Will I regret never doing BBB with DD?

[jrt1176]

I did it twice with my niece. Her first visit when she was 6 and her second in January for her 10th birthday.

When she was 6 it was magical. She was at the age she believed in everything and it was priceless to see her experience it all.

This past trip she was probably too old. Not every 10 year old is, but I felt she wasn't going to be into it as much. She wanted to go because she liked the idea and associated it with WDW, but it wasn't the same as when she was 6... I'm very glad we did it the first time!

Of course, this time I didn't really watch because it was packed. My brother missed the first trip and got to watch this time. It was still fun for her, but the first trip was something we will always remember.

 

[caroline1851]

I took my dd twice when she was almost 3 then again when she was 5 and we never did BBB. I didn't matter, she didn't care. it's over priced and the tight, tight, flat hairstyles look not so great to me.

 

[myers2170]

I'm feeling kind of guilty because I sort of talked my DD (4) out of BBB. She has seen it on the planning DVD and said she wanted to do it. But its not something I have ever really been interested in (which is surprising because both me and DD are super girly and love princess stuff.)

My reasons are:

1) It would cut out time for rides with DH and DS. This one is kind of selfish on my part but I hate splitting up because then I miss time with my DS. Plus my parents are coming this trip and I hate to miss out on doing rides with them. Disney is our time to do stuff together as a family. I try to keep the splitting up to a minimum.
2) She isn't a fan of the hairstyles. She hates having her hair up. I've showed her pictures online and she says she doesn't like any of them. I am afraid she would want to take it out immediately.
3) I told her that we would do our own BBB in our hotel room before we go to CRT for breakfast. She is super excited because I said I would curl her hair and let her wear a little makeup. I'll probably buy her a new dress too b/c of course, she wants to be Aurora and that's the ONE costume we don't have.

So even though she seems fine with it, I can't shake the feeling that I am cheating her of an experience she would love. We will definitely be back again, probably when she is 6, but I know there is a time limit on this. She might not be interested when she is older and I don't want to regret not doing it!

Anyone been through the same dilemma?

There is plenty of time. Our daughter did this on our 3rd trip at age 10 and loved it. If now is not the time don't sweat it. However, I think she will love it and be glad she did but if the timing isn't right and everyone is happy without it, I wouldn't stress it.

 

[5kidsmommy]

My daughter is 15 now, she never had any interest in doing it but she was also never one to wear princess dresses in the park. I'll be honest though I never told her about it. She knows about it now and says she glad I never made her get that uncomfortable looking hairdo.

 

[AllieBoo]

No, you should not feel guilty. my dd is 10 now and she has never done BBB, she's never even asked to. Just going to Disney World is enough.

 

[Ariel on Land]

Not planning on doing it with my princess either. The hair styles are awful IMO, and she would want it down almost immediately.

 

[KaSe]

No reason to feel guilty. I love your in-room makeover idea which still gives her a little extra-special glam for the day. After your makeover (or any other day), you could take her to the Barber Shop on Main Street and ask for Pixie Dust. They'll hairspray her hair & then sprinkle in gold glitter. It's FREE and again, adds just that touch of Disney magic. My daughters & I (now 18 & 15) do it every trip -- So yes, you could have Pixie Dust, too, to match.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

My DD, now 9 has been to WDW several times. We have never done it and have no regrets.

In fact, she always comments about how hot and uncomfortable it must be to have to walk around the park with that much glitter and hair spray, and in a polyester princess dress.

Same here.

 

[MrsDuck]

Option C sounds significantly better given the situation but go ahead and ask her again without trying to steer her one way or the other. If she seems interested and you don't mind spending the cash (even if her hair comes down in 10 minutes), then do it. Otherwise, your plan sounds great!

 

[bumbershoot]

2) She isn't a fan of the hairstyles. She hates having her hair up. I've showed her pictures online and she says she doesn't like any of them. I am afraid she would want to take it out immediately.

There's the answer right there.

I have this mentality that I have to experience everything at WDW at least once.

