What's the story behind Ariel's Grotto's closure at DCA?

[DodgerGirl]

My dad and I were remembering our time at Disneyland and DCA and I always wanted to know why Ariel's Grotto closed at DCA. Because it seemed that the restaurant was making a lot of money and it seemed to attract a lot of people because you could take photos and meet and greet with Ariel at the entrance of Ariel's Grotto much like you do at Cinderella's Royal Table at Magic Kingdom and Ariel's Grotto also had other characters like Pluto Goofy and Chip And Dale dressed in sailor outfits also doing meet and greets. I cannot figure out why they transformed Ariel's Grotto into Lamplight Lounge because Ariel's Grotto deserved to survive. The way I view it Ariel's Grotto had charged too much money for meals and what they could've done with Ariel's Grotto was lower the prices of the meals. But I also think that people went there for the Ariel meet and greet alone and what Ariel's Grotto should've done was add more characters from The Little Mermaid like Prince Eric and Ariel's sisters for meet and greets. Because when my mom and I discovered Ariel's Grotto on our second DCA trip in 2002 we thought it was a shop at first and then we saw a menu board and found a restaurant but DCA made a wrong move in closing Ariel's Grotto

 

[mom2rtk]

They replaced Ariel's Grotto (as the resort's princess meal) with one that cost twice as much (the brunch at Napa Rose) and it regularly books out full. So lowering the price was not (sadly) needed.

 

[wallawallakids]

We miss Ariel’s Grotto. We loved it. Used to go every trip. My girls loved the princesses and it was our favorite character meal.