We have done the Boutique with my daughter and we did the package where they get dress, shoes, crown, make up, and hair. I think it was around $250 for everything and she loved every minute of it. They called her Princess and she got to pick out everything she wanted to wear before hair/makeup. It was for her birthday so she also got to wear a special sash. People complimented her all day long about how beautiful she was.

Another idea is to take a princess dress with you and just get hair/makeup done there. I have a friend that brought dresses for her girls but didn't tell them and then she put them out that morning specially wrapped as if they were delivered by a fairy godmother. Saved some money that way rather then buying dresses at the boutique.

^
Agree with above. We went in May 2011. My wife bought dresses at littledressupshop.com (which look fantastic), did our girls' hair, face and nails and they got all the compliments and loved every minute of it ... without us spending nearly as much as we would have had we gone to the BBB.

One more note on fast passes is the time you can draw your next set of fast passes is printed under the return time, in smaller print, for the fast pass. That time is frequently before your return time to ride.

And yes you can use fast passes after the time slot passes.

I hate to be the bearer of BAD news, but the end is coming for late fast pass returns. Check out this link http://www.wdwmagic.com/Other/FASTPASS/News/06Feb2012-Big-changes-coming-to-FASTPASS-in-March.htm for a brief announcement and this thread on disboards http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2873893 to see how big the reaction/ fallout has been. It's a long thread. I just read the first few pages the day it was released, but you can see what a big deal it is to many.

We've been planning a trip for this summer so I was VERY bummed to read this. When dh and I went alone in 2002 we returned when stated because we didn't know any different and it was easy enough w/o kids. Then we went in 2008 and read all about how to best use fastpasses by collecting them throughout the day, taking a break, and returning at night for fireworks and rides with fastpass. With young children who needed breaks and would never be able to wait in LONG lines, it was wonderful! We have three now - 8, 4, and almost 2 so we were planning on this again. I am sad to see this change. It will be interesting to see if Disney tweaks it before then or makes the window longer. With ADR's a necessity now (didn't need them at all in 2002 - pre dining plan) and having to book them months out, that could make for a difficult time using fastpasses.

Sorry guys, I didn't realize the links wouldn't be active. If someone can fix that, I'd appreciate it. If not, copy and paste.

For the rook.

quote:

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Check out this link http://www.wdwmagic.com/Other/FASTPASS/News/06Feb2012-Big-changes-coming-to-FASTPASS-in-March.htm for a brief announcement and this thread on disboards http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2873893 to see how big the reaction/ fallout has been. It's a long thread. I just read the first few pages the day it was released, but you can see what a big deal it is to many.

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Get the app called WDW lines. We have found it very helpful - it has pretty close to real time waits and rides that are down. Lets you know which day is best for each park as your week goes by.

Gig 'em Aggies!

We just went before Christmas for the third year in a row (my wife is a former cast member and still has a lot of connections), and most of the important stuff has been covered. We use the Disney World Wait Times Light for Android app and it's really helpful. Like the one Mike mentioned, it'll tell you the wait times and which park is best for that day. We went against this one day (my sister, being my sister, had to be difficult) and it was a disaster. Ridiculous crowds and wait times.

It also uses GPS to show wait times close to your location. Used this a bunch if we didn't have a real plan just to see what we were close to with a short wait time, then go hop on.

For your kids it might not work, but we had young kids with us this last time and used the kid swap passes (good for 3 riders each, I think) really effectively. Half the group could get fast passes for one ride, half for another then the you use kid swap for the other half at both rides. You essentially get 2 or more fast passes at once.

Several years ago, nearly everyplace at Epcot had an obnoxious wait for dinner. Got "stuck" going to Le Cellier

What a pleasant surprise! Great place!