Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

[ZPT1022]

My youngest daughter gasped in awe when she saw this on the planning video. She is 5 1/2 and very into princesses, fairy tales, magic, etc.... However, I have some concerns about it. I'm having a hard time justifying the expense. I just imagine that I will spend all that money just to have my little one play in a water play area, or want to go swimming (we'll be there in mid- August) and then she will be disappointed when her special hairdo and makeup are all worn off, potentially shortly after she has it done.

I was looking at the prices and it's almost $55 just for hair and makeup, $200 if you do the whole shebang with costume and photos. I have two girls, and I can't help but think that for the $400 I might spend at the BBB, we could do a lot more with that money- rent a boat, do the "hot air balloon" at DTD, send all three kids on the pirate adventure, etc..... I know the girls would love to do it while it was happening but is it really something they will have such fond memories of afterwards?? Or am I better off just buying some costumes and glitter and taking them for a princess character meal and keeping the difference to spend on other activities??

I'd love to hear from other parents what they decided. For some reason I'm having a hard time making up my mind

 

[lulu2]

We did the smallest package when DD was 4. We brought along a new Cindy dress we bought at the Disney store right around Halloween time, so it was big time discounted. She LOVED the entire experience! Afterwards we ate breakfast in the castle, we went on rides, went back to OKW and took a nap then went back to MK for the evening Spectro/Wishes. We have the best pictures of the entire day. Her hair stayed put all day, even after the nap. In fact, I think it stayed put even for the next day. They put a lot of gel in the hair! If you have more specific questions just let me know.

 

[hope2]

We are going in March, I have bought them Resort Dresses on Ebay.. I plan on having them wear them into the park, getting their BBB makeovers $55 make p and nails, then Castle lunch.. I plan on making it a princess day, autographs and meet and greets and parades.

I did see that Walmart has the sparklie hair spray in the toy section by the dress up stuff.. So if you are worried about touching it up.

 

[cyndik1111]

I recommend you do it!!!!!
It was my DD6's FAVORITE THING
We just got back from WDW
We did it in the morning 9 am at Downtown disney
Then went to epcot for breakfast at Norway for princess meal at 1040am
It was absolutely magical. (food was great) about $25/person
She wore her jasmine outfit from home, I bought the $49 package.
After, we did Epcot- she got SO MUCH ATTENTION!!!!
Every employee, tons of visitors and especially all the characters made a HUGE fuss over her. She truly felt like a princess. When she met jasmine, I cried it was so great- they made a huge fuss, she was beaming!
She slept that night and woke up with her hair still perfect.
It took about 2 washings to get the gel out (after swimming the next day)
This was the BEST $50 I spent at disney
And believe me, we spent many a $50 over and over for stupid things

 

[Jane Michaels]

I think many, many people have a fantastic experience with this. However, I want to share with you our experience just to help you avoid a bad experience for your daughter.

My daughter saw this on the free vacation video and just thought it was the most wonderful thing! I did too!

My daughter has very thick and somewhat curly hair. Because of this, it was very painful to have her hairstyled. We don't have any trouble at the regular stylist, but she probably has more advanced training with hair. Our fairy godmother really wasn't sensitive to how it might feel to have a small toothed comb dragged through these thick locks. My daughter never made a peep, but great big tears were rolling down her cheeks. I didn't know what to do because by this time there was so much gooky gunk stuck in her hair. It was half up and half down in the Cinderella doo. I politely brought it to the fairy godmother's attention that my daughter was in a great deal of pain and was crying. She laughed and said, "It is painful being a princess." By the time the FG got done, I was practically squirting tears too. I felt so awful. Then they did the make up and fingernails. I thought they were just going to polish, but evidently they pushed back her cuticles too because that also was painful.

I am really not the kind of person who has a problem with little girls dressing up with make up. It really doesn't bother me at all. However, this FG really laid it on thick. It didn't look delicate and pretty, but rather like Halloween. When my husband saw her, he had to hide his shock before he gave her the princess compliments!

