“A Perfectly Princess Day”
The next morning was our Perfectly Princess Tea day, so Bunny and I awoke, showered, dressed, and hopped over to the food court for breakfast. Bunny ordered chocolate chip pancakes and ate maybe half of them. She was too busy complaining that she couldn’t see the TV from the table I’d chosen and I refused to move so she could see it better (and thus ignore her breakfast more handily).
I kept prodding her to finish up so we could get back to the room and get her dressed in her Snow White dress for the tea. I knew that although they serve fruit, tea sandwiches, and cake at the tea, it has been described as not being enough to count as a meal. And I know Bunny when she’s hungry, so I wanted her to eat something ahead of time.
It was pretty chilly outside that morning, so I had her slip on a pair of leggings under the long, full yellow skirt of her dress. With these, she wore white socks and black Mary Jane style shoes (comfy, I checked). After the tea, Nana had an appointment with the dentist, and I knew we could drive back to the room afterward to change before heading out to a park again.
Well, I thought I knew how to get to the Grand Floridian, but even with several maps at our disposal, and Nana acting as assistant navigator, I managed to get pretty lost anyway. I guess we drove around the back way, and got to see really interesting things, like the warehouses and garbage collection.
Very magical stuff. With each passing second, I’m getting more and more stressed because this Princess tea is pretty darned spendy, and I don’t want us to be late!
Eventually, I admit defeat and phone the Grand Floridian, tell them we’re on our tardy little way, and ask how to get there as quickly as possible. We follow their directions and proceed in an unlawfully speedy fashion to the GF as Bunny announces, “
I feel carsick”.
Despite all BunnysGrandDad’s past efforts to convince her that in
our family, “we don’t get carsick”. He played this trump card unsuccessfully every time one of us kids complained of being carsick as kids. Well, despite her proud family heritage, Bunny is fairly certain her tummy now feels icky.
Likely from all the stress vibes her Mama is putting out, and possibly the chocolate chip pancakes. We pull up to the GF and are greeted by a very mannerly and gentle valet parking attendant, who helps Princess Bunny out of the car, directs us to the Tea Room, whisks away our vehicle, and rides off into the sunset on his white horse, whispering my name. Okay, I made that last part up.
We are indeed a tad bit late, and Briar Rose (she is an enormously talented enchanted rose from Princess Aurora’s garden) has already begun her spiel. Nevertheless Princess Bunny is showered with rose petals on her arrival, as we are ushered to our table, where we meet Princess Gianna of New Jersey and her mother and Nana. They are delightful, and the two little girls are entranced with the elegant, grown up atmosphere of the tea room, the charming music, Briar Rose’s captivating storytelling, and the instant friend they have found in each other.
We are served strawberries, melon, grapes, cheese and crackers, along with little tea sandwiches. The little girls are served apple juice in tea cups, and the adults are served real tea in tea pots adorned with tea cozies. Later, we were all served a divine strawberry cream filled cake. Mmmm.
I was delighted to watch Bunny’s eyes widen, and sparkle as she took it all in. The entire room was a symphony in pink, with the majority of the little girls present attired in Sleeping Beauty costumes, but several wearing gowns from the other princesses’ collections, which I am relieved to see. Bunny is wearing the Snow White dress, remember, and I didn’t want to dis Princess Aurora by having Bunny show up in a competitor’s knock-off. Princess Gianna at our table is wearing a stunning ice blue gown from the Cinderella collection, while Princesses Jasmine and Belle are represented by a few little girls each.
There is one other Snow White in the room as well, but I had already sized her up and it was obvious to me that Bunny was not only much more smart, kind, cute, athletic, imaginative, and loud, but a superior reader as well. Not that I’m competitive in any way. Or biased.
Bunny was on her best, most ladylike behavior throughout the tea. She clapped her hands daintily and used beautiful manners.
It was one of those great moments in parenting. Right up there with her very first smile that reduced me to tears, and reading the note she recently forged from her teacher:
“Deer Bunnysmum, Your
kid is allercic to spinag. We had that for lunch today. She IS. Sined, Linda BunnysTeacher”
Meanwhile, back at the tea, when Princess Aurora appeared at last, she spent some quality time with each little girl, and was truly superb in her role. She looked just as I imagined Sleeping Beauty would, and she was regal, soft-spoken and graceful. When she saw Bunny’s Snow White dress, she greeted her as “Princess Snow White” and asked how her seven little friends were doing, then ticked off all seven of their names easy as you please.
She thanked the two little girls at our table for coming to her tea, and then, gesturing to the Mums and Grandmums present, encouraged the girls to “please treat these ladies with the utmost respect, after all, they are queens!” Did I mention, she has
always been my favorite princess?
Each little girl attending received a little silver bracelet, a Princess Aurora doll, a rose, a tiara, and a certificate for naming their doll.
After the main festivities had occurred, Baron Branch (the gentleman playing the keyboard in the background) continued to play while the little girls and one boy (who received a teddy bear and crown in lieu of a doll and tiara) in attendance danced around the room. That one little boy was certainly a popular little guy, as all the little girls tried to dance with him. He was quite a good sport about the whole thing, and got into his role as the “prince”. He's going to be hard to live with when he gets older, as this experience has most certainly spoiled him where the ladies are concerned.