Let that go. There's no point. Reframe it. You want to give the Mouse money for all sorts of things. What ELSE could you do with that money? Childhood and family aren't about things to check off a list, they are about being there with the family. Disney will always come up with more things that you can throw your money at. You're never ever going to get all of them checked off, so you might as well do the work to stop that FOMOM (fear of missing out Mickey) (no it makes no sense, I'm on my first cup of coffee) now.

I however, would love a mermaid makeover!

Then do THAT! I've had the mermaid makeover and it's super-fun. Do it do it do it. Editing....I misread and thought you said SHE wanted to do it...well, show her pictures, and have her do the mermaid thing with you! You could really throw some money at Mickey and have everyone do it! (might have to stagger the appts LOL)

We offered them the money instead that they could spend as they pleased

Fabulous idea.


DS is soon to be 12; for his 4th birthday (maybe 5th...Memorial Day-ish birthday and those two birthdays fell on the Sunday then Monday of the weekend so we got out of town b/c a party wasn't going to be attended by anyone) did the Knights Package at Disneyland. It was AWFUL. The only good thing about it was that the sword and shield he got ended up being cheaper than buying them as standalone items. (the cost of that package was less than the two items...again, first cup of coffee, forgive the poor communication) He remembers very little of it. He liked the sword, though.

 

[MouseLovingMom]

Let it go! You have an awesome plan and she will be happier with the style you give her. Have fun!

 

[Amore Disney]

As a DD that was too old to go through BBB when it opened, I personally would not have cared to do it. I was a girly-girl (still am!) that loved glitter, nail polish, doing my hair, but I wouldn't have cared to wear an overpriced princess dress with a tight painful hairdo at the parks. Even when I was seven, I wanted to spend as much time as possible on the rides!

I think it definitely depends on the girl (or boy). My hope is that they will remember the care and love that their parents put into making their day special, whether it's a makeover in the hotel room or at BBB.

 

[Karin1984]

You will not know for sure if you will ever regret it till you are old and grey. And even then it's possible that one day your (by then) grown up daughter visits you in your retirement home, goes through old pictures and asks: "remember that make over thing they had in the castle? A pity we never done that. More tea?"

Or when your grown up daughter goes to wdw herself with your granddaughter and decides to do BBB, and returns with pictures and stories about the experience.

There will always be a chance to regret what you have not done in life. But that is true for many things in life. You just accept it and move on.

 

[mousefan73]

This is what I hate about the Disney bubble. Parents feel guilty when they don't add on ( Pay for ) additional activities besides actually being at the parks and having a magical time. My daughter was at the magical kingdom at least three years before she finally was able to do BBB. Each year before we would always take a peek in and of course she would always say mommy I want to do that too and we would say no.

Last year we booked Disney again and my daughter for her birthday which was right before our trip said that for her birthday present she would like to go to BBB. For us it was then no problem because she was nine years old and old enough to know what kind of decision she was making and also realize the cost of such a thing so she chose spend her birthday money On going to BBB.

Though in my opinion it's expensive I thought it was worth the cost and experience. What I also think made this a special experience with the fact that she had to wait years to actually do this so the excitement was able to build up

Comments for your situation :

1. Your daughter is still relatively young. to be honest my daughter would had totally forgotten about this thing anyways at that age
2. If your daughter is sensitive about her hair, this really might be an issue . my daughter chose to have the princess bun and that thing was so tight and did not move for two or three days. there was glitter everywhere the hair was crusted hard from gel and she would sleep on it and in the morning it still look exactly the same .

3. Also at that age I think getting ready in the hotel room like you suggested is a fun idea and I think she'll be so overwhelmed and distracted by actualy seeing/ meeting " real princesses "and experiencing the part itself
4. If you anticipate going to Walt Disney World again in the next few years I would put this event off until your daughter is old enough to actually enjoy and remeber it more. My daughter at nine I know will never forget this experience . Had she done it when she was four she would have really have no recollection of the event


The one tip I do have for anyone that does this is to definitely use the photo pass option. We bought the memory memory maker and having the pictures from BBB alone made this cost worth it. While a child is is getting made up a photo pass photographer will take pictures and there were some really awesome shots that were close-ups or reflection shots What I did with these pictures is for Christmas I made a picture book for her of this experience.

 

[mousefan73]

Thanks everyone! I feel a little better. Sounds like you all have some very practical daughters.

