When Dreams Come True

I asked ER what she most wanted to do at Walt Disney World and she had the same answer every time, meet Cinderella. Oh dear I thought, at this last stage there is no way we can get into the Princess Breakfast, and I couldn't find any information on the website about where she'd for sure be. Yes there was the Toontown Hall of Fame, but the descriptions were vague. Any number and variation of royal highnesses might be there. No guarantees.

Luckily for us, making my daughter's trip magical ended up being easy. Not only did we get the met the much beloved Cinderella, we got to see her twice. Brad and my mom took ER there on Thursday and Friday, both days right away in the morning as soon as the attraction opened up at 10AM. At the Magic Kingdom, the princesses and fairies are both in Toontown, a part of the park that opens one hour later than the rest, and there are signs, like the one below indicating which ones you can meet.To our surprise, the wait to meet the Disney Princesses wasn't long at all. In fact, on the second day ER even got a special photo opportunity, getting all three princess together, because there wasn't a line. My mom was impressed by how sweet and gentle all the princesses were. They talked in soft voices, got right down to her level, and were very loving. It was all a parent could want and a little princess in training's dream come true.
The wait for the fairies was longer than to see the princesses, their popularity no doubt helped along by the recent release of a new DVD featuring the residents of Pixie Hallow. ER met Tinkerbell, Fawn, and Terrence but before her big moment with them, everyone had to shrink down to fairy size by walking through a magical hall. That was a neat touch and one she talked about all day, the murals on the walls indicating their shrinking size. The fairies were equally as kind and endearing to ER; deciding that ER must be a water fairy because of her strong preference for blue. Tinkerbell even came to say hi to her early while Fawn finished up with her visitor. Then greeted her with a big, "Hello Again," when it was her turn to see her. They also engaged her in conversation, with Terrence telling her that they'd have a leaf boat race the next time she came. She was a little hesitant around him so his gentle efforts to make her comfortable were sweet. It was cute.

Another good place to see Disney Princesses is at Epcot, a tip I got from Kathie, a member of the 2010 Walt Disney Moms Panel. I was fortunate enough to sit next to her at our first presentation and she was full of good insight. She told me that often the lines for meeting characters are shorter there. You don't have to meet a panel member in person to get personalized help, if you have a question about Walt Disney World don't hesitate to take advantage of this great resource. Ask away!

Several princesses can be found in the World Showcase, unfortunately the first three times we tried to meet one their lines had already closed. ER was a little upset about missing out on Mulan in China, but she did wave to ER and come to give her a hug on her way out. Characters come out about every half hour so if the same thing happens to you, if you just wait a little bit you'll soon get another chance. We did meet both Alice in Wonderland, another favorite movie character at our house, and Mary Poppins, both in The United Kingdom. At the Animal Kingdom we met Pocohantas at the Planet Watch area. We were told by others in line that it's the only place you can meet her.

That concluded our interaction with Disney characters, because ER is still quite terrified of any with a head like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and all the rest. Which is a shame because during the course of our trip she could've meet every one muliple times. They came to two of our night time family events. But sometimes you can't push things if your child is not ready and ours definitely wasn't.

Disclaimer: I visited Walt Disney World during the Social Media Moms Conference, tickets to the theme parks were included in my fee at a greatly reduced price. This post relates my families unbiased experiences and I was not required nor asked to post on my trip.