First Haircut at Disney World
My daughter has the most amazing curly hair. Of course, when she is a teenager, she may not think it is amazing, but I digress. I think it is beautiful. Yet, because of the curls and because I love it so, I have been hesitant to cut it. Besides, she is a girl, right? And you just let their hair grow. Yet, when I was traveling to Walt Disney World last month for a complementary trip as part of #DisneyKids, I asked if I could get my daughter’s first hair cut at Disney. They set me up and off we went.
Disney World has a barber shop on Main Street USA; tucked in a corner on the left, near the fire station. In that barber shop, they have a baby’s first haircut service for about $18, where you can get your child’s first haircut. It is a tiny little shop, but we managed to squeeze my 20 month old daughter, my son (whose hair I didn’t cut until he was 18 months old for similar curly hair reasons), my husband, my parents (Nanna and Papa who didn’t have not been able to see any of their 6 grandchildren’s first haircuts until now, so they were tickled to be there) and myself.
My daughter climbed right up on the chair, which had a booster. The Disney Cast Member gave her a toy to play with, which my daughter loved so much we ran next door to the Emporium after her appointment and bought her one (just a heads up on that if you find yourself in a similar situation.) The cast member asked me what I wanted to have done and she checked in with me the entire time to make sure she was cutting it the way I wanted (which was such a parental relief). With my daughter’s extremely curly hair, I think part of my hesitation was the worry that no one would know how to cut it and just hack at it. But the Disney cast member was extremely competent and did a great job. I just wanted a wee bit taken off, some of the dead-ends if you will, and it was amazing how much better her hair looked and felt.
The cast member made sure to save the first cut of her hair, gave us a certificate and placed an adorable mickey hat on her head that said “First Hair Cut” on the back. Yes, around this time I started to cry (and so did my Mom.)
It was a quick 10 minutes, but a memory I will never forget. I have been going to Disney for close to 40 years and this was one experience that I never got to do until now, and I will treasure it. So perhaps you should plan for a Disney trip around the time of a much needed baby’s first haircut. Because it is truly a rare experience to be able to have.
As we were leaving, I went back to say thanks, and it was then that I glanced at the Cast Member’s name tag. My focus was so much on my daughter that I hadn’t noticed it before. Her name was Barbara. Let me just close with this. My daughter got her first haircut on March 14, 2014. Her great-grandmother (my grandmother) passed away one year before on March 19, 2013. My grandmother’s name? Barbara. So what did I think of the fact that my daughter got her first haircut at Disney by a woman who had the same name as our beloved Nana, almost one year after she passed away? Yup. I needed a whole box of tissues.
This post is part of my April 5-April 12th Disney Preschooler post week. Leave a comment using the Rafflecopter form on each post that is part of this series (you can see them all here as they get posted), and I’ll be picking a winner for each post to win a $10 Disneystore.com gift card (all winners will be picked on April 14, 2014). Plus, for every quality comment posted by April 13, 2014, I will be donating 10 cents per comment to the Make-a-Wish Foundation to give a child the opportunity to have their Disney wish come true! (Full giveaway rules can be found here.)
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