Princess Central

So I’m at Walt Disney World, World Headquarters of princesses. There are many princess and princess-like characters on the prowl here. Little girls can sign up to attend special Princess dining events including Perfectly Princess Tea parties ($250 for two,) Princess Storybook dining and Cinderella’s Happily Ever After dinners.

  Everywhere I turn, there are princesses in frilly yellow and pink and purple dresses with lace sleeves and flounces.

 It’s tough to be a princess when the rains begin and you have to put a poncho over your gown.

I found a princess dancing in the rain to the British Invasion Beatles tribute band in the UK pavilion.

And I shared a story with a real fairytale princess here.

  They even had pink and green camouflage princess caps.

Here’s the thing--I saw no princes at all. There are no prince luncheons—not even pirate beach parties or brigand barbecues, though you can dine with Mickey, Donald, and other Disney characters.

No wonder princesses have to hang with the rest of us—there does seem to be a prince shortage!

We take the Three Caballeros boat tour through “Old Mexico” at Epcot. In the seat behind us a young pirate is wailing. “It’s all right honey,” his parents croon. “This isn’t one of those scary rides.”

Next to him sits his princess sister in fancy dress and face paint, singing along to the Caballeros.

“Hey,” I say, twisting around in my seat. “I usually don’t see princesses hanging out with pirates. This isn’t a kidnapping situation, is it?”

The pirate stops sniffling and stares at me.

“It’s more like the princess kidnapped the pirate,” Mom says.

My kind of princess.