Dinner in Costume

[alktdknckmom]

Ok, I am getting ready to buy costumes for my kids to wear during our dinner with the princesses at Cinderella's Castle. On one hand, I want to do this for the kids, but on the other hand I'm worried that it will be a pain to drag around.

I'm not worried about spending the money on the costumes b/c whatever they wear at cinderella's castle, they will be wearing on halloween, too. lol

So, the costumes are in my shopping cart.... Ariel for dd7, buzz for ds5 and cinderella for dd1. Will it be worth it? This is our first trip to disney and I want it to be magical, but will this be something that I'm making into a bigger deal? Will it really mean that much to them?
We will have a stroller, but the basket is small. We'll have a little room for stuff, but not a ton of room.

I can't ask the kids about it because they don't know we're going to Disney - it's a surprise.

So, those of you who've done Cinderella's table - can you tell me what you decided to do and why?

Thanks!
Christy

 

[TDC Nala]

I haven't done Cinderellas, at least not recently and not with children...but there are lockers available for rental in the park.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

My DD has dressed in a Cinderella dress both times we've eaten at CRT, and it was really special for her. But this is a girl who started dressing up in princess dresses when she was 2 and often changes into one as soon as she gets home from school. She's now 6.

I'd say it's definitely worth it for your 7 year old. She's old enough to enjoy it. But I don't know if your DS will want to dress up for the CRT dinner. He might be just fine wearing regular clothes. And while it would be cute for the picture for your DD1 to be wearing a Cinderella dress, it isn't necessary. She won't know the difference.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Be sure to take into consideration the temperature and the day's weather conditions.

It's terribly sad to see young children dragging through the parks, completely overheated because of the day's temperatures and dressed in hot scratchy costume material.

Once the children know they are going to WDW, then you can ask them if they'd like to wear the costumes to dinner. I'd make it clear that they would be for dinner, and that you'd be changing them to more comfortable clothing once you left the restaurant. Costumes can be folded up pretty small, so bring a strapped bag that you can hang off the stroller if you need to.

Dress the baby if you are going to dress the other two.

 

[clairemolly]

We have done lunch at CRT twice now, with our third time scheduled for Nov. Both times my oldest dressed up. One year as Cinderella and then the last time as Snow White. The first time we took her costume and put it in the bottom of the stroller until it was time for lunch. The last time we carried it in to the park and she had a BBB appointment at 8. She put it on for the appointment and then wore it until after our lunch.

The 2nd time, we had our 10 month old with us, and I just put her in a princess dress I had made that wasn't a costume. This time they are both doing BBB beforehand and will have special hand made dresses, but not costumes.

There are plenty of kids not dressed in costumes. They will have a great time no matter what you decide to do.

 

[disneywatcher]

We have reservations for Akershus for breakfast and all 3 of my DD's (ages 9, 5 and 18 month's) will be dressed as a diffrent Princess (Belle in her Provincial gown, Cinderella and Snow white respectively). They have been told that we are taking an extra bag for them to put their costumes in for AFTER the meal so they are comfortable in shorts and tank tops. If need be we will also rent a locker.

 

[cassandrap83]

Our daughters wore the $40 costumes from the Disney Store last year to the breakfasts. I was able to cram both of them into a gallon-sized ziploc bag. They're light too, so they didn't get in the way.

 

[Kimberly Hill]

We get our costumes from Ollie Girl (boutiqueolliegirl.com) so that she's comfortable and looks adorable too. I don't have to worry about the heat, or cold, and we get a ton of wear out of them too. She can't wear the Disney Store or WDW princess dresses because they're too scratchy on her sensitive skin.

 

[DW2010]

We get our costumes from Ollie Girl (boutiqueolliegirl.com) so that she's comfortable and looks adorable too. I don't have to worry about the heat, or cold, and we get a ton of wear out of them too. She can't wear the Disney Store or WDW princess dresses because they're too scratchy on her sensitive skin.

Ditto this except we went through her on etsy. I can't wait to receive it. DD is going to LOVE it. I'm not fond of the Disney costumes. I like cotton dresses.

 

[catne]

I'd skip the boy's costume for a meal at the Castle. Probably skip the baby, too, just because so many of those costumes are not comfortable at all, and babies/toddlers have a "way" of letting you know they're uncomfortable, lol. We have been to Cinderella's twice in the last two years...don't actually recall ever seeing a little boy in costume there, even when we ate at 4:00 on a Halloween party day. About 1/2 the little girls were in princess dresses. Some just had the princess costume, others just had the fancy/sparkly hair-do from BBB, others had dress & hair-do. But not a single boy was dressed up

 

[Duckiedee]

I'm not sure if this will work for you - but it is our plan.

My DD will be 5 when we go. I am purchasing a dress at the Castle that morning at BBB... We have a 9:30 appt and are going to a noon lunch at the Castle.

Once lunch is over, we will probably go back to our resort for a rest and to change. If you plan to take afternoon breaks, you could always schedule for lunch and then drop it off during your break. Even if they have it on in the morning, at least it will be cooler.

 

[pumba]

we were at Disney two weeks ago and our granddaughter had on her special dress for breakfast with the princess's ......but some of the outfits that these girls wore were to hot for that week......I actually saw some of the girls faces dripping from the heat and humidity....if she wants to have her photo taken and breakfast (AC) then bring a backpack and take it off and put on a light weight dress or shorts and tank top.....this is what we had to do....
Have a great time

Our daughter in law got the "special outfits" at Target ....these were just beautiful

 

[whitney37354]

Our daughters wore the $40 costumes from the Disney Store last year to the breakfasts. I was able to cram both of them into a gallon-sized ziploc bag. They're light too, so they didn't get in the way.

Great! I'll do that for DD---she'll be dressed as Sleeping Beauty for our Norway breakfast. I hope to borrow other princess dress from my sister's DD's & see if my DD wants to wear them. Right now she says no, but who knows if she'll change her mind once she gets there!

 

[twogirlsandthatsit]

I have princess dresses for my girls to wear one day while we are there. It is the day we are doing BBB and then lunch in the castle. I was very concious of getting short dresses without sleeves and not a lot of poofiness (crenoline) on them. I know my girls, and they will want to wear them allllllll day long so I wanted to make sure they were going to be not too hot and not too itchy.

For my girls I know that 1/2 the fun will be wearing the dress, having their hair/nails/makeup done for the day. They LOVE playing dress up/princesses so it will be a full length day of it!