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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

grumpy princess

we love free.  and we love disney.  when you put the two together, it's like...magic.

a couple of months ago, disney junior put out an invitation via facebook for an event hosted by two of their most popular characters - jake from "jake and the neverland pirates" and sofia from "sofia the first."  playing off of their "power of doing good" theme for the summer, the event was going to focus on ways that kids could do good things to better themselves, their families, their communities, the world.  i mean, who doesn't need a good dose of positivity wrapped up in a nice blanket woven with disney magic, right?


i managed to hop onto the website and reserve tickets just before it was full to capacity.  anything disney, especially when it's free, goes like hotcakes.  and the timing was just right - it capped off the busy week we'd had squeezing as much summer fun in as we could before it was time to go back to school.

getting there was easy.  and we weren't sure what one had to do to qualify for VIP parking, but with no one to ask (or to turn us away, heh), we scored a sweet spot right in front.




 the teen wasn't scheduled to work till later that day, so she came with us.


so glad we don't have to deal with this anymore.


as we stood in the long line to get in, i noticed something.  looks like they weren't turning people away if they didn't have a ticket after all - in fact, the standby line was a hell of a lot shorter than the one we were in.  hmph.


that's okay.  the line went fairly quickly, and we snuck in a few photo ops as we waited.  shocking, i know.



once inside the play area, we were free to roam through the handful of activities that were set up for the kids.  we could hear the singalong show at the stage near the back, and were told to save that for last.  first up:  the storytelling maze.




since it was time to get down to business, she ditched her crown and handed it to her sister, who wore it happily.


there were three parts to the story, and at each of the three stations the kids spun the wheel and then used the corresponding stamp to fill in the blank.





why yes, i think i will.  


next, recycling fun with jake.


taking care of stuffed animals was right up her alley.


that water bottle she got while waiting in line came in handy, as did the super thoughtful "hydration station."



this activity was clearly geared towards the very tiny littles.  it held her attention for about 3.75 seconds.


here she got to pick a magnetic "stone" to help "build" the castle.







 i was surprised she didn't opt for the "make my grandparents smile," but this one is good too.


last but not least, the forever tree.  with her sister's help, she picked out a promise and wrote her name on it to add it to the growing promise chain.



by the time we got to the line for the singalong show, she was over it.  i'm kind of sad that she's outgrown this kind of stuff, but then i remember how much fun we have everywhere else and then i'm good.  we stood in line just long enough to be released into the viewing area, but walked straight through to the exit.




they really wanted to make sure you knew you were done after this part.


a final parting gift.


the bean was kind of cranky by this time and at first refused to take a picture here.  she begrudgingly took my phone to snap this for me, though.


and then as she does, changed her mind and allowed me to take her picture after all.


we gave her five minutes to join the fun in the playground, but it didn't improve her mood much.


super emo bean, man.  i hope this isn't a glimpse into the future.

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