Royal Court Tea or BBB?

[jdrobinson06]

Thinking about which activity would be more magical and exciting for my 3yo DD. While I would LOVE to do both, if we do have to choose, which one would you recommend? She doesn't get any more excited for princesses than the other disney characters and loves to dress up.

 

[Princess Minnie of Disney]

Personally I would choose the BBB since tea for most 3yr can be intense (of course I don't know your DD so I could be wrong) furthermore you two could have a cute lunch in The Royal Palace in her dress which is the kinda the same as tea, not to mention meeting princesses in her dress. It would be great to plan a day at sea with these activities. Both sound like fun though and I'm sure it will be magical no matter what!

 

[CesD]

i am going to be a party pooper and say neither for a 3 yr old. it is just too much money.And at that age, they wont fully appreciate it I think ( much less remember it). i have looked into it for my own girls and i could never justify the price. there are meet and greets for free thru out the cruise. i second the idea of dressing her up and having lunch at Royal Palace instead of the tea.
My kids were happy with the character breakfast.
We brought our own costumes from home bought at the Disney Store which is much cheaper than onboard and I did my girls hair-- this was for formal night. i think my girls were a little older than 3 on our first cruise.
I think when i looked into the tea for our next cruises, it was like $200 for one parent / child pair.
Holy cow, I could take my girls to tea at a 5 star hotel, buy them a doll at the Disney store and still have change left over. it is also *almost* the same price of a 1 day theme park ticket.
.

How about going on an awesome excursion instead?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

If you want to do one, I would do BBB. It's so cute!! I agree with the others, have lunch at Royal Palace and take advantage of the free meet and greets. You can also get nice photos done at night if you want some more formal photos of her in her dress. The Royal Court tea is exorbitant IMHO, especially when you factor in the fact that you've already paid for food and meet and greets in your cruise fare. You are really, IMHO, just paying an exorbitant price for the gifts that come with the tea.

 

[cheermom2four]

Honestly I'm with CesD This is why we waited to take our DD who is turning 5 the 2nd day on our 7 night cruise. I just felt she was too young to really enjoy (and remember) anything I booked for her. We were actually going to just do the BBB but saw that they have a Crown package (hair/makeup/nails) that was alot less than the one with a dress, but since the cost was something like $59 we decided to do that with the Royal Tea since we wont be taking her on snorkeling excursions so this becomes her excursion. We are bringing her princess dresses since she has them all so no need to buy one on the ship in the BBB package.

You will know which to do since you know your dd. Hope she has a magical time no matter what you decide on!

 

[lorimay]

Next time I would do the tea with my granddaughter. We did BBB last time and after 15 minutes she was annoyed with the dress, that it was itching her and to get it off.
We ran and managed to get one good picture with Minnie before it came off. She wants so badly to wear the dresses too.

 

[hanscarlet]

I was really underwhelmed by the whole BBB experience, I am really glad we only got the crown package and didn't pay the whole $200, I think it was kind of a rip off. I'd do tea

 

[scubamomma]

Just a few thoughts. Can you stop by BBB and get sprinkled with Pixie dust from a Fairy Godmother in Training for free? I know you can at the Magic Kingdom but I don't know if you can on the Fantasy. My kids never wanted to get their hair wet after we went to BBB, so it kind of ruined pool time. They left their hair up for days!!

 

[PHamrick]

So I'm going to disagree with some of the posters, but I can understand their point of view! My daughter did the BBB at Disney World last year when she was three. She was about two months away from turning 4. She LOVED it. She loved every second of it. She loved picking out her nail polish, hair style, etc. We brought our own dress so we didn't have the itchy problem. She STILL talks about it and keeps asking for make-up. She is so excited about her makeover on this cruise, when she will be five.

