The Fabulous Disney Babe
Page 3 of 6
Julie Andrews
Directly in front of me, in the center of the room, was Julie Andrews. We said hello, I introduced myself, and she allowed me to take a photo for the site. I was polite and calm, thanked her, met Anne Hathaway, who does a hilarious turn in the film as Mia, the "invisible girl" who discovers that she is a princess, got a great picture of her, and told my date, when it was just us: "I met Julie Andrews. I can die happy. ". Star-struck geek, that's me. Alice was waiting up for me when I got home at ten-thirty that night (Grandparents babysitting: eat two desserts, play Pokemon, stay up late) I told her I'd met Julie Andrews. Blank look. "Maria from The Sound of Music". She nodded. Oh! Yeah! "Mary Poppins, the real one!" she blanched (I forgot: she's afraid of Mary Poppins).
Anne Hathaway
Exiting the room, we faced another stairway down, and found ourselves in a room with a nautical motif, named "Fisherman's Wharf". Inside was a beach-party themed room, with another buffet: fish and chips, peel and eat shrimp, grilled hot dogs, salads, sundaes, bread pudding and watermelon. There were different kites decorating the walls, including a Lions kite from the film and a PowerPuff Girls kite. The centerpiece for each table was a sand play set that looked sort of like a crab. They told us to take it home, so I did, and Alice thought it was perfect for digging for bugs. There were different children's activities here: Game Boys with Disney's Alice in Wonderland Game on them, iMac computers with different Disney games on them, a Genovian Pear-themed can toss, with Sorcerer Mickey pencils as prizes, and a crane game, where every child won a prize. There was another bar there, serving different beers, wines, and Pepsi brand soft drinks. Pepsi is the official soft drink of the El Capitan. A director for Disney commented on this at the El Cap snack bar, where he was getting his Princess, in an adorable pink gown, a soft drink. I reminded him of the Golden Horseshoe and he laughed.
On the right of the stairwell leading from the main lobby up was a gorgeous room with a portrait of Queen Clarice (Julie Andrews), one of her gowns from the film, and a collection of props, including the Princess' Diary, the royal tea set, and the Faberge Egg music box that was a present from Mia's father, the late Prince. Scones and desserts were served here, as well as coffee.
Back to the main lobby, and up the stairs, past the Genovian coat of arms plastered several times around, and a few gold fleur-de-lis for a royal touch. There were two huge rooms here, decorated in the Tudor style. The first, the Daffodil room, I think, had another Princess dress-up area, and a festive Princess greeting area, where several Princesses were holding court. It was a perfect photo spot for families. I loved it because there was a huge painting of Elizabeth I, my favorite historical figure, above the door. King James hung on the other half of the wall. Across the hall was, in my opinion, the best room there. Themed to the art studio featured in the film, kids of all ages could create their own masterpieces with pastels, crayons, stamps, and other mediums, or become a work of art themselves, with an airbrush artist doing face painting, next to the bracelet making table that appeared in every room except the one with the display case of props.
Belle soon settled herself in the Rose room, which was fitting, where there was another buffet, and Mulan and Pocahontas were greeting, with the princesses changing rooms every quarter hour or so. All of the little girls who wanted to got lots of face time with their favorite princesses, and it was a lot of fun to watch. On the way out, we got a CD of the soundtrack from the film, and I got a little black bag with blue sparkly Hard Candy nail polish inside. My date also gave me some gorgeous flowers, so I got to feel like a princess for a little while, too.