First Haircut in Disney!

Confession time, my son's first haircut wasn't in Walt Disney World.  I tried and tried to wait it out but it grew shaggy long.  But I wasn't about to miss out on the experience.  He had a trim back home a few months before Disney (yes, both my kids had a full head of hair when they were born), so his official first haircut that we are counting is in Disney.

Harmony Barber Shop on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom does hair for men, women, and kids of all ages.  You can make an appointment, the way we did, through Disney Dining.  It took me a while, as not many agents are familiar with it, but it worked out fantastic for us.  We had our daughter do the Bippity Boppity Boutique in the morning, and our son had his haircut in the afternoon.  That evening we had dinner at the Royal Table in the Castle. 

Here is the Harmony Barber Shop sign.

Once you walk into Magic Kingdom, it is located on the left right after the fire station.  Right before you walk down Main Street. A wonderful stylist took us right away due to our reservation.  She covered my son in Mickey stickers and went to work.  My son was so busy with the stickers (eating them, resticking them on everything, being goofy, etc.) that he didn't even notice he was getting his haircut.  It came out super cute!  For the first haircut, he received a 1st Haircut pair of ears, a clump of his hair, and certificate.  Definitely plan on coming back to do something special for him in the future.

Pre haircut

Eating those Mickey stickers....haircut?  What haircut?

Haircut ears

Post haircut...the closest picture I can get.

Fancy dining with infants

We LOVE the Yachtsman Steakhouse  at the Yacht and Beach Club.  But it can be a little fancy for a baby.  But we have done with twice with both our children when they were younger than 1.  We are not experts but this plan has worked for us.

• Bring plenty of snacks.  Sometimes the kids will eat the fancy food...most times not!  :)  And snacks keep them busy.
• Chose an early dining time.  You will usually get more attention and the wait staff is more prepared for kids around this time.  Oh yeah, and the kids are less cranky then too.  Plus you will have time for ice cream afterwards....if everyone behaves!
• Bring surprise toys.  Little dollar store toys can keep them busy for 5-10 minutes at a time and it has worked out well for us.  Kept them busy, and us enjoying our meal. 
• We usually have a favorite TV show or DVD that we have brought to our meal to keep the kids entertained.
• Run them around before the meal, but not too much where they're exhausted and cranky.  Just enough not to want to do ring-around-the-rosey. 
• Try not to stress too much if they have a hard time.  We have had meals where one of us walks the kid(s) around and another eats.  Not ideal, but it has worked.

Overall, Disney World restaurants are usually very kid-friendly.  Relax and enjoy.  Most guests are with other children and understand. 

Cutie pie enjoying some Puffs at the Yachtsman Steakhouse.

Do your favorite thing first!!!

One of my favorite things to do in Walt Disney World is to see Cinderella's castle.  I love that one moment that makes me feel that fairy tales do come true!  One vacation we did a few other parks and Magic Kingdom, where Cinderella's castle is, one of the later days in our trip.  It feels like I rushed through those days to get to it.  On our last vacation, we waiting until our second to last day to see Mickey at Chef Mickey's for breakfast.  All vacation long, my daughter (my son was too young to talk but LOVES the big mouse) kept asking for Mickey and we kept telling her later on.  Both kids were overjoyed with seeing him, but I wish we did it earlier in the vacation.

My point is to find out what you really want to do the most, and do it...as early as you can in the vacation.  This next vacation, we booked Chef Mickey's for the afternoon we arrive in Florida so the kids can meet the main characters immediately. 

Kids at Chef Mickey's (April 2012)