What age does the princess fascination wear off?

[ktschultz1]

Hi All-
For those with DDs...at what age did the excitement for the princesses (or any characters) start to dwindle? I am trying to decide between a trip in Jan 2012 when DD will be almost 5 or waiting a year. Last trip was at almost 3 and she loved the character meals and I want to take the next trip before that excitement wears off. Thanks for any opinions!

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

Hi All-
For those with DDs...at what age did the excitement for the princesses (or any characters) start to dwindle? I am trying to decide between a trip in Jan 2012 when DD will be almost 5 or waiting a year. Last trip was at almost 3 and she loved the character meals and I want to take the next trip before that excitement wears off. Thanks for any opinions!

My kids all love the characters still and they are now 16,13,12,10,8.

And we parents at 42 and 45 do also.

If you are "into it", it lasts a lifetime really.

But if your question is more when do kids stop believeing in fairy tales sorta thing I would say the difference between 5 years old and 6 years old is negligable.

 

[DisneyWorldForever]

It really all depends on the person. My two daughters (12 & 10) still love the characters & character meals. I think it will be fine if you wait a year.

 

[mdsd8700]

I am sure that for everyone is varies, depending on the child. My DD is now 14 but I will say that she had a good appreciation for the princess's until she was 10 and then it slowly started to dwindle. By the time she was 12 she was uninterested for the most part, at 14 I have to beg her to take a picture with any of the characters (which I do and she obliges ). Although I do know teenagers who still love the characters, again it just depends.

As for age 5 or 6, I would say both are a great ages for character interaction, especially a girl with the princesses. My daughter was over the moon with them at that time.

Whatever you decide, have a wonderful trip and enjoy!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

It depends on the child. My daughter grew out of Princesses sometime between our trip in 2006 (9) and 2009 (12).

In fact, myself, DW, DD13, and DS10 were at Chef Mickey's last year, looked around at the crowd and the loud, obnoxious, little children, and all came to the conclusion that we were pretty much done with character meals in general.

 

[nchulka]

Pretty much when they start school. Princess backpacks (along with Dora, Bob the Builder etc.) will get you made fun of even in kindergarden. Around here all those things are considered "baby" and for pre-schoolers only. The fairies last a bit longer, maybe 1st-2nd grade. My kids loved the character meals and meeting the characters at Disney at 7 & 8 except for the princesses/fairies. It seemed a bit strange to me that even Pooh and friends were okay (we ate at the Crystal Palace) but princesses/fairies were totally uncool!

 

[AristocaticMarie]

For my one DD who is very much a girly girl and loved the princesses, I would say it happened around age 10. She still has her favorite but as far as dress-up and the like, it's kind of over. It was a sad day for Momma.

 

[sydneysmom]

I also think it depends on your child.... we took our DD for the first time last year. She was 4 1/2. She was infatuated with the characters and the princesses. She wore her princess dresses, got EVERYONE'S autograph, and just walked around with her eyes the size of dinner plates. The first day we were there, we went to MK in the afternoon, she saw Jessie and ran over and hugged her! it was hilarious. But at all the princess meals that we went to, she just got so overwhelmed with excitement and couldn't wait for the princesses to come to our table. It was pure joy.

I would doubt it's going to wear off when she's 5. She'll probably enjoy it more because she knows all the characters from the movies and stuff. That's what happened in our case.... we were going to go when she was 3, but we had to postpone our trip. We were worried that she'd have outgrown it by then (maybe). It was the TOTAL opposite. She was the happiest kid alive that week. I bet you'll see that she's going to be more interactive and enjoy it even more !!!

 

[Amy162]

My girls (now 9 and 6.5) have pretty much lost interest in meeting the princesses, but still like the other characters. They still like some princess stuff but just don't want to meet them. They like meeting characters that we haven't met, so we will be meeting rapunzel on our next trip, but the only character meal we are doing is Ohana breakfast (my 6 y/o still loves stitch and we all love Mickey!)
I don't think we saw a difference up until out last trip when they were 5 and 8. And my 6 year old would probably still have more interest if she wasn't trying to be so much like her older sister!
I think you will be fine going at either 5 or 6!

 

[huffjoann]

at 6 and a few months we are still going princess strong here,, I anticipate we will also be next year as well. She has requested a princess birthday party for her 7th, we shall see what she is thinking when we get closer.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

For my DD it was 8 years old.

Then she got into the fairies. Now at 11 she still likes the fairies. She is disappointed she'll probably never get to meet Silvermist. We tried and tried (those lines were sooooo awful too!) but never met Silvermist or Fawn.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

For our DD it was gone by 7ish and completely by 8. She is a 'tomboy' of sorts likes to play softball and other sports and was never really into dolls.

Of course though just last week I mentioned a friend's DD just got back and did BBB and loved it and DD9 pipes up with I want to do that, that would be the best thing ever. I said well last year at your birthday in March when you opened your Ariel doll you said you were 'over princesses and grown up now' so we didn't bother to try to make an appoitnement in May. She said well now I'm not over it. I want to do it.

Arggghhh and parents of tweens/teens/twentysomethings, I have how many more years of this indecisiveness and drama ahead of me?

 

[ducky_love]

I'll let you know when I hit that age. So far, so good!

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Pretty much when they start school. Princess backpacks (along with Dora, Bob the Builder etc.) will get you made fun of even in kindergarden. Around here all those things are considered "baby" and for pre-schoolers only. The fairies last a bit longer, maybe 1st-2nd grade. My kids loved the character meals and meeting the characters at Disney at 7 & 8 except for the princesses/fairies. It seemed a bit strange to me that even Pooh and friends were okay (we ate at the Crystal Palace) but princesses/fairies were totally uncool!

This was our experience as well. DD8 has not been into the princesses since about kindergarten or first grade (definitely no Dora in elementary school!). She is heading into third and still likes the fairies, but some of her friends think they are babyish. DD8 still loves Pooh and defends him from anyone who suggests he is just for little kids!

 

[MichelleVW]

My girls are 18 and 20 and still want to meet the Princesses.

 

[DisneyFive]

I think it is very child specific, but my 9 year old was already growing out of them last year. She enjoyed them, but nothing like my 7 yr old.

Dan

 

[jblife62442]

Like some said above, I agree it really does depend on the child. I have no children of my own, I'm far too young, but as a 17-year old I can tell you that the magic never wears off for my family and I. I can't personally speak for other people but I know that I still believe in everything magical that happens at Disney. I am still waiting for Peter Pan to fly in my window, and I have no doubt that this is possible. So, the answer to your question, I'd say, is "never."

 

[Adlergray]

My DD will be 8 turning 9 on this trip next month and I'm pretty sure this will be the last gun-ho princess trip. She is now interested in lots more characters she wants to meet P& F and Peter Pan. The princess twinkle in her eye is fading but she still loves the moves and to play dress up and is looking forward to wearing her costumes in the park. I would say for sure you should be good till about 7 then it starts going away. However a trip to Disney World seems to have a way to bring it back as well.

 

[Tara922c]

DD is 4, and will be 5 on our next trip. She still likes the princesses, but I can tell the facination is starting to wear off. Her thing right now is Justin Bieber, Hannah Montana, and Barbies. She still plays with princesses, but if she has to choose from a Cinderella plate and a Hannah Montana plate, Hannah would win. So I would say it depends on the age. My friends 8 year old is still very into the princesses, but I don't think my dd will be at 8. We use to have to listen to the Princess CD in the car, now we have to listen to Justin Bieber!

 

[imthatgirl]

I think my daughter was about 6-7 when she was over it.