Grab Your Cape

“When the raindrops keep tumbling,
Remember,
you’re the one who can fill the world with sunshine.”
Snow White

One of my rays of sunshine just turned, in her words: “A whole hand plus one.”

X Mr G and I decided to take her for a Princess makeover at the Disney Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Harrods, London. It was a long shot that she was going to get with the programme, as what she lacks in princess style tendencies, she more than makes up for in Light Saber and Nerf gun capabilities. She is, most certainly, the Disney Princess for a new generation. There is no waiting around for a handsome prince (she will just accost them and make them her boyfriend at breaktime in the playground), no beautiful dress (it lasts about 5 minutes on..then it is too itchy and annoying) and her hair is the epitome of Tangled.

Still. We thought it would be an experience.

I had the whole “have I done enough as a parent” middle class debate with myself before we went. This was mainly due to the fact that there are four tiers of packages available, ranging from the “Royal” Experience at £1000, to the “Courtyard” Experience at £100 per child. Clearly the Feudalist system is still alive and kicking in Great Britannia. I very nearly convinced myself that I needed to pay the extra £300 to make the jump from the “Crown” Experience at £200 to the “Castle” Experience at £500. Then I decided the last thing I need in my new home is more Disney plastic crap everywhere. Seriously. I would only end up paying some “serf” to come round and clean it up twice a week. And you just can’t get the “serfs” these days.

All “jesting” aside…it was a really good experience. This is what the male contingent of our party thought:

And this is what the Princess thought when she was having her hair done:

That, dear readers, is her expression of shock.

She was very pleased with the results though. Probably not as pleased as her wonderful “Fairy Godmother in training” was that the hair style the Princess chose covered up the massive chunk of hair that X Mr G chopped out as it was so Tangled. It’s the lumpy bit sticking out in the photo at the back.

For all my slightly sarky comments, my daughter was made to feel like a Princess for the entire experience. If you arrive earlier your child gets given a pager to carry (great way to make them feel special) and you WILL end up browsing the adjacent Disney store beforehand. (FYI you can buy all the Disney plastic crap in there for less than the upgrade price.) Every member of staff in the Disney store stopped and spoke to her, as did the staff in the Harrods toy department after. She didn’t quite get the Harrods doorman with the umbrella opening the door on our way out, but that was possibly because some glamorous blonde “real princess” was making her way IN and he was otherwise occupied.

For the record, the next day I took her horseriding. She fell off. Into a MASSIVE puddle of cold wet mud.

So it just shows.

One day you can be sat on your throne like a princess, and the next day lying down in a puddle of mud and horse poo wondering what on earth just happened.

The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Harrods can be booked at http://www.disneyboutiqueatharrods.com/select-children.aspx

Prices range from the £1000 Royal Experience, to the £100 Courtyard Experience. We felt the best value option was the £200 Crown Package. We ended up spending approximately one hour in the experience, and three hours in Harrods overall by visiting the Disney Store beforehand (where your child will be made a fuss of due to the pager) and the Harrods toy department. If you book well in advance you may be lucky enough to combine the trip with the Harrods Christmas Grotto experience, which comes at an additional price of £10 per child. You can sign up for the Harrods Reward Account which will give you notification of tickets and booking for the Christmas Grotto, plus a refund of your total booking fee to spend in store.