Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo

Just a little Disney update from Pink Pajama Mama signing on here from Disneyworld. 
We are having the most fabulous time!! We had breakfast with Mary Poppins and Alice in Wonderland and Pooh.
The look on Annabelle’s face was priceless when we entered the room.
Henry, on the other hand, was terrified of all the characters. He cried and had to be taken from the room. He was so cute. He sat in a tiny chair and his feet didn’t even touch the ground, he’s so little. 
A bit later, we moved onto the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where Annabelle chose to become a mermaid. (Henry spent all this time lugging giant Pooh and Tigger stuffed animals around the store.) She put on a sparkly mermaid costume and they did her hair and makeup and nails complete with tiny tiara and massive amounts of glitter. Annabelle was in heaven. She held perfectly still and wouldn’t touch anything with her nails wet. She pursed her lips so the gloss wouldn’t get messy. I kept asking her to smile so I could take her picture and she said, “I’m too busy.” She asked Tawona, her fairy godmother-in-training to please put on a bigger crown. Tawona poured glitter over her with a magic wand and said “May all your dreams and wishes come true.” 
Now, we were whisked off back to the Magic Kingdom for dinner with Cinderella in the Castle. The castle was fabulously glamorous and overlooked the carousel.
The giant dancing mice once again sent Henry into fits of fear and the fairy godmother walked around granting wishes and Annabelle was again enthralled, but by now the kiddies were fading and we finally headed back to the entrance. 
Disneyworld reopens at night for a “Pirates and Princesses party” and everyone–even grown-ups with no kids–gets dressed as pirates and princesses. The lights were lit, the air was balmy, and the music was blasting when Annabelle asked to get out of the stroller so she could dance. She ended up dancing all the way down Main Street in her little mermaid sparkles doing a full-on show–following the music perfectly–getting dramatic when the music got dramatic, doing ballet when it turned soft and slow, and marching around like a miniature matador when it turned strong. She swung around the lightpoles and even strangers were taking pictures of her. It was fantastic to see her so completely in her own world. Henry followed along behind her with a big balloon. Annabelle danced all the way out to the boat which transported us back to the Polynesian where we walked back to our room with the pathway lit by tiki torches.
I know a lot of parents dislike Disney (I know, I know–it’s expensive, it’s perfect in a stepford-wife way, etc.), but I love it. In an unpredictable world, I like that I can take my kids to a place where everyone has the same agenda: to protect the innocence of children, to support their belief in magic, to use the wisdom of fairy tales to tell them whatever they dream can come true. I like that I can walk with my child into all sorts of fantasies and there will be no sex, no violence, no sarcastic humor–just fun and whimsy and lot’s of adults creating a magical world for kids. It is definitely outrageously expensive, but after going a few times, we have found ways to make it less so:
1) we used to do character meals for every meal. Now we plan one character meal and with regular folks the rest of the time.
2) If you buy a park pass for more than 2 days, the rest of the days are around $10!! So it’s well worth it to attend the parks for several days in a row!
3) We also pace ourselves and don’t push the little ones–we go to the park for a couple of hours in the morning before the heat and crowds, and by the time the heat and crowds arrive in the afternoon, we are back at our hotel pool relaxing and swimming.
4) IF you spring for a “Club” level room, they keep the club room stocked with food! For us, that saved us a ton of $$ in buying food! The kids eat small amounts anyway, so we could eat at the hotel and continue on our way.
5) There is lot’s of free entertainment–at most hotel pools, hotel staff run games with the kids so parents can chill on their lounges. At the Polynesian, they have games and dances, and later in the day they light a fire on the beach and roast smores, then set up a huge movie screen (on the beach by the pool) and they show a movie while the kids wait for the fireworks and parade, which you can see from the hotel. (The water parade–not the inside parade). My kids have never stayed up in time for the fireworks, and I highly recommend letting them sleep. We avoided tired melt-downs by keeping the kids on their regular schedule and not feeling like we couldn’t miss anything.
In any case-we learned after going several times, but it’s not the vacation for everybody. I have yet to meet a kid, however, who doesn’t love it!