Wait 5-7 hours or pay £68??

[curiousgeorgie]

Going to Disney world in a few months and have a Frozen obsessed 3 year old.

Meeting Anna & Elsa has a 5-7 hour wait!! Unless we pay £68 to book a room in a Disney resort (we got a villa) for one night so we can get a fastpass!

I'm just about to do it... But our friend says its crazy and just don't see them.

WWYD??

Luckily neither of my dc s are into Disney . I think frozen , for a Disney film is okay ( apart from all that bloody singing) but think its disgusting that there is a seven hour wait to meet a couple of actors! However it is how it is and I'd pay. We are thinking of Lego land and would do the same.

Op I hope your daughter is still into frozen when you go! My dcs fads changed by the hour when they were three !

I REALLY hate the sneery tone of some posters on here.

And don't forget the bizarre, and somewhat vulgar, need to point out personal wealth.

Genuine question, as my two are still very little so I don't know. What happens to these mini culture vultures when they get to school? Are they not missing popular culture references?

I went to a very posh all girls boarding school (incidentally I appreciate the irony of stating this given my point above re. boasting about wealth but important context). I remember a few girls who had been protected from 'the vulgarities' of pop music, fashion, Disney etc. Within weeks they had either discovered these things are were mainlining them or were sadly bullied/excluded, because they were seen as strange - not nice I know but the reality of what kids are like in any educational setting. Most of the pupils had had many opportunities to visit the theatre, classical concerts, the Opera. Most had been on incredible holidays to interesting and exotic places. But most had also been allowed to kick back occasionally, watch cartoons and taken for treats to Disney or Legoland (US/Denmark as pre the respective Paris/UK sites), listen to the top 40 on a Sunday afternoon and buy Doc Marten boots!

When I first saw this thread last night I was thinking you must be mad! After all it's not the 'real' anything.
But some of the snotty, sneerey anti posts have made me pretty mad. Well done OP for not being cowed by them.
Years ago, I banned the TV, not because it was useless bilge but because I couldn't afford the TV license! I was a single parent of 4 kids who simply couldn't afford it. I felt well superior. However, my kids became a bit of a joke, they didn't know about the things that make 'us' a society. Every now and then they'd go to 'play' with friends, but were really watching any kind of junk they could on TV at their friends houses. After 2 years, I saved up the then £80 and released the TV from it's hiding place in the loft. My doc still talk about it today, 20 years on.
My point is, if it makes you happy, you can afford it, no ones going to get hurt then certainly jump the queues for £70 and have a brilliant time!!

There is an undertone from some posters on MN regarding Disney. Shock horror, small children like cartoon films and people dressed up! It doesn't mean they won't like art galleries and the opera when they're older.

The OP has form for boasting threads though, so maybe that's got up some people's noses?!

I took my children now grown up to Disney several times and after spending much of our first holiday chasing characters for autographs realised just how much time we wasted doing so. When small my children loved all the characters but also realised they were simply someone dressed up ,to someone like myself who doesn't' spend the extra you are considering on a week's shopping it seems extravagant but to you it obviously isn't. I do believe that a 3 year old cannot become obsessed with one film and the characters in it without being enabled to by others after all presumably she didn't' take herself off to the Disney store to buy dressing up stuff and DVDs. I just asked my youngest two now 16 and 18 what their greatest memories of Disney are and neither even mentioned character breakfasts or queuing to see characters in the hotel of a morning. Interestingly they also talk more of the times I took them on a very limited budget than the time we splashed out and stayed in the Disneyland Hotel. The best holiday memories in my experience are generally not the ones that cost the most money.

Candy I have no idea what your problem is, but it's a question, not a boast.

Perhaps you just choose to take it that way?

Ahh...It's okay, I just saw that you posted on my party bag thread... You're just argumentative in general.

It takes all sorts I guess! Whatever floats your boat

waterdrops - I wouldn't say she was boasting like mad?

Are you never allowed to mention things you are fortunate enough to have, incase someone who doesn't gets pissed off by it?

(ps I have never been to Disney anything, or Florida, or anywhere much, except camping in the UK. But I? don't think people talking about their foreign holidays are boasting).

I'm with strawberryangel - what's wrong with doing stuff that makes your kids happy, what's so great about sneering at people who like Disney?

We're all shockingly over-educated here but there is nothing makes us happier than a couple of weeks in WDW. I'm perfectly open about the fact that we queue for ages to meet teenagers on minimum wage dressed up as characters but . . . we love it. Big age gap between all my kids, we all like different things, but this is one holiday where it works for everyone.

I'd pay that for me to meet them probably . . . but I also have a loo brush and don't change my bedding every 3 days so I'm dreadful anyway.

Save your money. Can you remember anything from when you were 3?

I don't think it's boasting, it's a different situation to many people have.

Personally I wouldn't pay to queue jump and I wouldn't queue, but then I wouldn't take my children to Disneyland and I wouldn't encourage a small child to be obsessed with a film.

