Seeing Magic Through Her Eyes

They say that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth. They say it is a magical fantastical place where dreams come to life. They say it is a place where you can experience the most wondrous events and build memories that will last a lifetime. Well, I have to say, there is truth in that advertising!

We took Miss Magic to Disneyland and Oh what an experience it was. She was the embodiment of non-stop exhilaration from the moment we first entered and saw Goopy right up until she started to fall asleep on Jason’s shoulders on the way out of the park. Halle Grace was as excited as a thousand children on Christmas Eve and as animated as Mickey himself in his most magnificent cartoons. For Halle Grace, Disneyland was one thrilling moment after another. In fact it seemed that with each character we saw; Goopy, Mickey House, Minnie, Cinawella (these are not typos but rather her actual pronouncements of their names) the enchantment only intensified. Her smile was from ear to ear and her unbridled excitement was so electrifying that you couldn’t help but become energized by it.

I honestly believe that if she even TRIED to squeeze one more ounce of fun out of Disneyland the authorities would have stopped her, telling her to save some magical fun for other children. It was simply amazing and I was emotional at times watching her experience the TRUE magic of Disney.

It also was just as amazing to see her timing be so impeccable. She obviously wanted to see Mickey House and Minnie while we were there as well as some of the princesses. She told anyone that would listen to her in the days prior, that she was going to see all of these characters. My hope was that she would in fact get to see at least a couple of those she mentioned by name. My only hesitation was that on any given day some of the characters might be in one place when you are in another, or they might not even make an appearance that day. So my fingers were crossed that she would at least see one princess and either Mickey or Minnie.

Such pessimistic thoughts... For as soon as we walked in we spotted Pluto!

Almost immediately thereafter we came across not one, not two, but three princesses all together. According to Halle Grace they were all Cinawella…even the ones with dark hair. It was then that Halle-Grace’s true level of excitement was evident. When we approached Cinderella and put her down, she almost bowled Cinderella over as she ran up to, and almost over, her.

Cinderella had to catch herself with her hand or risk being toppled over by a bundle of pure joy and energy!!!

Talking to Snow White….looks like a serious conversation

Miss Magic surprised Ariel with a Big Princess Hug

After leaving these princesses we simply “stumbled” upon Mickey House leaving only Minnie still to be seen.

By this time Mom and Dad needed a break and some lunch so we told HG we would try and find Minnie after we grabbed a quick bite. We grabbed something quick and began our search for Minnie all too aware that our time to return was soon approaching. However, we must have forgotten that our daughter’s nickname is “Miss Magic” for no sooner than we had walked back into Toonland we saw Minnie walking straight for us. We walked right up and got a couple of pics of them together and headed for the souvenir shop then to our ride.

While in the shop Halle-Grace said she had wanted to tell Minnie bye. I tried to console her and told her Minnie had to rest and visit with all of the children who were there to meet her and that she did get to have her picture taken with her. Glancing at our watches we realized we were already five minutes late for our ride. We finished in the shop and headed out when who did we see standing right in front of the shop….Minnie Mouse! Halle-Grace got to tell her bye after all. Jason scooped her up and placed her on his shoulders and headed for the gate. We didn’t even make it out of the park before she was fast asleep. She only woke up momentarily to flirt with Hunter Brunett (Dedria’s little brother) in the car before finally crashing for the evening. She was so exhausted she slept clear until the next morning not even waking while we removed her clothes and placed her pjs on her. What a MAGICAL day!

Obviously we had a blast and we would be completely remiss if we did not thank specifically Eddie Peterson for being such a wonderful host and coordinating our visit and for the Brunett family for graciously chauffeuring us to and from Disneyland. We are incredibly grateful to you all. Thank you very much for allowing us to spend a magical day with our daughter, Miss Magic!

Thank you Eddie for making Miss Magic’s Princess Dreams come true!

Shannon Devine