Alternitive Princess "doings"

[bunny213]

We are going in October, with a 3 yr. old who loves the Princesses...the Castle experience sounds wonderful..as does the BBB, but are there other alternitive experiences? We're on a tight budget, but want her to experience what she can...TIA - Barb

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

We ate at CRT while we were there in March. We couldn't afford to do BBB either so what we did for our 8 year old is for Halloween we got her a Disney Store Tinkerbelle costume. I bought it at a resale shope for like $10. I bought new wings and shoes on Clearance at the Disney Store. So before we ate we had her change and then let her walk around the park the rest of the night like that . We happened to go to Pixie Hollow as well! She got just as much attention as if it had been BBB and she defineitly felt it was a magical night!
I've also seen other people mention getting sparkly glitter hair spray and stuff too to make it look even more like BBB.

 

[Samar]

You can get her hair all glittered up at the Main Street Barbershop at MK

 

[Sagginit]

the tiaras sold at the store are pretty reasonable between 10 and 20 dollars if i remember. put her hair in a bun and let her pick out her own special princess tiara, if shes 3 the whole BBB experience might be more than her attention span can handle anyway. there are lots of meet and greet with characters too, and those are free once you are in a park! at 26 im a very big princess but trust me, i got lots of extra attention the days i had a tiara on and many even referred to me as princess so its worth getting one.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

In Septemer into OCT all Costco and BJ's have for the past 5 or 6 years had Disney Princess costumes for Halloween. While I do not have any girls, I always think that if I did I would buy one of these costumes (which btw are MUCH nicer quality than the Disney ones) for 29.99 and let my imaginary daughter wear that to the park.Some of them came with accessories but they also had crowns and high heels to purchase seperately.

If you are in Orlando in OCT I know Bjs or Costco down there has tons of them. In addtion, I would make my imaginary daughter up MYSELF so I know that the make-up and applicators are clean. I know i could do this for a LOT less than BBB and do a much better job BTW. They also had pirate costumes at BJ and Costco too.

Alas I do not have a daughter but two grown sons so now I am going to have to hope that I can dress my imaginary GRAND daughter in this manner provided I am not dead by the time they get married and have kids. LOL

 

[Bell30012]

Skip the castle. Yes, I said it. The Princess Storybook Breakfast at Akershus in Epcot (Norway) is a far better character experience for a fraction of the money. Sure the castle is a must do once in a lifetime for a princess but Akershus is affordable. You also get your photo taken with Belle included. Akershus always has five princesses or "leading ladies" present. They are not rushed and will really spend a few minutes each with your princess. This is the only character meal that we repeat year after year. The food is great but the character interaction can't be beat.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

ditto Belle30012 - skip the castle go to Akershus!! Do check craigslist etc for princess outfits prior to your trip - it's too much fun for little princesses to dress up.

Also let her walk around Epcot and MK gathering the princess autographs - that's fun, magical and free!!!

 

[MinnieForMe]

Skip the castle. Yes, I said it. The Princess Storybook Breakfast at Akershus in Epcot (Norway) is a far better character experience for a fraction of the money. Sure the castle is a must do once in a lifetime for a princess but Akershus is affordable. You also get your photo taken with Belle included. Akershus always has five princesses or "leading ladies" present. They are not rushed and will really spend a few minutes each with your princess. This is the only character meal that we repeat year after year. The food is great but the character interaction can't be beat.

Cute pictures!

It looks like you may have done breakfast which is probably a much different experience than suppertime. We HATED Norway and at $35.00 a plate (suppertime), I can't imagine it's that much cheaper! I'm sure it all depends on the crowd level on the particular day you are visiting! The princesses were on a whirlwind tour the night we went, 20 seconds with each child (if that) and they only came around once! I would suggest skipping Norway too! You can get more time with the Princesses if you know where they are in Epcot.

 

[woodkins]

In Septemer into OCT all Costco and BJ's have for the past 5 or 6 years had Disney Princess costumes for Halloween. While I do not have any girls, I always think that if I did I would buy one of these costumes (which btw are MUCH nicer quality than the Disney ones) for 29.99 and let my imaginary daughter wear that to the park.Some of them came with accessories but they also had crowns and high heels to purchase seperately.

If you are in Orlando in OCT I know Bjs or Costco down there has tons of them. In addtion, I would make my imaginary daughter up MYSELF so I know that the make-up and applicators are clean. I know i could do this for a LOT less than BBB and do a much better job BTW. They also had pirate costumes at BJ and Costco too.

Alas I do not have a daughter but two grown sons so now I am going to have to hope that I can dress my imaginary GRAND daughter in this manner provided I am not dead by the time they get married and have kids. LOL

Just so people know each child gets a brand new makeup pallete which is sealed until the FGIT opens it & they get to take it home with them. The applicators are all brand new and are sealed inside the makeup pallete. They also use brand new combs on each girl. Nothing is re-used or shared.

 

[NiftyJ88]

We went all out on our first trip with DD who was 3 at the time and a princess-a-holic. We did Park Fare on our first night there and LOVED it! It's only Cinderella characters, but they were a hoot!
Akershus was great as well. Probably some of the best food we had at Disney, and it was only breakfast.
We did the castle also and I certainly don't regret it, but it felt pretty rushed.

 

[crisi]

On a budget. Bring a tiarra, glitter spray and a princess dress and dress her up.