You don't have to worry about the hair do falling out soon because there is so much gunk and goo in the hair that it won't come out for a couple of days. We left it in for 2 days. It actually looked better the next day because it loosened a bit and didn't look so severe. It washed out easily with regular shampooing.

I think we just got a bad FG. She didn't talk to my daughter and really didn't seem to enjoy little children. Another FG next to ours was chatting and having a good time with her customer.

My daughter and I had a wonderful time afterwards riding all the rides in Fantasyland together with her new doo. It was a very special time that we will always remember. However, I hate that whenever we mention going to Disney World again, DD begs not to go to BBB. She gives a long litney about the pain of BBB.

If your daughter has fine hair, you will probably have a different experience than we had. If you have thick or curly hair, you might want to reconsider!

 

[jessica29]

We are going in March, I have bought them Resort Dresses on Ebay.. I plan on having them wear them into the park, getting their BBB makeovers $55 make p and nails, then Castle lunch.. I plan on making it a princess day, autographs and meet and greets and parades.

I did see that Walmart has the sparklie hair spray in the toy section by the dress up stuff.. So if you are worried about touching it up.

This is what am doing too!

 

[pixiewings71]

I took my girls in May. I got a makeover as well. We were at the DLR BBB but it was the same basic thing, we got compliments all day long, especially me as apparently Mom's don't do the BBB very often. We all had a fun time! Our FGiT were great and we loved it, personally I would do it again. I wish they had more hair styles available but I get why they don't, it's easier to just train people to do 3 styles. I have very thin, fine hair but I have a TON of it, DDthen12 has very thick hair, DDthen9 has normal hair, the FGiT had no problems at all with our hair and DDthen9 left hers in for 3 days! LOL Of course we didn't swim but that was a condition of doing the BBB, no swimming until the hair came down and I was not going to take it down the day it was done, the earliest we agreed to take it down was that night.

 

[Tanzanite]

We did the full package 2 yrs ago it was expensive but worth it .Last year we took our own dress did just makeup was nice also either way is nice.

 

[2shortpeopleruleme]

We just did this with DD4 in Sept. She loved it! We did the small package, just hair and make-up. We brought her dress that we got from the Disney store before hand. They give you the left over makeup and comb in a really cute bag. Our FGM also gave our DD2 a little bag with a comb and stckers!

When we were done we let her keep her dress on for a few rides then we ducked into a bathroom and put cooler clothes on. We asked a CM for a super big bag and put their dresses in the stroller. We had an ADR for dinner at 1900 Park Fare we just ducked back into the bathroom and put the dress back on! Everything stayed in place and she was in heaven!

Have a great trip!!

 

[Perditamarie]

We also had a fabulous experience...brought our own dress and wore it to BBB, then had hair and make up done. A great experience! The princess 'do is very sturdy, and held up for 2 days, including a trip to SAB (I think we could have gone for 3 days but DD was done). All the cast members and guests treated her like she was a princess, so that made it extra special for her too...she is a shy girl and enjoyed getting a bit of extra attention.

As pp mentioned, everytime you turn around at WDW, something costs $50 -- this was so worth it!

 

[Darling16]

As soon as my daughters seen the planning video....that is all they have talked about...being made into a princess! My daughters have a reservation for BBB this June 2010. We are doing the castle package. Yes, it is 200 dollars (400 for both of them), but my daughters are paying for it. They are five and nine years old, but they are learning the value of money and the excitement of saving up their own money. They count it almost every week...LOL! We have a large red container and all the money they received from doing chores, birthday money, or any change that they may find goes into this container...they almost have two hundred dollars already with less than six months to go!

Does anyone have a link that shows the current dresses available at the boutique?

 

[misha-ginger]

My DD went to BBB on her 8th Birthday in November. She wore her own party dress and she had the $50 package. She is not much into princesses anymore but still wanted the tiara hairdo, go figure. Afterwards she received alot of attention in the parks and was thrilled about it. Just goes to show you are never to old to like being treated like a princess

 

[5stljayhawks]

There youngings, anything you do will be cool. BTW - the shoes can really hurt walking around in. Stop at walmart of visit the disney outlet store online and have them pick out the dress and go cost effective. Heck, if they give you problems, explain the cost diff and throw in 10 ro 20 bucks for the park to buy something.

