Ariel's Grotto at Disney California Adventure changes starting June 15th

[The Forbidden Eye]

Dinner with Ariel and Her Princess Friends Coming Soon to Ariel’s Grotto at Disney California Adventure Park « Disney Parks Blog

Starting June 15th, the character dining will now go to Dinner as well as the Breakfast and Lunch. This will also mean that the World of Color Dinner Package will no longer be available for this restaurant after June 15th.

[Mojave]

I guess it's inevitable that Disneyland and the Resort will eventually be called Meet and Greet and Eat Land.

[Jafar00]

Maybe they'll make the Carthay a WOC FP dining place in addition to Trattoria?

[DLFreak71]

I guess it's inevitable that Disneyland and the Resort will eventually be called Meet and Greet and Eat Land.

seems like it
When you shake the tree, money does fall out.

[frollofan]

I thought nothing would be under refurbishment this summer

[dfan07]

It won't be. Ariel will just show up for dinner as well as breakfast and lunch.

[The First Star]

Maybe they'll make the Carthay a WOC FP dining place in addition to Trattoria?

I hope so. I don't really like the Trattoria WOC menu (although I like the regular menu).

[toonaspie]

It should be interesting to see how much sales at Ariel's Grotto depended on guests wanting reserved seating for WOC. I too also help that the CCT restaurant is going to provide the package now.

[Witches of Morva]

ORWEN: I should think a witch would get wet if she tried eating dinner there during the World of Color Show. Not that it would melt down us cauldron gals. But witches from Oz seem to always melt when they get wet. Somebody had better put out a disclaimer sign for those kinds of witches!

[Spongeocto4]

Hopefully Disney are slowly phasing out the WOC tickets.

[Eeee-va]

Before the World of Color dining, they had dinner options at Ariel's Grotto (with princess meet-and-greets). This is just going back to how things were before World of Color, so I don't consider it an increase in character dining. I'd bet that they'll make more money this way, or else why would they be making the change?

To me, the blog kind of sounded like they'll be doing away with the Preferred Dining areas. That MIGHT not be a bad idea (even online, so many people seem to call it "Preferred Seating" and are disappointed when their experiences don't match with their expectations, and it seems like it's not as hot an option as it once was).

Though I think Jafar00's idea of making Carthay into a WOC dining restaurant is equally plausible. Actually, maybe even moreso, given the June 15 timing.

[emwhysee]

We dined at Ariel's Grotto for the World of Color seating last summer, and it was easily the worst meal I've consumed at either park. I can only presume their popularity had increased for WOC, so the priority became moving people through an assembly line. All of the food was cold, tasteless, and slimey, as if it had been sitting under cling wrap for hours. Service was uncharacteristically poor.
I can only hope that the movement toward character interactions will improve the quality of the meal and the overall experience of dining at Ariel's Grotto.

[ohmyjustin]

Hopefully Disney are slowly phasing out the WOC tickets.

I can't imagine they'd do that before this summer is over, nor the next, nor possibly the next... With attendance expected to sky rocket at both parks, they'll actually have a real need for the passes again.

[DragoHarley]

We dined at Ariel's Grotto for the World of Color seating last summer, and it was easily the worst meal I've consumed at either park. I can only presume their popularity had increased for WOC, so the priority became moving people through an assembly line. All of the food was cold, tasteless, and slimey, as if it had been sitting under cling wrap for hours. Service was uncharacteristically poor.
I can only hope that the movement toward character interactions will improve the quality of the meal and the overall experience of dining at Ariel's Grotto.

Whenever people claim they've had the "worst meal they've ever consumed" at a Disney park, the first question that comes to mind is whether these people said anything to their waiter or a manager about it.

Or did these martyrs suffer in silence and never let Disney know?

This complainer "emwhysee" really got creative with his/her bellyaching by saying the food was "cold, tasteless, and slimy". Wow. Whoever was working in the kitchen that day must have really been trying hard to persecute this guest because that's a culinary trifecta right there. "It had been sitting under cling wrap for hours". I think "emwhysee" should quit his or her day job and start writing children's books...what an imagination!

Sorry, but I just can't believe Disney would serve food in Ariel's Grotto that could ever be described like this. I know that some people out there have a hobby that involves taking negative punches at Disney...and that there's a whole fetish community devoted to griping about Disney food offerings being bad.

But "emwhysee" takes the "cold, tasteless, slimey" (sic) cake on this one.

If the food was really that bad, why not give Disney the chance to fix it?

I just can't believe Disney wouldn't have bent over backwards to rectify a problem if things were really the way "emwhysee" described them.

[emwhysee]

Oh, I don't mean to be a bellyacher here. I've no ax to grind, nor a fetish to indulge. Honestly, I love Disneyland, including the food offerings, right down to the pineapple whip and the churros. Which is why the experience at Ariel's Grotto was such a disappointment.

And you're right, it would have been lame to have a bad experience, suffer in silence, and then just rant about it on the internet. I did, in fact, have a thoughtful conversation with guest services at DCA, and, as you suggest, give them a chance to fix it. Which is why my post was nothing but hopeful that this next evolution of Ariel's Grotto will include improvements.

As for my word choice, that was simply my experience. Even places that get it right most of the time trip up once in awhile.

I'm not here to trash Disney. On the contrary. For me, Disneyland IS the happiest place on earth, where I just happened to've had one bad meal. I presume when a thread is posted, it invites ALL kinds of feedback, as long as it's honestly rendered, which mine was.