Uninspired

This was our last evening at Disney World and we wanted to make it big. We wanted to make it Disney Big. The Disneyest of Disney Big evenings. Obviously, this means a Princesses Dinner. That’s right, you read correctly. A PrincessES dinner – plural.

Mom and I had been anticipating this event the whole week. We were told we would enjoy a delicious feast at the castle in Norway with 4 or 5 princesses. Who would we meet? Would Snow White be there or Ariel?

Once we had discussed which princesses may or may not be present (topic up for debate: are Alice in Wonderland and Tinkerbell princesses?), we realized we had nothing to wear, so we headed to Main Street Magic Kingdom to find appropriate garb for a princesses swoiree. Mom picked up a lovely mouse ears headband. The ears were adorned with sequins that are a color that picks up a lot of different pastelly colors from the light. A pastel princessy swath of chiffon flowed down the back of the mouse ears. I picked up a more traditional, pointy pink princess cap also adorned with sparkles and a swath of chiffon down the back. However, my cap had traditional black mouse ears sticking out the sides. We were all set!

Mom started fretting about the dinner around noon. She had several concerns:
Concern 1: The sparkly mouse ears added another foot to her 6 foot height. I explained to her that any princess would wear her princessness with pride. Was Sleeping Beauty all upset about her hair being mussed, her breath being atrocious, and the sleep that had accumulated in her eyes after sleeping for years? What about Snow White? Did she fret over whether or not she would wear white at her wedding after living out-of-wedlock with 7 tiny men? Think about the beard-burn Beauty has after making-out with the Beast! Does she obsess over which brand of cover-up to use? The answer is No, No, and No!!! Princesses wear their Princessness with pride. That is why these little details go unnoticed and unmentioned in the fairy tales.
Concern 2: We would be the only people at the dinner dressed up in special outfits. Well, first of all, 4 OR 5 princesses would be there and dressed up in special outfits. Also, considering the number of princess costumes, shoes, handbags, hats, perfume, makeup, nail-polish, socks, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, bibs, sleeping bags, blankets…you get my point…for sale at Disneyland, I’m pretty sure the chances of at least one other person being dressed up were very high.
Concern 3: We would be the only adults there without children. First of all, what the heck am I? Am I not her child? Also, speaking as a woman who got herself fired, went immediately on vacation, and carried Eeyore around all day as one of the “crew” – what the hell did I care? I was here to meet princesses, dammit! These were women who caused trouble across the lands, slept for years at a time, got men and dragons killed – did they get fired? NO! I needed to learn more, find out their secrets to success, and get a few make-up tips as well.

While we were dressing for dinner, Mom informed me that she would not be wearing her sparkly mouse ears to the event. She’d put them on at the event. More brooding and worrying about looking silly ensued during the bus trip to Norway.

We arrived in Norway and checked in at the castle gate. The gate area was buzzing with a crowd of 7 year old girls dressed to the nines in any princess outfit you can imagine. It turns out we were, actually, under-dressed. A kind man announced us to the crowd and escorted us to the castle receiving area. I elbowed Mom in the ribs and she reluctantly put on her giant sparkly mouse ears and ducked to step through the castle door. A look of concern crossed her face as she scanned the interior of the castle, crowded with parents in polo shirts herding little girls carrying wands and wearing princess caps. I saw her self-conciously adjust her mouse ears.

Then, a woman emerged from behind a curtain and informed us that Princess Ariel would like to meet us. “Princess Ariel!” exclaimed Mom. “PRINCESS ARIEL, she’s my favorite!” and away she rushed. I breathlessly caught up to Mom who was already fawning over Princess Ariel. Princess Ariel looked at us kindly. “I love your ears,” she complimented Mom. “Is this ladies night out?” “Oh yes, yes, Princess Ariel,” enthused Mom, “and you should know you are my favorite princess!! You have the best dress, and the best hair!!!!” Princess Ariel took the compliments gracefully, smiled beautifully, and lightly touched Mom’s shoulder, “I’m so glad you could come to my dinner party.” I thought Mom was going to faint.

Mom’s doubts vanished the minute we saw Ariel. We met Belle (I really wanted to compare notes with her about The Beast vs. Hubby – I’m sure they are very similar), Aurora (Sleeping Beauty to you princess novices), Princess Jasmine (Mom made me take a picture of her back because her hair style was so cool), and Mulan.

It really was a magical evening. If it had been a movie, the screen would have gone to a sepia color, and two little girls in fancy dresses with curls and bows in their hair, one blonde the other brunette would have been seated at the table laughing and eating cake. That is how we felt.

Thanks Princesses. You taught me something. We need to remember to feel like this all the time. We work hard, we are fabulous women, we are graceful (even if tall), intelligent, and have made it through some really tough times. We deserve to feel like princesses more than one dinner a lifetime!

(PS: I noticed the men were enjoying this meal quite a lot as well, obviously for reasons other than female empowerment. Hubby, if only you would have joined us on this vacation. You would have had fun.)

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 22nd, 2006 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.