December 9, 2012. I was dining at Akershus with my husband, daughter (age 2), mother, father, and grandmother. My daughter is absolutely obsessed with Snow White. I mean obsessed. We can't even mention another princess without her reminding us that she is friends with Snow White. All day we were talking about how she was going to get to dine with the princesses and all she could talk about all day was how she was going to finally meet Snow White. She told anyone and everyone that she was going to meet Snow White. She was very excited.
So supper time comes, we check in, and head to get our picture made with Belle. Now, it might be pertinent to tell you that my daughter has a speech delay. That, coupled with her shyness means that she rarely speaks and when she does, it can be very difficult to understand her. She had nothing to say to Belle as she was just too shy. No big surprise, though, and Belle was very sweet and understanding. It was then time to eat and have the princesses come around to meet us. Cinderella was first and my daughter was still not really interested in talking to her. She would cling to me whenever Cinderella would try to talk to her. Cinderella left and my daughter starts looking around the room and asking for Snow White. Well, Sleeping Beauty was up next. She was excellent with everyone but my poor daughter was still too shy to speak. Aurora went on her way and my daughter was back to asking for Snow White. Well, guess who appeared next?
Snow White is walking towards our table and my daughter just goes nuts. She is jumping up and down in her high chair and giggling and squealing with delight. Snow White gets to us and my daughter is frozen. She is just staring at Snow White with this goofy open-mouthed grin. Snow White tried so hard, but my poor daughter was so star struck that she couldn't speak. Eventually, Snow White had to move on. Her leaving snapped my daughter out of it and she was heartbroken. She kept asking for Snow White to come back. It broke our hearts to see how sad she was.
Then Ariel, or, as my family has come to know her - the miracle worker, came to our table. Just like with Cinderella and Aurora, my daughter was too shy. Ariel didn't give up. she talked about her shy friends and "coming out of their shells". She was fantastic and would you believe it? My daughter started talking and laughing with her. We were thrilled. They were so cute talking to one another. Then it was time for Ariel to move on. When she left, my daughter went right back to asking for Snow White. Ariel came back rather alarmed and asked if Snow White had missed our table. We explained everything to her about her shyness and how she didn't speak to anyone except Ariel. Ariel said she'd see if she could get Snow White to come back. Snow White did. Second verse, same as the first. Goofy grin but no words.
The time for the princess parade came. Ariel surprised all of us by coming to our table and asking my daughter to be her partner in the parade. She took DD by the hand and lead her around the room. But then, at the end of the parade, she didn't bring her back to our table. Instead, she took our daughter straight to Snow White. Ariel was able to get our daughter to speak, so she was going to see if she could get her to speak to Snow White. You know what? She was. I had tears as I saw my daughter in a little corner with Snow White and Ariel just having a wonderful time.
My daughter still talks about meeting Snow White and how she is her favorite princess, but from that day on, I have to say that I love Ariel.