'm sure the standby line will still be hours long. Do you have a limit on how long you would wait to meet them? My kids LOVE Frozen so I think if I wasn't able to get FP+ my husband and I would probably have sucked it up and taken shifts in a 2 hour line....maybe even 3. But 4 or 5? No way. What are your thoughts?

That's a tough on. The short answer for me is *for us*, definitely not worth it. However I always come back to the fact that it's not just my vacation. If I had kids that were *dying* to meet anna/elsa ( or Mickey, Stitch, Anyone) and the wait was huge, but it would just make their magical day... I would have to, yes. If they don't care *that* much, then it seems like a huge chunk of your precious in-park hours to me...

 

[sarkell]

I've seen recently that some guests have waited 4+ hours in line to meet Anna and Elsa. Do you think it was worth it? I was able to grab a FP+ for their new location in the Magic Kingdom for our next trip, but I'm sure the standby line will still be hours long. Do you have a limit on how long you would wait to meet them? My kids LOVE Frozen so I think if I wasn't able to get FP+ my husband and I would probably have sucked it up and taken shifts in a 2 hour line....maybe even 3. But 4 or 5? No way. What are your thoughts?

I'm trying to figure this out I added an extra day to our trip so we could literally have more time to meet characters. Anna & Elsa are the tip of our list. Willing to wait 2-3 hours not 5 though.

 

[hammie59]

When I first booked our trip, I fully planned on doing the m&g with my daughter in EPCOT clueless to how bad it was. Then I started reading about the 3,4,6 hour waits and had to prep her that we might not get to meet them.
Honestly, there is no way I can justify spending that much time in line for any ride/character. My limit is probably 1-2 hours max.

We had pretty much written them off until they announced the FP+, which luckily, I was able to get. I'm still nervous our wait will be long. We have ADRs for CRT 2 hours after our FP window, but since they haven't moved them to MK yet, I have no idea how fast FP+ will actually be.

 

[KelleyK75]

I think it really depends on your kids and family. I hated the thought of a 5 hour wait, but knew my nephews wanted to meet them, so I was willing to do it (with the help of 2 other adults taking turns). But we got lucky and got a Akershus ADR, so I left there a few minutes early and there was only 6-8 people in front of us. We got through the line super fast, and the boys loved meeting them. They had on Olaf shirts, and Anna and Elsa had a conversation with them about Olaf, saying he loves playing hide and seek and he likes to hide in the pretty flowers. The rest of the day the boys looked for Olaf in the flowers (the Flower and Garden fest last week). The girls took a lot of time with them, giving them both hugs before they left, and were super sweet with them.

So they had a great experience with the girls.

 

[TDC Nala]

Never never never. I wouldn't even wait an hour. No kids though.

 

[ethanwa]

Never never never. I wouldn't even wait an hour. No kids though.

It's different if you have kids... trust me.

 

[ariel326]

For us, it wasn't. We were only there 3 days and it was DS's first trip, so we wanted to spend our time enjoying the parks and meeting as many characters as we could. he didn't know Anna and Elsa were there, so he doesn't know what he missed.

With that said, if our trip had been longer and he had known they were there. I may have found a way to wait.

Its a completely subjective question with a lot of variables that play into it.

 

[Winnowill]

Probably not, but I've spent almost that much time strategizing and scheming to reduce the wait. This is the #1 thing my DD5 wants to do while we're there. I had an 8:15 am ADR at Akershus for 4/26, when they were still scheduled to be in EPCOT. Then, I started stalking the FP+ when it was announced they were moving to MK. Within about an hour of when they became available, I grabbed an FP+ for 4/22. And, shortly thereafter, after reading that the FP+ line was likely to get to more than an hour itself, so I changed my original FP+ to 9:05 am. I don't really WANT to use a FP that early, but it seems like the best way to get in and out with a minimum of time lost. So, while I may not be waiting in their actual LINE, I've spent a lot of time figuring out how to avoid doing it. Who knows whether that time is just as wasted as line time?

 

[mm1971]

I've seen recently that some guests have waited 4+ hours in line to meet Anna and Elsa. Do you think it was worth it? I was able to grab a FP+ for their new location in the Magic Kingdom for our next trip, but I'm sure the standby line will still be hours long. Do you have a limit on how long you would wait to meet them? My kids LOVE Frozen so I think if I wasn't able to get FP+ my husband and I would probably have sucked it up and taken shifts in a 2 hour line....maybe even 3. But 4 or 5? No way. What are your thoughts?

