Magic Moments

Originally posted July 24, 2025

I was a little bit sad yesterday while I was working. I was having a pretty good day beforehand, but around 2, when I only had a couple hours left in my shift, something minuscule happened that I let affect my entire mood. While I’m wallowing in my sadness behind the register, a little girl comes up to me in a Rapunzel dress and a boutique bun and asked to get pixie dusted, so I put on my princess voice and did what I had to do to make her feel magical. Her name was Neveah, and she was wearing a celebration button. She was just adopted. Her newfound parents were standing behind her, smiling, recording, cheering her on in her brand new look, courtesy of the Fairy Godmother’s apprentices next door. She was the happiest girl in the world, and suddenly I didn’t have to put on my princess voice- it came out naturally, like it always does. Seeing her washed my bad mood away instantly and I remembered the bigger picture : I was making magic!!! Bad moods are normal and being sad is okay sometimes, yeah, but what is there to let myself be down about when I’m a princess helping make wishes come true behind Cinderella’s Castle, yknow?

Neveah’s one of hundreds of little princesses, princes, and knights that I meet throughout my days at work, and I never forget any of them. They all mean so much to me, so I thought that I would share some of my favorite stories from my silly little princess job. Enjoy!!

Mimi

Back when Sir Mickey’s closer closer to the Happily Ever After show start time, every so often there would be a kid too scared of the loud cracks of the fireworks to stand outside, and they would wait for the 18 minute show to be over inside the store. Mimi was one of those kids. She was there with her grandmother, and since she was the only one in the store, I got to give her my full attention. I sat down next to her while we talked about her favorite princess, laughing over the sounds of the fireworks. We did princess trivia and sang songs until her grandmother told me that Mimi loved The Lion King the most. So I asked her favorite character, and she said Scar. And I asked her, “why do you like Scar if he’s the bad guy?” Guess what Mimi said. Please, guess. Did you guess, “Scar is my best friend!!!” because that’s what Mimi said. I was too stunned to speak. She went along with her night, the fireworks ended, I said goodnight, and still every time the memory comes to my mind I laugh out loud.

Henry

It was one of those quieter times in Sir Mickey’s, and I listened out for families that I could engage with easily. Active listening, but really eavesdropping, as Ty calls it. I overheard a family say, “you already have Elsa,” so I wandered over to a little boy named Henry, his mom, and his dad. Henry really, really wanted to get the blue Elsa dress, but he already had the Elsa dress at home. So, I interjected and asked Henry all his favorite princesses. We talked for a long awhile, pointing out each dress, until we finally landed on the Isabella dress, from Encanto. It was at the end of the store, the last dress along the wall, so it was the perfect choice. My favorite part of it all was that Henry got the Isabella dress because it was purple, just like my dress. It was one of my first experiences getting to spend time with a family and a kid, and it was so so special. Henry had me help him put the dress on over his outfit, and I got to surprise him with pixie dust. It was the sweetest night.

Mia

Mia was another little girl that was scared of the fireworks. She, her dad, and her grandpa were the only other people in the store besides me and Ethan. Her family was trying to keep her distracted but she was clearly still upset, so I decided to give it a try. I pulled the princess trivia pack out of the drawer, put each giant card down on the floor in a line, and asked Mia if she wanted to play a game; luckily, she said yes. She picked her favorite princess, my favorite princess, a princess she met, she spun around a few times and chose the one she landed on. We chose all different variations of ways to pick a card to try for the 15 minutes left of the show. After a bunch of rounds, Ethan pixie dusted her and Happily Ever After was over. As she went to leave with her family, I realized that Bekki and Becca were both there watching. Bekki told me that Mia’s grandfather told her that I was amazing and did so well with her, and Becca asked me if she could shout me out with the other leaders. I won’t lie, it was a little nice to feel the praise, but it wasn’t nicer than getting to spend the time playing games with Mia.

Ellie

I love all the guests and all the kids I meet, but Ellie is a little bit of a special case for me. It starts off in Sir Mickey’s, of course. Ellie had landed on the Rapunzel dress because it looked the most similar to mine. I stepped away from her and her family for a few minutes and came back to them at the Cinderella section. She said that she now wanted Cinderella because she’s her mom’s favorite princess. Jokily, I said, “but I thought you wanted to match with me!” And she very quickly changed her mind again and went back for Rapunzel. She got the dress, the ears, and the jewelry. As I’m ringing them up, she tells Caileigh that she wanted the doll also, but her mom said no. Ellie and her mom switch sides, and Ellie’s with me at the register while I write her a celebrating button. She doesn’t realize I am, she’s just talking to me. While I’m writing, I see a Rapunzel doll under the counter out of the corner of my eye, and I look up to see Caileigh silently telling me to give her the doll. I pin the button onto the doll’s dress, and I give it to Ellie. It was my first ever magic moment. I said goodnight to her family and unwittingly said “see you tomorrow!” after they said they were coming back to Magic Kingdom the next day. But luckily enough, I did see them the next day. Ellie was all dressed in her new Rapunzel outfit, waiting in line to take pictures in the Royal Portrait studio with her mom and her dad. I asked her mom if I could walk outside with her, and Ellie and I went on a little adventure around Cinderella’s courtyard. I knew Caileigh was standing outside in the corner of the Boutique with some of the leaders, so I walked Ellie over so we could say hello. We took a picture together and talked about her day, and she needed some fresh pixie dust. We walked back to the studio and asked her mom if she wanted to come take a picture of Ellie getting pixie dusted, but this time we did it outside, in front of the castle. It was the sweetest edition to our time together. I said my goodbyes to Ellie and her family that day, but I’ll never ever be able to forget them.

So those are some of my stories, but there’s so many more. Memories with Gracelynn, Caden and Emma, Harper, Lumiere (that was really her name! So cute!), and a lot more princesses, princes, and knights that will always be the reason I love my job so much. So if you, like me, are ever having a bad time at work, just remember that what you do means to much to people, and it means so much to you also. I’m so appreciative of the opportunity I have in getting to be a princess-in-training, and it’s something I try to never take for granted.

With love, Willianny