Starter Princess

[nu2dis]

We are going to Disney World (we think!) in June with our 3 sons and 1 daughter. Our daughter is 2 (will be 2 and a half then) and we haven't ever done the princess thing. I would love to introduce her to one so she could enjoy that part of the trip. Is there a princess/movie that especially appeals to girls her age?

 

[Louisianafive]

When I was teaching Preschool, The Little Mermaid was a huge hit!! Are you going to be doing any character meals? If so, you might want to start watching the movies with those characters in them.

Have fun!!!!!

 

[hopefor4]

Hi there!

I have 3 boys, and a girl. We just got back from Christmas/New Years at Disney World, so I was DYING to do the girl things! Makenna is 27 months, and LOVED IT!!! Everyone thought it was such a shame that she won't remember it. Honestly, she liked the characters better than the princesses, but she liked them as well, especially the Little Mermaid! The look on her face is priceless.

Ok, so your question...I got a couple of the Disney Princess Sing a longs, and she LOVES them. They are short, which is perfect, the movies have parts that she finds a bit scary, and she loses interest.

I really recommend trying these, and the Princess stories are good too.

I just know you will have a great time! We bought Makenna the Cinderella dress (that is the one she picked) and she danced with Prince Charming at dinner! The picture is adorable!

Michelle

 

[nu2dis]

oh, I have NO idea! I am so new to disney! Well I went to disneyland like 10 ot 12 times when I was little but I dont really remember it well. We have a big age gap with our kids (two boys are 16 and 14 then our other son is 3 and daughter 2) and this might be the last big vacation we can take with all of us, next year I imagine the oldest will be working and having his own life. So I want to make it really fun. And I thought Disney would be ideal for teenagers to have a little space and the toddlers to enjoy a really fun time. And my hubby and I are totally vacation relaxers. Something for everyone, right?

 

[nu2dis]

awwww! Too cute! So you know what I mean about wanting the girl to have a princess experience! Man, she (and her brothers) loves the movie cars. Do they have cars things there?

 

[angela1044]

Personally, I think Cinderella is the best because there is no violence really. My kids were a little shocked when they watched the others but it does depend on your child. Cinderella is fun because of the mice and then as they get older the story brings up questions on why the sisters are being mean.

In our house with DD being almost 4 and DS being 2.5

1. Cinderella
2. Little Mermaid
3. Beauty and the Beast

We haven't done the others because I think they would be too much yet.

You might want to hold off though, because once they've been exposed they do nothing but eat, drink and sleep princess!

 

[PrincessMama605]

I agree, Cinderella is probably the best choice at that age, some of the others can be scary. The Little Mermaid never really held my daughter's attention, she likes the newest one better, Ariel's Beginning.

I think that at that age your dd might like the characters better than the princesses, so I would get her used to them too, maybe watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. My dd loves that show! I had no idea how much she would love the characters until we went for the first time.

 

[abc123mom]

I'll second the Princess Sing-A-Longs. We used them to introduce our oldest daughter to the princesses when she was around two. It's a great way to get to know all the princesses without any of the "meanie" parts (as my girls call them). Plus, she recognized many of the songs from the dvds as they played throughout our time at Disney World. She's now five and still loves to watch them.

 

[asoko]

We took my DD when she was 2. She didn't know anything about the princesses. But she loved meeting them in person and that trip was when she decided she was going to be a princess when she grew up. She did not enjoy the nonblinkers nearly as much as the princesses who could talk to her, and she did watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins. The princesses were really wonderful, I think it might be easier to make a smaller child feel more comfortable because they can talk to them. When we met Jasmine, Genie and Aladdin were there also, but she only wanted to meet Jasmine, so the guys went off so she was comfortable. We met Aurora and Mulan in EPCOT and NO ONE was in line for them. They were out of the way and I don't think anyone knew they were there. She got to spend a lot of time with them. Aurora is her favorite to this day. She will actually run to see her.

If you want her to see videos I would go with the sing a long songs or princess stories too, since some of the movies are more scary and some 2 year olds won't sit still for the movie. You don't need to know their story to enjoy the princesses.

 

[DRS_Are_Best]

We started with Cinderella -- there really isn't anything in it that is scary. However, our little princess was BORN a princess -- everyone comments about it -- she's very rough and tumble, but when she approaches you she's very dainty and has a very gentle touch -- and this at just barely 2 years old!!!!!! She's the only girl with 2 brothers (twin and 21 months older) and she can hold her own with them, but I think that's the extent of her tomboyishness (is that a word)?

