Ballet Fairy Tales

A few years ago, Marina and I saw the ballet Coppelia performed by a small ballet company. We’ve wanted to see other shows of theirs but couldn’t schedule them. Today we were looking forward to seeing their Fairy Tale Suite. Marina decided to wear her new Mulan dress with a light wrap.

We arrived at the theater, it was one we hadn’t been to before. We saw lots of little girls in princess outfits, they reminded me so much of Marina when she was little. The show was a short one, but it was cute, combining the stories of Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, Beauty and the Beast and an Asian Empress.

After the show, there was a small tea party in the lobby. We had snacks and met a few of the dancers. After a bit of a wait we saw the choreographer for the show. He also dances in The Nutcracker that we see every year. We were excited to meet him and he was gracious enough to talk with us for a few minutes. After that conversation we went home.

Maleficent at the Movies

Marina has been on fall break this week and she has spent most of it with her dad. I was able to take time off today to spend with her. So we decided to see the new movie Maleficent: Mistress of All Evil. We went to the for a lunchtime showing.

Maleficent Mistress of All Evil was more action packed than the first Maleficent movie. When it was over, Marina said “I think I have a new favorite movie.”

Another Princess Partea

For the past two years Marina and I have attended The Princess Partea. While Marina said she wanted to go, at times she felt reservations about being too old. However, today she was excited to go. She wasn’t sure what to wear, so I suggested a Cinderella costume. She finished it off with sparkly shoes and a blue crystal tiara.

The hotel the Partea was at this year is fairly close to our house. So we were able to arrive early. We ended up in a long line when we arrived but it moved very quickly. Once inside, we looked for the princess meet and greet lines with the shortest wait. We quickly saw Merida, Mary Poppins, Tinkerbell and Sleeping Beauty. Then we saw Jasmine’s line was fairly short, so we met with her. Marina was particularly excited to see her with a new Aladdin movie coming out soon.

At that point, we were shocked that the line for Anna and Elsa was pretty short, so we went o see them. Last year their line was long the entire time, so we happy about that. Next we went over for pictures with Moana, who had an amazing palm tree made of balloons near her.

One of the longest lines was for Belle. But we were willing to wait. She was, as always, just lovely to us. After a few pictures, we went into the Under the Sea Tea Party where we sat down for a bit and had a snack. Then we got into the fairly short line to see Ariel.

The longest line during the whole party was for Cinderella. But since Marina was wearing a Cinderella costume we had to see her. While we were waiting in line, Marina saw there was no line for Moana, so she talked with her and Merida to pass the time.

After a lovely visit with Cinderella, we saw that the lines for most of the princesses were practically nonexistent. So we stopped by to see many of them again before we were ready to leave.

Disenchanted

Marina has always has a love of princesses. Now that she's older that hasn't really changed. We decided to see Disenchanted, a princess spoof, at a dinner theater with some friends.

Since it was a princess show, Marina decided to wear her Ariel dress. We took a few photos outside the theater before going to our seats. One of our servers was playing Snow White in the show.

After we ate, we settled in for the show. It was a comedy with some mature themes. Marina laughed throughout. She was clearly enjoying herself. At intermission Marina enjoyed a black forest cake for dessert.

After the show was over, we met up with some of the actors we know. We got photos with Snow White and Sleeping Beauty in their costumes. We also caught up with the frog princess. She was the one who encouraged us to see the show. Just before we left we managed to get pictures with the actresses playing Mulan and Ariel.

The drive home seemed to go quickly but it was still pretty late when we got home.

The Sleeping Beauty

Marina and I have seen The Sleeping Beauty ballet several times before. But since we love it so much, we wanted to go to the performance this season. Since Angie loves the ballet, we invited her to join us.

We all met downtown in front of the theater. We bought drinks and went to our seats. Marina and Angie had fun talking before the show.

The show was beautiful as we expected. The people sitting next to Marina were bothering her in Act One so she sat on the other side of Angie for the rest of the show. That helped her enjoy the show more. Act Three was her favorite since it contained Puss in Boots.

After the show the performing arts complex was packed again. Marina was impatient waiting for the elevator for the parking garage so she was actually willing to take the stairs. She was tired and wanted to get home to play with the cats.

Fairytales and Fondue

Last year we went to a Fondue Fairytale. We had a fun time, so we decided to go to one this year as well. Marina had a tough time picking out her outfit. She was planning to wear her Elsa coronation dress. But when I mentioned that we would be eating chocolate fondue, which Anna sings about in her coronation dress, she changed her mind. I put her hair in a bun and we added a green tiara. She looked very pretty.

We arrived at the restaurant right on time. We met two of our friends there. The two year old was dressed up as Tinkerbell. We were all really hungry, but it took a while for them to get our first course of cheese fondue took a while. Once it was ready we all dug in.