Nope! Have never waiting more than 10-15 minutes to see any character. FP+ it or plan to not meet them. I can't imagine wasting hours in line for anything. The entertainment value of your park ticket goes down significantly if you are idle for that long.

Dd loves frozen and we will try to get a FP+ time. If not, we have already discussed it and she is OK waving to them. She is older though so that is a factor.

 

[Andtototoo]

I would not do it. And yes, I have a child.

One big reason is that I know that my daughter would have gotten so hot and frustrated and tired waiting for that long, that by the time we actually got to them, she would not have enjoyed it. So what's the point?

Plus, the truth is that I'm not willing to stand for four hours in rain or heat on hard surfaces trying to ignore my need to go to the potty while also trying to entertain a kid and keep them enthused when the reward is a 5 minute interaction. Sounds like a circle of hell to me. Plus... Maybe because I've worked with abused and underprivileged kids in my career, but the notion that my kid is somehow deprived or their expensive vacation that costs more than some people live on for an entire year is ruined because they didn't get to meet two girls dressed up in costumes is

Basically, I think it's important to manage expectations and avoid promising something you may not be willing or able to deliver, including on a vacation. I did not promise my kid anything big that could become the One.Big.Thing she focuses on to the exclusion of all else on a vacation because although I do my best, there are times when situations out of my control can create disappointment. I didn't want to set up a situation where their entire focus is on something out of my control. I always told my dd that we "hoped" to do something, but I always cautioned her that "there are no guarantees".

One reason I do that is because my parents had a tendency on vacation to "talk big", but "deliver small". Sometimes it was because they were chronically careless and had gotten the day of an event wrong and we showed up and it was the day before. Sometimes it was because they decided they'd rather do something else. Sometimes it was that it cost more money than we had. Etc. Until we learned to discount any promises from them, my sister and I felt that most of our vacations were ruined because we did not get that One. Big.Promised.Thing. Even though there were times when we got Some.Other.Big.Thing. It was much better when we learned to just take each day as it came and enjoy what we actually DID get, rather than getting disappointed about that One.Big.Promised.Thing.

 

[MichelleVW]

It's different if you have kids... trust me.

It doesn't have to be different....trust me. My girls are now 21 and 23 and we started going to WDW when they were 8 and 10. We never waited in crazy long lines to meet the Princesses. Yes...they would have liked to have met some of them...but I'm not waiting in an hour or more line for 2 minutes with Cinderella. (the big draw back then). We DO wait 20 minutes or so for the Fairies or Jasmine (DD23's favorite) but that's it.

 

[MrsDuck]

I've been going to Disney World since birth. I don't remember ever meeting the characters in the parks - at character meals, yes, but my parents and I never waited in park.

I managed to become a full functioning adult.

To answer the OP, personally, we would not wait more than 30 minutes to see them. Granted, we have no kiddos nor did we particularly care for the movie.

Of course, it totally varies per family. I have character obsessed friends who don't care an ounce about the attractions and think *I'm* crazy for waiting an hour or more to ride Splash.

To each his own.

 

[GenevieveRaqs]

My family would never, ever do this. We have a son who is 5. He loved Frozen--saw it twice in the theater, has watched the DVD multiple times, can quote lines. Still wouldn't do it. And, in fact, he is not even aware that Anna and Elsa are there (and probably wouldn't care all that much if he did). I always wonder a bit about that aspect. My son would have no way of knowing about this whole thing. How do other young children find out? My guess is it has to be parents hyping up this idea. And, naturally, we all do this to an extent when we know our kids will really enjoy something--it makes us as parents excited, too! But no matter how much my son might enjoy something, I am not waiting in line for multiple hours for any theme park experience. Our max wait threshold is about 30-45 minutes. After that, there's just nothing that is worth standing around that long for.

 

[2Tiggies]

Never never never. I wouldn't even wait an hour. No kids though.

Neither would I and I do have a child.

It's different if you have kids... trust me.

Yes and no. It depends. My DD would have had to wait in line with me for those four hours or whatever ridiculous amount of time the posted wait is. There is no way I would do it and there are ways to explain to children and offer them something else they really like in return. It's harder only if you build up their hopes before you secure the route to the prize. In other words, if you have the information as we do now, that lines are terribly long, it may be better not to tell the kids they can do the M&G until you have that FP.