But I would just make a big deal about princesses when you see them rather than risking scaring them with Ursula scenes from Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty is just so dark (amazing, but dark). Like I said, there's really nothing about Cinderella that's scary.....

JMO and what I'm doing for my "little princess".....

 

[ktlm]

CINDERELLA!!! Be careful- you might create a princess monster like I did! My DD will be 3 in February- she is all Princess all the time. Her 1st trip to Disney was in December. When I booked it, I wanted her to know the Disney characters, including the princesses, before we went. I was thinking DVDs too, but books turned out to be even better. They have boxes with a little rope handle that have 12 very small board books in them- we have one that is all princess and one that is all the different Disney characters. I've seen them at Wal-Mart and Target, but I got them at Ross really cheap. She used to play with those things for hours. We also have little golden books of most of the Disney stories. She has never seen Mulan (too violent), but she has a book. When she saw Mulan walking in Epcot, she went running up to her yelling "Mulan, Mulan!!!" and just about tackled her with a big hug. Mulan was suprised that a girl that little knew who she was and was so excited to see her. It was adorable. We watched a lot of the DVDs before going too- for most you need to be right there watching and be ready with the fast forward button. CINDERELLA is by far the best DVD at that age because there is nothing scary. You can put it on and not worry about it. I can't even tell you how many times I have seen Cinderella, Cinderella II and Cinderella III. In fact, a couple months BEFORE the trip, DD started insisting on wearing her Cinderella dress everyday- sometimes all day. The Little Mermaid is good, but we had to forward through the Ursula parts. If you do Ariel's beginning, if she is sensitive at all, be sure and forward the DVD the minute you see a boat coming towards Ariel's mother in the beginning part (I won't tell you what happens- but since it's Disney I bet you can guess). She likes Aladdin quite a bit, but we fast forward through the parts with the talking cave and sometimes Jafar. She usually gets bored with Beauty and the Beast and there is some fast forwarding involved in that one too. I haven't let her watch Sleeping Beauty because it terrified me as a child. I haven't really let her see much of Snow White either. She really loves Peter Pan and Peter Pan II, but sometimes she actually asks me to fast forward through the beginning part of II because it scares her. Toy Story is another one that she really likes that doesn't need fast forwarding. It was so wonderful watching her get so excited to meet the princesses and characters that were in her books and movies. She was thrilled that they were completely real. I'm so glad she knew them all before we went.

 

[lilybrooke14]

We had Disney theme dinners once a week or so for a few months leading up to our Disney trip. We'd pick a movie for the week, I'd make a theme dinner to do with it (there's a great thread with ideas somewhere around here....hot dogs for 101 Dalmations, etc.) I'd get a few little decorations from the party store, and we'd have a cute little family movie night in the living room.

Her favorite princesses are...

1. Mulan
2. Cinderella/Little Mermaid toss up
3. Belle, but she won't watch Beauty and the Beast. Too sca-wey.

Oh, she'll be 3 in March.

 

[Binnie]

Sleeping Beauty is mt daughter's favorite. She just turned 3, and is over the moon for Aurora. She likes all of them now (not that she's seen them all yet), but Aurora is far and away her fav.

It gets a little scary, but I like that the fairies save the prince before he can save the day, and munchkin doesn't seem to be afraid at all (she loves dragons, too).

 

[ktlm]

We had Disney theme dinners once a week or so for a few months leading up to our Disney trip. We'd pick a movie for the week, I'd make a theme dinner to do with it (there's a great thread with ideas somewhere around here....hot dogs for 101 Dalmations, etc.) I'd get a few little decorations from the party store, and we'd have a cute little family movie night in the living room..

That is so great! We were doing Sunday night "Pizza and a Disney movie" every week, but I never would have thought to do the extras! Of Course, once a week quickly turned into her begging to watch one of the Cinderellas about every day.

 

[nikkers]

When I was teaching Preschool, The Little Mermaid was a huge hit!! Are you going to be doing any character meals? If so, you might want to start watching the movies with those characters in them.

Have fun!!!!!

My daughter will be 3 in March. We will be at Disney in a week. We started planning a year ago. I thought the same thing, I need her to know the princesses. I have slowly introduced the princesses over the year. Ariel is definately her favorite. She loves The Little Mermaid. She is also a huge fan a Tinkerbell. She is not into watching TV, but she can sit through both of those movies.

Good luck!

 

[Tiggerbounce24]

My DD 3 loves watching the little mermaid, cinderella 1,2,and 3, sleeping beauty, and Aladdin. She like snow white but we haven't got the dvd. She watches little mermaid the most and sings most of the songs when it's on. She has cinderella, sleeping beauty, snow white and alice in wonderland dresses. She loves anything disney.