Will my 8 year old want to wear a Disney costume at the parks?

[FLVacationGirl]

Or is 8 too old for Disney dresses?

(She turns 8 two weeks before our trip.)

I have been telling myself that this is probably the last time she will wear a princess dress at Disney and it's heartbreaking for me to see how fast time is flying by, and then it occured to me that it might already be over?

My younger dd still wears princess dresses all the time. Even to the grocery store and playground. She is turning 5 this fall, so this will be her first 'Disney Trip To Remember' whereas the first two trips were for smiling at and chasing ducks and sleeping through fireworks.

I'm hoping to take them both to the BBB for the first time if we can get appointments and I'm guessing that dd8 might wear a dress for that?

Thanks!

 

[susykt4]

My daughter would not have worn a princess dress at age 8, but she likely would have worn a Tinker Bell dress. Apparently there is a HUGE difference between princesses and fairies. At least to her... She also refused BBB at age 8 (our first trip it was open) and ever since, but likes to get glitter at the barber shop.

 

[ancestry]

Mine would not dress up outside the house at the age of 8. She stopped around the age of 5.

For our family 8 would be too old to wear a princess dress in the parks. 5 was about the limit for things like that. But every family is different.

 

[RMulieri]

My daughter is soon to be 7 and didn't want to dress up past age 5.

 

[Allison]

Simple-ask her.

 

[Dobby]

Mine did, not princess though. Last year at 8, she was Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, this year, she's Alice.

 

[Hannathy]

Simple-ask her.

That is exactly what I was thinking.

 

[disprincessatheart]

My soon to be 8 year old niece wouldn't be caught dead in a princess dress after the age of 6. That's when she decided (with some help from her 8 yr old next door neighbor) that princesses are for babies.

 

[momtoejanda]

My 8 year old wont but she wouldnt on her first trip at age 5 either.

She will, however, dress up for the MNSSHP. Looking for a tiny Maleficent costume as we speak

 

[FLVacationGirl]

I will ask her for sure.

She might say now that she doesn't think she will wear a Disney dress, but things could change when we get there. I would rather buy a dress ahead of time and be prepared.

It helps to know if kids her age decided to get a dress or not since my girls were still pretty young last time we went and I can't remember what ages girls seemed to be wearing dresses up until. Totally not a big deal, just a question that came up during my trip planning.

Susykt4, that is a good point about fairies versus princesses. Thanks everyone!

 

[FLVacationGirl]

My soon to be 8 year old niece wouldn't be caught dead in a princess dress after the age of 6. That's when she decided (with some help from her 8 yr old next door neighbor) that princesses are for babies.

My dd7 and her best friend have decided the same thing. But my dd7 is starting to share my love of Disney so it could be different once she gets back there again? She is looking forward to seeing the Tangled characters. Her best friend is going to WDW for the first time this fall so I wonder if she might start being more open to princesses after her trip?

My 8 year old wont but she wouldnt on her first trip at age 5 either.

She will, however, dress up for the MNSSHP. Looking for a tiny Maleficent costume as we speak

That is a great costume idea! I bet she will be adorable.

 

[luvmy2babies]

When my daughter was nearly 8, they had a day at school where they dressed as a cartoon character and she wore her Cinderella dress. I'd gotten it for 1900 Park Fare a few months earlier but we ended up cancelling. She was a big hit with her friends.

I hear you on wanting to be prepared in case she changes her mind. My daughter tends to do that about some things.

We went to Disney World when she was 7 and she wore a flower girl dress I ordered off ebay for lunch at Akershus. When I asked her what she would want to wear if she went to a meal with multiple princesses there she said she would not want to dress like one particular one, so we went that route, a pink flower girl dress (pink is her favorite color). She did decline the tiara I brought along though. She ended up wearing it the rest of the day. Perhaps that is an alternative you can offer. You can get a brand new formal dress for under $20.

My daughter will be 9 on our next trip (turns 9 2 months before the trip) and says she still wants to get autographs, do the character meals, including the princess meal again and wants to wear a dress again. We've been looking at them together on ebay already and she loves it. I'm glad she still wants to do it. She's had to grow up really fast.