I think the problem is more me than her. I have this mentality that I have to experience everything at WDW at least once. Every time we go, I try to plan new and different things. I would really like to say we did this, but the tradeoff in time is just not something I am willing to sacrifice.

However, maybe we could do it on the morning of our Disney Springs day. I thought it would kind of be a waste since a few hours later, she will be in the hotel pool. But since we aren't looking to keep the hairstyle anyway, its really more about the experience for her (and for me to say we crossed one thing off our bucket list, ha!) But I might ask her one more time, without steering her either way, if she wants to do it or not. I don't really mind splitting up at Disney Springs since DS will just be in the Lego store for hours!

Dont they have a cheaper just nails cmakep option?

 

[Eoywin]

We did BBB our last trip - My daughter doesn't like to have her hair up but I was surprised when she kept it up all day long!

It was a nice experience and we did it before the park opened so we didn't 'waste' any park. But it could have been easily skipped.

 

[Silvermist999]

My DD loved princesses but we never did BBB. She never wanted to. If she asked for it, I would have let her. We had plenty of Disney Princess gowns and accessories at home and she would dress up, but at WDW, she was all about character meetings and the attractions. Plus we always went in May, so it was already really hot. Can't imagine walking around in a full gown and makeup in the parks after BBB. No regrets at all!

 

[anniemae]

If she does not want to do and does not like the styles why on earth would you even consider it? It sounds like you want it more than she does. Personally, I have never been a fan. I don't like the tight style, it actually looks like it hurts and I cringe a little when I see a child who has that tight tight bun. My dd would be screaming, she hates a pony tail. We never did it and never will. I don't get the appeal, but then again we don't have any princess fans.

 

[DVCcurious]

I have this mentality that I have to experience everything at WDW at least once.

First, we have a DD6 and she's gone to WDW 7 times since she was 22 months old. We've never done BBB. We've only eaten in the castle once. She brings a few princess dresses and chooses one each morning (now it's just Elsa every day). The CM's still call her princess (although one called her "queen" and Christine beamed she was so happy someone knew that Elsa is a queen and not a princess). I think her experience is better than the BBB girls because, frankly, that hair and makeup just doesn't look fun in 85 degree heat.

On the other hand...my first trip to WdW in 2010 before we had kids I saw a 3 year old girl all dressed up in BBB gear walking with her mom near the Liberty Belle and she looked up at her mom and said "Mommy, I'm a princess". That just melted my heart and I didn't even know these people!

Secondly, you CAN'T do everything at WDW at least once. I'm not just saying that about you....I mean NO ONE can do everything at WDW.

There are like 5 golf courses and many mini golf courses
There are like 100 restaurants
There's the surfing at Typhoon Lagoon before they open
There's the Chef's Table at Victoria and Albert's
There's like 20 hotels plus 2 stand-alone DVC resorts
There's the campfire at fort wilderness with Chippendale
There's several tours (behind the seeds, the safari tour, MK private tour guide)
There's horseback riding and hay-wagon riding at Fort Wilderness

So my advice to you about your mentality of doing everything once is....

Let It Go....Let It Go....Can't hold it back anymore....Let it Go....Let it Go....Turn away and slam the door....

 

[crazymomof4]

Of course, every family is different but here's my story.........
Our DD is 15 now and has been visiting wdw since age 3. We never did BBB partly bc she's shy by nature, partly bc of taking time away from doing things as a family (3 older sons + DH) and partly due to the expense.
We DID however buy her Disney Princess outfits each trip with all the accessories. The last trip that she dressed up for was when she was 11, I made the Snow White (her choice) gown myself from a pattern. For each of these Princess days she's had, we got up extra early in our resort room and did hair, make-up, crown/headband and even glitter. It was really fun and now very precious, mommy-daughter time. We have tons of pics of her, in the parks as various Disney Princesses. She's old enough now to tell me if she feels she missed out on something not doing BBB and she never has.

ETA- Now that she's too old to do the full-outfit thing, DD and I are loving doing Disneybound outfits for our WDW trips! Its a blast putting together clothing and accessories. She loves stepping outside the Princess box and doing characters like Jack Sparrow and Maleficient.