I have two ressies for CRT lunch for myself, DW, and DD7 in April 2015. I know that girls are often dress in princess costumes and do a little parade around the floor. How prevalent is the dressing up? Do more than half the girls put on a gown? Less than 50%? I don’t want DD to feel out of place or self conscious or left out… but on the other hand I don’t want to lug around a costume all day for one meal either. And being Canadian, we’re likely to feel hot in Florida so I’m definitely not going to make her wear it all day. And those Disney princess shoes are far from comfy. Thoughts?
A lot of little girls will be dressed up, so I don’t think she would feel out of place at all in a princess dress. I’d guess that most girls dress up for CRT? Maybe someone who has been more recently can back me up… I’d not wear the uncomfortable princess shoes, and just put the dress on for the lunch over her park clothes.
I saw lots of girls dressed up for CRT, definitely more than 50%. I had a similar concern for my ds. He wanted to dress like Jake at the disney junior play and dine lunch. I thought he would feel out of place but there were actually a lot of little boys dressed as Jake. Plus it made for an extra special meet and greet. Hope this helps.
I think I may have mis-represented myself. I’m actually trying to make myself feel better for planning to NOT have her in a costume at CRT, so that I (and by I, I mean my wife) don’t have to carry it around, or in the alternative have her wear it around the park and get hot. So I’m asking if she will feel out of place NOT wearing it, where most of the kind responders (thank you!) are trying to reassure me that she will ok IN the costume.
But based on the responses to this point, I’m getting a picture that most girls are dressed up so I’d be doing a disservice to my DD to have her in street clothes.
A third alternative is to have her wear the dress for the meal and then stash it in a locker for the day.
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Seconding @mascardofamily’s suggestion of a locker. The small ones are $8, and I imagine that one of those would be large enough to store a dress. You could drop the dress in the locker after lunch and just pick it up as you’re leaving. That way she won’t have to wear it all day, and no one will have to lug it around.
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Lockers are by the front gate?
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You could also get a costume from “mom approved costumes” They are supposed to be really comfortable. Plus they are really light weight. I ordered two for Christmas for my daughter and both came in one padded envelope.
It totally depends on your DD. Is she the type to feel out of place, or would she be fine? Would a special ‘Disney princess’ t-shirt do the trick just as well? Another option (which we have done because my daughter is NOT that princessey) is to just bring a tiara. Loads easier to transport–
She also doesn’t have to wear a particular Disney costume. When we went, my daughters wore comfortable dresses with leggings, and we had cloaks for them to wear over them. They were comfortable going around the parks in their dresses all day, and the cloaks smushed up well in our backpack. They looked adorable and were very happy. @SweetEscape’s idea of a tiara works, too.
The day we went to CRT last year, our 7yo daughter just wore a pretty, but summery dress and - her most important accessory: a felt tiara with her initial on it.
My wife had bought it and a wand for her from an etsy online shop a year or 2 before. It being felt was a key attribute: light and stayed on all day.
Depends on the expectations of each particular child of course, but finding something small to make the event special could cover both your concerns and your daughter’s positive experience.
(See my avatar for the tiara she wore.)
Our daughter was talking about wearing her Rapunzel dress to the park this year because we had a FP to meet her. I had the exact same concerns as you did - then she remembered how HOT we were the year before and talked herself out of it.
I always carry a backpack at WDW anyway, and so usually my DD7 wears a princess costume until she starts to feel hot or miserable, and then I stuff it into my bag and she changes into something more comfortable. Sure, the dress gets messy, and it adds a small amount of weight (and a lot of fluff and glitter) to the bag, but really, it is part of the magic of WDW and if she enjoys it, it’s worth it. 
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Dd5 wore a dress every day. Everywhere. Princesses are never out of place :). We did have shorts and tee shirt underneath so she could shed all the polyester on hot days though.
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