Chapter 6 - Magic in Orlando
Two weeks later, Spring Break arrived.
While my parents were sitting home in rainy Ohio complaining about their lost cruise, and Jessica was struggling to manage five hyperactive kids in a packed, budget-friendly Disney hotel, Emma and I stepped off a first-class flight in Orlando.
A chauffeur in a black suit was waiting at baggage claim holding a sign that read: WELCOME PRINCESS EMMA.
Emma’s eyes shined bright as stars. "Mommy, look! That's my name!"
The driver escorted us to a gleaming black stretch limousine stocked with chilled apple juice, pink cupcakes, and Disney movies playing on screen.
When we arrived at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, a private VIP host greeted us with a velvet bag containing our golden VIP MagicBands.
"Welcome to Walt Disney World, Miss Emma," our private tour guide, a lovely woman named Sarah-Jane, said with a deep curtsy. "For the next seven days, I am your personal genie. Every door is open to you."
For the next week, Emma lived in a fairytale.
She didn't wait in a single line. When we walked up to Peter Pan’s Flight or Space Mountain, Sarah-Jane tapped her golden pass, and we walked right onto the ride through private escort entrances.
On our second night, we were escorted up the secret private elevator into the Cinderella Castle Suite.
The room was breathtaking. Stained-glass windows depicting fairytale scenes, a canopy bed fit for royalty, a Jacuzzi tub beneath a ceiling of twinkling star lights, and a personal butler available 24 hours a day.
Emma ran around the room, squealing with pure joy, her tiny shoes clicking against the marble floor. She put on her sparkling Cinderella gown—one custom-tailored for her at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique earlier that day—and looked at herself in the grand antique mirror.
"Mommy," she whispered, turning to me with tears of happiness in her big brown eyes. "I feel like a real princess."
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I kneeled down and kissed her forehead. "You have always been a princess, sweetie. Don't ever let anyone make you feel like an extra."
We watched the fireworks display directly from the castle windows, sipping sparkling cider from crystal flutes. It was the happiest night of my life.
