What Princess are you?

I love Disneyland. You all know that. I have blogged about it before. We don't go as often as some, but much more often than others. And we always have a good time there. It's familiar and new all at the same time.  Each trip we do our favorites and seem to find something new to do as well. Right now I am wearing a Disneyland sweatshirt and a ball cap that has a dragon twisted in to mouse ears. My favorite Disney t-shirt was the one I had that was the Yin/Yang symbol as mouse ears. Wore it out I wore it so much. I love Eeyore even though I am more of a Tigger and I will ride Thunder Mountain Railroad until you are bored to tears with it all. And yes, I have been known to skip my way down Mainstreet USA.

But being the mother of a boy I never had to do Disney Princess Parties. Or dress ups or theme rooms. Which is good because my favorite Disney Princesses aren't princesses at all. There is Maleficent. Who is the "Mistress of all Evil" or the evil fairy godmother if you read the story. But she can turn into a dragon and wears purple and black and is really just as bad-ass as they come. So absolutely my favorite. My more traditional pick for favorite princess wasn't a princess either, at least at the start of the story. It's Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

I loved this movie. The re-release is happening right now and I am tempted to go see it in the theater again, even though 3D movies make my head hurt. There really wasn't anything about this movie I didn't like. Belle gets the princess treatment from Disney but really she was just a smart girl who fell in love with a man despite his outward gruffness. Even though the village catch, Gaston, was interested in her. No one tromps around in their boots like Gaston.  How can you not like a song with that line in it? We almost named our cat Samson Gaston. Anyway...the movie had me hooked when you see Belle wandering through town with her nose buried in a book. I think it was probably the same for every girl/woman who watched that movie that was a little more bookish than princessy growing up. And I think it also taps into that desire to be loved for who you are, and THEN get the Prince and the castle and the gowns and the servants. I mean, we all sort of want to be taken care of, just a little right?  :-)

But the Belle I identify with the most is the one that was overwhelmed when seeing Beast's library. The one that could walk through a busy day reading a book and dreaming about what life was like in far away exotic places, ignoring the fact that the villagers around her though she was a little off. The one that could take the time to get to know someone and find out their story as well. The one who was willing to sacrifice herself for her father. Yes, it's still a Disney story. Good wins. Evil loses. The boy and girl live happily ever after as a prince and princess and all that fluff. But I still love Belle.

It also doesn't hurt that Belle is a brunette. I mean sure, Snow White had dark hair but until Shrek did this with her she was pretty umm...let's just say sweet and leave it at that, right? Red-headed Ariel gets points for not being blonde, but she was kind of ditsy as well. Not her fault, living such a sheltered life but it wasn't the kind of ditsy I have to own up to, it was the uneducated ditsy. Though Little Mermaid gets points for having the most unintentionally dirty line in a Disney song.

Anyway...what Disney princess are you? And I have to own up to the fact that I haven't seen Pocahontas, Mulan, The Princess and the Frog or Tangled (mother of a son, remember?) so I might end up changing from Belle at some point...though I doubt it. Even though the previews for Tangled show Rapunzel as pretty awesome and I have been known to grow out my own locks...she's blonde after all, and Tinkerbell really put me off Disney blondes...don't get me started on Tink....