Dec 04 2011
Lunch with Cinderella at her castle
For Annada’s 3rd birthday, I decided to take her to eat lunch in Cinderella’s castle. I had to reserve it months ago and I’ve been excited ever since. I even had a hard time sleeping the night before we went.
I started the day by mistakingly thinking we could take the monorail to Magic Kingdom from Hollywood Studios, so we ended up walking, catching a bus and then the monorail. But we still made it in time to talk to the ugly step sisters before heading into the castle.
Annada connected with Anastasia and kept talking to her even as we were taking the picture.
We walked into the castle and stood in a small lobby. Cinderella was there and there were no other guests, so she talked to Annada for at least 5 minutes – maybe 10. Annada was awe struck and shy. Cinderella was very kind.
The castle lobby
After we took a picture with Cinderella and a few more guests came in, we sat down to wait to be called up stairs.
This was my favorite moment: Annada cuddled up next to me on the bench, threw her hands above her head by circling them and said, “Coming here is a wish come true!”
I love this picture because it shows how Annada shows the number 2. She has always done it like that. She is telling Snow White that she is two-years-old.
Then they called us upstairs. We walked into the dinning room and were seated near the door. They were just announcing the princesses by telling their stories and then having them make a grand entrance to their theme song. Annada was having a hard time staying in her seat and not running to great them.
As we ate “our servant” brought us a wishing star and magic wand. Later we had a wishing star ceremony complete with music and twinkling lights. I was impressed – it was really fun. Annada ate sitting backward in her chair so she could see everything.
Soon the princesses came to see us. Annada was too star struck to talk much except to Ariel who asked Annada who she was. Annada told her she is Princess Lavender. I explained that all the women in our family have secret princess names and Ariel said, “I want to be a princess too! I mean, um, a secret princess.”
Ariel and I laughed but Annada was very serious and suddenly confident. They talked it through and came up with the name Princess Rose Petal (she couldn’t be Princess Rose because I am Princess Rosebud).
Last came Belle – Annada’s favorite. Belle took a long time with Annada and let Annada hold her hand as they talked. Then Belle kissed her and Annada covered her cheek with both hands with glee. She continued to cradle her cheek until dessert came.
Then I saw…
Belle's kiss!
It was hard to convince Annada to take a bath the next day and wash it off.
Make your own cupcake and ice cream. Annada was a happy girl.
Then we went downstairs and talked with Cinderella again. We retook the picture because the first one didn’t turn out. I’m glad it didn’t because Annada was happy to see Cinderella again. I had told Annada we would have lunch with Cinderella, so she was concerned that Cinderella wasn’t actually at the lunch. Getting to see her again seemed to satisfy her.
Annada told me that after that Cinderella was tired and went to take a nap. We ate dessert then left.
Resting where Cinderella had been.
On the way out we stopped where Cinderella had been. Annada wanted to sit where Cinderella had been, but I think she was really tired because she laid down for about 10 minutes. She was awake, just resting. She seemed very content.
It really was a wish come true. Happy birthday, Annada!