[Scottwdw]

New Princess Tea Party announced at Walt Disney World. Get all the information, pricing and even some pictures as the PS Planning Guide spotlights it at http://pscalculator.net

Happy Planning!

[MerlinMatt]

$200??!!! for a tea party? $65 for each additional adult? I could do better than that by taking my daughter to the Four Seasons for lunch.

Am I the only one who thinks that sometimes the whole "princess" thing at Disney is a little over-done?

Some of the little girls are very polite and nice, but a disturbing majority of them seem to be gold-diggers in the making. Few things bother me more than a child who pulls a temper tantrum and gets rewarded with exactly what they want.

[inluvwithdisney]

I agree that $200 a child is a bit much!!

However, Disney and princess kinda go together!! I like the Princesses alot!!
NOT enough to pay $200 for a tea party tho!!!

I think rewarding a tantrum is very wrong too girl or boy!!!! Parents need to remember following thru is a much better alternative and eventually kids get it!!

[mickaholic4077]

[quote=Matt McDonnell]$200??!!! for a tea party? $65 for each additional adult? I could do better than that by taking my daughter to the Four Seasons for lunch.

Am I the only one who thinks that sometimes the whole "princess" thing at Disney is a little over-done?

No,Matt,you aren't the only one. I also think 200 dollars is obscene. I was thinking of taking my niece Jessica when she comes down in August,but after seeing that price I said forget that!!!

[Amneris]

Ummm....
1. Only Sleeping Beauty??? $200 for ONE princess?? ummm...

2. "rose petal come to life" - I was thinking in Alice in Wonderland when the flowers start talking. this is just a lady in a REAL ugly dress! ummm...

3. I know I hate dolls anyway, but a doll dressed as Auroa, ummm... so??? ummm... I think the Mousekeeter ones at the Disney Store are far cooler.

4. $200? ummm...

5. That doesn't even LOOK like Sleeping Beauty. ummm... *I* could do that. Someone wanna give me a couple rounds of $200? ummm..

6. Did I mention $200? ummm...

For $200 you should get 15 minutes or more one-on-one time with a princess in a special littel gazabo or other secluded room, and a souvenier photo, and a tiarra with your name on it. At the least. This is nothing more than CRT w/out the other princesses, much less food, and a doll. $100 for it would even be pricey (favorably rating the doll at $50). I'm more likely to jump on the over-priced-pamering bandwagon than not (although I'm not into the spa-thing), I mean heck, had to get a Burberry purse and all, but this just is really really not justified, IMHO. They COULD have made it that way, especailly with the GF as the setting, but they just haven't done enough to make it "special" enough to make it "worth" that amount of money. This is even more than the special DAKL AKL safari, I think, and doesn't that include a full breakfast? I'm also wondering about the "tea" menu -- the GF seems to be under the notion that "tea" for children should mean chocalte milk and regular stuff rather than a proper English tea (judging from their regular tea menu), which I think ruins the whole point!

Yeah, guess I'm in a kinda "rant-y" mood today. :)

[mickaholic4077]

I couldn't have put it better,Amneris. You did just fine!!!

[MickeyMac]

We were there and very much enjoyed it.

It's comparable to the American Girl tea party in New York City and Chicago that people fly from all over to attend (and is more than $200) My daughter had a wonderful time, learned how to pour tea, and what all the gadgets are that comes with a tea party, enjoyed the story and the moral behind it, got to feel like a princess herself way more than the princess breakfasts experiences, and got chunks of one-on-one time with both Princess Rose Petal and Princess Aurora (who sat down at our table for a while and chatted with both girls)

The tea offerings were quite a bit more than I expected. The girls 'tea' was apple juice, or as my daughter and her British friend had, real tea, using real tea leaves in a real china tea cup. The food was wonderful - I *loved* the sandwiches. There was quite an assortment. A woman that went with us had sugar-free options that looked wonderful as well.

My daughter plays with her doll constantly - it is one of the ones she was saving up for anyways, and yes, they do have a Mouseketeer outfit that fits her quite well. She also has the tiara, the little tea set, the bracelet, the scrapbooking materials, and my rose is pressed and cherished. Every time I see it, I remember the twinkle in my favorite little tomboy's eyes when she was crowned a "Princess" for a morning.

Again, it is an experience not everyone would choose. I wouldn't pay $200 for a five minute sky-diving experience, but there are others who would. However, unless I *did* that experience, I wouldn't chastise anyone else's choices.

I'm not saying this to get anyone ruffled up, just posting for the silent dozens who *might* be interested, but afraid to ask questions because they fear the reaction.

[Amneris]

How did you rdaughter get the scrapbook etc? Were they "standard" at the time you went, or did she get chosen for them? The annoucement about the tea on the webpage (which started this thread) indicates that not every girl gets them. (If everyone did get these extra things, it would help justify the price, IMHO.)

Never heard about the American Girl thingy in NYC. Know they've just opened a store there, and that everyone's as obsessed with them as if they were the Teletubbies a few years back, lol! :)

BTW, just to clarify, my thinking it is WAY overpriced does not mean that I think negatively of anyone who does go to this -- like that they're foolishly wasting their money or something like that. I think DISNEY is being foolish and I have negative opinions of them that they are kinda ripping people off by charging such a high price for this experience. If your daughter really really wants to do this or you think that she'd love it if she knew about it, then you wind up paying whatever Disney dictates for it. So shame on them for taking advantage of people - IMHO - but nothing negative toward those people who do take Disney up on it. What choice do you have when they're "the only show in town"?

