Pursuing Princesses

If you have a 4 year old girl and you visit a certain amusement park in Anaheim, chances are you will be pursuing Princesses for a portion of your visit.

Now, pursuing Princesses is no easy task. There are 7 princesses and it is rare that all seven appear on any given day. Therefore, your pursuit is likely to be a multi-day activity. Also, princess pursuing takes preparation and planning. Princesses do not carry pens, therefore, Moms must have a pen at their finger tips in case a Princess suddenly becomes available. (Note: Disney is very helpful selling pens at every vending outlet.) Finally, unless you ask at guest services, you never really know which princess is going to be where and what time she will be arriving. Guest services will tell you, but then it is sheer luck that every other parent hasn't already figured it out.

As a veteran of multiple princess pursuits, I have tried a number of techniques, watched children and parents fall apart in line and missed out on more signatures than I can count on one hand. Therefore, this trip I started really watching the different techniques parents use to pursue princesses and I present them to you for our collective amusement.

Rookie Strategy: Get in long line and wait.
Fatal Flaw: Your entire Disney visit will consist of waiting in lines for 15 seconds of glory with a princess. The chances of catching all seven princesses is slim. You will be working hard keeping your daughter busy.
Upside: Very little time for shopping.

Sophomore Strategy: Put Dad in long line, while Mom turns her cell phone on and takes daughter to ride rides. When Dad gets close, he calls Mom and she returns with her princesses pursuer at an opportune moment.
Fatal Flaw: Other parents who are executing a rookie strategy will glare. (But really, why would a 40 year old man would stand alone in line to meet Snow White if there wasn't a little girl in the picture somewhere? Get real people!)
Other problem: Dad spends entire visit to the Magic Kingdom standing around looking at beautiful young women in ball gowns. Suddenly he starts discussing who is hotter: Cinderella or Ariel? It's worrisome.
Something I've never tried, but I think could work: Park a couple of dads together, give them each an ear bud to listen to March Madness basketball and I believe they could be happy for hours! Also, my guess is they would discuss princess hotness among themselves, saving Moms from listening to the lechery.

Junior Strategy: Take girls to Princess Story Time. (This includes the Jasmine and Aladdin story time. This is a real bonus 'cuz you get a princess and her prince, and parents get to sit in chairs. It just doesn't get better than that.)
Advantage: Guarantee an autograph, a picture and girls get to hear a darling story. Shorter lines and escape the heat of the day. Girls highly entertained by the story, and Moms get to brush up on Princess trivia--ever important when discussing the merits of something vital such as the type of shoes Belle wears.
Fatal Flaw: Only 3 stories a day--though Jasmine and Aladdin tell stories more often--the stories are packed and potty runs must be timed so as not to interfere with the autograph action. Also, the sound effect guy can frighten small girls as we found out the first time we tried this.
Other problem: The schedule changes daily, so you need to keep in constant contact with the shopkeepers in the Princess shop to insure you know the schedule. Heaven forbid, you repeat a Princess!

Variation of the junior strategy with a sophomore twist: Kids go to princess story time with Mom, dad gets into princess line. Story time and autograph ends at just about the same time dad reaches the front of the line. Wa-la! Kids will get 2 signatures fairly quickly.

Senior Strategy: Princess Luncheon
Advantage: 5 princesses in one place at one time and they come to you. AND every time you see a long princess line you can say to your daughter, "Don't worry, honey, we're going to see 'so-so' at lunch."
Fatal Flaw: There are 7 princesses...and it never fails, the two missing princesses are the two signatures you need.
Other problem: Overpriced, mediocre lunch--but the princess lunch isn't about the food. So tell Dad to stop whining and make sure the disc space on the camera isn't full.
Something to be aware of: Reservations can be made 60 days in advance and they sell out. But the restaurant takes walk ups, so if you can't get a reservation, try a walk up! (This isn't disclosed on the phone.)

In case you think this is slightly insane, you are right. It is. But then again, you probably haven't been to Disneyland with a 4 year old girl recently. If you have, you know, the pursuit of princesses is serious business and probably have a few strategies of your own. Most important of all is that you find a way to pursue princesses and still enjoy the park...something I saw more than one family losing sight of earlier this week. Ex-Cinderella- anything to add?