Bippity Boppity Boutique or Anna & Elsa's?

[IamgoingtoDisney]

I have a boy & a girl ages 7 & 9 but I have always wanted my little girl to get some sort of Disney makeover.

We will be at the parks for 5 days early January 2016 but have 7 nights at Disneyland Hotel so was thinking if we did Anna & Elsa's its at Downtown Disney & I am not cutting into our Park time.

Just wondering how long we will need to set aside to get this done?
If my daughter did the Castle package & my son did the knight package would he also be able to get photos taken & meet the princesses?
Can you get photos & meet princesses without buying a costume? She has heaps of costumes already so don't want to buy more.
Does one place feel more 'magical' than the other?

This is our first time at Disneyland & probably the last where the kids will be at the age to get this done so while I want them to have a great experience I dont know if I am prepared to commit too much of our park time getting these things done as I am sure they would prefer the rides.
Thank you

 

[4Mickeys]

Hi,

My daughter did the Castle Package and her twin brother did the Knight Package at the same time. She had the photos taken with Cinderella's carriage as part of that package. Her brother did not join her for those photos (it did not occur to me or him maybe that was just her girly treat haha). But when it comes time to skip the line and meet the Princesses all the family goes as a group. They will take photos in any combination you want during the Princess meet and greets, we did not feel rushed and got a few combos e.g. DD meeting each Princess, twin brother jumped in with her, then I jumped in her her, then we got some whole family shots with Ariel the last by forcing the oldest brother to join for that also haha.

The package says total cost depends on choice of dress.... you could check with them.
There are the other packages which don't include a dress but you can add a photo package to them (not sure of price) BUT they don't have the skip the line Princess meet. Depending on how busy it is if you aren't worried about skip the line you could have one of the cheaper packages, plus photos and then line up to meet the princesses in the usual line.

It can take a bit of time - I would say with my 2 about 1 and half hours - when you arrive and check-in there could be a bit of a wait for your Fairy God-Mother, if changing into a dress there time for that, then the makeover this can depend on hairstyle chosen and how much hair your daughter has (mine has lots of long thick hair lol), then a potential wait for the photos with Cinderella's carriage, then a short wait for a CM to escort you to Fantasy Faire, and a possible few minutes wait to clear the way for the new Princess to be introduced, then just the time you spend with each Princess (there are 3 in Fantasy Faire - we met Snow White, Cinderella and Ariel).

My son also really enjoyed having his Knight makeover and as a twin he never wants to be left out! My kids were 10 when we went last year and I just love that I caught the window of them enjoying the experience and we have great photos to treasure for ever. My daughter especially loved the whole experience - you can just see her whole face lit up in the photos I took during her makeover.

I can't comment on how magical the Frozen Boutique in DTD experience is, as we have only done the BBB one to us it was a wonderful experience that will never be forgotten. Does the Frozen Boutique include princess meetings or special photo opportunity like the Cinderella carriage? - it might be those small things that make the difference.

Good luck with your choice.

 

[IamgoingtoDisney]

Thanks so much for your response. That is exactly the feedback I am after. When it says from $194.95, do you know what dress is included in that price? I would love my daughter to do the BBB but was just worried about what Hubby & son will do during this time as I imagine the Knights package will be fairly quick compared to the Castle Package. Though from your response it looks like my son can join in & meet the Princesses (although not sure if he will want to) so I think it could be worth the time & money as they are only young once. My other idea to meet the princesses was to book at Ariels Grotto for a breakfast & meet them that way but I think the BBB package will be a lot more special & I guess by the time we eat breakfast & wait for our turn for the Princesses to come to our table we might be better off doing BBB. I am guessing the photos will be a lot nicer too.

If anyone else has any other feedback, tips or ideas please let me know.

Thanks

 

[4Mickeys]

We spent a lot of time looking through the dresses the day before trying to decide and from memory I think they were all $79.95. My daughter chose Snow White's dress which photographed great with the vibrant colours. But most of the little girls in DL at the time were little Elsa's.

I made my older son who was 13 at the time chief videographer of the experience - he was happy enough with that. My kids didn't have an option to go off with another adult as it was just them and me. They all understood that there would be times they had to tag along while one of them had an experience special to them knowing that their turn would come. They ended up with pixie dust later that day from a lovely CM we were chatting to who gave each of them fast passes for all of us onto a ride of their choice - so for us that made up for any lost ride time

 

[Bud Ice]

Anna & Elsa's in DTD has plenty of Frozen gear. It is also themed fairly well, so it acts an experience without the premium price.