I hope that the one-on-one time your girls got with the princesses (although I still don't "believe" in this Rose person ;) ) is standard for all who attend. As I said, there SHOULD be some kind of individualized attention for that price. Also glad to hear it sounds like they serve their full tea menu i.e. sandwiches etc. But still disappointed that tea ISN'T necessarily tea for the kids. Oh well. Guess it works if you hate tea, but I still think it defeats the point of GOING to tea!! :) :) :) Do they teach you how to put milk in the tea English fashion as well??? Nothing better than a nice cup of tea with some milk and a little sugar in it... Making myself thirsty now. :)

As with every other "special" thing Disney has, they really need to provide more details on what exactly it means. Even Birnbaum etc. never explain things in enough details for you to be able to evaluate it! Hopefully once they've got this tea thing running for awhile we'll have more reports so that we'll know exactly what the deal is.

BTW, the Mr. Coffee people make a great teapot thing (I call mine Mrs. Potts - lol!) that takes either tea bags or loose tea, as we're on the subject of tea. You either put the tea bags in, or use a coffee filter and put in the loose tea. And England in Epcot sells loose Twingings tea (I thing grocery stores do too).

[Willbegone]

I actually would love to do this and don't really find the price out of line with other Disney events. I mean alot of people rave about the fireworks cruises and they are pricey too. I guess it is another to each their own thing. I'm thinking about taking DD when we go in 2005 for her birthday. I think she would LOVE it! It won't be price that is the issue but rather time for me. Where would I find the time to fit in? It sounds awesome!

[MerlinMatt]

I must admit, after hearing a report of someone that actually went to it, I'm more than just a little intrigued. It sounds to be much more substative than I had originally thought.

I still think they'd get a little more interest if they trimmed the cost a little, but perhaps that's the whole point?

Also, we used to have the Mrs. Tea (or Mrs. Potts ) It's a great little device. We don't drink tea much anymore, so we either put it away or gave it away, I can't remember. But if you love tea it's a terrific and easy way to prepare it.

Getting back to the subject at hand, I guess the $200 for the girl and adult is ok, considering the doll and all the little extras. But it still seems to me that $65 per additional adult is a little much for tea time. $50 would still be pricey, but a lot more attractive to me.

[Dana]

Mickey Mac -

I remember reading about your tea on your site. If my DD was into the princesess now the way she was when she was 5, I would definately do this once for the experince for her. Like a birthday or just a Mommy and me special day. They are only kids for a short time. What a great memory for them. It's a shame it costs $200 because that obviously wouldn't be in many people's budget. It is comparable with the other events at WDW however and it does sound like you get a ton of stuff with it. I wish they had a special even like this involving Pooh and friends. That would make for a great Bday surprise for my DD. I try to make one day of each trip her birthday and do something special.

[MickeyMac]

Wow! What a lot of questions! :D :D

Matt - that's why I posted it. It's really one of those 'got to be there' kind of events. When I consider that both my daughter and I got two+ solid hours of entertainment, food, beverages, goodies, AND pampering, it was definately worth it to me. One thing I did make the recommendation for is that they do what American Girl does and give the girl the opportunity to get Disney Dollars or an alternate doll, since my daughter would love to go again, but we have the doll and outfit now.

Dana, a Picnic with Pooh would be a wonderful idea! You should write to Disney with that. You are so right; it was a great Mom and Me kind of day.

Amneris, I went with some folks from England, who heartily approved of the tea (and who also spent quite of bit of time showing me how to 'wear' the tea cozy - LOL!) They showed me how to use a tea strainer, the tea ball, adding milk (blech!) and how sweet to make it. The servers were busy helping the other Princesses around at the other tables unoccupied by neighboring Brits if they had questions. :D

I love tea, and drink five or six cups a day. I just called Disney and asked about the 'apple juice' for the girls. Guest Services explained that since the tea has caffeine in it, they cannot serve it to the girls without their parent's approval. Since my DD and her friend both drink tea with me at home anyways, and wanted it there, they drank all they wanted (and I paid for it in potty stops afterwards! :D )

Willbegone - we went straight to the tea from AKL; drove over and parked and DH and DS went and rented Mouseboats while we were having tea, then we all met up at the Magic Kingdom (we were stuffed from the tea - can you imagine?? - so they had to grab lunch)

For the scrapbooking materials, we were given them afterwards; a couple of sheets of background papers, some paper frames, stickers, and cut-outs, all with a Disney Princess theme, inside a sleeve protector.

The one-on-one time happened with all of the girls. They were also lead in a parade, taught to curtsy, and sang. It was really cute. Princess Rose Petal is a "special friend of Tish's" from the Adventurer's Club (or at least the day I was there) and was surprised I'd recognized her. I actually *really* enjoyed her performance. She has a stunning voice and would look the girls right in the eyes as she was speaking and singing, and moved around the room a LOT. I think that helped draw each girl into the story line and become a part of it.

I have to tell you, I go into these things rather cynically, then something clicks and I find the value in it. I'm probably the only person in the world that never wanted to be a Grand Marshal, and busted on my husband because he was floating on cloud 9. I was cynical about this event, joking that it was stuffy and selective and 'pepto bismol pink.' Yet when I went and saw the job that Rose Petal, the pianist, and the servers (oh my goodness - they are so adorable) did, and how much utter fun my daughter and I had, well, I guess the laugh was on me. :D But I don't mind, since I've got a grand set of memories from that day.

Besides, as my daughter pointed out, if she got to be Princess, that made me the Queen. :D