The magic dress, part 1

Once upon a time... oh, so long ago,

Dan and I took our kids (only three of them at the time) to Disney World for the first time.

It was wonderful.

It truly lived up to it's reputation of being "the happiest place on earth."

After three days of riding rides, watching shows and window shopping,

I realized that my then 4yo hadn't asked for a thing.

Nothing.

(The same couldn't be said for her 6yo brother.) 

I wanted her to have something special,

maybe a stuffed animal or a little toy to bring home,

so I directed her to a shop and asked her if there was anything there that she would like to buy.

She took her time looking at all there was to offer

but once she saw this Snow White dress

there was no question.

She wanted the dress!

 I have to admit that when I looked at the price tag

my generous offer to buy her anything suddenly seemed a little extravagant.

Eighty dollars for a dress?!

Eighty dollars for a dress-up outfit?!?

We were a young family and eighty dollars seemed like the moon,

but that's what I wanted to give her.

She had been so good and all I wanted was to give her the moon.

Or maybe an eighty dollar Snow White dress.

So we bought it and a few accessories...

what's a few more dollars?!?

We had one more day left at Disney,

so when she woke up and asked me if she could wear the dress

I was happy to say yes.

(May as well get our money's worth out of that thing!)

We hadn't gone more than ten feet past the main gate of the Magic Kingdom when a little girl no older than Quincy herself, approached us and asked if Quincy would sign an autograph book.

I looked questioningly at the girl's mother, then shrugged and helped my 4yo sign both her name and in parentheses, Snow White.

I think both Quincy and I were a little stunned, but we moved on.

I looked up and noticed that there were long, long lines wrapped all around the main courtyard.

Lines of people waiting to hug, pose for pictures with, or get autographs from Disney characters.

I said right then and there that there was NO way I was going to waste our last day at Disney

waiting on lines to hug anyone...

unless...

maybe,

Snow White.

We continued down Main Street and out of the corner of my eye, 

I saw a flash of yellow.

Snow White and several of her dwarfs were down one of the side alleys.

Suddenly, I became one of those crazy parents.

I grabbed Quincy by the hand and practically ran down the alley

only to watch as Snow White slipped behind one of those mysterious doors to the unknown.

Noooooo!

Happy and his handler were still out.

"Please," I ask the handler "is there any way Snow White can come out for just one more picture?"

Happy's handler gently shot me down, but then assured me that she would be back in just 15 minutes.

15 minutes?

Not a problem.

We can wait 15 minutes!

I spent time talking to the handler, asking about her job and other Disney related things.

Happy and Bashful took turns taking pictures with the kids 

and dancing with mini-Snow White.

More tourists stopped Quincy and asked if she would pose for a picture with them.

Uh... sure, I guess?

Quincy didn't quite know what to make of it, but she was a trooper and went along with it all.

At one point, Happy and his handler took a moment and went "behind the wall."

Moments later, the handler (I wish I knew her name) came back and said to me,

"Snow White would like to know if your daughter would like to walk down Main Street with her and the dwarves."

Uhhhh... YES!

I turned to my husband who had just returned with something to eat 

and said, "Throw that away! We have to go!  You need to get the video camera out!"

Slightly confused and not particularly happy to part with his breakfast,

Dan followed me as I filled him in.

The handler took Quincy's hand and led us to another side alley to another door further down Main Street

where we met up with Snow White herself and all seven of the dwarves.

Snow White took time to admire Quincy's dress 

and the ruby ring that was obviously a ruby from the dwarves' mine.

The dwarves were quite impressed, 

but Dopey was particularly taken with our mini-SW.

Dan ran ahead with the video camera

(I think that's him on the left.)

and I stayed alongside snapping as many pictures as I could

while still pushing a stroller and guiding my 6yo.

Once we arrived at the designated stopping point,

Snow White took lots of time posing for pictures with her mini-me.

And was sure to call over the two handsome princes.

Quincy got a bit of the VIP treatment and was directed to the front of all of the dwarves lines.

This did not endear us to the mom's that were waiting on line and that we were effectively cutting in front of.

We went from dwarf to dwarf hugging and taking pictures

until I could no longer bear the daggers being shot at me from the eyes of those moms

We hadn't visited Grumpy yet, but I didn't think that would matter.

I gathered Quincy and the rest of my clan and said that it was time to go.

Dopey caught wind of this and came running for one last hug.

When we finally had a moment out of the whirlwind 

and a chance to regroup as a family,

I asked Quincy what she thought of all that.

You know what that stinker said???

"I didn't get to hug Grumpy!"

Really?

So, Quincy, I'm sorry and for many years I had a teensy bit of guilt, 

but after seeing that last photo,

I realize that it was actually Dopey's fault.

He blocked us from Grumpy!  

I'm sure of it.

So now my mother guilt is appeased and I will happily blame Dopey.

(Thank you Dopester!)