Cynical New York Mom Goes to Cinderella Breakfast at the Magic Kingdom

Originally posted September 9, 2010

Feminists get a bad rap. If you believe the pundits (and you know who you are), feminists are either anti-men or anti-family lesbians. Well, I am am none of those things. I just  want to live in a world where I get paid and respected like the opposite sex.

That said, as I raise my daughter in a world that is pretty much still hostile to women and especially, women of color, I have tried to instill a sense of purpose, self-esteem and of course, that she can do and be anything she wants. This means,  I have never been one of those moms that encourages the whole Disney princess way of life. Sure, I  bought a princess dress back when she was three and  a Disney DVD, Cinderella, of course but nothing else that would engender her  running around  pretending to be a  princess like the other little girls in her pre-school, so suffice to say I would not classify us as a Disney-besotted family.

So when I was planning our trip to Disney World, the first piece of advice I received was to book a character meal, especially the princess meal as soon as possible. “Okay,  why not,” I thought. I will go along with the herd and I booked the “Once Upon Time” breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table inside the iconic Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom.

Well, who knew going to Cinderella’s Castle was such a big deal?  Not this clueless mom. We arrived ten minutes early for our reservation and all I could see was a sea of  little girls in their Disney princess dresses. And then there was my daughter in her recently purchased Tinkerbell t-shirt and ballet skirt from Target. It was cute  but it was no match (sorry Target) against the sea of blue Cinderella ballgowns.

Since we had a few minutes before we could enter the castle, we wandered into the nearby Castle boutique. You could say it was fate, I think. As we walked into the boutique, all you could see was  nothing but princess dresses and accessories for all the Disney princesses. And like a beacon in the distance, I saw the Cinderella corner.

So what did I suggest to my daughter? You guessed it.

“Would you like a Cinderella dress for the breakfast with Cinderella?”

She looked at me and bless her  little heart knowing I had already spent money on her outfit, she asked me “What do you want me get Mommy?”

Maybe it was guilt or my own  feelings of inadequacy or that her grandparents are deceased and can’t  buy her these types of things or that I never had  a Cinderella dress or that, hey, you are only seven once but I could not resist the moment.

“Let’s get the Cinderella dress. ” Not only did we walk out with  the dress but the crown, shoes and gloves but I did stop at not buying any jewelry.

Well, as she stood in line waiting to have her picture taken with Cinderella, I can not express how happy I was at that moment  and so was my daughter. She was just beaming. She really looked soo precious standing there next to Cinderella.

After our picture, we went upstairs to the main dining hall where we were seated overlooking Cinderella’s carousel. How apropos.

As they announced each princess, my daughter was visibly excited and thrilled to see each of them. I could sense the level of excitement build as each princess approached our table for the requisite signing of the autograph and picture taking event.

When they brought the picture over with my daughter and Cinderella and I saw how beautiful she looked in her newly bought dress, I was
moved to tears.  I was seriously so happy that I had made the effort to reserve our breakfast in the Magic Kingdom, going against my  feminist inclination.

Because every little girl should have their princess moment and more importantly will forever be immortalized as part of her childhood.