What happened to the Princesses?

[lb2000]

We just returned from 2 fun days at Disney with our 3 princesses However, we did not see a single princess in the park. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto and Cruella De Ville... that was very exciting, but were so bummed that the only way to see a princess was either Ariel's Grotto, which we did not want to do this trip or wait in a huge line at the Fantasy Faire. We used to love the storytime/coronation, but I see that is gone. What's up with Disney and no princesses? They aren't even in the parade! We are going in Sept. again, and I guess we'll have to do a meal at Ariel's, but that seems wrong. We pay so much for these trips, it seems like the characters should be out and about a bit. Any thoughts?

It really was a great trip though, even without the princesses.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

I know. My daughter would've been in heaven if we could've found Snow White. We spent the whole trip looking for her. *sigh*

 

[DangerMouse]

Yep, the princesses are now held hostage at the PFF and Ariel's. I truly miss seeing the princesses roaming about around the castle courtyards.

One place you can see a princess outside of those two venues is at the Drawn to the Magic Show in DCA. No guarantee of which one you'll see, but there is always a princess involved.

Free the Princesses!!!!

 

[Tasscrapper]

I'll add my voice too . . . Free the Princesses!

 

[Albort]

Ive seen Snow White roam Hollywood as a meet and greet, she usually sits by animation building, but i feel bad for her, because she gets HOUNDED. :\ She gets saved by another CM though.

 

[Monica D]

We saw them in the ELP and at Ariel's Grotto, but that was it. I made quite a few comments this trip about how the lack of characters has taken away from the "magic" of the park. Up until our last day we hadn't seen ANY characters, but right as we were leaving we saw Mickey, Pluto, Goofy and Cruella. People still get so excited and race to have a photo taken with them. As a kid I remember that you could always find Mickey, or Tweedle Dee/Dum, Goofy, etc. walking around somewhere.

 

[kari12177]

I noticed sometimes when its a certain degree outside the Princesses are inside somewhere, can u blame them, look at those heavy dresses. I was there in summer, but Im just asking if it was at all warm with you people?

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I saw three of them a couple of months ago on a Saturday afternoon at the Mickey Floral in Disneyland. They were taking pics & signing autographs. I'd recommend that for anyone who really wants to see a certain character or type of character, go to City Hall and ask if they will be anywhere other than Princess Fantasy Faire or Ariel's Grotto.

I think it would save time and disappointment.

 

[farmgirljen]

We found Snow white and Cinderella @ DCA, and we found Sleeping Beauty at Goofey's kitchen-- I saw more characters in the early morning at Disneyland than any other time- and we saw a LOT of characters throughout the day at DCA....

 

[FairyDust2008]

We saw Cinderella by Monster's Inc Ride in California Adventure. There was a line to see her but we opted to not wait because we already had reservations for Ariel's Grotto and we knew we would see her there. That is why we booked Ariel's Grotto so we could have up close and personal time with the MAIN 5, which was Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty. I wished they would add Jasmine to the mixture. I love Jasmine Ariel's Grotto was by far me and dear daughter's fav time together. It was worth the money. It was great service, great princess interaction and great food. We couldn't have asked for a better time My daughter and I loved it so much that she has already requested it for our return trip in 2010

 

[FairyDust2008]

I thought we had seen Snow White in one of the Celebrate parades we watched and Cinderella was also at Goofy's Kitchen when we were there but she arrived after we were pretty much done eating and were ready to go and she had just begun to see tables and take pics and do autographs and it would have been awhile before she would have made it to our table and again, because we had reservations to Ariel's Grotto already, it wasn't something we had to wait on. Goofy's Kitchen had the Fairy Godmother which was really neat! She was wonderful in character. We really enjoyed her.

 

[Kayla's Mom]

I saw three of them a couple of months ago on a Saturday afternoon at the Mickey Floral in Disneyland. They were taking pics & signing autographs. .

We also saw Snow White, Cinderella, Belle and Aurora at the Mickey Floral at about 3 PM on a Sunday in March.

 

[Sherry E]

...Another honorable mention for Goofy's Kitchen. The Princesses seem to rotate there, like a couple of them will be 'on duty' at one time, and then another two will come in the next day or so. I have seen Belle, Aurora, Jasmine and Snow White. (And Alice, too, though she is not a Princess!) But you will get more of them in one place at Ariel's or the PFF.

 

[Sherwin]

Ahha. The princesses are now rarely out for free meet 'n' greets. They are almost always at a pre-arranged venue, like PFF or Drawn to the Magic. That's where we saw Cinderella.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

I'm telling you guys - 3pm in the entry plaza at the Mickey Floral is where it's at! Most folks just simply don't know about it because they are in the park having fun! The lines are really short because of that, too and there are usually 4 - 5 princesses there.

We always see them when we leave the park at that time (our "get home before dinner" exodus).

We ALWAYS see Mulan at Goofy's. Never have had a meal there without her. Zoe loves to talk to her. She never really chats with any of the others, but can't stop talking to Mulan. Also, Belle appears at Goofy's in her blue day dress and not the gold ballgown.

 

[8gr8mouseketeers]

Around 3 pm at the entry is how we got this picture. We were busy taking pictures of my dd when out of no where she was surrounded by the four of them. We were shocked because none of us saw them coming. She was so surprised that she was almost speechless. They all talked to her, hugged her, just really made her feel special. It is one of my favorite memories.

 

[caligirl stuck in va]

Oohh, thanks for the tip everyone! I am adding this to the master travel plan notebook!

 

[bumbershoot]

The thing about roaming characters is that if you happen to not be in the right place at the right time, you miss them, and think there are none.

So if you know that they are held hostage in a certain area...if you KNOW that Mickey is going to be in his house, and the princesses are going to be at PFF, and you really want to see those characters, you do need to plan to go there.

Although I crack up at the hostage thing...I also really really really don't like the "maybe you'll be lucky, maybe you won't" aspect of roaming characters.

Then again, I don't really like characters and never have, so maybe that's just b/c I like knowing where I can *avoid*....

And once again, then again...it was absolutely 100% hilarious on Thursday the 25th when DS and I were going through the FP line for Splash, we walked past a window, and Brer Fox stuck his head through to surprise us! I let out such a squeak!

But see, now I've mentioned that, and so someone else might get it into their head that they want it to happen to them, and it probably won't, and it will be sad. The randomness is great if you benefit from it...but if you just miss them (like we didn't see a single whale on our Alaska cruise!!!) it's a bummer.

Anyway, if a character is make-or-break, and you know they are in a certain place...go to that place.

 

[dnamertz]

I'm telling you guys - 3pm in the entry plaza at the Mickey Floral is where it's at! Most folks just simply don't know about it because they are in the park having fun! The lines are really short because of that, too and there are usually 4 - 5 princesses there.

Is it usually 3PM or is that just one time you saw them there?

 

[chickyann]

We stumbled across a whole gang of Princesses out by the flowers as we "park hopped" at about 3pm one day. Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine & Aurora were all out there, very exciting stuff

Kind of wished we hadn't wasted so much time the day before at the PFF