I recently got the privilege of taking my daughters to Disney World for the first time. We tagged along with a couple from our church. Raygan is four years old and Anna is two years old, so we were on new territory about whether it was a good idea to take two small children on a long vacation.

We got up at 3 a.m. and were on the road by 4 a.m., heading to Orlando. We could not have asked for a better ride. We set up at the hotel and made plans for the next day, when we would finally see the princesses. We’ve been talking this up for months. Everything we did was centered around princesses. We even dressed the girls up in their Rapunzel, Snow White, Cinderella and Tinker Bell outfits when we went into the parks.

The excitement started when we got on the tram in the parking lot. The girls thought it was the first ride of the day and loved every minute of it. This set the standard pretty high for all of the rides. It was amazing to see how well they did while waiting in the long lines. They would sleep or play, but rarely would they fuss. And even a two year old can enjoy the rides there. Dumbo, Prince Charming’s carousel and the tea cups were some of our favorites.

All of the employees at Disney World were precious. They would bow to the girls and say, “Good morning, princess” or “Good to see you, princess.” The girls were getting pretty use to being the center of attention.

As we walked into the magic kingdom, we were a little taken back when a lady with a wistle rushed us over to the side of the road, we had no idea what was going on until a parade started to form right in front of us. We had been there two minutes and it was already living up to its name. It was the most wonderful place on earth, at that moment. The girls were so excited to have the loud music and to see all of their favorite characters ride through the streets right in front of them. There were dancers and bright colors and we had a front row seat to it all.

After the parade, all of the characters met in the middle of the street for a dancing time. Everyone was invited to go out and dance with the characters. I grabbed Raygan and headed to the street, chasing down Baloo, one of my favorites. We danced and Raygan laughed and then I caught a glimps of my little Anna, not excited at all about the events that were happening around her.

When the parade died down, I went to check on her. That was the moment that we discovered that Anna hates people in costumes. Now, we knew that the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus were her two least favorite people to sit with, but now the list was growing… fast. She was horrified by anyone who didn’t look like a human. She would shake and yell, “Get away from me!” as Raygan would stick out her hand and try to get hugs from the same characters.

This was to be expected, but we had planned for one big, main event and we couldn’t have Anna screaming at it. We had scheduled to eat dinner in the castle with the princesses. As the time rolled around, we held our breath to see what would happen. We walked into the castle and there she was, the best princess of them all, Cinderella. Raygan was dressed to match her and she could hardly contain herself as she set eyes on her. It was a wonderful moment and we have it all on tape. She was so excited that she ate a hole in the receipt we were suppose to give to get our picture taken with her. While all of this wonder and awe is taking place, directly to my right was Anna, screaming at the top of her lungs and telling Cinderella to get away. She was slapping and crying and it was more than horrible. We couldn’t even imagine what it would be like when we sat at a table and had four more princesses come to visit us.

Anna let everyone know that she didn’t want to be there, and we, with heads held low, made our way into the dinning area. It was breathtaking, even for an adult. And after being in the room for a few minutes, Anna was calmed down by a video on my friend’s phone.

We gave thanks to God for the food we were about to receive and the phone that had finally calmed Anna’s nerves. The food options were nothing less than exquisit. There was duck and shrimp and fish with names I had never even heard of.

Of course the girls ordered noodles and chicken fingers. Then, the music started to play and Snow White walked into the room, everyone let out sighs and oohhs and aaahhs and Anna let out a scream that would make an opera singer blush.

Anna was dressed like Snow White, so we thought this might break the ice for their face-to-face meeting. Snow White leaned over and said, “Well hello princess, you look like a mini-me.” Anna looked straight in her eyes and with a voice that would make a demon shutter, said, “I’m not a princess!”

We did a nervous laugh and she walked away. I’m sure they don’t pay them enough to deal with customers like us. All the while, Raygan was loving every minute of it. Excited about the chicken just as much as she was about the princess.

By the time that Sleeping Beauty came to the table, we were just about ready to pack it up and leave. But she did an amazing thing. She asked Anna if she wanted to touch her dress. Unmoved by the motion, Anna declined, but then Sleeping Beauty offered to let Anna play with her necklace. Anna loved it. She laughed and played with her and from then on out, all princesses were fine by her. We had a gloriously wonderful night that could only be topped off by the light and fireworks display at the end of the evening by the castle.

Now, like any vacation with kids, there was some sickness that went around and crying, but we had a wonderful trip. The one thing I would caution all parents about is to remember that the ride to vacation is much better than the ride back from vacation. It seems like we can’t get out of the house quick enough when we leave for vacation and that we can’t get home quick enough when we return.

One thing that never changes is that when a family gets together to spend quality time with each other, there are always life long memories made in the process.