Here's a picture of the dress. This is the display I put on the couch when I did the big reveal for the trip (it was a surprise). The dress is the pink one on the left.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Outside of the Halloween party, I have never seen a child of any age dress up in the parks unless he or she was going to a character meal. Not saying it doesn't happen, just saying I don't see it.

 

[ireland_nicole]

Lots of girls still wear dresses in the parks, especially MK and epcot ; in part because of BBB and princess meals, and opportunities for princess meets, in part because it's part of Disney. If your dd doesn't want to, don't push her; but if she decides she does, why not allow her to embrace the magic and be a little girl a bit longer? I understand your wanting to plan, but it would be a lovely souvenir for her to pick a dress in the parks or at dtd if she changes her mind later.

 

[Perditamarie]

Consider a fun/sparkly t-shirt of fave princess/character w/a tulle skirt...a bit of dress up w/o a costume (which really arent too comfortable in the heat anyway!).

Last trip I think DD did BBB for me....consider a pirate makeover or Barber shop sparkles for an alternate makeover if your time allows. Your younger DD will be absolutely tickled by the BBB and it is absolutely worth doing - I have noticed CMs give extra special hellos and attention to the BBB princesses!

Just wanted to add that the pirate makeover was make up, some fun pirate stuff and the only thing on the hair was a bandanna....DD wore a girly skull t-shirt w/a tulle skirt and it came out great!

Happy planning!

 

[lexif]

Well, you never know. My older DD will be 9 in November, and when we went this past June, I really, really thought the time for princess dresses had passed. She's not the princess type, really, so I hadn't given it much thought. We got her sister an Ariel dress to wear to her breakfast with the princesses, and turns out, older DD wanted one too. (Granted, it was Jasmine, so not a big puffy dress, but still). Not only did she wear it to breakfast, she refused to change until she'd met Jasmine, and had her picture taken with their matching outfits.
I guess what I'm saying is, sometimes things are different once you're there and inside the magic...

 

[InkspressYourself]

My dd would have dressed up in Disney at 8. I'm sure she did. I think we did BBB and she chose the pirate outfit. That was before they had the pirate one.

I love to see kids dressed up, at whatever age. Heck, there are things I wear at Disney that I wouldn't be caught in at home! It's part of the fun, to me at least.

If she says yes, I say dress up and have a great time.

Dawn

 

[JACH1976]

Mine would not dress up outside the house at the age of 8. She stopped around the age of 5.

For our family 8 would be too old to wear a princess dress in the parks. 5 was about the limit for things like that. But every family is different.

I think it's kind of sad how fast we're pushing our girls to grow up these days. When I was 8, we still played dress-up and with dolls. Today girls seem to out-grow these things by kindergarten

 

[canopynut66]

Or is 8 too old for Disney dresses?

(She turns 8 two weeks before our trip.)

I have been telling myself that this is probably the last time she will wear a princess dress at Disney and it's heartbreaking for me to see how fast time is flying by, and then it occured to me that it might already be over?

My younger dd still wears princess dresses all the time. Even to the grocery store and playground. She is turning 5 this fall, so this will be her first 'Disney Trip To Remember' whereas the first two trips were for smiling at and chasing ducks and sleeping through fireworks.

I'm hoping to take them both to the BBB for the first time if we can get appointments and I'm guessing that dd8 might wear a dress for that?

Thanks!

see a lot of kids wearing the dresses with and without thier hair done up. and if going to the halloween party even adults dress up. whole families will be dressed in costumes.

 

[Tiger926]

My daughter is 8 and adores princesses. But there is not many princesses dresses to fit her at this age, so she is starting to feel sad about it.

Wants to be Rapunzel for Halloween, but dresses are too small, and the normal Costco princess dresses that we get each year, only go up to size 7-8 this year, and because she is taller, she needs a bigger size.

I think it's sad that some people on here, and the retailers think that 8 is too young to dress up. I guess it's indicative of the many 8 year olds around me I see listening to Kesha and dressing in way too provocative clothes.

I think it depends upon the child, and if she wants to wear the dress, then it should be encouraged. We don't play age games in this house, so if the 8 year old wants to watch Barney with her little brother she does, and if she wants to play Barbies at 12 years old, she will too.

Best of luck OP, Tiger