Tangled Rapunzel
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2011
- Messages
- 7
Last month (Oct 2011) I took my daughter out to Disneyland. She is 4 years old (just turned), and had been a little shy about characters. We have annual passes and she has been interacting from time to time with various characters since age 1 and has been pretty much fearless with them, but around 3 1/2, she started to hide from some of them, particularly Rapunzel but mostly Flynn - an unusual occurence considering they are her utmost favorites, and Sleeping Beauty right behind them (probably due to me, since she's my favorite). We'd had several disasterous encounters where she did not even put her head up to even look at them, and wanted to be held by me. I'd only broken the pattern once by getting her an autograph book to give her a "purpose" with the characters. We were in line for the Tanlged Meet and Greet at Disenyland and I set her expecations as we waited that Flynn was in there with Rapunzel at the moment. She was in denial and kept saying he wasn't. Finally we'd made our way up there and I was fearing the worst. But both Rapunzel and Flynn took over. Rapunzel complimented Keira on her purple velvet dress, and Flynn said that personally, he liked the boots best (she was wearing tall black slouch boots not too unlike his). That really made her comfortable, and she took pictures with both of them. Rapunzel hugged her and amazingly, Flynn felt comfortable enough to reach down and hug her too (which I've never seen a male character do without a child initiating it). That sent Keira over the moon...she was thrilled that he did so. I had been so nervous and was just elated to see her move past (at least this once) her fear of him.
But that's not all - it gets better. I knew that Flynn would be inside because my husband was on the other side watching before we'd gotten up there. He comes and goes throughout the day with Rapunzel, visiting. He'd just returned about 5 families before us. I'd gotten my daughter to a seat immediately outside Rapunzel's "tower room" at the restaurant it shares space with to congratulate her, high five her and tell her what a good job she did. An area cast member (a female) walked by and stopped for a moment to ask my daughter if she'd met Rapunzel. My daughter responded that she had and that Rapunzel complimented her dress, and Flynn had liked her boots. At that moment, FLYNN came out, walked up and put his arm around the cast member (who was just in uniform, not a character) and said how much he'd admired her boots, to which the employee responded not missing a beat "Oh Flynn, of course! You're all about the boots! First I was in shock - he had just been back in to see Rapunzel before we got there, and maybe 2-3 parties could have processed through behind us. Flynn then bowed down and asked by name "Keira, would you be willing to help me? I need help finding Maximus. Would you come for a walk with me?" The cast member asked with a big smile "Are you going to help Flynn?" to which she said yes with a smile and nodded her head. Flynn took the lead, took my daughter's hand (who was sitting on my lap) and off they went for a walk through Fantasyland over to the carousel with me folling behind and taking pictures. It was such their moment that I might as well have not been there! People stopped me along the way, one person asking "Do you have VIP passes or something?" I said no, that Flynn had just pleasantly "kidnapped" my daughter for this awesome walk! Another visitor took photos too. He spent about 7 minutes out there walking around, looking at the carousel horses, having Keira decide which one was Maximus. At times he looked up to see her choice better, other times kneeling down next to her and talking with her, and when they were done, he asked her if she would walk him back to the Tower becaue he "needs to keep an eye on Blondie." Outside the tower room (and walking by all those waiting to meet him and Rapunzel) he kneeled down, said goodbye and gave her a hug. It was the sweetest moment I've ever seen. He signlehandedly ensured in his generosity that she would never fear him again - but how he could have known, how he even chose her for a special interaction I have no clue. We did not know the area cast member that had interacted with her just prior to Flynn walking up and she was not present in the Tower room previously. It was just really mysterious. I wrote a letter of commendation for him complete with photos, and I received a response saying they would share it with him and his department head. I am so relieved that the employee portraying Flynn that day will understand exactly how much what he did that day really meant to us. We felt like true VIP visitors. I'm even creating a photobook of just that interaction (I snapped away and got plenty of pictures)!
But that's not all - it gets better. I knew that Flynn would be inside because my husband was on the other side watching before we'd gotten up there. He comes and goes throughout the day with Rapunzel, visiting. He'd just returned about 5 families before us. I'd gotten my daughter to a seat immediately outside Rapunzel's "tower room" at the restaurant it shares space with to congratulate her, high five her and tell her what a good job she did. An area cast member (a female) walked by and stopped for a moment to ask my daughter if she'd met Rapunzel. My daughter responded that she had and that Rapunzel complimented her dress, and Flynn had liked her boots. At that moment, FLYNN came out, walked up and put his arm around the cast member (who was just in uniform, not a character) and said how much he'd admired her boots, to which the employee responded not missing a beat "Oh Flynn, of course! You're all about the boots! First I was in shock - he had just been back in to see Rapunzel before we got there, and maybe 2-3 parties could have processed through behind us. Flynn then bowed down and asked by name "Keira, would you be willing to help me? I need help finding Maximus. Would you come for a walk with me?" The cast member asked with a big smile "Are you going to help Flynn?" to which she said yes with a smile and nodded her head. Flynn took the lead, took my daughter's hand (who was sitting on my lap) and off they went for a walk through Fantasyland over to the carousel with me folling behind and taking pictures. It was such their moment that I might as well have not been there! People stopped me along the way, one person asking "Do you have VIP passes or something?" I said no, that Flynn had just pleasantly "kidnapped" my daughter for this awesome walk! Another visitor took photos too. He spent about 7 minutes out there walking around, looking at the carousel horses, having Keira decide which one was Maximus. At times he looked up to see her choice better, other times kneeling down next to her and talking with her, and when they were done, he asked her if she would walk him back to the Tower becaue he "needs to keep an eye on Blondie." Outside the tower room (and walking by all those waiting to meet him and Rapunzel) he kneeled down, said goodbye and gave her a hug. It was the sweetest moment I've ever seen. He signlehandedly ensured in his generosity that she would never fear him again - but how he could have known, how he even chose her for a special interaction I have no clue. We did not know the area cast member that had interacted with her just prior to Flynn walking up and she was not present in the Tower room previously. It was just really mysterious. I wrote a letter of commendation for him complete with photos, and I received a response saying they would share it with him and his department head. I am so relieved that the employee portraying Flynn that day will understand exactly how much what he did that day really meant to us. We felt like true VIP visitors. I'm even creating a photobook of just that interaction (I snapped away and got plenty of pictures)!
