Annelise and Mom went to a princess breakfast at the Norwegian Castle in Epcot. This was recommended by a friend and a fun little treat for us both. Annelise has seen the DVDs for Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, but she has been much more immersed in many wonderful stories of castles, knights, princesses and far away imaginative lands. We have shown her some books with Disney princess stories but Mom usually embellishes the story, making the princess even more virtuous and good, concerned with serving others, beyond the usual simplified and superficial story lines. In Mom's version she will meet a prince and they grow fond of each other's goodness and then he asks if he may court her and introduce her to his parents. They live a life of love and goodness toward all. I want to prepare my girl for more than quick shallow romance, and weave in the fact that love grows through time and is sacrifice, and there is no beauty without goodness. That message is often absent in the commercial princess stories, but easy to add. We teach her she is a daughter of the king, the King of Heaven, and that is her true royalty. We all dream of the far away place where evil and sickness are banished and everyone is happy and loving. So then regularly Annelise pretends she is the princess of the "Kingdom of Kindness", and she finds a way to show this by being good and loving in specific ways. Mom found a secondhand princess dress of Disney's Bell (nice because the picture looks the most like Annelise) and so Annelise likes to say she loves Belle. She hasn't seen this DVD, or the other Disney videos, but realizes there are many princesses from all lands, and they are all good, kind, beautiful, and love to think of others. So with that backdrop I felt confident we could enjoy a breakfast where she would meet five princesses dressed up in costume, and transcend them into the many stories in her imagination. I thought my little girl would enjoy being with "big princesses" as much as she does dress up at home with little ones, and I knew I sure would. We let the boys go explore the rest of the park for this one.
We arrived at the castle with Annelise in her lovely dress, walking with graceful steps, greeted by everyone (all day in fact) as "Princess" or "Your Highness". So breakfast was the beginning of a very special and fun day. She arrived at the restaurant and was immediately introduced to Belle in a beautiful dress that matched her own, waiting to spend a few minutes talking just with her. It could have been any princess, but this was her day. She was stunned, and the actress was so beautiful Mom was stunned too, she was truly lovely and gracious and seemed to take joy in Annelise. She talked with her probably for five minutes, then they exchanged hugs, they smiled for the camera, and she gave Annelise a kiss on her cheek. Leesie was beaming and returned a reverent kiss to her too. Then we went to our table to be served breakfast by the lovely Norwegian waitresses who also looked like princesses. They had a hot dish served as well as a buffet and the food was really good. We sat near the special door, where the princesses would come out. Sure enough, part way through the meal, Cinderella arrived. She made her way to each table and greeted everyone, and spent a few minutes with the little girl dressed up. Then she said goodbye and went to the next table. Cinderella was followed by Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, and Jasmine. The ladies were very warm, attentive and kind to all. Annelise didn't know the name of Ariel, or her story, so Ariel told her. It was very sweet to watch them interact. Jasmine was also very kind and Annelise just enjoyed saying hello to her too.
The table next to us had a couple with their grown son who was had Downs Syndrome. He was full of pure youthful innocence, and childhood imagination and he treated both us and the princesses with kindness. His parents were very warm, and told us how their son enjoyed coming to Disney World and meeting the princesses. The princesses were very good with him and also gave him hugs and affirmation just like they did the little girls. I wanted to cry watching. I realized this 25 year old boy had retained the innocence and imagination of my son at 5 (when he 'married' Snow White in a pretend ceremony in our home). I also saw his generous, good and kind parents and remembered my friend telling us they "were chosen" when they realized their child had Downs Syndrome and they considered it a special privilege. I watched the warmth and sacrificial love of these good and kind parents and felt like I was privileged to be sitting next to the true royalty. I wished I could spend more time with them. At the end of breakfast Annelise gave the young man a hug and we all enjoyed running into their family a couple times during the rest of the day as well. It was nice to be in a place where not only imaginative children are important but people with special needs are shown kindness, dignity and understanding.
