If Your Kid Loves Moana, You Need to Give Them Disney's New Painted Sky Experience

The package included the most authentic, three-piece Moana costume I've seen — and after two Halloweens, I've come across many. It also came with a Heart of Te Fiti necklace that opens, and when pushed, plays a few lines from "How Far I'll Go."

(Spoiler alert: although her true-to-size costume was perfect for the trip, I wish we went one size bigger so she could get more wear out of it in the months to come — it's already a bit of a struggle to get the now-pencil-skirt on her. Also, after a solid month of daily wear between my daughter and her younger, more destructive sister, the necklace has broken to pieces, but is thankfully replaceable online at the Disney Store.)

For shoes, they provided Havaianas flip flops, which — although it may very well be a perfectly acceptable shoe for older kids — wasn't ideal for my preschooler. We could have opted out of these, and I wish I had as my daughter tripped on them more than a few times over the course of her day as Moana before we finally convinced her to put her own sandals back on.

Once my daughter and I came out of the dressing room in full Moana fashion, she took a seat in a comfy styling chair outfitted with a plush booster seat.

We had made sure to follow the salon's rule of arriving with clean, dry, detangled hair — a feat when you spend your days at the pool. (My advice: schedule a post-nap makeover so you can still enjoy a day by the pool, but have time for your kiddo's hair to air dry. Plus, then they can enjoy the new look all evening instead of instantly ruining it by heading straight to the beach.)

Some parents might want more control over the final look, but I absolutely loved how each stylist asked the kids — not the adults in the room — what type of look they wanted. And to make it easier for the younger set to understand, they did this with all sorts of visual aids.

Our stylist showed my daughter a printout of four different hairstyles, from Minnie Mouse "ears" to a beachy bun to different braid options. My daughter pointed to the Waikolohe mermaid side braid before being tasked with choosing colors from different makeup palettes. Every step of the way, the stylist would ask her favorite colors for her eyes, cheeks, and lips with helpful parameters ("Pick one from this box and one from this other box").

The entire makeover took 45 minutes, but the full in-the-chair session was just 30 minutes — the perfect amount of time to keep a 4-year-old interested. Our stylist did a great job chatting away with my kid, and during quiet moments, my daughter was captivated by the salon itself — the ceiling featured a color-changing LED "rainbow" to pay homage to those that grace the Hawaiian skyline on a daily basis.

During our time in the salon, we saw another girl get the Moana treatment and a boy channel his inner Maui — complete with a floral "aloha" shirt, a Polynesian temporary tattoo, and a Koa hook necklace much like the demigod's.

No makeover is complete without the classic before-and-after shot, right?

Although the package came with a set of two fake plumeria hair clips, the kids can opt to have real orchid petals pinned to their hair. Thankfully, my girl knew to go authentic. The stylist also let her choose a thin friendship-style bracelet on a string with a tiny Minnie Mouse bead in the color of her choosing (seriously, so many options!).

And no Disney makeover is complete without a little pixie dust, right? Before she got up from the styling chair, the stylist used a magic wand to apply a subtle coating of shimmer to her look. As an eternal glitter-hater, this moment was the closest I came to interjecting "no!" I feared it rubbing off on everything, namely the hotel bed we were all sharing. Thankfully, it wasn't that terrible — though it took several washes (including a few days of near-constant water play) to get it out of her hair. She didn't mind one bit, of course.

The one downfall of us opting for a late-afternoon appointment? If you book your session for any Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday morning from 9 to 11:30 a.m., kids will get a special visit from a "real wayfinder" (ahem, Moana!). There's no better photo op than your mini-Moana with the real deal.

Still, my little Moana absolutely adored the experience and felt like a true princess the rest of the day. Cast members throughout the resort would stop to oooh and ahhh over her epic look. Some even asked her where Hei Hei was hiding, which way to get to Motunui, and if she's seen Maui lately. (Her responses? "I don't know!" "Uhhh . . .," and "Nope!") Kids would point at her, mouths agape, and parents would stop us to ask where she got the makeover and if it was worth the cost.

My answer? "You're already here. Of course it's worth it."

Travel and expenses for the author were provided by Disney for the purpose of writing this story.