My Mom Is My Favorite Princess

There could be multiple titles for this particular post:  “Thank Goodness for Park Hopper” or “The Magic Inside the Magic” or “A Mother’s Day Tribute” as each of them could properly capture part of this story. . .

We headed to ‘Ohana’s for dinner after spending the day touring Animal Kingdom—click here to read about how we got to be the First Family at Animal Kingdom.  We had had a great day and were ready for a great dinner.  ‘Ohana’s, of course, is one of our favorites and a trip wouldn’t quite be complete without a meal here.

When dinner was over, we decided to take the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom and stop in and see the Princesses.  We hadn’t met the Princesses at the Town Square Theater yet, so we decided to give it a try.  Thank goodness for the Park Hopper option on our tickets!

The wait was minimal—20 minutes or so.  Once we traversed the main room with the queue, there was another room with an unfinished ceiling—so not like Disney, and then we filed into the last room where we could see the Princesses from our line.

Soon it was our turn.  Aurora, or Sleeping Beauty was first.  I handed our Photopass card to the first photographer and then proceeded to make sure the pillow case for autographs was ready for each subsequent Princess.  I knew, from watching, that the Photopass photographers and character handlers would pass our card down the line to each Photographer.

I’m so grateful that the boy enjoys meeting all of the Disney characters, including the Princesses.  I think it helps that he has been meeting them since he was a preschooler and that his Dad has a favorite Princess that he doesn’t mind meeting.  I hear about some families with boys who skip the Princesses altogether.  That would make me sad.

Next came Belle.  Belle asked the boy who his favorite Princess was and his response, “My mom is my favorite Princess.”  Well, I didn’t hear him, as I was prepping materials to meet Cinderella, but the Photopass photographer did and she made sure I knew what he had said.  It warmed my heart. . . both what the boy said and that the Photopass photographer made sure I knew it.  I thanked her for telling me.

I thought, what a great response from the boy.  Not only did it give my “mom” ego a boost, but it was very politically correct for the setting.  I mean, he was in the middle of a room full of Disney Princesses and didn’t want to hurt their feelings by picking one over another.  Hence the potential title for the post—A Mother’s Day Tribute.

Cinderella was the final Princess in the house.  The greeting had the right amount of royal regard.  We left the Town Square Theater, exited the park, and made our way back to our resort.

It wasn’t until the next day, that the boy’s answer to Belle made even more magic.  You see, the next day, we returned to the Magic Kingdom and instead of watching the rope drop at the park, we were IN the rope drop show and opened the Magic Kingdom—click here to read more.

To capture all the happenings of the event, a Photopass photographer was on hand, and his name was John.  Somewhere during the photo session before opening the park, there was talk of the Disney Princesses.  I then mentioned that we had met the Princesses the night before at the Town Square Theater and that the boy had told Belle that I was his favorite Princess.

John looked at us and said, “So you were the family.”  Huh?  Turns out that John’s wife was the Photopass photographer who had overheard the boy telling Belle that I was his favorite Princess and had in turn told me.  Then, she told her husband that night when she got home from work and then we end up being picked to open the park and John is photographing us.  What a small world!!!

The whole story gives me goose bumps.  John’s wife must have photographed hundreds of children and families the night before.  For her to tell her husband our story is mindboggling and then for us to be joined with John the next day in such a magical way is beyond coincidental;  it’s magical. 

And, people wonder why we keep going back to Disney.  This story exemplifies one of the many reasons!  It’s not that we expect the same magical things to happen each trip—far from it.  It’s that we know magical things can and do happen.  Are we disappointed if something doesn’t happen?  No way!  We have incredible experiences and make our own magic.

I’m still shaking my head by the serendipity of all of it.  But that’s what Disney magic will do!