Annelise and Mom went to a princess breakfast at the Norwegian Castle in Epcot. This was recommended by a friend and a fun little treat for us both. Annelise has seen the DVDs for Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, but she has been much more immersed in many wonderful stories of castles, knights, princesses and far away imaginative lands. We have shown her some books with Disney princess stories but Mom usually embellishes the story, making the princess even more virtuous and good, concerned with serving others, beyond the usual simplified and superficial story lines. In Mom's version she will meet a prince and they grow fond of each other's goodness and then he asks if he may court her and introduce her to his parents. They live a life of love and goodness toward all. I want to prepare my girl for more than quick shallow romance, and weave in the fact that love grows through time and is sacrifice, and there is no beauty without goodness. That message is often absent in the commercial princess stories, but easy to add. We teach her she is a daughter of the king, the King of Heaven, and that is her true royalty. We all dream of the far away place where evil and sickness are banished and everyone is happy and loving. So then regularly Annelise pretends she is the princess of the "Kingdom of Kindness", and she finds a way to show this by being good and loving in specific ways. Mom found a secondhand princess dress of Disney's Bell (nice because the picture looks the most like Annelise) and so Annelise likes to say she loves Belle. She hasn't seen this DVD, or the other Disney videos, but realizes there are many princesses from all lands, and they are all good, kind, beautiful, and love to think of others. So with that backdrop I felt confident we could enjoy a breakfast where she would meet five princesses dressed up in costume, and transcend them into the many stories in her imagination. I thought my little girl would enjoy being with "big princesses" as much as she does dress up at home with little ones, and I knew I sure would. We let the boys go explore the rest of the park for this one.
We arrived at the castle with Annelise in her lovely dress, walking with graceful steps, greeted by everyone (all day in fact) as "Princess" or "Your Highness". So breakfast was the beginning of a very special and fun day. She arrived at the restaurant and was immediately introduced to Belle in a beautiful dress that matched her own, waiting to spend a few minutes talking just with her. It could have been any princess, but this was her day. She was stunned, and the actress was so beautiful Mom was stunned too, she was truly lovely and gracious and seemed to take joy in Annelise. She talked with her probably for five minutes, then they exchanged hugs, they smiled for the camera, and she gave Annelise a kiss on her cheek. Leesie was beaming and returned a reverent kiss to her too. Then we went to our table to be served breakfast by the lovely Norwegian waitresses who also looked like princesses. They had a hot dish served as well as a buffet and the food was really good. We sat near the special door, where the princesses would come out. Sure enough, part way through the meal, Cinderella arrived. She made her way to each table and greeted everyone, and spent a few minutes with the little girl dressed up. Then she said goodbye and went to the next table. Cinderella was followed by Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, and Jasmine. The ladies were very warm, attentive and kind to all. Annelise didn't know the name of Ariel, or her story, so Ariel told her. It was very sweet to watch them interact. Jasmine was also very kind and Annelise just enjoyed saying hello to her too.
The table next to us had a couple with their grown son who was had Downs Syndrome. He was full of pure youthful innocence, and childhood imagination and he treated both us and the princesses with kindness. His parents were very warm, and told us how their son enjoyed coming to Disney World and meeting the princesses. The princesses were very good with him and also gave him hugs and affirmation just like they did the little girls. I wanted to cry watching. I realized this 25 year old boy had retained the innocence and imagination of my son at 5 (when he 'married' Snow White in a pretend ceremony in our home). I also saw his generous, good and kind parents and remembered my friend telling us they "were chosen" when they realized their child had Downs Syndrome and they considered it a special privilege. I watched the warmth and sacrificial love of these good and kind parents and felt like I was privileged to be sitting next to the true royalty. I wished I could spend more time with them. At the end of breakfast Annelise gave the young man a hug and we all enjoyed running into their family a couple times during the rest of the day as well. It was nice to be in a place where not only imaginative children are important but people with special needs are shown kindness, dignity and understanding.
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