Review: Meeting Anna and Elsa at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom
By Dave Shute
Frozen’s Anna and Elsa meet, chat and sign autographs at Princess Fairytale Hall at the Magic Kingdom.
The encounter with Anna and Elsa is as chatty and leisurely as you’d like it to be, with lotsa photographs–and the Disney photographers will take pictures with your own cameras as well.
What it isn’t is easy to get into. Stand-by waits for Anna and Elsa of 3 hours plus have been common. Use FastPass+, or skip it.
You will see other advice:
- Arrive at the park well before opening and get to the first group to be admitted to the park (on either the far right or left) so that you are first in line
- Do the same, but during morning Extra Magic Hours
- Book an early breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table or Crystal Palace, wolf down your food and head toward the area
–but none of these reliably work. Capacity is so low that the other people with the same idea, who may be ahead of you, can quickly put you into a two hour line.
So to meet Frozen’s Anna and Elsa, get FastPass+ or skip it.
MEETING ANNA AND ELSA
Frozen’s Anna and Elsa meet and Princess Fairytale Hall in the Magic Kingdom from park open through 30 minutes before close. See the review from our book above. Less than a month old, it’s already a little outdated as the “visiting princess” no longer visits. This has the effect of increasing capacity, but lines are still overwhelming.
Using FastPass+ means you will miss much of the lovely interior queue of Princess Fairytale Hall–other than a brief glimpse–but instead will be brought quickly into the space.
You meet Anna first, as she acts as Mistress of Ceremonies. Anna is delightful, down to earth and chatty.
For crass awareness-building reasons, I’d brought a copy of our book for them to autograph. (They will autograph anything, but perhaps after my visit, guidebooks will be restricted…)
Anna leafed through the book, found Josh’s cheat sheets, found the one relevant to that moment (just a little before 5p), and read aloud from page 187 that my next step was to ride the Carrousel at 5.07p! (After I met Elsa and was about to leave, Anna called across the room to remind me about the Carrousel!)
After the autograph, we got the photo above, and I moved on to Elsa.
Elsa was friendly, but much more regal. She gladly signed the book, but was unwilling to use her special powers to cool off the sweltering afternoon at the Magic Kingdom. Snob.
A photo with Elsa…that makes me look fat. Oh well, so does the one with Anna, so I suppose I am…
…and then I was done, with an heirloom copy of the first-ever easy Guide signed by the two of them in hand!
Anna was darling, Elsa charming, and with FastPass+ this was an easy and wonderful experience. Without FastPass+, not so much. You can see Anna and Elsa in the afternoon parade as well, and Disney has just announced a bunch of Frozen-related stuff at the Hollywood Studios for the summer–most of which looks like fun, but none of which includes a meet.
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14 comments
We were lucky enough to be some if the first to meet Elsa and Anna in Epcot in early November 2013. We didn’t know the whole story plot then and the line to meet them was short. My sister said we should meet them since their movie would be coming out soon. They were charming, delightful and played with both my girls. Elsa talked about the importance of being a sister and not being afraid to be yourself. It was an amazing experience and I’m glad we did it. I am still forever amazed at how personable most of the princesses in Epcot are (never rushing you along).
Very cool, Dave. I love that you got them to sign your book!
Hello, I’m planning a trip mid December with my 7 year old daughter. We have a reservation early on Monday at BBB. I wanted to plan to see Elsa and Anna afterwards. I was planning on using a fast pass for this. Is this one of those I need to be online early on my 60 day out day to get a fast pass for? Thanks.
Patricia, I would–at 12.01 am 60 days before…
Patricia, I’ve read yes. If you aren’t on right away, they may be gone.
Dave, I’ve been wondering and don’t recall you or Josh addressing it anywhere. How long do the lines take with FP+ ? Same as legacy, more, less? Thanks!!! I love the book!!!!!
Melissa, it took me about 5 minutes to get into the greeting room, and another 5-10 minutes while the 3 or 4 families ahead of me went through the greetings.
We went to WDW in March 2014 and Anna and Elsa were only in Epcot in the Norway area. There was a minimum 5 hour wait, even in the rain. Fast pass was not an option. We even got in line 12 minutes after Epcot opened the gates, but there was already a 5+ hour line! Needless to say, we didn’t get to meet them.
This is a good thing to know. Is this like the dinning, it opens up at 6am on line to get the fast pass?
No–it opens right after midnight
Another tip, if you run internet explorer (IE) on your computer make sure you download Google Chrome before you try to get fast passes. The system would not allow me to get fast passes on IE but, Chrome did allow it. Shame, I was on IE for 45 minutes at midnight and gave up. Got on my husbands computer at 6 am and got into the fast passes but, had to pick a different day to see Elsa and Anna. Thank God for Park hopper passes.
Thanks Mary–I’ve only done it on chrome…
No such luck for FP+ with Anna & Elsa. I was on at midnight and ready to go…Already the passes were gone…Guess a midweek arrival with only a few day stay has that affect…We have early reservations for breakfast one morning and will try then…If that doesn’t work, our princess will see them in the parade. On a happier note, we did get FP+ for 7 Dwarves Mine Train and we are all stoked about that one! 🙂
Thanks for such a great site, Dave! I’m thinking of trying for Anna/Elsa standby Wednesday, November 11th during evening EMH. We have 8:25 dinner reservations at ‘Ohana, though, so I’m afraid getting from the front of the park to the entrance of A/E will be an issue with crowds watching/leaving after Wishes. Will it be at all possible to get through MK quickly during this time frame?? Is evening EMH a good time to try for Anna/Elsa?? The Railroad is closed so just getting away from Main Street that way isn’t possible. Our other option is to try to get there early on one of our full days at MK (all party days). Previously, we’ve been getting off the bus around park opening time or 5-10 minutes before… not sure how likely we’ll be to get there 30-45 minutes before to be closer to the front of the line – especially since this time we’ll have grandparents in tow. Thanks for the advice. 🙂
Val, evening EMH tends not to work well for A&E unless MK has a really late regular close–e.g. midnight, and you put off your visit until the second hour of EMH. Morning EMH works much better, but only if you can arrive at the entry to the park at least 30 minutes before open.
This is because upwards of 75,000 people are eligible for EMH, and the only filter for evening EMH is bedtime–tens of thousands will have be in MK and eligible to stay into the evening EMH. The morning filter, in contrast, is the ability and willingness to get up so early, which many fewer are willing to do…
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