Characters.

We decided 2011 is the year for Disney passes. With Lily's love of all things Mickey, Minnie, and princess - and while she's still free - it just made sense. We opted for the seasonal pass because (a) they're about half the price and (b) you couldn't pay me to go in the summer anyway. Go ahead, Disney. Block out those dates. Have fun; we'll be at the beach or pool instead.

So, Super Bowl Sunday was the day to try out our new passes. (And that gives you an idea of how far behind I am.)

Lily was so excited to go. She wanted to see Cinderella and Mickey, but she has a sudden new-found love for Daisy Duck. I was hoping for Lily that we'd get a chance to meet Daisy. Y'see, Daisy doesn't rank high enough to earn her a permanent meet-n-greet spot. If you find her, it's just luck.

We got lucky.

Lily's probably had more character greets than non-Floridian children, but I still wasn't what would happen. She's been a little shy with Sesame Street characters, even recently.


No shyness today.

Meeting Daisy was awesome. Daisy said (well, signed, sort of) "I love you," gave her a big ducky kiss, and pointed out how they were dressed the same.

We continued down Main Street and got to Cindy's castle just in time for the show. Lily was entranced, even from a distance.

Then we secured our spot for the afternoon parade and watched as many characters went by.

Love the Tremaine sisters, but Lily said they're "not nice."

And Lady Tremaine, of course.

After the parade, we went to the Toon Town Fair for, apparently, the last time. That area closed on the 11th for the expansion of Fantasyland. I also wanted to go to Toon Town because there are several character greeting spots. So we went to see the princesses.

The wait time said 45 minutes, and we sighed, but decided to wait. I asked which princess was there today, and was told "We can only guarantee Cinderella and Belle." Huh? What a strange response. I take it angry parents and/or children get pissed if they don't get to see the princess they wanted to see.

Anyway...the line was more like 15 minutes (yay!), and we got to see Cinderella and Belle per our guarantee, and our wild card princess was Jasmine. (Please ignore the crappy, grainy photos. Considering this is basically a photo event, you'd think that they'd have better lighting conditions. Disney, you usually handle details like this so well. What happened?)

Lily walked right up to Cinderella and gave her a hug.

Cinderella was great. She commented on Lily's pink dress and told her how her mice and birds made a pink dress for her, too. She asked, "Did your mommy make this for you?" Lily stared in happy, starstruck awe. "Maybe she just found it." .

Then we saw Belle.

More happy awe.

And lastly, we saw Jasmine.

And of course we saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

More hugs and happy awe.

Mickey danced with her.

And Minnie rubbed noses with her, which Lily loved. (So did I, so cute.)

I think sometimes I'm a little jealous of Lily's childhood. (Yes, mine was good, too, I know. But come on.)