 

[Dinohood]

why don't you ask you kids what they want to do, I don't know who is 7 and who is 9 but with your son he might not want to do the knight thing at all.

 

[nicolispicoli]

I haven't done BBB, but I did A&E with my dd4 and I thought it was fantastic! I have to be honest and say that it's not really the price that makes me pass up BBB, it's the hairstyles and value. They look downright painful and simple for the price. My little did the Elsa hairstyle and it was adorable! The experience took about an hour (she has waist length hair) and she loved it. She smiled the whole time and when I checked out and only paid $30-ish bucks with my AP, I smiled too. We brought our own Elsa dress and I was glad I did, but they have plenty of options to choose from between them and World of Disney a couple doors down and the hairstyles could really go with any princess dress.

If they offered the same hairstyles at BBB, I would likely book it no questions asked. The access to the princesses is nice and I imagine the experience is a little more magical for the kids. Going to Ariel's Grotto is a great idea, we had such an amazing experience there!

I know they have an Olaf/Cool as Ice option that is for boys, looks cute.

 

[tlovesdis]

My niece loved the Anna and Elsa experience much better than the BBB and A&E was much cheaper!

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

We have done both over the last few years and we like E&A hands down. They are different experiences though. There isn't a photo shoot or photopass at E&A and there isn't any special entrance to meet the princesses. However, in my opinion, the hairstyles are much better (last a long time too!) and are definitely more affordable. The photo shoot is nice, but for us, it's a better value to pre purchase photo pass plus and then find a photographer in the parks who are more than happy to do a little photo shoot. I'm also not sure if there is value in skipping the line to meet the princesses. The last few times we've been there, we haven't waited longer than 10 minutes to meet them and that was during busy season. I will also warn there is almost no room to watch at BBB. The store is crowded and the way the have the salon set up, if they are fully booked there is only room for 1 parents/person to watch the makeover being done. The last time we did BBB, it felt rushed and a bit disorganized, although the CMs were friendly.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

I thought you might like this because you probably love all things Disney...

These are famous words we hear but almost never see in print. It sounds like bippity boppity boo, but it's actually spelled:

hth!!

 

[MommyJKM]

If you're staying on-site I believe you get to do A&E boutique an hour early before opening. At least at GCH you can...I would call concierge and ask

 

[4Mickeys]

They look downright painful and simple for the price. My little did the Elsa hairstyle and it was adorable!

Yes the hairstyles at BBB could do with an overhaul - but my daughter selected the simple bun style. She has lots of hair and it didn't look too bad. I was concerned about it being painful as in the pictures I had seen it looks really tight. BUT when it was done it wasn't that bad and my daughter said it wasn't painful at all - and she does complain if I have done her pony tail too tight.

I do remember you posting a picture of your daughter's hair when you had it done at A&E and it was gorgeous

I will also warn there is almost no room to watch at BBB. The store is crowded and the way the have the salon set up, if they are fully booked there is only room for 1 parents/person to watch the makeover being done.

When we were there, my 2 kids were put back to back for their makeovers and there were 2 of us watching taking photos and video. I took a little while for them to get started with my son for a while there was 3 of us watching her, we had no problem with room. But then we weren't there in the peak of summer holidays so could be different depending on time of year - we went in mid September and did it on a Monday.

 

[Winnowill]

I will also warn there is almost no room to watch at BBB. The store is crowded and the way the have the salon set up, if they are fully booked there is only room for 1 parents/person to watch the makeover being done. The last time we did BBB, it felt rushed and a bit disorganized, although the CMs were friendly.

That said, while there is plenty of room at E&A, there is no seating. At least at BBB, we got to sit down, even if we were a little crowded.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

We've always been in the back at E&A and there is a big couch back there to sit on.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

That said, while there is plenty of room at E&A, there is no seating. At least at BBB, we got to sit down, even if we were a little crowded.

We've always been in the back at E&A and had the big couch to sit on.

 

[Winnowill]

We've always been in the back at E&A and had the big couch to sit on.

Lucky you - we were in the middle, and there was nothing!

 

[nicolispicoli]

Lucky you - we were in the middle, and there was nothing!

We were in the middle also, but we got lucky and randomly she was the only kid getting a makeover at the time (Like 1-ish on a Thursday in November). I was able to sit at the empty station next to hers, when I tried to stand I kept getting in the way of shoppers.