The Elusive Princess

Our final 2 days at Disney were great - we saw lots of princesses, thus making me and Ry happy. I did have one princess-stalking incident. We went to the "county Fair" area in Magic Kingom for the Character meet and greet - and the guys at the front of the line were very non-committal when it came to which princess would actually be at the end of the line. But still, we waited and saw ANOTHER Cinderella, ANOTHER Belle and Mary Poppins (honestly, she was great, but I don't think Ry knew who she was - must be frustrating for those playing B-list princess). The whole point of us standing in line was to see Aurora, and the very very nice lady in the princess meet and greet room suggested we ask at the counter on the way out and they'd tell us where Princess Aurora would be. So we did.... and they told us she was in the room we just exited. Well, no, I explained, she's not - only to be assured that she was. After explaining that we'd JUST come from there, and there was no sleeping beauty in sight, they said... “Well, she's supposed to be there.” Not helpful. They vaguely suggested we come back later. Are they kidding me? But still, later that afternoon I did find myself roaming about the kingdom with Ry in tow - having sent the boys back in search of a nap for my little sleepless boy-beauty, we had some time to kill before the parade, so we ventured back to the meet and greet. This time I would NOT stand in line without knowing there would be a princess Aurora at the end of it! AND since the same 2 guys at the front of the line were maintaining that Disney-magic hedge of not telling who was there, we lurked about the exit, and assaulted the exiting patrons, who said that, indeed, Aurora was in the building. Grabbing Ry and her autograph book, I ran through the line (off-season, therefore no lines) and got into the meet and greet arena... only to find no sleeping beauty. There was the fairy godmother, and the same Cinderella and Belle.... AND the same character-handler as before. As I was trying to excuse Ry and myself from the room and bypass the characters, she pulled me aside and wound up pulling some strings to "wake Sleeping Beauty from her nap", and several minutes later (all the while, Ry and I lurked at the side of the room, trying to avoid eye contact with the Princesses we DIDN't want to meet AGAIN, and all the while the Fairy Godmother tried to convince Ry to come see HER) the evasive Aurora arrived and gave Ry a private audience. I was very grateful - especially because I'm sure some choice words were uttered by this self same princess when the handlers came to pry her from her smoke break. But still, she made Ry's day. (and mine).