Our daughter didn't KNOW about meals with the princesses for YEARS. We just didn't tell her they existed.

Princess meet and greets are free. Lots of line waiting, so you need to decide if its a priority.

Princesses tend to figure heavily in the MK parades - make sure to stay for it.

Buy a Princess coloring book (often available at dollar stores), princess toys and princess stickers (again, all often available at the dollar stores) before you go. If you have a local Disney store, watch for a t-shirt sale.

Don't worry about what "everyone else" is doing. This is a good lesson in raising kids becuase someday "If EVERYONE jumps off a cliff, you'd want to too."

 

[ceecee]

You can do BBB and not buy an outfit. We just did the hair and nails. I have to disagree with the above poster we did both princess breakfasts as well and we liked the castle much better. DD didn't even know Akershus was supposed to be a castle. There is just something special about going into the real castle!

 

[Bell30012]

Oh we've been to both Cinderella's Royal Table and Princess Storybook Breakfast. They are both excellent character experiences but in my opinion formed from the many times that we've eaten at Akershus it is a better princess interaction for us.

Unlike the earlier poster we've always went to the breakfast which has always been a true delight for us.

Breakfast isn't a huge price difference. However, dinner... $57.19 / $34.78 at CRT and $35.13 / $21.29 pretty huge.

 

[darthspud]

we did 1900 park fare for my nice's 5th birthday.. she did get the whole BBB treatment but that was a present from all 4 grandparents

1900 park fare was great the step sisters are SOO funny and the step mother is wicked! Cinderella and the prince spent tons of time at our table

I've also dont CRT the time we went it seemed like the characters were only with the kids for seconds each photo,autograph,hug, done

 

[QVCshopper]

You can get your DD's hair sprinkled with pixie dust at the BBB at the World of Disney Store for free. My DD always asks to do that. We also got her hair cut at MK for $15, which included LOTS of pixie dust. We also bring our own dress, usually her old Halloween costume. For all of the times we're gone, my DD has never asked (or really noticed) the BBB. I may look into the hair/nail thing though...

 

[IndianaPrincess]

Don't miss Storytime with Belle at MK! There's no extra cost!

 

[reagan75]

Do her nails, hair glitter, body glitter yourself. Leave a note from a Princess with a few dollar store goodies each day or night on her bed. Have a Princess call the night before you leave (any relative or friend can do this). I agree with pp's about Akershus. We loved it and it was well worth the cost for breakfast. The food was excellent and the princess interaction was marvelous.

 

[Mickeyorbust]

DD8 has done everything but the BBB, and hasn't missed out.

One trip I bought the glitter spray and a similar small crown from Claire's...it was $6 about two years ago. Did her hair in a bun myself, glitter sprayed it and put the crown in. We took one of her princess costumes, that she wore for a few pictures then wanted to change because quite honestly it is way too hot in Florida to wear a costume like that.

Another trip we went to the Barber Shop in MK. This was her favorite. At the time they could do anything except the single bun with glitter spray. We got creative had the hairstylist do two buns, then DD8 when nuts with the coloring and confetti. I think it was $7 plus tip. BTW, she got a lot of "Wow, were did you get that done?" from other little girls and a few big girls too.

We had a good experience at Akershus. We were second table from the door the Princesses come out of, so we got a good amount of face time with each.

 

[richmond282]

Skip the castle. Yes, I said it. The Princess Storybook Breakfast at Akershus in Epcot (Norway) is a far better character experience for a fraction of the money. Sure the castle is a must do once in a lifetime for a princess but Akershus is affordable. You also get your photo taken with Belle included. Akershus always has five princesses or "leading ladies" present. They are not rushed and will really spend a few minutes each with your princess. This is the only character meal that we repeat year after year. The food is great but the character interaction can't be beat.

I second this! We did breakfast at Norway. We scheduled the latest breakfast time you could get (10:30ish I think) so it turned into brunch for us and we were able to skip lunch! It wasn't cheap as breakfasts go, but cheaper than the castle by far and we also got to spend time with each princess (Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, Mary Poppins, don't remember the 5th)

We did do the BBB, but took our own costume which they will allow you to do. They even let her change right there in the boutique. We bought the middle package (about $55), then took DD to the Exposition Hall for a photo session with a photopass photographer. They just put the pictures on your photopass card. HTH!

 

[tigger51276]

We are going in October, with a 3 yr. old who loves the Princesses...the Castle experience sounds wonderful..as does the BBB, but are there other alternitive experiences? We're on a tight budget, but want her to experience what she can...TIA - Barb

I have done the castle for breakfast every year with my DD6 since she was 19 months. The breakfast isn't anything fantastic, but I'm not a huge breakfast eater in the morning. If I do breakfast I just want eggs and toast but they don't "do" toast. However being Disney, they have always graciously made me toast to go with my eggs so since my daughter loves it and they are accommodating I've continued to go. Next month we are actually skipping the castle and trying Norway for the first time (dinner time). I'm hoping it's good, and if not then we will head back to the castle next year.

As for the BBB, DD6 has not yet tried it. I have bought her a princess outfit the last 4 years from Disney, but she gets lots of use out of them and they end up being her Halloween costume as well. I am toying with the idea of letting her have her hair and makeup done this year since she will not be getting an outfit this year. Keep in mind I believe for the BBB you have to be 4 years old (although I have seen some others post that their 3 year olds have done it).