Honestly, you know your daughter best. We are doing both: BBB followed by the Royal Tea. BBB will be at 1 and then the Royal Tea at 3. For her and me, it is worth it. It fits in our budget and she will be done with princesses in a blink. Perhaps it is a bit of re-living my childhood fantasies through her. Perhaps it is making up for being so austere and "no" minded all year that I will "spoil" them on this trip.

However, IF I only had to pick one, I would go with the BBB, since there is less sitting and is more focused on her rather than the whole tea room.

 

[jdrobinson06]

If you want to do one, I would do BBB. It's so cute!! I agree with the others, have lunch at Royal Palace and take advantage of the free meet and greets. You can also get nice photos done at night if you want some more formal photos of her in her dress. The Royal Court tea is exorbitant IMHO, especially when you factor in the fact that you've already paid for food and meet and greets in your cruise fare. You are really, IMHO, just paying an exorbitant price for the gifts that come with the tea.

Thank you for reminding me of everything we have already paid for--I can certainly do without all the little trinkets around my house

 

[jdrobinson06]

So I'm going to disagree with some of the posters, but I can understand their point of view! My daughter did the BBB at Disney World last year when she was three. She was about two months away from turning 4. She LOVED it. She loved every second of it. She loved picking out her nail polish, hair style, etc. We brought our own dress so we didn't have the itchy problem. She STILL talks about it and keeps asking for make-up. She is so excited about her makeover on this cruise, when she will be five.

Honestly, you know your daughter best. We are doing both: BBB followed by the Royal Tea. BBB will be at 1 and then the Royal Tea at 3. For her and me, it is worth it. It fits in our budget and she will be done with princesses in a blink. Perhaps it is a bit of re-living my childhood fantasies through her. Perhaps it is making up for being so austere and "no" minded all year that I will "spoil" them on this trip.

However, IF I only had to pick one, I would go with the BBB, since there is less sitting and is more focused on her rather than the whole tea room.

Thank you for the insight! We are doing WDW next fall when she will be almost 5--but I honestly don't want to spend the time to do it there and have her in her dress all through the parks. I do think my DD would like all of the attention on her (but then, what princess doesn't?).
I love the idea of bringing her own dresses--and she really likes the special occasions when she can get her nails done, so maybe the crown package and lunch at royal palace is the best option in this case, but I still have a bit of time to decide

 

[jdrobinson06]

Personally I would choose the BBB since tea for most 3yr can be intense (of course I don't know your DD so I could be wrong) furthermore you two could have a cute lunch in The Royal Palace in her dress which is the kinda the same as tea, not to mention meeting princesses in her dress. It would be great to plan a day at sea with these activities. Both sound like fun though and I'm sure it will be magical no matter what!

Thank you for letting me know about lunch in Royal Palace--first cruise and really appreciate the insight and how to make it special (while using the things that are already included)! I guess I didn't realize they did a nice lunch too

 

[jdrobinson06]

i am going to be a party pooper and say neither for a 3 yr old. it is just too much money.And at that age, they wont fully appreciate it I think ( much less remember it). i have looked into it for my own girls and i could never justify the price. there are meet and greets for free thru out the cruise. i second the idea of dressing her up and having lunch at Royal Palace instead of the tea.
My kids were happy with the character breakfast.
We brought our own costumes from home bought at the Disney Store which is much cheaper than onboard and I did my girls hair-- this was for formal night. i think my girls were a little older than 3 on our first cruise.
I think when i looked into the tea for our next cruises, it was like $200 for one parent / child pair.
Holy cow, I could take my girls to tea at a 5 star hotel, buy them a doll at the Disney store and still have change left over. it is also *almost* the same price of a 1 day theme park ticket.
.

How about going on an awesome excursion instead?

