Pretty Pretty Princesses

Mission – Find the Magic

Today’s mission as declared by Brielle – meet as many princesses as we can find! Meanwhile, the boys are finding their own magic in Harry Potter World at Universal Studios. You should have seen the strategy sessions going on last night designing plan A and plan B in order to maximize rides for the boys and princess meet and greets for the girls.

With one vehicle and two locations the plan: Brielle and I drop off the boys at Universal and then head to the Magic Kingdom and hope we get there as close to opening as possible. In the end, no worries – we even got to help open the park 15 min early! Yay!

So many things I didn’t know. The park opens at 8:45, not 9 like they advertise. I didn’t find out until 2 days ago that I could have booked Fast Passes up to 30 days ago. Well that made me panic a little thinking the princess FP were all gone. The line for Elsa was an hour long the other day, so of course I tried to get a Fast Pass for Elsa. No luck. (Luckily I found out while in line that a lady tried to get FP 30 days ago and couldn’t) Ok, plan B. We ran straight to Elsa and bingo – the line was only 15 min long! And we got to see both Elsa and Anna! The day started out awesome and only got better! While standing in line I realized we didn’t have an autograph book – doh! Of course in the gift shop AFTER we met the princesses we bought one. Why didn’t that catch our attention the other night when Brielle was shopping??

We decided it was worth standing in line again to get the autograph of Elsa and Anna, even if it meant an hour wait. Luckily, I mentioned it to a cast member and she told me they could take the book back and have it signed so we didn’t have to stand in line again! We didn’t get to go in again, but atleast she got the signatures! Whew.

    

We dashed around the corner to the wooded area to seek out Merida. She was so fun! I am probably biased, but I thought her thick curly red hair was fabulous! 🙂 It was so delightful when she teased/played hide and seek with Brielle and her autograph book! They have an area set up where they help the kids shoot a huge arrow at a huge target!
   

The best part of the day was when Brielle said, “I’m a princess too! GOD’S princess!” Yes my dear you are! I’m so thankful for a sweet friend who has created a small group experience for girls called Beauties where girls learn their true worth and true beauty! Part of our fun during the day was simply taking pictures! Brielle is such a ham in front of the camera. I love finding out what sort of facial expression she’ll use each time I take a pic! We had this funny moment where we literally got stuck between characters. When you meet Daisy and Minnie you stand in line, meet one and then go right over to the next. Well it was break time and they are strict! We were caught after Daisy on stage waiting for Minnie, so Brielle and I decided to have some fun while we waited!
    

The 2nd best part of the day was just the time spent with my sweet sweet girl! Brielle is soooo loving and she shows it and verbalizes it constantly. We had so much fun hanging out and just loving each other and our time together. I will cherish that forever! She does love her Papa and brothers though and so she was missing them by the end of the day.

I was hoping we would go on at least one ride today. Luckily, Brielle agreed to try the teacups Mad Tea Party ride and she loved it! Brielle spotted Alice and the Mad Hatter. I didn’t realize she even knew who Alice was, but Brielle was so excited to see her and insisted she loves Alice. Oddly a burst of wind came up as Brielle was visiting with Alice and the Mad Hatter. They requested she take the wind with her. Eerily it did die down after we left. Hmmmm. (the rest of the pics are at the bottom in the scrolling album)

Tiana was in a gazebo in this cute garden area. Brielle told her we had just visited New Orleans. Tiana insisted we visit her restaurant next time! I made a mental note this would be a great area for our picnic lunch later.

Jasmine and Aladin wound up being the longest line we stood in and truthfully, it was kind of torturous. It was outside so it was a little hot. One of the cast members kept insisting we move forward and squish together. I was baffled as that does not make the wait for anyone shorter, but it does make it more unbearable to be closer to the wiggly annoying kids on either side of you. (yes other people’s kids are annoying even at Disney!)

Up to the circus area to visit Minnie, Daisy, Goofy and Donald. By now Brielle decided she needed to fill her autograph book, so she kept adding to our list of who we should see. I later found out Snow White was only there in the morning, same with Chip and Dale. Bummer. Actually Snow White and Aurora weren’t even on the list of characters to meet, so I didn’t even think of them until it was too late. That’s the only disappointment and we saw so many more characters than Brielle had planned!

Brielle noted how much all the princesses talk and talk and talk during the meet and greet.

Tinker Bell was probably the flightiest of them all. She was having fun. Brielle was hoping it was like Disneyland so she could see other fairies too. Sadly, it’s not.

Arielle was so pretty and of course Brielle loved her mermaid tail. They had fun talking about how much they both love to swim!

Rapunzel was the most dingy of the princesses, but she was nice. And of course Cinderella was beautiful. Brielle and I agree it’s really nice when you get to see 2 characters after standing in just one line!

Belle was an interesting experience and probably the low of the day (and unfortunately late in our day as well). We didn’t realize it was an interactive experience where they give the kids parts in a play they act out for Belle. Brielle is not a fan of being on stage or being in front of people, so she wound up crying and giving up the part just as she was supposed to go up. That sent the older cast member into a panic. She obviously hadn’t had this happen before and I could tell they are on a strict timeline.

All in all it was a glorious, magical day. Brielle loved meeting all the characters (even the ones that were obviously fake because their face is plastic and their lips don’t open and close – LOL!)

Brielle loved the teacups, the Arielle’s Grotto ride, she tried and hated Goofy’s roller coaster and declared she’s not doing roller coasters anymore. We had fun riding the train around the park though. And we got to ride the monorail and the ferry to and from the parking lot. The boys were bummed because we could only do buses the day the family came together. So Brielle and I got some non-traditional but fun rides in and they were all firsts for me!

Of course we had to do a little shopping. All day she had talked about how glad she was that we got the Autograph book she can put the printed pictures in, and I agreed it was an excellent choice. Brielle had a budget and she just couldn’t decide if she should get the Merida bow and arrow or the Lady stuffed dog. Now keep in mind we were here 2 days ago, so she has thought long and hard about what to buy. Oh she battled with the decisions. Finally, her frugal mama searched Amazon and found Lady for a bit cheaper, so we ordered that online. And Brielle decided she would put just a normal bow and arrow on her birthday wish list.

Both days were completely different and both were so much fun!!!