Disneyland - part 1 -The Princess Fair

I have to preface this story by admitting that Benjamin is not a normal 25 month old child. He is my Disney baby. He was concieved on a Disney trip (I know, too much information), I went to Disneyland while I was pregnant with him, we took him on his first trip to Disneyland at 3 months and then again at 20 months. So, he has had experience with Disneyland. At his 2 year appointment, the doctor was surprised that Benjamin remembered Disneyland and could talk about what he did there. He has also watched the slide show I made of our last trip at least a million times in the past 5 months. So, he was VERY excited to go to Disneyland on this trip. From the moment we got there he was just a bundle of excited energy, and he seemed to charm everyone around him.

Our first priority was seeing Mickey and Minnie Mouse dressed up for the Chinese New Year. It was ending on February 29th, so we only had two days to see them and get a picture. Since this was one thing that Emilyanne was really sad that she was missing, I needed to get her picture with Mickey and Minnie before they were gone. Lucky for us we were able to see them both fairly easily and with little or no lines because of our timing.
When we went to the Princess Fair (this is the only place you can see the princesses these days), we got in line (this is always a very long wait) and hoped we would be seeing Cinderella (for Leilani) and Snow White (for Emilyanne). They have three princesses in there at a time, and they are constantly changing. Last fall, we didn't get to see either of those princesses at the fair. We had the kids dressed up - Leilani was Tinkerbell, Benjamin was Peter Pan and Hailey was Wendy - and they were more than ready to see the princesses when we got up to the front of the line. In fact, Benjamin kept trying to sneak in there with other families (they let one group of people in at a time). When they said it was our turn, Benjamin took off. He ran up to Sleeping Beauty and jumped on her and gave her a big hug.

Then he was off to Belle. She got down and he jumped right into her poofy dress and gave her a hug. He was sticking out his tongue and hiding from them and generally flirting. The princesses, the pages and the photographers were all getting a big kick out of him (Leilani got cheated. There are tons more pictures of Benjamin than of her).



When we got to Mulan, the guy escorting us thru asked how many princesses we had seen. I told him only these three, but that I really needed to see Snow White to get a picture for my little girl I left at home. He told us that he really wanted all the princesses to see Benjamin, that none of them should miss out on this entertainment, so if we wanted to come back after the coronation show (where the princesses who are not getting pictures at the time are performing) he would bring us in thru the back door and we could see the other princesses. Of course we said "YES!" Who wanted to wait another 45 minutes in line to maybe see the right princesses? I was already questioning if I loved the daughter at home who loved Snow White enough to wait in line again. (So, Emilyanne can thank her cute brother for her autographed picture from Snow White) I told him he was an answer to my prayers and we would be back.


So we went to the coronation. We found out later that the guy who escorted us (Devin) was talking on his headphones about our kids to the people on stage, and they were picking them out in the audience. When it came time to do the maypoles, one of the ladies-in-waiting came and took both Benjamin and Hailey by the hand and helped them get ribbons and do the maypole with Snow White. She actually walked with Hailey the whole time.



When the coronation was over, we went back up to the princess area. We had to wait for Devin to finish up some work, and while we waited Benjamin started to throw a fit because he wanted to eat, not see more princesses (keep in mind this was about 5 pm and he hadn't had a nap). Luckily for me he is fairly easy to talk out of a fit. So by the time Devin took us into the princess area, he was in pretty good form again. He didn't really want to see Snow White, though, he was yelling for Jasmine!
He and Cinderella had a good time. She didn't want to let him go. In fact, when it was time for her to leave, instead of leaving she visited more with Benjamin and Hailey by the exit.

Finally he got to meet Jasmine. For some reason he had been yelling for her the whole time. (Rumor has it this thing for Jasmine is a male thing)
It was kind of funny, while the kids were seeing Jasmine, one of the pages says to me, "How many Disney visa's do you have?" I wasn't sure I heard him right, because it seemed like such an odd question, so I said, "Did you just ask me how many Disney visa's I have?" He smiled and said, "Yes, I saw you guys this morning at the character meet and greet in Californina Adventure." (You can only go into that if you are a Disney Visa card holder) It was kind of funny, because we had A LOT of photographers and cast members remember us during our trip. In fact, on Saturday I was getting a free picture printed in California Adventure, and the guy said, "Were you guys at the Princess Fair in Disneyland on Thursday afternoon?" I had to think about it, but I said, "yes." Then he asked, "Is your son's name Benjamin?" Again I said, "yes." Turns out he was one of the photographers there that day. He said that for the past few days he and other photographers had been pulling up pictures in the back room that they had taken of Benjamin, and showing them to people. He said that Cinderella REALLY liked Benjamin. It made me feel almost famous - Yes, I'm Benjamin's mom!
Pocahontas came in to change with Jasmine, so Leilani was excited to get a picture with her. Benjamin wouldn't have a thing to do with her, so we forced him in the picture.

We profusely thanked them all. Devin gave Benjamin his first Disneyland pin - Pluto, and Snow White wrote notes to my two girls at home telling them how much she missed them. Devin worked my sister's camera for her, because at first she couldn't get it to work, and then she just wanted to deal with Hailey instead of the camera. I'm sure the people behind us hated us, because we got much more than our fair share of time. Even when we were done with the princesses, there was a lady in waiting who was playing tag with the kids. It was a whole different experience then when we were there with the kids and cousins last fall. :)

It didn't stop there, though. Later that night, when we were watching the parade, the blue fairy from Sleeping Beauty (Merriweather) came dancing over to us and said, "Hi Benjamin, did you have a good time today?" (he didn't have anything with his name on it, not even his mouse ears). Then she talked to Hailey, and then she went to Leilani and said, "Hi Leilani, is this the best birthday you have ever had?" Then she continued on down the street with the parade. I'm sure the people around us were wondering how in the world that fairy knew the kids. We were wondering the same thing. The only thing we can figure is that it must have been one of the people working at the princess fair that day.