Thank you for the honesty--I will definitely bring a dress or two from home (I don't really think she will want to be dressed up the whole time). I agree with the price of the tea being really high (we could go to the plaza for that!)--plus then I would have to let DH know he had to miss out on the fun

 

[jdrobinson06]

Honestly I'm with CesD This is why we waited to take our DD who is turning 5 the 2nd day on our 7 night cruise. I just felt she was too young to really enjoy (and remember) anything I booked for her. We were actually going to just do the BBB but saw that they have a Crown package (hair/makeup/nails) that was alot less than the one with a dress, but since the cost was something like $59 we decided to do that with the Royal Tea since we wont be taking her on snorkeling excursions so this becomes her excursion. We are bringing her princess dresses since she has them all so no need to buy one on the ship in the BBB package.

You will know which to do since you know your dd. Hope she has a magical time no matter what you decide on!

I like the idea of just doing the crown package! I could even pack a special new surprise dress for her after the experience (and save some money at the same time!)

 

[jdrobinson06]

Next time I would do the tea with my granddaughter. We did BBB last time and after 15 minutes she was annoyed with the dress, that it was itching her and to get it off.
We ran and managed to get one good picture with Minnie before it came off. She wants so badly to wear the dresses too.

oh no! All that $$ and then it is so itchy she can't wear it?? Thanks for the heads up! I will make sure to pack dresses for her that I know won't bother her (and will cost a fraction of the price)

 

[jdrobinson06]

Just a few thoughts. Can you stop by BBB and get sprinkled with Pixie dust from a Fairy Godmother in Training for free? I know you can at the Magic Kingdom but I don't know if you can on the Fantasy. My kids never wanted to get their hair wet after we went to BBB, so it kind of ruined pool time. They left their hair up for days!!

Oh! I didn't realize they could just get pixie dust! I am not sure how much pool time DD will have (If they pools are as busy as some say they are, we will be finding other sources of entertainment), but I am not sure that she would want to even sit still enough for someone (even with disney magic) to get her hair actually done.....

 

[jdrobinson06]

I was really underwhelmed by the whole BBB experience, I am really glad we only got the crown package and didn't pay the whole $200, I think it was kind of a rip off. I'd do tea

Thanks for the honest feedback--I definitely like the whole pixie dust and I can do her own hair option!

 

[PHamrick]

Thank you for the insight! We are doing WDW next fall when she will be almost 5--but I honestly don't want to spend the time to do it there and have her in her dress all through the parks. I do think my DD would like all of the attention on her (but then, what princess doesn't?).
I love the idea of bringing her own dresses--and she really likes the special occasions when she can get her nails done, so maybe the crown package and lunch at royal palace is the best option in this case, but I still have a bit of time to decide

Good luck with your decision! Really no way to get it wrong since you know her best and what you are hoping from your vacation. This was my girl's reaction about getting the BBB done at the Magic Kingdom. Needless to say, she's been waiting for over a year for her next opportunity. August can't come fast enough for her! And yes, this was a dress we brought from home.

 

[CesD]

I like the idea of just doing the crown package! I could even pack a special new surprise dress for her after the experience (and save some money at the same time!)

i think the hair, make up and nails is a good option. My girls and I love going to tea and I try to take them whenever we travel, but Royal Tea just seems so high in cost for what it is. If your daughter likes the idea of tea itself, there are so many hotels that do fabulous afternoon teas that little ladies will enjoy.

have a wonderful cruise.

 

[5Texans]

I think it depends... My girls love character interactions so if i was choosing I'd pick the tea. I agree w/ the hair and makeup only package at BBB.

I like the dresses from momapprovedcostumes.com for being more comfortable and not getting glitter on everything in my hotel room.

My middle daughter will be 3 on our cruise and she will do the BBB and perhaps the tea because she has seen her big sister doing it has has been patiently waiting her turn. We waited until a little later with the oldest.

I showed my oldest youtube videos of girls getting makeovers before her first time so she'd know what to expect and to be sure she would be happy. I saw several little girls crying through their makeover with very stressed out parents. She new immediately that she didn't want the "face jewels" and I was able to help her tell her fairy godmother to avoid them.