Princess Parade

Last year when we visited Disney we didn't see ANY princesses.  Well, that is not exactly true. We saw Snow White at the opening ceremony but then she went down a ramp and back behind a fence so we never got to meet her.  This year, we were determined to meet some princesses so I booked two character meals - Cinderella's Happily Ever After dinner and Cinderella's Royal Table lunch in the castle.  This way, we were guaranteed to come up close and personal with some of our favorite story heroines.

At the dinner, in addition to meeting Prince Charming and Cinderella, we met a few of the other characters from the story - Lady Tremaine and the two evil stepsisters, Anastasia and Drusilla.  At first we thought they would be rude, but all three turned out to be sweet and pleasant.  I guess they are only mean to Cinderella!

Lunch in the castle was AMAZING!  It was totally worth planning 6 months in advance for this special event.  Cinderella greeted all her guests inside the castle where our Snow White had her portrait taken with the princess.

I was shocked that Cinderella remembered Grace from dinner the night before.  As she was signing Grace's autograph book,  I overheard her say to Grace, "You were at dinner last night with me and Prince Charming".  That is pretty impressive, considering Grace had a different costume on the day before.  They have to meet hundreds of little girls every day!

At lunch, four of Cinderella's friends visited our table.  We met Jasmine, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Belle, and Ariel.  They each were very nice and took the time to talk to Grace.  Many commented on how much she looked like Snow White and Belle told Grace that she only wears her yellow gown when she is with the Beast. 

Disney must have some rule about the characters posing for photos together.  They are always alone in the photo and last year I remember asking some of the characters at Chef Mickey's to pose in the same shot and they declined.  

The only ones who posed together were Ariel and Prince Eric.  This was before we went to the castle and since Ariel is Grace's current favorite princess, we HAD to wait to meet her!  She was outside in her own little area near Tinker Bell and her fairy friend, Terrence.  (No, I had never heard of him before this day!)

Earlier in the day, the wait was about 40 minutes to meet the fairies. But our strategy to go at night right before the fireworks allowed us to enter their enchanted garden with a very short wait time because everyone else was getting ready for the fireworks show.