Perhaps the biggest physical change coming to
Disneyland to support the Year of a Million Dreams campaign is the repurposing of the existing Fantasyland Theater into something called the Disney Princess Fantasy Faire. When the Snow White show closes on Labor Day, the theater facility will undergo a frantic remodeling into a massive new meet 'n' greet concept with all of the existing bleachers and quite a bit of the permanent seating removed.
The idea is that parents will wait in line to enter a "Princess Walk" set up near the current directors booth in the theater, where there will always be three different princesses waiting to sign autographs and take pictures with the kids. Once you've run the autograph book gauntlet and had your picture taken with three princesses, you can stroll over to the old Fantasyland Theater snack bar which will now be selling cookie decorating kits to be taken to the dozen tables set up nearby. After you've decorated your official Disney Princess cookie or colored a picture or two, it's on to the "Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique" on the opposite side of the theater. And here's where the serious cash gets doled out by parents.
Modeled after the successful Club Libby Lu concept over in Downtown Disney, official Disney makeover artists will charge all the Mommies and Daddies a fee to have their little girls be made up like their favorite Disney Princess, with clothing and accessories all for sale in addition to the charge for the makeover itself. The merchandise department will be running the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique, and they're already salivating at the thought of the huge profits to be mined here.
Once your little darling is all dolled up like a Disney Princess, then it's on to the Disney Princess Academy, located on the floor of the theater itself. Etiquette coaches will teach the little girls how to act and behave in a royal manner, and perhaps even offer tips on how to remove those juice box stains from the $50 gown Daddy just bought them.
And then every hour on the hour the big event occurs, the official "Disney Princess Coronation Moment." During this perfectly Disney-orchestrated emotional highpoint to the day, the little girls will all be lined up on stage, a real prince and princess will come out to greet their miniature versions fresh from the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique, the Disneyland Band will play a royal tune, and moms and dads will elbow each other to get the perfect shot of it all from the few rows of theater seating left in place. (Goodness I wonder how many shows Dr. Phil will get out of this a few years from now?)
