A Trip Down Bribery Lane

There's probably a lesson about honesty and open communication with your kids hidden deep in the past few weeks, but I decided to ignore it and instead take a trip down Bribery Lane. When my early attempts to talk Alexis into leaving the Ariel costume home didn't work, I thought I needed to resort to trickery. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how good of a person you want to be that day, I guess), I failed miserably at that project.

I just didn't have the heart to hide the Ariel costume.

But! But! I'm not above bribery! As Alexis and I were packing her things before our trip, she ran to her playroom to get the costume she wanted to take with her for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. As she stood there grinning ear-to-ear holding the horrific Ariel costume, I very nearly let her have that battle. But, then I remembered how much trouble she has walking in that fish tail dress. Instead of arguing, I offered her an option. She could wear the Ariel costume if she wanted, but if she wore the Jasmine one instead, I would buy her whatever she wanted at Downtown Disney.

You would have thought I had offered her Justin Bieber's phone number. The kid spit out, "OK!" so fast I wasn't even sure she had spoken at all. A few minutes later, it was clear, though. I was going to have to cough up the cash for a "Baby Ariel," but Alexis would willingly wear the Jasmine costume.

I consider that a win.

Never one to just let me have my moment of victory, however, Alexis decided to get that last little jab at me. When it came time for her Fairy Godmother in training to start working on her hair, she was offered her choice of hair colors. There was blond and light brown and dark brown and black and all sorts of magnificent colors.

Of course she chose the tacky, obnoxious, only-thing-I-didn't-want pink.

Whatever. I still think I won the war.

And she still looked adorable.

That's What I Call Magic

There are a lot of reasons people love to stay on Disney property while visiting the House of the Mouse, but I happen to like staying at Downtown Disney. The thing is that you get most of the perks of staying on Disney property, but without sacrificing your first-born son and all of his future offspring. It's still not a bargain, necessarily, but definitely an improvement, depending on the time of year. Downtown Disney hotels all feature the same sort of crazy good customer service that you expect from Disney. Which, by the way, is not at all surprising to me because even the Taco Bell near Disney World has better customer service than I've ever gotten at an Applebee's in Pittsburgh. Taco Bell. Good service. Wrap your brain around THAT, internet.

Anyway, one of those Disney property perks is Extra Magic Hours, the time each day when one of the parks opens early or stays open late only for guests staying on Disney property. Downtown Disney hotels get to take part in that joy.

Ever since we lucked into the whole thing a few years ago, we have made it a point to be sure to head over to Disney Studios (it hurts my head that I've been brainwashed into calling it that, btw) for the evening Extra Magic Hours.

This is why:

The shenanigans don't start until late (10:00 pm for us this time), but ZOMG! THE AWESOME!

The Disney Junior show transforms into a preschool-sized rave, complete with flashy lights, a DJ, bubbles, balloon animals, and a handful of Disney Junior characters. Some of them are Lame with a capital 'L', but still. They're there, the crowds aren't, and it all leads to a lot of dancing and chaos.

My favorite part of the little dose of Disney magic (excluding the part where my kid who hates people in giant fursuits seemingly forgets that she hates people in giant fursuits--that's a level of amazing that I can't describe) is that I get to sit on the floor in the back of the room and just sort of prop my eyelids open with popsicle sticks while Alexis does her thing.

It's beautiful.

I Think This Might Be GENIUS. Mostly.

I have about six must-remember-this-happened posts that I need to write, and I will do exactly that, just as soon as I have the time and brain power to do it. In the meantime, I spotted this at Disney Studios on Monday:

A jingly, jangly set of bells attached to a bracelet and strapped to a kid's ankle.

Thoughts:

1. GENIUS! Who needs a leash when you can hear your kid from 1/2 mile away? Seriously, the bells were so loud you could hear them over the crowd, even when the kid was way out of sight.

2. GENIUS! Who is going to kidnap a kid knowing that grabbing her is going to make it sound like Santa got plowed and stumbled his way into the workshop, knocking over a herd of elves?

3. GENIUS! Who needs an expensive GPS system to keep track of their kid when you can create a $5 BLS. (That's Bell Location System, btw.)

4. GENIUS! After ten minutes of hearing the bells, no other sounds in the whole wide world seem annoying.

5. No, seriously, how do you not lose your mind listening to that all day?