Now referred to as Aubergine.

So, we had a good long think about whether to have a meal with some Disney characters while we were away. It was one of those ‘we aren’t here often, we should get everything out of it we can’ versus ‘blimey, that’s a lot of money’ debates.

The issue was that Sophia spent the whole of October to May being petrified of Father Christmas because of his ‘mask’ (beard). The week we were making the decision about meals at Disney, she lost it in Costco because she saw a man in a blue face mask – you can tell she was born in 2021 and not before because she’s just not used to people in masks!

Because of all this, I was reluctant to book in to have a meal with ‘characters’ in general because they would inevitably be the big head costumes and I didn’t think she would like it. So in the end, we booked lunch with the Princesses for lunchtime on our first full day in Disney, and it would be her big birthday present from us, just a few weeks early.

I dressed Sophia in her new (to her!) Cinderella dress because I’d done my research and she was guaranteed to meet four princesses, Cinderella plus three others. We’d ended up in different places, me at the parade and Nathan and Soph queuing to see Minnie, and after a bit of a mad rush, I met them outside Cinderella’s restaurant; Auberge de Cendrillon.

Our waiter picked up our menus saying ‘one for the Queen, one for the King and one for the little Princess’ – which obviously made me melt! We made a decision to order Sophia her own food (she could have eaten off our plates as she is under 3), as she had been most aggrieved to not have her own plate the day before. €50 got her a lovely three course lunch of Cinderella pumpkin soup, cod with carrot and creamy mash, and a chocolate mousse set in a Cinderella chocolate shoe.

Well, if she ate three spoonfuls of it, I’d be surprised. She was too excited to sit still, let alone eat! Now, this really isn’t like Sophia. As long as she’s engaged and not bored, she’s perfectly capable of sitting through a meal with grownups, albeit lunchtime tends to be much smoother than evenings.

At one point, I said, ‘Sophia, can you please sit nicely so Cinderella can come and see you?’. ‘No, I’m just getting my bogies’ was the reply.

It was stressful, and not helped that the child in a Tiana dress on the next table was behaving perfectly, just like Sophia usually does, but for some reason, was not doing that day!

So, Nathan and I ate our lunch and Sophia’s so as not to waste it – not that we needed it! And Sophia had the time of her life, jumping up with glee whenever she saw Cinderella, Merida, Mulan or Snow White walk past.

All that being said, Sophia had lovely chats with each of the princesses as they came to our table, and her little face as she showed Cinderella her matching dress, I will never forget! Snow White was asking about the book that Ash had made for each of the girls, we were asking Mulan about how she was able to be so brave and Merida was giving Sophia tips if the new baby is a little brother!

The food was delicious and the Princesses and staff were wonderful, but it is quite a lot for little people who are meeting some of their heroes!

Afterwards, every time we walked past Auberge de Cendrillon, or Aubergine, as I began to call it, I would say ‘looks nice that’ and Nathan would respond ‘yes, what a wonderful thing that would be to do as a family!’. ‘Yes, what a brilliant third birthday present that would be!’, you get the picture.

We live and learn. I don’t regret it, but it wasn’t quite the bird singing, mice dancing experience I had imagined!