its been a good 10 years since i've been to disneyland. my recollections were obviously fond- after all its the happiest place on earth right? so when we decided to take lily for her 4th birthday, we wanted to be strategic. go in the middle of the week, not in the summer, don't bring oz, and get there about a week after the CDC declares a national pandemic. all of it came together relatively seamlessly. my mom agreed to watch oz despite her back injury from "showing off in aerobics," and a friend of a friend hooked us up with free tickets. lily was obviously very excited about the whole thing, but if you know lily, its pretty obvious what occupied most of our conversation leading up to disneyland... the princesses.
once we actually made it into the park, lily insisted that we first must go see snow white where she would "give her a big hug." we made our way to fantasyland and joined a line with about 67 other 3-6 yr old girls all on the verge of a melt due to the wait to actually interface with the princesses. after being in line for about 15 minutes, lily started to get whiny and hungry. we tried to feed her while we waited, but it seemed as though she was quickly getting over it. it was about that time that we received word that megan (shelley's friend) had arranged a private meeting with 2 princesses at 3:30.
okay, so how do you convey to your newly 4 yr old daughter that she is about to experience something very few get the privilege of. well the reality is, you don't. you take her on small world and wait it out. after some quality time in toon town, we made our way to fantasyland where we would be greeted by a 'brittany' who would be looking for us. now after my brief interaction with megan, i was really starting to understand the difference between management and peons at disneyland. 'brittany' though dressed in a cute dress, was still not management. she simply oversaw the princesses, who also despite thinking they run the place likely get paid minimum wage.
so lily gets all dudded out in a $30 ariel outfit (basically just a turquoise polyester nightgown), and brittany escorts us down to a secret door. we enter into a theatre area and then are taken into another door wherein sleeping beauty and snow white are just hanging out.
okay, here's where it gets intense. i've always been into the disney princesses, but i was never fanatic about them, however when i saw these two, i seriously felt like i was 5 again. they were so pretty and so real! lily immediately seized up, totally overwhelmed at the whole experience. so i was stuck with her on my lap in between snow white and briar rose, sweating profusely and feeling lets just say fat and ugly not like a princess. these girls amazed me. they seriously did not break character even for a minute. while lily was biding the time by stuffing her dress into her mouth out of sheer nervousness, i was stuck laughing awkwardly at the princesses chatty banter.
to give you an idea it went something like this:
snow white (sw): "lily, you remind of me of one of my most shy dwarfs, do you remember his name?"
lily: blank stare
me: laugh, "lils, answer snow white, who's super shy honey?"
lily: blank
sleeping beauty (sb): "oh i know snow white, its bashful isn't it?"
sleeping beauty and snow white continue this cheerful talk by discussing all the dwarf's and how silly they are...
when they finally realize she isn't going to speak, they turn to me. here's my moment:
sb: "so did you have to travel far to come visit us?"
me: "oh well not to far, we live near san luis obispo, it wasn't too bad, just some traffic."
sb: "yes well, traffic can be slow in those horse drawn carriages!"
.... really sleeping beauty, its clear that my daughter is not talking, you really can't break character for one minute to chat with me.... i'm not five, i know you're not real... i think.
anyway, this awkwardness (for me at least) went on for about 15 minutes. towards the end lily started telling me things to tell the princesses, but never actually addressed them directly. however when we were leaving ariel was coming down the stairs and asked lily if she had been in her closet (cause lily was wearing the ariel nightgown). lily got a kick out of that and actually looked her in the eye, smiled, and shook her head.
so there you have it, the rest of the day was filled with more rides, frozen lemonade and smiles. lily talked abundantly about the princess experience and even told me she wants to come back when she is 5 for a tea party with them, and then she won't be shy. i tried to explain that this was a once in a lifetime experience... but she disagreed.
i must say i wasn't expecting such a unique experience, and really i cannot express how thankful i was for megan to arrange that for us. it really was special, and i know lily will remember it forever. and if she tries to forget... we'll just show her this video and make her realize the shiz i go through for her.
enjoy.....
