Last Sunday on Easter, the Frozen characters Anna and Elsa made their transition from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom for a new meet and greet location. The Princesses are now at the new Princess Fairytale Hall located near the New Fantasyland. Part of the the goal of the move was to accommodate the mass amounts of people waiting to see the girls from Frozen, and to allow guests to get a FastPass for the meet up. Sounds good in theory.
Since the opening, FastPasses for the Frozen meet up were hard to come by, unless you planned far in advance. I know a lot of our readers already have FastPasses scheduled for upcoming trips for May and June, which is a smart move. The stand by line for Anna and Elsa has been horrendously long! Word is, that shortly after rope drop, the stand by wait time quickly rises to 3 hours. Yes, 3 hours just after the park opens. Last week we were told that the line time was up to 7 hours at one point. 7 hours is a LONG time to wait to meet characters, regardless of who they are. So, that stirs up a question for a lot of people….. do you wait, or do you skip it?
Main Streeters have been debating all week on this very topic. To wait or not to wait…. Most say no way. People sometimes wait a long time to be able to go on a Disney vacation, and to spend an entire day waiting in line seems like a waste of good park time. If you’re an AP holder, I suppose you have the option to visit the parks more often, so it’s not as big of a loss to wait in line, because you’ll get to come back sooner than a yearly (or longer) visitor. Most folks have a certain amount of time allowed for each day and each park for the duration of their vacation, and taking an entire day to wait to see some characters doesn’t seem to fit in. I suppose it comes down to priorities. How bad to you want to meet Anna and Elsa? Some parents don’t mind waiting in line, if their child has their heart set on meeting the Frozen gals, and that’s fine and good. Most however can’t justify the wait in the stand by line. Hopefully the hype will die down a bit, and more guests will be able to visit their favorites from Frozen a bit easier. Until then, try to get your FastPasses ahead of time! If not, bring a book, pack a lunch and wear comfy shoes…. it’s going to be a long day!
Photo courtesy of WDW Shutterbug
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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My daughter and I will be putting Anna & Elsa FP+ at the top of our list along with 7 Dwarves. I am planning on spending several days in MK and will be up making FP+ choices as soon as My Disney will let me. This is only my 3rd trip to the World ever and will be my 11 year old princesses 2nd trip. We took her for the first time 3 years ago and will likely not be back for 5 or more years when she graduates high school. Right now she is not into thrill rides and neither am I so Pin Trading and collecting autographs/photos is what Disney is all about. She fondly remembers all the fun we had last time and we have several new characters to meet. So I will not wait 5 hours but you can bet I will do my best to snag those FP+s.
We only get to go to WDW every 2-3 years. There is no way we will stand in line for 7 hours to see Elsa and Anna, when we will only be at WDW for 5 days total. BUT my sweet granddaughters (ages 4,6, and 8) are going to be sooo disappointed not to meet them, they have been looking forward to seeing them on our upcoming trip. I am not looking forward to their tears and disappointment.
We are leaving for Disneyland in only a few days and we have thought about waiting for Anna and Elsa. Truthfully, we’d rather wait for a Sven or Olaf. The lines to other attractions are shorter thanks to these two ladies and at the end of the day, there are plenty of other characters to meet.
I’ll say that this seems like a very opportune time for Disney to cash in on a Character meal with these two. I’m pretty amazed it hasn’t happened yet!
-Angie
http://www.ModernMouseRadio.com
Seems ez enuff > dress up 20 more employees until the lines start to diminish! While we’re on the subject, the merchandise from Frozen is in extremely short supply as well. Not at all what is expected from the Disney Corp. 🙁
In February my family and I waited over 3.5 hrs to see them in Epcot. While on the line other families and I came up with many solutions to the problem, why didn’t Disney? So many families waited that long or longer day after day. I LOVE disney but felt very left down that day by them. I am glad to see they have moved them to MK and fast pass is an option. I will make sure to get a fast pass when I can for my August visit. Hope that it won’t be crazy again.
I don’t think Disney predicted how insane the reaction to Frozen would be and it’s success has taken them by surprise. There are very quick and very simple solutions to these crazy wait times and I can’t help feeling that if Disney wanted to, they could solve the problem very easily.
That said, I think guests at WDW need to keep it real. At the end of the day, what you’re talking about here is 2 people dressed up! This is not Idina Menzel you’re meeting, in which case you might be willing to spend $99 a day to stand in line for an autograph.
For me, spending 4 hours in line just doesn’t make sense. First stop, plan ahead and get a FP, if that fails, book a breakfast in the park for before park opening and get over to Fairytale Hall before rope drop so you’re first in line. If neither of those work for you, skip it! After all, you can stand in line for 4 hours without paying $99 a day for it!