Inventions or Lunch with princesses?

[theboothenend]

Which would you recommend?
I want to do one of them on my 40th. It would be me, dh, ds6 and dd4.
Im planning a character breakfast at Plaza Gardens the day before too so would it be best to do Princesses for lunch?
Would it be more likely to see the same characters we already met at breakfast if we go to Inventions?
But on the other hand with the food being a buffet would Inventions be a better choice for the little ones than the set meal with the princesses.
If we didnt go with princesses is the princess pavillion as horrific for queues as it was last time we went? (2hrs queue first thing in the morning for a fastpass for late afternoon then a 50min queue once we got back there) because dd will go mad if we dont meet at least one princess!
Aaaah someone please talk sense to me!

[Guest]

We have chosen to do Inventions, mainly because my 2 granddaughters are such picky eater and when we showed their Mum the menu she said that they would eat none of it, not even the pasta. I am hoping that they will at least find something to eat in Inventions.

The other reason that we chose Inventions over ADC is that the latest sitting is 4.00pm and we wanted to eat later than that.

But I so would love to do it.

[MissMinnieMouse]

In my opinion, the food at Auberge de Cendrillion is not very child friendly. My kids will eat anything so they were fine, but our friends children didn't eat a thing and ended up going to Mcdonalds in the village straight afterwards. Seems a lot of money to pay to not eat!

However, the princesses were wonderful and all he kids loved the experience. I suppose it depends on whether you think the interaction with the princesses is worth the money?

The queues at the Princess Pavillion can get huge, but we always head there first thing and have never queued for too long.

[tinytots]

Inventions

[Elodie]

For my family, if we could only do one (and especially if we were already having a character breakfast) we'd go for ADC. That's based on the fact that my girls love princesses and would prefer to meet princesses rather than more of the same / similar characters from breakfast. Plus dd1 will eat anything, and dd2 would enjoy the food on the menu at the moment (she is fussy though, so that might change if the menu changes!)

We were keeping to a tight budget last summer, so we just had a character breakfast, and met princesses in the pavilion - it said 90 min queue but was actually just over 2 hours. We went when we were all hot and exhausted though, so a couple of hours of sitting down in the nice cool queue was actually a pleasure! That was enough for dd1 though, and she was ready to get back to non-stop rides with dh afterwards. Dd2 wasn't so good with the heat, so she chose to go back with me to meet another princess later on.

[dav220588]

Just to note, it's heavily rumoured that the Plaza Gardens character breakfast will be Winnie the Pooh characters and not Mickey, Minnie etc. So if you want to meet them at a character meal you might still have to go to inventions.

[Tink75]

Originally Posted by dav220588

Just to note, it's heavily rumoured that the Plaza Gardens character breakfast will be Winnie the Pooh characters and not Mickey, Minnie etc. So if you want to meet them at a character meal you might still have to go to inventions.

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I think it would be a mistake to have Mickey and friends at PG as there is too much overlap. Having said that, they've run with Cafe Mickey like this for years! If they do WTP etc at PG they are much more likely to get people doing two different character meals, than if they repeat characters! In fact, I've thought for years that the character meals were too similar at DLP. This is why I liked Cowboy Cookout when it was characters. I'll be pleased if they do offer WTP.

As for the OP's dilemma. We've done ADC a few times but not for a few years. But never miss Inventions - even when we've done budget trips, we've eaten cheaply so we can afford one splurge! I do like ADC as well but I feel my DDs are coming out of the Princess stage so we will prob do ADC this trip as a last visit (we don't have halfboard, will be paying cash). I think they'd prefer to spend time in the parks riding rather than queuing for a Princess meet! So this kills two birds by doing ADC.

I think it depends how much you feel they'll want to meet Princesses and how long you're prepared to wait at the Pavillion! One advantage now is at least they tell you who is there before you queue. It was awful before when they didn't say! I recall once queuing for hours in the hope of meeting Rapunzel (when she was first out and very popular!). There were 2 Princesses in each room, and we had no idea who. My DD1 was about 8 and desperate to meet her. She said to the CM really nicely that she hoped Rapunzel was in the room she was going to see as she'd love to meet her. The CM then proceeded to usher us to a room... with Snow White in 😢. We then got out the other side and saw who was in the other room on the screens and it was Rapunzel. My poor DD was so disappointed she cried (and she's not a crier!). Really upset me that a CM could do that to a child when she had the ability to do the exact opposite and 'make her day'!

Anyway, I digress 🙄!

Hope you make a decision but just one more thing, if you do want to go for ADC, book asap as it's always busy!

[theboothenend]

Thanks for the input everyone
I think to be honest that we'l most likely go with ADC.
Dd LOVES princesses and i can imagine i'd spend my entire 5 days queueing with her to see them. If we can get to meet a few in one go then maybe we'll get some ride time too!
But then saying that im now worried that if its just WTP in the character breakfast that might be a waste of money because my two havent really seen much of it so wouldnt get as much out of the whole experience as they would if it was mickey, minnie, goofy etc..
Oh no! Now this makes my decision even harder!
When is it likely to be confirmed if the character breakfast is changing?
Is it always the same princesses at ADC or is it pot luck again which ones are there?

[Tink75]

Changing from 29 March for Plaza Gardens so we'll know after that.

Princesses change regularly but it's usually Cinderella, Snow White etc - the more traditional Princesses, often with at least one of their Princes. However, sometimes there's been Tiana or Merida ir Rapunzel. There's no set plan.

Usually there's around 3 Princesses and a Prince.

[Elodie]

Originally Posted by theboothenend

Thanks for the input everyone
I think to be honest that we'l most likely go with ADC.
Dd LOVES princesses and i can imagine i'd spend my entire 5 days queueing with her to see them. If we can get to meet a few in one go then maybe we'll get some ride time too!
But then saying that im now worried that if its just WTP in the character breakfast that might be a waste of money because my two havent really seen much of it so wouldnt get as much out of the whole experience as they would if it was mickey, minnie, goofy etc..
Oh no! Now this makes my decision even harder!
When is it likely to be confirmed if the character breakfast is changing?
Is it always the same princesses at ADC or is it pot luck again which ones are there?

See more...

When do you go / when do you need to book restaurants? If you can wait until the meal plans change next week, you should know more about how the PG breakfasts will work and that might help with the decision. I'd be thinking on the same lines as you - and I'd be equally torn if the breakfast characters are going to be WTP etc.

Once we know more, could you ask your children to make the decision with you? It might make things clearer to have their input.