Travel Review: A First-Time Visit to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is a children’s salon at Walt Disney World for ages 3-12. While they do offer prince services for boys, the salon is more popular with little girls who will transform via hair, makeup, nail, and costumes into their favorite princess look. There is a location in Disney Springs (no park ticket required). A new location is coming soon to the Grand Floridian hotel (no park ticket required). However, the most popular location is the salon inside of Cinderella’s Castle inside the Magic Kingdom, where you are required to have a valid theme park ticket for the day to attend your appointment.

Reservations open 180 days in advance. Guests staying onsite at Disney World can make reservation 180 days in advance for any available date during their stay, even those more than 180 days in advance. Reservations can be made by phone starting at 7 am or online. It is helpful to already have your My Disney Experience account set up before you call. You do have to provide a credit card to secure a reservation, but nothing is charged until the appointment. There is a cancellation fee if you do not show for your appointment. While you may get lucky and get a last minute appointment at any of the locations, reservations at the Magic Kingdom salon location get booked up very soon after the 180-day reservation opening.

Before I ever had kids, we were walking around the Magic Kingdom one morning, and I saw a little girl with a princess sash, fully dressed up, walking down Main Street. She had a beautiful small crown that twinkled only slightly less than her huge smile going ear to ear. As a long time Disney fan, this was just too cute for words. Soon, I saw other little with the same and figured out that there was an in-park salon called Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, named after the charming song sung by Cinderella’s fairy godmother during her transformation for the ball. I decided right then that if we ever had a little girl, this would be on our list.

Fast forward to when first took our kids to Disney World when they were ages 7 and 9.  At age 7, our daughter was almost past the point of the magical years of princesses, much to my chagrin. However, we really wanted to do the full Disney experience for her first Disney trip, and the salon experience needed to be a part of that. One hundred eighty days in advance at 7 am, we got our spot to visit Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. I had hoped she would love it as much as I always imagined. We had already planned out which parks we wanted to visit and when. We were doing two days at the Magic Kingdom. The last day of our trip would be a Magic Kingdom day that would end with Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween party. Since it would be costumes and dress up galore, we thought this was the perfect day to do Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Our daughter would be all dressed up and ready to trick or treat Mickey style!

I knew that sometimes costumes are not available in the princess type or size you want at the actual salon. So, we elected to preorder a dress for our daughter and bring it with us. Given that she is an equal part princess and athlete, we chose a non-Disney company that sews costume dresses that are made to be light-weight, durable, non-itchy, and washable. Mom-Approved Costumes did a fantastic job, and the dress was of high quality. We also ordered a special crown ahead of time. Bibbidi Bobbidi provides one, but we wanted our daughter to have the matching crown to her princess Elena dress.

The day of the appointment, we packed the dress, princess shoes, and tiara in a small duffle bag and brought it with us to the park. Our appointment was after lunch, so we paid for a locker to store her dress (as well as our son’s pirate costume for the Halloween party). We rode rides all morning and then headed back to the lockers to grab her dress and his pirate gear and head to the boutique. There are bathrooms around the corner from the boutique in Fantasyland. We changed there and headed for our appointment.

We arrived the recommended 10 minutes ahead of time and checked-in at the front desk. The salon seating area is not terribly large, but it is quite cute. There is a large round sofa seating area. At first, we had trouble getting seats, but as others finished up their appointments, seats became available. You get a front-row seat to watch all the other guests being transformed by their fairy-godmothers-in-training (hair stylists).

Our daughter was a little nervous, which made me a little nervous. I hoped after all this that she would actually enjoy her experience! But things quickly turned fun as soon as we met her fairy-godmother-in-training. True to Disney form, the cast members are excellent with children and quickly had my daughter up in an adorable stylized chair grinning like the Cheshire cat. She handed my daughter a laminated list of hairstyles from which to choose. I did not realize at the time that some of the choices could come with additional costs, which of course is what our daughter picked. We didn’t care which style our daughter chose, but if you only wanted to spend the base amount, it would probably be good to mention this to the fairy godmother before your child falls in love with something more expensive. Options are always changing and updating, and this may not be true during your visit. Make sure you ask.

Then, the fun began. Fun, age-appropriate makeup-up was done first, then nails. While I took pictures, there was also a Disney photographer roaming who took photos too. We had previously purchased the memory maker photo package and later had access to all those photos. Just make sure the photographer scans your magic band.

After everything was done, it was time for coating of magic pixie dust. The fairy godmother made sure have the Disney photographer present for the pixie dust coating to get great pictures. Then the final reveal…they did a big turn around so that my daughter saw herself for the first time completely transformed. The smile says it all!

A backpack of supplies, including the makeup and nail supplies used, were ours to keep, along with the coveted Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique sash.

After the appointment, we went to one of the gift shops just around the corner that has a little photography studio in it. Since we had the Memory Maker photo package for our trip, we asked the photographers to get a few extra princess photos in the shop.

We had an early dinner at Beast’s Castle at Be Our Guest so that we were all dressed up for the occasion. During the Halloween party, we got to meet princesses at Fairy Tale Castle. This was ideal as our kids were already dressed up. Much treat-or-treating later, our daughter’s hair and makeup still looked fantastic for the photos.

Well, our youngest daughter is just about old enough to be a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique princess, and we absolutely want to take her. It was a magical experience from beginning to end. I only wish we could have done it sooner. However, even my older daughter loved the experience, and the pictures have been a priceless treasure.

Make sure you get an appointment time that works well for your day. If you don’t want to be in costume for a full day, you may wish to make a later appointment.

If you want specific pictures, make sure you plan your park day accordingly. If you want photos with certain characters or princesses, plan to do those after the salon experience. You may also want to avoid rides like Splash Mountain that could soak the hair.

Many people like to eat at Cinderella’s Royal Table or do the Halloween party after Bibbidi because you are all dressed up to meet the princesses and trick or treat!

Make sure your dining reservations and FastPass reservations leave plenty of time so you won’t be late. Sometimes they are slightly behind schedule.

If you have an early morning appointment before the park officially opens, leave plenty of time in the morning to get there. Consider taking a Minnie Van or car service to help with time. If you are late, you will miss your appointment.

Consider getting a locker to store clothes or the Bibbidi backpack after the appointment.

Get all the photos you want! You really will treasure them later.

Carefully consider your princess shoes. Disney World is a lot of walking. If the dress shoes are uncomfortable, you may want them for pictures only.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique can be a pretty big time commitment when all is said and done. If you only have one day at the Magic Kingdom, it may limit how many rides you get to ride. We found that doing it on a second Magic Kingdom day was terrific!

Siblings may get bored waiting during the appointment, and you may want to have a plan or adult to take them outside the Boutique into Fantasyland. Bibbidi is an ideal parent-daughter experience.

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