I don't believe that there is an extra level of happiness accessible only by taking your child to do extravagant things, I think that as long as a child's basic needs are met and they feel loved anything special will make the child happy. The joy I have seen when children fly a kite or watch a sunflower grow or jump over waves in the sea I don't believe can be exceeded by meeting people dressed as characters from a film. I'm sure it is very exciting meeting characters from a film but not necessary to make your child happy.

I would think a flight, the trip to Disneyland and staying somewhere new would be thrilling enough for a child

I think it is important to help children to find enjoyment in everyday things.

I think I can remember things from when I was 3 actually.

And the whole 'if they don't remember it, why bother' thing is silly. If this was the case you wouldn't bother to do anything with them when they were young, and yet most people do.

She'll turn 4 while there anyway, so not only 3.

Well it sounds like you've made up your mind, Curious?

I posted yesterday that I was going to do it, I just think it will make her trip, so it's worth it.

If anyone asks her if she's excited about Florida or what she's looking forward to she always says Elsa

Walt had a rule that you could only have one character per park to preserve the magic, so they are stuck with one Anna and Elsa. I'm sure they would prefer not have pissed off guests in queues for hours.

How does the FP get you in to see them? I had heard that you coukd only see them now with the specific fast passes and they were all booked months in advance.

Aww, op, I would do it.

Shame about the anti-Disney brigade here. I grew up in a family with not much money, but my parents saved up and managed to take us to Disneyland when it was about 10, and to Disneyworld when I was 14. My brother would have been 8 and 12, respectively.

It was amazing!!! We all had such a great time, and if you plan well, you can do it reasonably cheaply (eg, take picnics and snacks) and without hassle (eg, go early, leave early, plan your route).

There really is something magical about it there, it's fun for everyone, and I think that if you can save up and find a way to go, it's something everyone will remember forever.

That said- your DD is only three, maybe she won't remember that much, so wonder if the Frozen thing is worthwhile?

You can book fast passes 60 days in advance if you are staying at a Disney hotel. We've got a villa so aren't, so if we pay £68 (or £150 for all of us rather than just me & DD) to book a room for one night, we can book the fast pass 60 days in advance... After this time they're all gone...

It's crazy! Anyone can book fast passes at 30 days but they're all long gone by then.

I really disagree with all the 'you know it's just an actress in a costume don't you, YOU WASTREL / BOASTING / UNCULTURED EXCUSE OF A PARENT and she won't EVEN REMEMBER IT' type posts. You're paying for magic and memories and they do remember, especially with photographic evidence to jog. When you see the delight on her face you will also be delighted, it's worth it.

And fwiw I don't think you can only get the magic with holidays and characters - we get a lot of magic looking for Gaston in the park - but I think meeting someone from 'the magic castle' (my 3 year old's phrase) would probably trump that - I'd love to bring him and would deffo save up for the extras to make it reach its full potential.

Disneyland does tend to bring out extreme like/dislikes in people.
It is a 'marmite' type experience.

If you book a room direct with Disney, you pay a room price, not a price per person. Also, you will save in parking for your check in and check out day which will offset some of the cost.
If the Frozen princesses are on your list, definitely worth booking the room as fastpasses will be gone at 30 days. We have just returned, and the queues are bonkers - they have also started to escort guests slowly to Fantasyland to prevent people running straight over there, so fastpass is definitely the way to go.

I'm interested in the polarisation of views about Disney and its commercial products expressed here. For myself, I've always thought Disney films and associated merchandise epitomise schlock at its tackiest and most cynical. Just seems obvious.

Would I (1) rent a villa ('a villa' in Disneyland?! wtf?); (2) pay extra for a room to avoid a queue of 5-7 hours (again, '5 hour queue' -- on holiday?! With children ?!! wtf?)? Nope, I'd much prefer (3) to go and have root canal treatment on a molar with no anaesthetic.

Is this sneering? I'm not sure. There's no argument about taste, I suppose, nor accounting for it either. Spend your money on what you like. Luckily it's not compulsory. It's true I'm a bit gobsmacked at parents who unquestioningly allow their children the sort of fast-food-of-the-mind sort of schlock Disney promote (and they certainly promote!). If that is sneering, well, please sneer back at me for wanting my children to develop some aesthetic sensibility along with scepticism about what the commercial world tries to sell them.

DH eventually gave in and agreed to go to Florida 2 years ago, even though he said it wasn't his thing. He queued to have his photo with Shrek, Captain America and Wolverine at Islands of Adventure, he was so excited

We didn't go away last year, have saved like mad, and going back to Florida in 8 weeks.

Have never had a desire to go to Disneyworld/land.

Doesn't bother me that others do.

But I am incredulous that parents would pay extra to such a company to avoid a queue rather than just say no.

Really sneery posts on here, who cares what the OP spends her money on?! And also; if you're bringing up her previous threads... That's really weird and stalker-ish I have no idea why you'd care enough to do that.

If you've got the money OP, do it. It's a shame you have to, but a 5-7 hour wait is the unreasonable thing here, not you!

It seems kind of pointless to fly all the way to WDW for a child, then when they reach the one thing they're obsessed about, say no! Snatch a dream away why don't you?! I imagine the OP has already paid a huge amount out. £60 isn't going to break the bank.