Gettin' her groove on:
When the tea was over, the little girls were invited to adjourn to the gift shop to collect their doll’s naming certificates, AND more importantly, to view all the dolly accessories and additional outfits available for sale there for our convenience. Unfortunately, we ended up in the back of the line somehow, and it wasn’t moving quickly. We had to jet outta there in minutes if Nana was to be on time for her date with Dr. Incredible. Eventually, we were forced to give it up and leave without the certificate. We were told we could come back later and pick it up at the front desk. Naturally, I forgot all about this in the hours and days to come. Fortunately, so did Bunny, so I was off the hook.
We hurried back outside and retrieved our car from valet parking. Then, armed with several maps and the same lousy sense of direction, I attempted to find Wonder Dentist’s office.
Imagine my very pleasant surprise when we were successful! Nana and Bunny went on ahead upstairs to his office, while I parked. As I entered the elevator, a youngish man also entered and we both exited at the same time. Little did I know, I was in the presence of dental greatness even then. I entered the office alongside Dr. Incredible, and found Nana and Bunny waiting.
Soon, Nana’s name was called and she disappeared into the nether regions behind the front desk. Bunny made a young friend, whom we later discovered was Dr. Incredible’s daughter. I listened as Dr. Incredible’s wife consulted with a window treatment specialist and learned a great deal about vertical blinds, chiefly, that they are outrageously expensive.
As we waited, I was heartened by the fact that we heard no cries for help or screams of agony. Clearly, Dr. Incredible knew his stuff. I was impressed.
Before Mrs. Dr. Incredible had completed redecoration of the waiting area, Nana emerged feeling MUCH improved, her disposition sunnier than ever. YOU are one terrific sport, Nana. I’m sure you endured that discomfort much more graciously than I would have. Well, now Nana was ready to mambo with the Mouse, to party with Pluto, to disco with the Duck, to cha-cha with…well, you get the idea.
Rather than head directly back to the room, we decided to try to salvage as much of the day as possible, so we headed to Downtown Disney for a little shopping, as planned. Bunny, still resplendently attired in her Snow White gown, announced that she was “hungry to death”, so we purchased a hot dog for her dining pleasure.
For her Highness' dining pleasure:
Now, I had an extra outfit, jeans and a t-shirt with us, and offered several times to help her change her clothes, but Princess Bunny was having none of it. I could tell she very much enjoyed being allowed to romp in public in her dress-up clothes.
With her dark bobbed hair, held in place by a red headband festooned with a large red bow, Bunny looked very much the part of a junior Snow White. Evidently, a few other visitors thought so too, because I noticed some folks pointing her out to each other and smiling. Despite all the humility I can muster, I have to admit that my child was a walking photo op.
Am I wrong?
I had been looking forward to visiting Once Upon a Toy, and filling a box with Mr. Potato Head accoutrement to use in my work with young children. Okay, who am I kidding, I wanted to play with them, too, but I can always say, “Oh, these are for work”. It’s an excuse that comes in very handy sometimes. I had also promised Bunny that since we were here celebrating her sixth birthday, she could also fill up a box with “My Little Pony” paraphernalia.
We both had a blast filling our boxes. The two CM’s at the check out counter were not only very courteous and helpful, but also had advanced degrees is quantum mechanics, enabling them to help us fit a quantity of stuff having the approximate volume of the Sears Tower into two smallish boxes. I asked if they were also available later in the week to help us pack our suitcases.
As we continued shopping, Bunny approached me at one point, and began an earnest sales pitch. “Look, Mommy,” I heard her say, “Over here there is a beautiful princess castle play set. Do you think we could get it please? It would be so much fun, and you could play with it, too, Mommy!” She made this request
without her usual theatrics, so she had my attention. I don’t know how on earth I managed to say “no”, but I did. First, it was a tad expensive, and second, Bunny has no shortage of toys on the home front. Third, I could not imagine how we would get it home.
Yet, in retrospect, I rather wish now that I had agreed. I think on that princess castle play set wistfully from time to time, and I know that Bunny and I would have had fun with it. And she did ask so sweetly. The thing is, Bunny is my one and only child, and with her sixth birthday rapidly approaching, I am keenly aware of the acceleration of time. I doubt that she’ll want the play castle the next time we’re there, and that will make me just a little sad.
Bunny conned Nana into watching her ride the carousel at DTD, while I shopped for breakables at a nearby gift shop. I picked up a glass Mickey Mug for my iced tea, a small plastic Tinkerbell tumbler for Bunny, a few more pins and a new lanyard for Nana. Unbeknownst to me, Nana managed to pick up a few items of her own, including a pink 3-D Minnie mug for me. Which I love. It is on my desk at work where I gaze longingly at it and dream every day of returning to the World.
We elected not to return to the room, but to head directly on over to the Magic Kingdom for the rest of the afternoon. Bunny was still in her princessy Snow White garb, with no plans to come out of it. Well, we did have dinner ADR’s at Cinderella’s for a little later, so why not? We’d dissed Sleeping Beauty by showing up for her tea earlier in the day by showing up in Snow White’s dress, now it was Cinderella’s turn.
You know, I’d forgotten all about our ticket fiasco at MGM the previous day, right up until the moment I slid my ticket in at the turnstile at the Magic Kingdom…
Always wanted to use that.
Oh, I'm not sure my friend, but I think it's entirely possible that you now have cooties! 
You and your trip report-writing dh, both.
) 