While we ate, we listened to a few songs sung by the characters. They had Ariel, Rapunzel, Aurora and Prince Charming. I took pictures of Marina with all of them. I even managed to get a group photo. One girl even asked Marina for her autograph. She signed it “Anna.”

 

We all enjoyed our food even if it was served slowly. We talked with them for a while before leaving the restaurant.

Party with Princesses

Last year, we attended the Princess ParTEA. When I got an announcement that they were having another one this year, Marina wanted to go. We just got an Elsa coronation dress last week and she wanted to wear that. We decided not to use the cape because it was so long we worried it would get stepped on and damaged.

There was a line when we arrived and we went through that only to get in another line to get in. When we finally made it into the ballroom. We headed to the back of the meet and greet area and saw our friend as Mary Poppins. She didn’t have a line, so we went over to see her. Then we found  Rapunzel. Her line was short, so we visited her as well. By then most of the lines were so long that we went into the tea party room. We got a photo with Belle and then got a snack.

After we ate, most of the other attendees were also in the tea party, so we went back to see princesses. By now, the liens had gotten much shorter. We saw Cinderella and Aurora. We also got photos with Merida, Elena, Moana, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. Before tackling the huge line for Anna and Elsa, we saw Ariel and browsed the vendor tables.

The line for Anna and Elsa was long and slow.  Marina was tired by then. Fortunately, the line sped up after a while and we were able to get through it.a. Of course, Else had to make a fuss over Marina’s dress.

Once we finished with Anna and Elsa, we said goodbye to all our friends before heading out.

Fondue Fairytale

For lunch today we had reservations for Fondue Fairytales. Marina didn't want to wear a costume, so she wore a pretty floor length sundress. I put her hair in a bun but we left a little on one side which I curled into a pretty spiral. Then we pinned her favorite tiara in front of it. Then Marina put on her makeup.

One of our friends picked us up and drove us to the restaurant. The Fondue Fairytales were on the patio outside. Rapunzel came by our table with coloring pages. Prince Charming also came by and we all took pictures with him.

As we ate, the princesses sang and Prince Charming danced. He was an amazing dancer! Marina went over and danced with him and the Princesses for a while. She also got her face painted. It turned out beautifully. While she was having that done, the Princesses gathered everyone together for a group picture. I was sad Marina missed it. I mentioned it to Rapunzel and she arranged for Marina to have a photo with all of them by herself!

As each Princess left, Marina gave them a warm hug. We finished our meal with chocolate fondue. It was delicious but by then we were all stuffed. On the way home Marina asked if we could listen to Princess music. She sang along with them the whole trip back. We all agreed we want to come back next summer.

Sleeping Beauty and the Good Fairy

I got us tickets to see a children’s production of Sleeping Beauty at a nearby. When we arrived, we found the children’s program director was a woman we met at Hairspray the night before. That was a fun surprise!

When we sat in the theater, we saw a row of chairs with costume pieces on each chair. We realized that likely the kids in the audience would be playing the characters. Marina and I tried to figure out each part while we waited.

It turned out, we were correct. There were three girls, including Marina, who wanted to be Princess Aurora. Marina “auditioned” but ultimately a younger girl got the role. Marina got her second choice – one of the good fairies.

The show was fun and all the kids seemed to have a good time.

Princess ParTEA

Last month at the Spring Fling Marina and I heard about a Princess ParTEA that was coming up. I talked to the organizer who told me it would be “a princess party on steroids.” Of course, we wanted to go.

The party was this afternoon. Marina decided she wanted to dress as Princess Aurora. I was a bit surprised at her choice. We arrived a bit early and we had to wait in line until it started. We enjoyed seeing how the other girls were dressed while we waited.

Once inside we saw many princesses with meet and greet stations. We started on the opposite side from the crowds in an attempt to avoid long lines. We started with Belle. Then we saw Tiana, Moana and Ariel. We spent a bit of time with Ariel because she remembered us from other events.

Marina was a bit disappointed that Princess Aurora was in her blue dress but the two of them spent a while talking together. We also saw Rapunzel, Snow White and the Fairy Godmother. The line for Anna and Elsa was huge, so we left it for last. As we were waiting, the princesses gathered for a sing along. While that was going on some of the other princesses were left alone, so we visited with them and got some great group pictures. After the sing along, the Anna and Elsa line was much shorter we finally got our photos with them.

We went outside and Marina got a chance to paint a small canvas. She painted a rose, paying a lot of attention to the details. After she was done, she gave it to me.

The other part of the event was a tea party with Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter. Marina changed into her Alice costume before we went in. The room had crazy decorations and the animated film was playing on a huge screen. The tea party offered a huge array of food. Marina and I were pretty hungry by this time, so we both filled our plates a few times, We also had some fun interactions with Alice and the Mad Hatter.

When the party was over we were both tired, but we’d had a lot of fun. We always enjoy our time with Princesses!