Every since I knew I was having a little girl, I knew that I would someday take her to the Magic Kingdom for a makeover at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. I had grand visions of everything, and wanted to wait until she was five or six so that she would (hopefully) remember it and appreciate it a little bit more. Well, when Emma Kate was 5, we had a trip planned that spring…in 2020….yeah…when the world shut down. My dreams were dashed, as it took a LONG time for the Boutique to reopen even after the park did. I waited (not so) patiently. Then, when we finally had a trip planned, I couldn’t get a reservation! Even at the 60 day mark. I was so frustrated. A friend told me to use Mousewatcher, and I was easily able to get her a reservation the week we were there, yay!
Originally, I had planned to be conservative and do the cheapest package. But the more I thought about it, the more I knew I wanted her to have the full experience buying a dress and all. After all, Emma Kate is 8, and this will most likely be the one and only time we have this experience, and so I wanted it to be super special.
At the time of our booking, we could choose the castle package or the carriage package (deluxe castle is temporarily unavailable.) The carriage package started at $100 plus tax, and included a shirt, bag, sash, hairstyle, makeup, nail polish, and face gem.
The castle package had all of the carriage package plus a princess gown and 2 coordinating accessories (like tiara and wand) and started at $200. I decided the beautiful gowns and accessories plus the experience were worth the extra $100, and they absolutely were, I’m so glad we went this route! Here is a recap of our experience from start to finish (as of May of 2023.)
Our reservation at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique was for 8:30 am at the, which I recommend because then you have all day to be all decked out. Since our reservation was before park opening, we had to check in with a CM at one of the ropes in Adventureland and they let us through to the castle. Please note, only 2 people are allowed to go with your princess, so in our case it was me and my mom.
Pro tip: Have your princess wear comfy shoes!
We checked in, and then waited for our name to be called. Once it was, we were greeted inside and given a book to see which package we wanted. We already knew so that was easy! We were ushered into the store with all of the beautiful dresses, and it was so fun to tell Emma Kate to pick whichever one she wanted. Yall, I couldn’t stop smiling. Little girl Heather was just dying inside at how cute and fun this was!
The cast member that helped us was so great and patient with an 8 year old trying to make a decision. In the end, she decided on Rapunzel and a tiara and wand. Then it was time for my part, I had to pay for it haha! After that, her gown and accessories were put into a beautiful dressing room.
The cast member joined us and showed her the different hairstyles. I really wanted her to pick an adorable updo…but no…she wanted the one with pink and blue hair. I wanted this to be HER choice so I told her to go for it. The cast member asked to “take a look at her hair” and told funny hair jokes while playing with it. Heads up, they are discreetly looking for lice here. Don’t worry, it’s VERY discreet, Emma Kate had no idea and the CM never told me, I just knew from reading things online that they checked.
Then, the cast member told us that someone special wanted to talk to Emma Kate, so she closed the door a turned off the light, and the fairy godmother had a special message for Emma Kate. It was adorable! It lasted about a minute, and then it was time to put on the dress and head out of the dressing room.
We waited in the store for about 5 minutes for our name to be called by our fairy godmother. She then walked us out of the store and over to the castle! We got to go inside/under the castle where the salon was located. It was so fun being in here for the first time after seeing pictures! We were escorted to a chair, and her fairy godmother went to work.
There was a photopass photographer on hand, and I was able to link everything to my Disney account, and since I already pay for Photopass through my annual pass, we got all the pictures for “free!”
She started with her hair, and Emma Kate was facing us, since there would be a big reveal at the end. After she did her hair (didn’t take long because it was just a ponytail and then a hair piece put in the back.) Then she painted her nails, did her makeup and gave her the face gem. All the extras of the nail polish and makeup went into the cinch sack she got to take home that also had a cute necklace inside.
She had a sash put on her, and then had pixie dust sprinkled on top. She had a tiara and flower crown as part of her package, so those were put on, and then a photopass photographer was brought over to capture the big reveal.
Seeing my child’s face when she saw herself in the mirror was a moment I will never forget! So glad we have the pictures to remember as well! The whole process took less time than expected, especially the actual makeover part.
We were led out of the castle and bibbidi bobbidi boutique salon, and across the way to a store with a picture studio inside. We were told we could take as many pictures as we wanted and they would be linked to my account via photopass. Having this fun photo shoot was a great way to top things off!
Here are how the pictures came out!
Bobby and my dad met us there, and we took even more photos. Then of course we had to take pictures at the Rapunzel bathrooms before going and meeting Rapunzel herself!
Yall. I cried. When My baby saw Rapunzel get excited that Emma Kate had on a dress “just like hers” and gave her a big hug, I about lost it.
Of course after lunch she wanted to go back to the hotel…and swim. So goodbye hairstyle and makeup. It was fun while it lasted! However, we did one more fun thing. We were staying at the Grand Floridian Villas, and I knew they had a photopass photographer and glass slipper with backdrop on the second floor off the lobby, so we headed over there for more pics!
It truly was a magical experience and I am so glad I got to do it once with my baby girl before she got too big to want to. I had a permanent smile on my face, and it truly embodied what Disney is all about. Just one of those perfect and magic mornings.
If you would like to see a video reel I created of the whole bibbidi bobbidi boutique experience, you can check it out at this link. Let me know if you have any questions!
Related: Is Walt Disney World’s Genie+ Worth it?
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