Royal Court Royal Tea

Believe it or not, Shawn is the one that discovered this event. A tea party with princesses. Obviously we NEEDED to do it! But what we didn't know was that it was only offered ONE time during our entire sailing. And from the research we had done we knew it was a small, intimate affair and the odds on getting a spot seemed pretty low. I wasn't going to give up and not at least try. When it was our window of being able to book excursions and events I was standing at my computer hitting refresh until it was ready to go. Immediately I clicked on our sea day and found that there was an opening. We were in!! I still can't believe it. At this event I counted only 10 tables, with about 4 girls per table. So 40 children (with their mom's and/or grandma's) out of all the kids on the entire ship, and we were one of them? Wow!

Because of our luck at securing the Royal Court Royal Tea party I splurged and we did the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique after the Frozen princess gathering. Clearly this was going to be a full Mother/Daughter day! It is probably not surprising to hear that we were the first two people to arrive at Royal Court for the tea party. What can I say, we were excited!

What really made this exciting was the fact that Virginia, Katura's Fairy Godmother in Training, was there at the entrance giving all of the girls a sprinkle of Pixie Dust if they desired. Naturally Katura got another sprinkle!

With royal fanfare playing, two royal escorts came to the entrance to make the official announcement of the tea party and welcome our hostess, Lady Chamomile. It was so cute hearing how excited all of these little princesses were. It was a rare girl that wasn't all dolled up in her finest royal attire - many of them had visited the Boutique like we did!

Katura was announced to the room, and given a very nice tiara to wear. Yep, she had on THREE for a while! This girl isn't going to miss out on anything I tell ya! After her tiara was in place she was escorted directly to her seat. They did every single princess one at a time. Nobody was rushed through or made to feel like that special.

Upon arrival at our table I was excited to see Katura had an inside seat. She'd have a great view, and with her being tiny I was very happy she wouldn't miss out and not have her view blocked by any heads. Katura, however, was very excited about what was waiting for her. Each girl got the tiara upon arrival, and at their seats there were autograph books exclusive to the Disney Cruise Line with princesses on them, a princess pen, a Disney Cruise Line Cinderella jewelry box, a charm bracelet and charm necklace inside and a very large Cinderella doll standing on her seat. THIS is why it was a hefty price tag!

Full disclosure, if you are wanting to do this - be prepared. If I remember correctly each child costs about $220, while the adult (and having an adult is mandatory) is around $60 I think. It felt worth it.

What is a tea party without tea? The girls got apple tea, which everyone else would call apple juice. And naturally all of us drank with our pinkies out!

Here are Chef Brule and Lady Chamomile, our host and hostess for the event. They worked their way around the entire circular area singing songs from various Disney princess movies. Those songs were their way of introducing that princess to the room. We all loved hearing live singing and having it happen so close to us. Seeing our favorite princesses appear right there was quite exciting!

Mom's had tea as well. Ours was REAL tea, however. I'm not a tea drinking, but I chose the fruit one and gave it a good effort. I made it a point to go out of my comfort zone during this cruise and I wasn't going to wimp out of tea!

Each table had a fancy spread of finger sandwiches and tasty desserts. Katura, however, got her own plate since we were marked as being vegetarian. She ate the desserts and I sampled the sandwiches. We are a good dining pair!

Here was Katura's plate. We really didn't even make a dent. There was so much going on that food was just more of an accessory.

After each princess came out a royal helper visited each girl at each table to give her a little cinch sack. Each little bag had a charm in it that matched the princess - perfect for the charm necklaces and bracelets they all got! 

Proof I tried the tea.

The princesses came to each table to say hello when their song was over. It was quick, but it also kept it all moving - and we knew we would see them again soon.

Finally it was one last big bit of song and dance fanfare. We all thought Cinderella would be making her appearance since she was constantly referenced and the gifts were from her. But it wasn't her. Spoiler alert - NO Cinderella. Instead it was dessert! When we got to our cabin at the beginning of the cruise we had a fancy scroll invitation to the tea party. There was a side cart mainly for the parents to read with instructions to let them know the child's favorite princess.  Katura chose Belle - and below you can see her special cupcake in honor of that decision!

While dessert was enjoyed the princesses returned. Each one stopped to talk to each girl, sign the autograph books, get photos and give hugs. We were pretty excited to have Tiana first. I don't care what she says, I really do think Tiana is Katura's favorite! We LOVE Princess and the Frog!

Next was Belle, finally in her beautiful yellow gown.

Full disclosure, part 2: I think it was in this section that I took it upon myself to each Katura's cupcake since all she did was have the candy on top and the frosting! It was tasty! Rapunzel was our final character. This was the 3rd time they met on the ship, 4th time on this vacation overall! You can see the Cinderella doll in Katura's arms in the photo below. THAT was a challenge to pack home!

When it was all done a bunch of girls ran to the center area to play with their dolls and each other. I loved that Katura didn't hesitate. She didn't know anybody but she ran out to join them and was laughing and having so much fun the whole time!

Lastly, on the way out each little girl got her photo with ALL of the princesses at one time. Seriously when do you ever get that chance?? And it wasn't just this photo. I was allowed to take my own, while they took a couple for us. BUT!!! Later that night when we returned to our cabin after dinner we had a large print of this photo in a leather bound book! Like I said, a hefty price tag, but absolutely worth it!