We do!!! We have three boys, ages pre-school to pre-teen. So two of our boys are actually older than your son. On one of our WDW trips earlier this year, we gave them the choice of Pirates League, Harmony Barber Shop or BBB. I'm more of a Minnie girl and I've never been into princesses, so I was assuming they would do Pirates League and I thought that would be great fun. But they all chose BBB for two reasons: 1) they like the idea of doing something in the castle, but they didn't want CRT again; and 2) anything that comes with a sword and shield MUST be good. And it was great!
I'll try to include as much detail as I can, but please let me know if you have additional questions. The boys knew that most of the guests at BBB would be girls, but it didn't bother them a bit - they were all set to become knights! When we checked in, they received invitations with their names on them and took a "Knight's Oath," which our pre-teens thought was hilarious.
They waited a bit and then the same FGIT worked with all three of them, but one at a time. She put gel in their hair to make it sort of spiky, and then painted the ends with little dabs of color. Then she sprinkled Mickey confetti in their hair and then the fine pixie dust. She asked them to choose two colors and painted a Mickey head in the back of their hair - they loved these. She did the same "reveal" that they do for the girls - turned them around to the mirror at the end to see themselves. Our pre-schooler was really happy, and our younger pre-teen gave a huge smile (followed by the "smoulder," which he had just learned from Flynn) but our oldest a pre-teen gave a big "woo-hoo!" and hoisted his sword and shield in the air. The swords and shields they received with the package were very nice quality and the boys played with them a ton at Disney and even more at home. The value of the swords and shields probably exceeds the amount we paid for the package!
Our boys posed for a bunch of photos outside BBB in front of the mosaic tiles - all pretending to attack each other with the swords. It may have looked a little strange in the middle of the CRT princesses waiting for lunch and the BBB princesses, but it was tons of fun!
They loved the fun hair so much that they wanted to leave it in as long as possible - it was February and a bit cold, so we didn't swim for a couple days and that worked out. A few other things - I did ask the FGIT to go light on the paint because I had seen kids with a ton of paint in their hair. That wasn't a problem - she went really light on the paint. And I thought the spiky stuff would be kind of strange looking - our boys have very conservative haircuts - but it actually got all the hair away from their faces and was very cute. Lots of CMs at BBB and all over the parks commented on their cool hair for the next couple of days and it was very festive! So I think that added even more to their positive experience at BBB.
It's hard to say how it would go with a surprise - depends on the child. For our boys, part of the fun was in the choice. They also had each other and their little brother at BBB, which may make a difference. But it really depends on your son's personality. Our younger pre-teen is a little more reserved and will occasionally wear Disney hats, but often prefers his baseball hat. I don't think he would have done this on his own or enjoyed as a surprise. But our oldest is really into theater, which includes makeup and costumes, and he's extremely festive at Disney - he's always wearing mickey ears or his huge light up Sorcerer's Hat. So he definitely would have loved it under any circumstances - on his own, as a surprise - wouldn't matter!
Good luck with your decision! Pirates League and harmony are certainly other options if you think your son wouldn't enjoy BBB.
, but I've never heard of the knight package at BBB! What do you know about it? I have a 6 year old who is VERY into knights.
