Disneyland Short Stories

Sleeping Beauty Castle

"Aurora! We're over here!"

I put away my phone and gasped in delight upon seeing my best friends, Anna and Lucy, standing in front of the most beautiful Disney monument ever.

The Sleeping Beauty castle sat atop the center of Main Street, towering over the park with its beautiful, regal colors of pink and blue. Everything about the castle was exquisite. It looked like a real castle that Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip really lived in.

I ran up to my friends and hugged them. "Thanks for meeting me here, you guys. And thanks, Anna, for taking a day off of work!" I thanked. Anna tucked a strand of her short, black hair behind her ear. "You know what? A day at Disney is so worth taking a day off of work for." Lucy smiled. "Well, I had to take a half day off of work too, you know?" He pointed over to the Main Street Trolley. "I was just driving that half an hour ago." I smiled, slightly jealous that Lucy got to work at the happiest place on earth for a living. What a dream job! It was totally my dream job.

I laughed nonetheless. "Well, thank you for taking a half day and staying here so that we can have a fun day." I looked up at the Sleeping Beauty castle and let out a sigh of relief. Just looking at the castle was enough to put me in such good spirits. Both Anna and Lucy looked up at the castle with me. "It really is pretty. Your mom said that this has been your favorite Disney attraction since you were a little girl. Makes sense, since you were named after Princess Aurora."

The story of how I was named after Aurora was a good one and very romantic. My mother and father met and their first date was to go see the movie Sleeping Beauty, which was being shown because of a special anniversary for the movie. From then on, my parents were inseparable and they got married not long after. Then, when I was born, they decided to name me Aurora, after Princess Aurora in the movie, since that's how they first fell in love. It also helped that I looked a lot like Aurora (same color and style hair, eyes not purple but blue, you know what she looks like.)

It makes sense that I would have such a special connection to the Sleeping Beauty castle, since Sleeping Beaty is such a large part of my life. I feel at home here, like I could live upstairs in the castle forever.

I smiled at Anna and Lucy. "Should we start off our Disney day the right way and take a tour of the Sleeping Beauty castle?" Anna and Lucy both lit up and nodded. We started making our way towards the entrance of the castle, glancing at the beautiful statue of Aurora and Phillip at the start of the queue. I wondered if I would ever find my Phillip someday.

We started up the stairs, reading every storybook entry and looking through every animated window we could, just taking it all in. Disney nostalgia at its finest could be found in this castle. Once we got up to the large room at the top of the castle with all the animated windows, I squinted to see through the darkness and find Anna and Lucy. I had lost them!

"Guys? Where are you? I can't see you too well." I cautiously made my way through the crowds, trying to find my friends, but to no avail. Where could they have gone?

I stopped at the animated window where Aurora was lying fast asleep on her royal bed, just waiting for her prince to come and rescue her from eternal slumber. I smiled at all the pretty pastel colors  in the window. Purple and pink flowers surrounded a sleeping Aurora, the beautiful purple sheets were sitting prettily on the bed, and Aurora's golden blonde hair and royal blue gown draped over the bed elegantly. It was such a picturesque scene, it was hard to imagine this was only one segment in the hour long film. I could stare at this forever.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

I was startled by a deep voice from behind me. I gasped and whipped around to be face to face with a very handsome stranger. He had dark, short brown hair, warm brown eyes, and a kind, charming smile. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." He apologized, his voice deep but soft. Wait, I recognize that saying...