Meeting Anna and Elsa from Frozen

They say a picture’s worth a 1,000 words.

In my case, it’s the story BEHIND the picture that might take 1,000 words.

Wait, wait. Don’t go anywhere just yet. I promise I won’t take 1,000 words. And my story is about this picture below, so you know you’re curious about the it, right? I mean, just look at my son’s face. And, yes , that’s Anna and Elsa from Frozen and we all know that they are WHITE HOT right now.So here we go.

My family goes to Disney World every year. Which means that my now 7-year-old daughter has met all the princesses and all the characters. When we made our pilgrimage to Disney this year, though, there were two new princesses that she’d never met before. Two new princesses, Anna and Elsa, that she just HAD to meet.

I did some online research before the trip and found out that the only Anna and Elsa character meeting was at the Norway pavilion in Epcot. That’s it. You could not meet these darlings anywhere else. And because they were only 1 place in all of Disney World, and the film is the most successful animated Disney feature ev-ah, fans were waiting anywhere from 1-2 hours to meet them.

When the big day arrived, I ditched my family at the entrance to Epcot. The plan was that I go get in line and Dad would take the kids on some rides. Don’t feel too sorry for me or think I’m insane, either. Remember, we go to Disney every year so I’ve done everything at Epcot. I was willing to take one for the team.

After a ten minute race walk, I huffed and puffed to the end of the line at Norway to meet the Frozen princesses. It’s 10:10 am. As the Disney cast member shuttled me into my roped off pen, he pronounced me second in line for the 1 pm meet and greet.

1 pm people. It’s 10:10 am.

I settle in for a long winter’s nap. Actually, I pop a squat. Before I  know it, I’m chatting with the folks in line around me. This will be fun, I thought. I remember the 90 minute wait to meet Rapunzel back in 2011 and the BFF I made from that line. This will be just like that.

Except this time it’s different. In front of me is a young man by himself. Behind me is a gaggle of four young Disney cast members on their day off. I’m the middle age lady in the middle. The young people start a rousing game of Disney trivia, assigning point values to their questions and forbidding the use of smart phones. And they are HARD CORE. The young man has some sort of miracle memory and the young cast members all turn out to be bona fide Disney geeks who are also employees of Disney. So I’m surrounded by young people who know EVERYTHING about Disney.

Here’s a sample of their questions:

• Name Walt’s brothers and sisters (1 point per sibling)
• What did Walt win his first academy award for? (3 points)
• Where did Walt first think of the idea for Disneyland? (2 points)
• What does Epcot stand for? (1 point)

I’m a dud, folks. A total dud. Yes, I go to Disney every year, but all I know is that 1) Thunder Mountain is fun and 2) every food item costs about 50% more than it should. That’s it. I strike out on every question and THEY WON’T LET ME QUIT. Minutes tick by. Hours. I’m in Disney trivia hell. They finally give me pity points for my answer to “What does Epcot stand for?” I answered “Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow” when it’s actually “community” not “city”. I think I heard one of them mutter “duh” under her breath.

So you bet your bottom dollar that when 1 pm finally rolled around and I was a defeated mess from listening to nearly 3 hours of hard core Disney trivia that I wasn’t gonna let my 10yo son skip out on the fun, old-fashioned princess meet and greet! Get in the picture, son. SAY CHEESE!

And, yes. It was worth it. My daughter loved meeting them. And I got a great picture–and a great memory–to treasure.

What extreme measures have you gone to because you love your family?