2. DD can wear her princess dress to BBB?
3. We are going to do the Castle package, DD has short hair (like a bob hair cut), What styles do they do for children with short hair?
4. How long does it take?
5. How does photopass work here?
TIA
If at all possible, please consider carrying her dress to her appointment. There are lovely dressing rooms at the Castle and for my girls a big part of the fun was the experience of being taken back to the dressing room to "transform" into a Princess. We have some great photographs (not Photopass, lol) of the girls giggling and playing around while they changed from street clothes to Princess outfits. The rooms are huge (there was two tweens, grandma and me in this room and never felt crowded) so there is plenty of room to comfortably change. In my humble opinion it's a very nice part of the experience and the FGIT really play up the transformation process.
My girls have very long hair so the FGIT actually had trouble getting it all up into a bun, lol.....but while we were there I saw several little ones that had very little hair length that while they obviously couldn't have a big bun were still styled and had the crown in place. They use a lot of "goop" on all the girls to slick the hair back against your head and to make the bun stay in place. You'd be amazed how much hair there really is when it's pulled back and slicked up!
THere are also other styles than the traditional princess with the bun on top....including one style where the child gets to choose what color of hair extension to wear (the style is called Pop Diva I believe). Perhaps she'd have fun with long hair for a day or two? They had colors to nearly match your own hair, or you could choose a completely opposite color. At first I thought that would look strange, there was a little girl with very dark brown hair that choose a blonde extension but it actually was very cute when it was done.
Let the FGIT know that you're not positive what style you want and let her help guide your little one to the right decision. Remember they each do literally hundreds of girls each week so they've seen every hair type, style, and length there is! And they take their work very seriously, so they'll want her to leave happy and gorgeous!
THe actual styling once you're in the chair should be 30-60 minutes we were told.......reality was that my daughter's hair was so long and thick that they put it up (and it took FGIT to do, lol) and then weren't happy with it so they took it down and redid it. They had a much easier time on the second daughter because they'd learned about their thick hair and what to do about it with her twin sister! Depending on the crowd there could also be a wait to get to the chair once you arrive. If you are planning to make meal reservations, I'd probably make them for 2 hours after your appointment time just to be safe (if they're already made though don't sweat it, just let the FGIT at the desk know and I'm sure it will be fine.) If you're done early, the walk (think one-person parade, lol) down Main Street and the taking of pictures at the Photopass Studio will eat up some time, not to mention just wanting to walk around and be admired, lol.
Photopass folks are in the salon going around and taking "during" photos....they came around quite a few times and got some wonderful shots of almost each stage in the make over. There is a big reveal where the FGIT actually will signal to the PHotographer to come over and wait until they're in place and ready and then will tell your daughter to close her eyes, (she's been facing away from the mirror the whole makeover) and then they swing the chair around and have her open her eyes. THe Photographer is snapping away to get her reaction to seeing herself all done up for the first time. There is also a throne in the room where you can have her photograph taken on the way to the cashier. This didn't seem to be as automatic as I saw many children leaving without taking a picture there, but we simply waited a moment for a Photographer to be near and then asked if they'd take each girl's photo in the throne and several were taken of each. Then you go down Main Street (a whole experience in it's own right as people watch your daughter and make compliments. We had several people taking my girls' photos, including a tour group that wanted to pose with them, lol. I know some parents might not want THAT much attention, but my tweens were definitely feeling like stars!). There is a Photopass store right next to Tony's Restaurant and inside is a photography studio with props and backgrounds etc to take more traditional posed photographs. I highly recommend this! We had the prepaid Photopass CD so I told the photographer that and dozens of photos of each girl were taken, then another couple dozen of them together. The most expensive package comes with a print (or maybe more?) but by far the best deal is the CD so that you get ALL of the photographs before, during and after the make over (oh, yeah, be sure to ask the Photopass folks along Main Street to take their picture on the way to the castle that morning for your "before" photo). Personally I think JUST the BBB photos would have made the CD a worthwhile purchase, but when you add in all the photos you can have taken around the park throughout your entire visit, well, it's a downright bargain!
Oh, and someone on the first page was asking about combs/brushes....we too were told to bring them and did, but forgot about them and the FGIT never did ask for them. They give you the comb they used on the girl, so each person gets a clean one of course. Looking back I would guess that they ask you to bring a brush because those with very thick or unruly hair would probably do better to use a brush from home that will work in their hair....the brush they used on my girls was a bit wimpy, but we had worked hard that morning to ensure that there wasn't a single tangle in their hair (they are very sensitive to pulling while brushed and I wanted any tears or sadness to be at home not at the salon). If your daughter's hair is pretty easy to detangle, I wouldn't worry about it....if it's problematic, I'd recommend either doing like we did and having it free of tangles before you arrive, or bringing along the best brush for the job. They do NOT water down the hair, and don't even have sinks at the booths to do so (though I imagine they could get water from the restroom of course)....but I would guess that the water would interfere with the goop they use. So, you might consider wetting/brushing it at home before hand. The FGIT are extraordinarily patient and gentle though so rest assured they'll do everything possible. I remember one toddler with obvious bedhead that I thought was going to wail the whole time (and shook my head wondering why mom hadn't even tried, lol)....and yet the FGIT did a great job and I don't recall tears or shouts. In fact while we were there I don't recall anyone crying over hair pulling. There were a few girls who seemed a bit scared or intimated by it all but the FGIT soothed all that over. They were amazing ladies!
Have a wonderful time!
