Dressing Your DD for a Princess Meal

[scanne]

We're going to be eating in Norway for the PSB lunch in July. My DD will have just turned 2. Do you think it is "necessary" to dress her like a Disney Princess? Do you think doing so will add or take away from the experience? If you have done this, did you bring a change of clothes so that your DD would be more comfortable in the park?

Thanks.

 

[GC&S]

Our dd (3) did dress up for her meal at Norway. She dressed as princess aurora and was so excited when she was in the foyer to get pics with. I think it did add to the majic (and little girls are so darn cute dressed as princesses!!) We did take a change of clothes. We also did 1900 Park Fare and dd dressed for that one too. Brought tears to my eyes. I think the princesses really love to see the girls dressed up - they really do gush over them. (Oh, and we didn't buy expensive dresses - we got 2 at Target for $15 each - and they were beautiful!!)

 

[jennifer293]

We had dinner at PSB and at this one we did not dress DD in her cindy costume. We did for Park Fare!! But she acted no different from when she was dressed up to when she was not. Since our ADR's were at dinner time we just went back to the room and changed her and after dinner we went back to the room and went to the pool for the rest of the night. Since you are doing lunch I would just bring a change of clothes for her. I am sure those dresses are kinda hot and uncomfortable by the way DD was acting!!!

 

[Merriwind]

DD8 dressed up for her 5th birthday at the castle. It was cute, but she lost interest in wearing the costume pretty quickly. As soon as b'fast was over, she wanted to change. Yes, we did bring clothes with us! She really loves dressing up, even to this day, but didn't really enjoy being all gussied up in the parks. It made for cute pictures, but definitely bring the change of clothes! Enjoy!

 

[Nancyg56]

I think that it depends on your DD. My DGD dressed for CRT, PSB, CM and CP. She loves to dress up at home though. I cannot say that she got special treatment because I saw the charaters spending time with all of the kids. The CM's throughout the parks commented about her dress, though, and referred to her as though she was the character she was wearing. For her, it added to the entire experience. My DD kept jer in sneakes so that her feet would be comfortable, and had a change of clothes just in case.

 

[scanne]

Thanks for the replies so far! I'd love to hear about more experiences. Now I'm leaning towards dressing her up....

 

[mimif1]

It was HOT when we went and we changed my DDs in the bathroom outside of PSB right before. Just slipped off their t-shirts and put it on over their shorts. We changed right afterwards. They really loved being dressed as the princesses!

 

[ahappydisneymommy]

We didn't dress DD up for the Norway breakfast (see signature pic) but we did for 1900 Park Fare. We put her dress in the stroller and when we got to the dinner she put the dress on and when we were done we took it off.

 

[liquid]

My husband wouldn't go for bringing costumes, so I bought 2 different Disney Princess t-shirts. The Princesses (and several CMs) noticed the shirts and commented on them so my daughter felt special. Then again, she had her 7th birthday there and mentioned that the costumes were for the "little girls" !

 

[Twinprincesses]

I am taking outfits for my girls to wear but then outfits to change into as well.

 

[scanne]

Do you think the Princesses would autograph the t-shirts like they do the autograph books? That's a cute idea, don't you think?

 

[ahappydisneymommy]

I saw a few people with autographed hats so I don't see why they wouldn't sign a shirt. That is a really cute idea!!

 

[jennifer293]

I have read on another forum and I cannot for the life of me remember where, but it states in the forum that characters are not allowed to sign any clothing that is ON YOUR BODY...so if you want the shirt signed I would bring it loose not on your child. I meant to do this at our last trip but I forgot, so I am gonna try to remember this time around!!!

 

[MinnieGi]

My 5yo DD loves to dress up in her princess outfits at character meals. But she is also a big dress up girl at home. The princess costumes do make for cute pictures with each of the princesses. If the princess whose costume she is wearing is there they always make a big deal of the dress. Actually DD wears her Minnie costume to the "traditonal character" meals too. I always bring a change of clothes for her, however she usually likes to wear her costume in the park as well.

 

[Leah and Emily's mom]

My DD 4 wears her Princess costumes to church, to Wal Mart and to run through the neighborhood. She says she needs to dress like a Princess. She got a new Cinderella costume and we brought her old Sleeping Beauty costume. She wore a costume everyday over the top of her clothes . The CM's and characters in the park and at the character meals gave her lots of extra attention. When she met Mary Poppins she told her about being MP for Halloween, when she met Snow White she told her about her SW costume she sleeps in. It is Disney World, do what you like!!

 

[LAWalz23]

On our first visit, my niece was 3.5 years old and my sister brought her Cinderella costume for breakfast at the castle. She also brought extra clothes for my niece but my niece did not want to change her clothes. We have a really cute picture of her and Cinderella from that breakfast. Then there is her twin brother who was dressed as Peter Pan and also gots lots of attention.

 

[Mom to a Princess]

Like the other posters my dd 4 loves to dress up in her princess dresses. When we went last year it was a fight to get her to wear regular clothes. I gave in and let her dress up each day and brought extra clothes with me. I never did use the extra clothes. I'll let her do the same thing this year when we go.

 

[ChickieToo]

When we go to these meals. She gets a lot of attention from the characters and even though she was 6 3/4 in October when we last went, she loved it. We bring the constume with us and change when we get to the venue, then when DD is hot or tired of being a princess, we change back. It's really no more trouble that if you purchased something and carried the bag around with you. And the little girls tend to buddy up to one another when they see each other waiting. It's pretty cute, and the photos end up beoing pretty cute too. I say do it!

 

[beth_cam]

Just remember to think about comfort when you think about wearing a costume in the park especially if you intend on having it on more than just from the moment the meal starts till the moment it is over. 1900 park fare we just went for dinner it was a non park day so it really wasnt a big deal to have her all dressed up. PSB Breakfast She wore her sleeping beauty costume. I did bring a change of clothes but she didnt want to change out of her costume. Sleeping beauty costume was my idea for comfort. Her others would have been uncomfortable (scratchy, tight, too long - hard to spend a long time in). The sleeping beauty one I got at a yard sale and it had long since lost any scratchy netting from the inside. there was nothing left but silky material. And you have to remember that they really cant walk around or stay in those costume shoes for long. I had bought some cute little mary jane styled soft lacey shoes at walmart. They probably wouldnt have been good for all day but they were cool and comfortable, and made it till we left for lunch.

 

[bunnysmum]

My dd wore her Snow White dress two days out of our recent weeklong vacation. I have to tell you that it made all of our vacation photos that much more special. She even wore it to DTD one day, just because she wanted to. I asked her several times a day if she was ready to change out of her Snow White dress, and every time she said "No!"

She really did get a lot of positive attention in her dress (with her dark hair, she makes a good Snow White!) and the Snow White dress, in particular is great for pictures (primary colors, yellow, royal blue, and red)!

We ran into a lady in Epcot who asked permission to take her picture. She said that she comes to WDW every year and every year she has a photo theme, and that her current theme was "princesses". My outgoing little girl graciously offered to give this lady her "odergraph", too.

At first, I was very anxious for dd to take the dress off after her Princess tea, but she really really wanted to wear it. I finally figured, well, it's her dress, and where else is the perfect time and place to wear it??

I'll never ever regret that decision as we got so many great photos of her in it. It also inspired a very amusing (and rather long) "ballet" that she performed solo on the plaze in Italy, in which she danced her heart out. THOSE pictures, where she is dancing with such abandon and outright joy, are my very favorites from the whole trip. (she wore little black Mary Janes with her dress, comfy ones that were well-broken in, but I had a back-up pair of sneaks with us too just in case)