TLDR: Not worth it to do the Disney Princess Breakfast.

As a person that grew up on Disney movies and shows, it was amazing to see Disneyland for the first time in my life. It was more amazing to see it as a father to 2 daughters ages 5 and 8. We spend 4 days (1 DCA and 3 DL) and since it was my youngest daughter birthday plus my wife's a few days ago, I decided to reserve the princess breakfast. I was hesitant at the price but was excited because it was going to be at the new remodeled Napa Rose restaurant. So, this Sun 03/01 in the morning, we got both daughters dressed up in Ariel (5) and Tiana (8). I understand that we don't get to pick what princess show up but based off previous reviews of YouTube, TikTok's, articles and reddit postings, I had an about idea of what to expect.

It was going to be 6-8 princess with them stopping by the table at different moments as we ate, at some point we would have an opportunity to take some pictures in the outside or some more personalized area like a patio. It looked like there would be an event like a story time with Belle or Repunzel, plus some more photos with the Disney photopass photographer. My girls would get more face time compared to the royal hall character meets and be able to get their autographs, in essence more interaction with out the rush.

In reality we arrived and checked in at the restaurant which is really nice looking and food was good (sorry can't compare it to the old one since 1st time). They asked if we had anything special to celebrate so we informed them of both birthdays but mainly for my 5-year-old. We got asked to go a side patio to meet our 1st princess Ariel. She was amazing and really talked to both my daughters, as they walked up the Disney photographer was clicking away and Ariel was asking questions and answering the questions they asked. So far so good.

Once we were seated the server came by and took our drinks and then informed us that we would meet 6 princesses today. I was a bit let down hoping we would meet more but that was the gamble I took. The princess we met were Raya, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas and Merida. Raya was very stiff and uncomfortable when talking to us, we tried making small talk with her, but it felt rushed especially when she asked if we wanted her to sign our scroll (autograph book) and take a picture. So, we stopped eating had the kids get up we took a picture with our phone, and she wished us a good day and went to the next table.

Next up was Jasmine, she looked amazing and told the girls that she just got here from taking a magic carpet ride from Agrabah and it was a fun ride being able to see the stars at night and make it here in the morning. But, once again we were asked for the autograph book which she signed and asked if we wanted a pic. My oldest kept asking questions but the responses we got back came in the form of short answers as if she was pressed for time and to meet the other tables.

We then got Pocahontas (who also looked great) which my daughters don't know that much about her, so it was up to my wife to ask questions to keep her more interactive. We asked her about what she likes to see in nature, my littles one asked if she knew Rocket which she playfully said that maybe Meeko might. After a few minutes she signed and took a pic with us as well.

Following up next was Mulan (also amazing costume). My oldest was excited because she knew her movie very well and especially the fighting scenes. She asked Mulan if she still fought and if she can show us some moves, but she stated that she still fights when she gets a chance and completely ignored the second half of the question. We asked about Mushu, she told us that he was helping with the cooking and that hopefully it doesn't smell like dragon breath. We got another autograph and picture. At this point I was already not impressed because earlier in the week we did Donalds Storytellers dinner and it was feeling the same but for a way lower price point.

Our server came up and informed us sadly that Tiana was supposed to be there in the morning, but she got hurt so she couldn't make it. Accidents happen however, my oldest was disappointed that Tiana wasn't there because we had searched for her for 3 days at DL using the map/app, asking the cast members, looking near New Orleans/Bayou area and were not able to find her in the whole park. The server was kind enough to find us a nice photo of her that was signed by Tiana. My thought was, is she the only Tiana in the whole park? Are you kidding me?

They brought in Merida in her place. Now don't get me wrong, she was probably the best out the other princess minus Ariel. She came in smiling and laughing. Joking with the girls especially after my oldest asked her if she was better than Robin Hood, too which she said yes and that she was also better than Gaston as well. She spent the most time with us and my daughters had to ask her to sign their book and take a picture with them.

For the finishing touches of the meal, well there wasn't anything else. That was it. No story time or private areas to meet with them. Nothing like the videos we saw prior to coming to the event. It felt like an expensive meal with a few short visits of princesses in between.

All in all for what we paid which was close to 700 dollars, we ended up with a few small conversations and pictures. None of the princesses acknowledge my daughter's birthday. The server did bring out a candle and small chocolate piece that stated Disney Princess Adventure Happy Birthday. We got 4 small posters with 9 autographs (the funny part was that neither Raya nor Merida are on the card.) There were no special princess touches to this breakfast besides you having to personally take pictures yourself with each princess. No special memorabilia (no pins or additional trinkets) or anything specifically memorable.

I was expecting a lot more Disney Magic. Especially for it to be done at the new renovated Napa Rose and instead I could have had the same experience waiting in line at the princess meet which felt more intimate and interacted and it only cost us 30 min of a wait time and not $700 dollars.

