The Princess Blog

"The Haunted Castle" Once upon a time, there were two princes. The older prince, Dorian, was kind and wise but had a gentle demeanor that shined through to all who knew him. Meanwhile, his younger brother, Stewart, was hotheaded and envied the crown. When their parents passed away and the crown was to be passed on to Prince Dorian, he and Stewart went out riding together in the countryside. Prince Stewart returned from their trip alone. To the horror of the entire palace staff, he reported a terrible accident in which Dorian's horse was spooked by a wild animal and ran off a cliff, taking the elder prince with him in a fatal drop. The kingdom mourned the loss of their future king, and preparations were made for Stewart to become king in his stead. While most accepted this sad tale as fact, a scullery maid named Lorraine found the young prince's story very suspicious, especially when Dorian's body had yet to be recovered. She decided to try to investigate the castl...

There are only a few short days before  The Nutcracker and the Four Realms  comes to theaters. In anticipation of this event, I read a recent adaptation of the classic fairy tale  called Clara's Soldier   by Brittany Fichter , the author  The Autumn Fairy . Before I begin, though, I'd like to acknowledge that today is Halloween. I hope everyone reading this is planning to dress up as their favorite princess! While we're mimicking princess fashions of old , the Disney Princesses are dressing down to look like us in Ralph Breaks the Internet . Disney is already cashing in on the princesses' new modern styles making screen-accurate replicas Ariel, Aurora, and Pocahontas's modern clothing available to grown-up women on their site as well as figurine and doll sets of their upcoming Millennial looks. Okay, back to Clara's Soldier . I wasn't sure what to expect from Clara's Soldier  because many of the previous books  I've read by Brittany...

Yesterday, my husband and I attended Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland to meet up with some friends. It wasn't my first time attending this event, but they had changed a few things since the last time I went. A ticket to Mickey's Halloween Party now grants admission to both Disneyland Park  and Disney's California Adventure  from three hours before the start time of the party until both parks close. The Florida equivalent of the event is Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party , which I've also been to several times. One of the biggest benefits of these events was that they used to cover a half day in the parks including parking for slightly over half the price of a full-day ticket. Thanks to some unfortunate changes Disney has been making , admission is now practically the same as a full-day ticket and no longer includes parking. At least it gets you into both parks. The event itself is just as fun as ever. My husband and I attended dressed up as Fairytale...

Halloween is here at last. After they finish trick-or-treating for the night, many people like to curl up in front of a scary movie full of intrigue, death, and gore. Princess fans don't always like being scared, which is why we have  Tim Burton 's 2005 classic Corpse Bride , which is also full of intrigue, death, and gore, but without any of the scary parts. Corpse Bride  is more about the emotion and less about cheap scares. It has all the beauty, music, and romance of an animated princess movie, but it's also a moving ghost story with a gothic Victorian setting, making it perfect for Halloween. I loved this movie so much the first time I saw it that I watched it every single day for months. Corpse Bride  is the story of Emily, a young woman obsessed with romance and adventure whose life was taken on her wedding night. Even from the Land of the Dead, her princess spirit cannot be destroyed. She leaves her bony hand sticking up from the ground in the hopes that one...

Halloween is just around the corner. Did anyone go to any fun Halloween parties this weekend? Who's your favorite princess to cosplay as? Halloween is the one time of year that people can pretend to be someone else and to look and feel different from their everyday life. I dressed up as  Emma Swan  from  Once Upon a Time  this year. For me, Emma is a makes me feel empowered because she is more assertive than I am and has survived through many hardships in her past. It's fun to dress up in unique costumes once a year, especially if you've always wished you could be a princess. Recently,  certain articles have been popping up  on social media claiming that dressing as a princess who is a different race than you or your child is "cultural appropriation" and therefore wrong. As you can probably guess, I am of the dissenting opinion on this not only because I think kids should be able to dress as whatever they want for Halloween, but also because I b...