Picking up after Princess time....
Post gathering I suggested Isabelle go to Do Si Do with Snow White, certain Isabelle she would jump at the chance for more Princess time. I was feeling rather impressed with my wily self, and was already imagining spending the next few hours either soaking in the Quiet Cove hot tub or sipping a latte in the Café as I casually flipped through a magazine without a care in the world.
Isabelle smiled. Where is Snow White?
At the Oceaneers Club!
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
*assuming pile-of-limp-child posture*
As if she had been bound and tortured by Captain Hook earlier that morning. Wait, had she? Paige piped in with I want to go! Can I go? Surely Izzy would buckle under the peer pressure. Right? But my daughter is nothing if not stubborn. I have NO IDEA where she got that from
.*ahem* she refused. No, no, no. Though my visions of adult time were quickly fading before my eyes, I didnt want to push it. Maybe she was tired and just wanted some parent time. Lionel and I sucked it up, enjoying the fact that for now, at least, she likes us. We took the opportunity to chalk up MAJOR mommy and daddy points by letting her pick out her princess dress.
Quick photo op before parting ways
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Last cruise, she was immediately attracted to Belle. This year, she had been wavering between Cinderella and Aurora and Ariel and Jasmine and
.well, basically she was naming a different princess daily (if not hourly). Still, I expected her to pick a classic. And then? She surprised us both by bee-lining for Merida, an option none of us had never considered.
Kind of a bummer for Florida its more of an air-conditioning dress, sadly. But it is pretty darned cute. And as a side note, she has worn it WAY more than she ever wore her Belle dress. Roleplay as Merida is hilarious. Mommy, tell me no weapons on the table! She will squeal gleefully as she sets her suction cup bow and arrow set down and I pretend to be a grumpy Scottish queen. Despite living there for three years, however, my Scottish accent is horrendous. Thank goodness my three year old doesnt know the difference yet.
Im digressing again.
Let's reel it back in with a photo...I call this still life sad child in window...
After choosing Merida, the three of us roamed the ship for a bit and then played in the room and just when I was thinking a nap before dinner might be nice BOOM! it was 5:30. Um, what? Were we in a time warp or something? Well, heres where I have to interject my latest discovery. In order to explain my next point, I must provide a few definitions from the Jacques dictionary. I promise you, this is not a digression. Or if it is, its just a wee one.
Cruise Time (n) the time envelope you are folded into immediately upon entering a cruise ship, in which the minutes tick by more slowly, thereby allowing you to fit more things into your day and to provide ample time to spend more money on alcoholic beverages and overpriced 8x10 photos. Used in a sentence: I thought wed been in this hot tub for at least an hour, but its only been 30 minutes! Thanks, Cruise Time, it looks like we can go to Bingo after all!
Toddler Time (n) the state of every action in your entire day taking two to three times as long as it would if you didnt have your kid in tow. Used in a sentence: My daughter took 10 minutes to put on her shoes and another 20 to whine about them not being the ones she picked out. I blame Toddler Time for my tardiness.
After much scientific research, many calculations and several wth? moments, we discovered that when Cruise Time and Toddler Time collide, time simply passes at the normal rate. When you are EXPECTING time to pass at Cruise Time, you can get yourself into trouble. Or you just have to send your child to dinner in her Merida dress WITHOUT fabulous hair. Though were she in modern times, I could totally see Merida in a headband with a giant blue bow
Off to formal night we went! Paige dressed in her Belle dress, so there were many oohs and aahs on he way to dinner as well as several stops to twirl. When it comes to this dinner, I remember less WHAT we and more what was going on WHILE we ate. Our head server spent a lot of time at our table chatting with the princesses. He said he was missing his little girl and would get to see her soon. And it pays to get friendly with your head server, because if you dont have ambitious servers like weve had in the past (and dont get me wrong, ours were very nice, they just didnt often go above and beyond) THE HEAD HONCHO WILL BRING BERRIES FOR YOUR KIDS. And will bring them to you every night thereafter without you even asking. Merida and Belle happily ate their special fruit, feeling very royal indeed. In fact, this is the last night I remember Isabelle happily eating anything. But well get to that.
The little Princesses - note the fabulous blue bow...
Post dinner we headed out to the Golden Mickeys, fabulous as always. Im always amazed by the sheer number of people in these shows. What do they do all day when they are not performing? Fill roles as characters? Provide other entertainment? Lounge by the pool? Ive just always wondered. Seems like that would be a sweet job for some young, talented person.
Back at the room, we discovered our stateroom attendant Ana had put PRINCESS SHEETS on Isabelles bed. She was thrilled beyond words. Not only was it her special little bed, her beloved cow toy was tucked in under Aurora and Belle. We knew what she was going to say: can I sleep in my Merida dress? and before she could get to the end of the sentence Lionel and I had, in unison, said Heh. Heh. NO.
A quick word about stateroom attendants: we have been on many Disney cruises and had all levels of service from our dining team. And from guest services. And from the gift shop attendants. The one service area that has NEVER wavered for us has been our stateroom attendants. Always with a smile, always saying hello when you pass them in the hall (even if they have no idea who you are, because youre schlepping across the entire length of the boat to get to the laundry room) and always GENUINE. Ana was no exception to this rule, and in fact she went above and beyond so many times during our journey that it truly felt like we were the only room she had been assigned. Now THAT is service. I half-joked to Lionel that we should make her an offer she couldnt refuse and bring her home.
To top it off, Ana had also put the towel animal on Isabelles made-for-a-princess bed. Izzy immediately picked it up and its head fell off
.I tried to balance it back on top, but it was never quite the same. Poor little towel bunny rabbit never even saw it coming
We managed to wrestle Isabelle out of her dress and she passed out immediately. I assumed my nightly position in bed with the navigator in one hand and a highlighter in the other. We were all gleeful at that moment in time: Izzy dreaming of princess things, me planning away for our Tracy Arm day and Lionel lovingly caressing his giant rental lens. Tomorrow would hold great things we all knew it.
Up next: seals! Glaciers! And the only time on the whole cruise I was close to being cold.