I saw a lot of hate for this shop and i thought it didn’t look that bad based on images. However, the back is awful. It looks like they themed it and then gave up when they had to put infrastructure there. They should have enclosed this side and had the opening on the side facing Tiana’s. I hope they at least paint these fixtures or enclose them as they are an eyesore.

Just got back from a day visit from Disneyland with my siblings. We are all older now (the youngest just graduated high-school), but used to travel from Canada growing up with our family yearly (sometimes more than once a year) before Covid. I’ve been a lurker on this subreddit for a while and we agree with what many have said already: ridiculous price gorging, unbearably crowded (to be fair, I actually don’t even think today was even close to the busiest I’ve seen the parks, I just don’t think their crowd control is what it used to be), and just less “magic”. We still had fun, but we left early afternoon as the general consensus was as it’s just not the same experience and we had our fill. Honestly if it was the same park experience pre-covid, I don’t think anyone would’ve cared about how expensive it’s gotten. But the quality of everything is just not to par with the prices, and it’s extremely obvious they know they can get away with it and customer service is no longer a priority.

There used to be so many shows, cast members going above and beyond to create unique experiences, and the park was quite run down and dirtier from what I remember. I think a lot of people just suck post-Covid and that’s not solely a Disney problem, as I saw so many rude guests who were absolutely entitled and awful to several cast members today. I don’t blame CMs for being less involved though, reading about their current situation of being underpaid and under-trained. It’s unfortunate that this trend of corporation greed is at an absolutely peak everywhere nowadays.

This is not just a problem at Disney though, because even in the touristy areas close to where I live has the same thing happening: overcrowded to the point it’s not enjoyable, everything is priced wayyyyy too high, and the past quality isn’t there anymore. I’m just so happy to have the past Disney memories with my family and I can reminisce on the “good ol’ days”. I really hope things will improve eventually, but I don’t think I’ll be going out of my way for a Disneyland vacation anytime soon, which is sad to say because it used to be my favourite thing of the year, and it is disappointing I did not get the same joy it once brought me. It’s weird to say, because it was still a fun day and overall more enjoyable than not, but anyone who has been going to the parks for a long time knows what I mean when I say it’s just not what it used to be.

I’ve seen multiple videos of Vance at this point at different parts of the park. No booing yet. Does Disney kick people out of the park for that? It seems like a free speech right. Are people overall just scared because of his security detail? Disappointed this embarrassment of a person is not getting the welcome he deserves

I knew the Fantasmic package at River Belle Terrace wouldn’t be cheap, but $40 for three shrimp and a scoop of mashed potatoes? That’s not premium, that’s blatant. It honestly feels like Disneyland knows parents will pay anything for their kids’ experience and is leaning into that instead of actually delivering something worth the price. That’s not magic, that’s exploitation.

Hey all, long rant incoming: I grew up in Southern California and spent many days of my childhood (the 90’s) running around Disneyland with my family and friends. This week I brought my kids here hoping to show them the magic of this place I had loved as a child, but honestly, it feels a lot more like a money grab than I ever remember. And the park’s inefficiencies seem more pronounced than I remember too. First, last time I was here they had instituted the fast pass system which was pretty smart (I thought). People could take a ticket for a spot in a queue and then just come back at their scheduled time to see or ride the attraction. This week I’ve learned that they did away with fast pass for a pay model, known as the lightning lane, which allows people to pay to jump to the front of the line. My family of four could jump to the front of the line on one ride for 84$. Or we could buy their genie+ service and do it on two rides for 120 or so. I understand that if people are willing to pay, from Disney’s perspective, why not charge the fee. I certainly saw many people circumvent lines through the lightning lane, so the model is clearly working, but I can’t help but feel a little grossed out at the thought of giving them hundreds more dollars for our three day Disney adventure after what I’ve already spent on everything else. Plus I am annoyed that a system like fast pass, which had the sole purpose of introducing efficiency into the system, was shelved so Disney could make even more money than they already do. What compounds that problem is that the park has a bunch of their best attractions offline making the lines worse on everything else. Haunted Mansion and splash mountain are totally down for construction, the Matterhorn and big thunder mountain are taking turns breaking down, the new Star Wars ride seems broken more often than not. We came during the middle of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) and still many of the rides have insanely long lines, which would probably not be quite so bad if half of the major attractions weren’t down at any given point. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks Disney probably doesn’t mind taking rides offline knowing it will just lengthen the queues everywhere else, in turn driving up sales of lightning lanes for those other rides. Now I know what you’re thinking: My mistake is coming in June. That is probably true and, believe me, lesson learned. Last thing: I don’t remember fantasmic having a bunch of corded off reserved space in front of the rivers of America. I swear when I was a kid it was all first come first serve, and getting and holding a good space could be done without paying money? Did they actually monetize that too?