 

[shelbys mommy]

I would love to do this, but DD will only be 14 months old when we go, so it's gonna have to wait!

 

[ZPT1022]

Thank you for the opinions everyone.


Jane, one DD has fine hair and one has medium, so hopefully we don't have any problems but I must say, it sounds like you guys just got a really rotten helper! You probably should have complained but I'm sure you just wanted to let your little one finish and get out of there. I feel so sad that something that was supposed to be so special got ruined



After hearing all the positive responses I think we will go for it. I'll probably just have the girls do the hair/makeup/nails package and I'm thinking of asking my aunt who sews to make a princess costume but in cotton (more breathable for the summer heat). My oldest will be nine when we go so I think she's right on the edge of not wanting to do stuff like that anymore (but since the younger one is she won't want to be left out!) and my younger DD will be 6 and she is just so in love with all that glitters, sparkles or involves princesses.

I wonder if my son will be happy with the boy's hairdo (and maybe a cut at the barbershop?) or if he will want to go do the pirate makeover.


Shelby's mommy, not sure how much hair your little one has but all of my kids have had their first haircut at the barbershop in the MK and they did a great job with them! It's a family tradition now, so I suppose that obligates us to go back when it's Baby's turn (bummer, I know )

 

[ireland_nicole]

Definitely I think it's worth the money of the coach package. I personally wouldn't want to do the more expensive, because I was able to get all my pictures on my already purchased photopass CD - including the photo session after, and I purchased a park dress off ebay that the fairy godmother left out that morning when we woke up- complete w/ a note and pixie dust. They are given makeup to take home with them for touch ups; it was a good amount. My DD definitely wants to do it again next trip. I do her hair special all the time, but there's something magical about having it done there. One thing I don't like about the expensive package, the shoes aren't comfortable, and then you have to figure out what to do with the wand and crown all day. Just FYI, if you want to add a dress or special accessory when you get there, you certainly can, they just add it to your total.

 

[TinkInPink]

I'm going to be the outlier here, but I'm going to say don't do it. I would definitely use the money for the pirate cruse or some other special event, souvenir etc. Having once been a 5 year old girl, the memory of having her hair done really isn't that special. I know that many times girls around us would have birthday parties at the local beauty school or my girl scout troop would go and for $15 or so get waaayyy more elaborate and pretty hairstyles, and had just as much fun. she will have limitless opportunities to get her hair done throughout her life, I would do something distinctly Disney.

If I were you and you wanted to do a little something you could pick up two hair pieces at claires, walmart, etc, some sparkly nail polish, some "little girl makeup", and glitter spray, put their hair in buns, wrap the hair things around them put on a bit of makeup and spray with glitter. Voila! Essentially the same as BBB, and they will probably be more comfortable with less gunk in their hair, and someone who has experience brushing it etc. doing it.

 

[MarriedToAPrince]

I definietly recommend it. You don't have to do the biggest package for them to have a blast. I got the middle package for my niece in 2007 and it was the highlight of her trip! I have heard from so many parents on here that the hair do stays for 2 days because of all the stuff they put in and you get the make-up palate to take with you so no reason you couldn't reapply for the evening after swimming or nap.

 

[shelbys mommy]

Shelby's mommy, not sure how much hair your little one has but all of my kids have had their first haircut at the barbershop in the MK and they did a great job with them! It's a family tradition now, so I suppose that obligates us to go back when it's Baby's turn (bummer, I know )

She has SOME hair, not much. I have always said she was never getting her haircut, but since she can't do BBB I'm thinking of getting her hair trimmed at MK. Here is a pic of her, you can see her hair, or lack of it

 

[ZPT1022]

She has SOME hair, not much. I have always said she was never getting her haircut, but since she can't do BBB I'm thinking of getting her hair trimmed at MK. Here is a pic of her, you can see her hair, or lack of it

I guess you will be like us and just have to go for another trip later It's a shame, I know, but someone has to take one for the team