In just a week, the new Fantasy Faire at Disneyland will welcome guests of all ages to meet and greet their favorite Disney princesses in style!
In the past, Disney has placed princess meet and greets in various areas of the park, sometimes with or without any sort of royal meeting location. Just before Disneyland announced their initial plans for Fantasy Faire, the princesses met guests in the former Fantasyland Theater, which has hosted various stage shows over the years, most recently "Snow White: An Enchanting Musical." Now that the princesses are moving, the theater can host a musical again. Work is currently underway for "Mickey and the Magical Map."
So where is this new Fantasy Faire? In a more royal fashion, the princesses are moving closer to Sleeping Beauty Castle, in the area that was formerly called Carnation Plaza Gardens. While the area was active in the evening for swing dancing, during the day the area was fairly dead. Some fans are upset by the change, and currently, the plan is to get those swing dancers in Downtown Disney near the movie theater, but Disney has previously stated that the plans were to let the dancers use the area as they used to at night once the area became Fantasy Faire. For now, the area will need to cater to its princess-loving guests, as a new offering at Disneyland is sure to keep the location busy for a while. The stage there will be hosting two small but fun stage shows with the re-tellings of Beauty and the Beast and Tangled.
Expect lines to be long. The Tangled meet and greet where guests can meet Rapunzel and Flynn/Eugene regularly hosts wait times about an hour long, often more on busier days. It has sometimes been the longest wait in the park! There is good reason for it, though. Disney fans love their princesses and getting that special one-on-one time with them is a big part of the Disneyland experience.
The outside plaza and the inside of the Royal Hall look to be stunning. Imagineers continued the classic Fantasyland feel, but incorporated a little more of the castle. In early concept art for Disneyland before the park opened in 1955, the castle was actually shown as a larger attraction, extending out further in all its grandeur, so WDI is happy to make that original idea more of a reality today. And besides princesses, guests will see the Figaro being a mischievous cat, Clopin's Music Box, and Rapunzel's tower (from Pinocchio, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Tangled) in different locations in the new Fantasy Faire.
Of course, the new area will have shopping and snacking opportunities as well. Fairy Tale Treasures will be a new shop with all your desired princess fare. When you stop by this location, take a closer look at the sign. There is an acorn shaped like a treasure chest, a homage to princess animal friends that help them in their times of need. For a bite, visit Maurice's Treats, which will offer sweet and savory twists, as well as a drink called the Boysen Apple Freeze, which you can purchase to have in a goblet or stein, just like the ones at Walt Disney World's New Fantasyland. The new treats sound simply delectable!
Fantasy Faire opens March 12th, 2013. See you in Fantasyland!
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