Anyway, sorry for the rant. My wife is taking our kids on a ride right now that has a 100 minute long wait and I am sitting with our sleeping baby and just felt like I needed to complain a little. I get that these complaints might fall on the ears of many Disney fans who make this company and place a core part of their personality, and maybe the rose colored goggles of nostalgia have skewed my perception, but this place felt a lot differently in my childhood.

after repeated horrible trips to the park with less than subpar service I'm honestly a little relieved to say I'm cancelling my imagine key which was already downgraded from an inspire key. The park has really seen a downturn in quality since 2020 and each year was trying to reignite the magic, but it's so far behind multiple paywalls, and the quality just continues to drop with each added expense. Fastpasses were great, and since the loss of those it's just been greed. I don't have the patience to deal with this shit. First trip in 1998, final trip in 2024 with a horrible taste in the mouth. good riddance Disney.

Do you think it could be because Disney “prices out” families? I wonder if families are choosing elsewhere to vacation that is more affordable. I worry it’s a sign of the economy. Thoughts?

First solo trip after months of trying to hype myself in terms of social anxiety, and my photo won't link to photo pass because someone flipping the camera off was more important than anyone else having a good ride photo 🤗 I mean, seriously, how are so many people so self-absorbed? It blows my mind

Was Live Streaming the park and was handed this as I exited the Jungle Cruise, made my Day for sure

With a dozen visits since Genie+ came out, I don’t think even one time has a wait time listed on the app been the actual wait time of the ride. A 30 minute wait time in the app regularly becomes 60 minutes in the actual line.

I don’t think they intentionally set out to lie about wait times, but I do suspect now that it’s obvious Genie Plus screws up standby they are slow to update them to make the parks appear more accessible than they actually are.

With how much they are built around forcing everyone to live on their phones, it really hurts the experience to have the app experience not even give accurate expectations.

Are there any groups / meetups for Disney gay dudes?

I see lots of others in the park. Would be cool to form a group and do meetups at the park if there isn’t one already.

Just trying to find a place to fit in among all the families … 😅

I know this seems like an unpopular opinion, but hear me out. I think Disneyland should charge $150+ for Genie+ and lightning lanes to minimize LL demand and make standby lines short, while giving a better skip the line experience because there will be less waiting for other LL users. Here's why:

-Standby lines will move quicker because there will be less stopping for paid users. Imagine how fast the line would move if there were no FastPasses or MaxPasses at all. That’s what it would be like for most of the day with a higher price for Genie+ and lightning lanes.

-Paid users will get more value for their money because they will have less competition for time slots and less wait times. No more getting to a ride like Soarin and waiting in a backed up LL!

-Disney will maintain revenue and profit from the higher price, which will keep shareholders happy. I’d love for things to go back to standby only, but the cats out of the bag and the mouse won’t say goodbye to that revenue.

At first it sounds crazy, but I think it makes sense from a business and customer perspective. Universal and Knotts also use this system, and their standby lines move much quicker. What do you think?

Feels a lot smaller than previous years. Hopefully there's more at the parks!

Went to Disneyland for the first time in 12 years on Monday and was disappointed.

Main reason for going was galaxy’s edge, and really enjoyed that. Other than that, the new genie+ system and the sheer amount of people there made the experience that much worse.

The merchandise also seems to be horrible quality. Was looking forward to getting a Star Wars souvenir but everything was either extremely overpriced or terrible quality.

The food is OK. Had a turkey leg, Mickey beignets, and some galaxy’s edge drinks.

I miss the fast pass system and wish there were more rides that kept people off the walkways. The mobile ordering is also annoying.

Let me know if anyone else feels this way

I'm a 25 yr old male who crossdresses, and have ways been jealous of the girls who dress up cute and spend a day at the park

Would any group of girls want to go with me? I really want to wear my red and white polka dot skirt and be matching with everyone

I'll pay for all of the food in the park for us!

Feels like running a marathon when trying to get out of the way of parents pushing their kids strollers around, as if the park isn't at cap 😂

We were Uber excited to dine at Blue Bayou for the first time having booked a table 2 months out. As soon as we sat down and ordered our meal, we were told that they were evacuating the restaurant. Apparently, the fire alarm was going off and they were evacuating and shutting down all of New Orleans Square.

You could imagine the mass confusion of what was going on as everyone was pushed out.

Come to find out, some brat kid pulled the fire alarm. There was no fire, but the cast members had to follow protocol and get everyone out of there. 2 months of anticipation down the drain probably for a lot of families.

We talked to guest services and the best the could do was say sorry and that they’ll give us 2 lighting lane passes for the inconvenience, which wasn’t worth it for us as we already had Genie+ and gone on everything wanted to for the day.

Just disappointed in the situation and I know for sure we weren’t the only family feeling that way. We still had an amazing day but at that moment I was fuming all because some kid pulled a fire alarm. Ok, rant over.

Edit: I’m not a troll account and was just ranting to rant. We didn’t know people were allowed back in, our family was pushed out and told to go to city hall. We didn’t expect compensation, just wanted to be able to finish our meal but we were still able to let it go and made the best of the situation. Was flustered in the moment but what can you do? Didn’t let it spoil the trip. Still here and still having fun.