As part of my visit to Disney World, for the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, I got to experience one of those magical once-in-a-lifetime moments when my family attended Merida’s induction as an official Disney Princess! Joining the 11 other Disney Princesses, the group of young women is now rounded out to a dozen – each with her own unique story, characteristics, and legion of fans.
And fans, they are! Merida has been called a princess for a new generation and I wholeheartedly agree! While I love Disney Princesses (I think Cinderella will always be my favorite because she’s my childhood princess), Merida is a modern girl (from a not-so-modern time, ironically enough!) Brave showed us a princess at odds with her mother, yearning to be her own person and not tied down to marrying a prince. We saw her mother, who my heart ached for, have her daughter hurt her and then risk everything to save her.
I knew her special event would be remarkable, and that Disney would stay true to her character – and they did! Instead of arriving in a horse drawn carriage, Merida arrived ON a horse with traditional dancers and pipers! And instead of gracefully sauntering up to the castle like she was walking on air, Merida’s curls bounced as she walked up like…well…like an everyday girl.
Check out this video below from Inside The Magic capturing highlights from the event (you can click the little x’s to close the ads):
Here are some of my favorite photos from the event! The 11 other princesses came out first and each one demonstrated her personality when introduced!
Then, the big moment. For Merida fans, and for anyone who has seen Brave, having Merida’s mother Queen Elinor come on stage to present her daughter with her princess crown was nothing but perfection!
It gets better – after Merida’s proclamation, after the fireworks, Queen Elinor presented her daughter with her bow! Yes….it was definitely a moment of Disney magic. It was as if, in that moment, Queen Elinor was showing Merida (and all of us) that her daughter could be a princess, an archery expert, anything she wants to be, and without a prince by her side. This is a princess for a new generation, indeed.
We went and got our picture taken in April with Merida. I just love her, she is a roll model for young girls today.
The pictures are just amazing!! My daughter wants to be a Merida!! And she wants me to become the sleeping beauty!! 🙂
Hey, not too shabby to be compared to Sleeping Beauty, right?
I LOVED Merida when we went to Disney last year. I think it’s so great her mother crowned her at the celebration.
I love her cause she does not need a prince to take care of her! I love that my girl loves her
Great pictures and looks like it was a great time to be at Disney!
it was a fabulous movie would love to see this show, great pictures. still jealous lol
would have loved to be there 🙂
What an amazing time you must have had! Great photos! What a great thing to show girls that no matte what you do you can always be a princess!
What a great role model! For all ages! 🙂
Incredible. I would have loved this. This movie was one of my favs.
Love your pictures as Merida is one of our favourites in this house!
It looks like a lot of fun, my daughter would love to meet her. We have yet to make it to Disney, hoping in the next 3 years.
this is awesome! merida is a fab and strong princess … definitely a recent favorite of my twin girls 🙂
love it!!!! looking forward to sharing the movie with my twincesses 🙂
great pictures!
wow another amazing time at disney for you guys! so beautiful. i need to update myself on all the new princesses these days.
Love Merida!!!!!
My first time hearing about Merida – sounds like a wonderful princess!
What an experience that must have been. My daughter would love to have been there.
What a great experience, that would be any little girls dream to see all the princess’
wow you are so lucky! What a great experience. how fun for your kids! great pics
I never knew there was such a thing at Disney. Great pics!
Cinderella is my favourite too! I kept the Disney ‘Princess’ movies when Sara moved out because I love them so much!! I will have to watch this new one 🙂
How fun. It’s amazing the detail that they put into everything.
what a memory!!! Thank you for sharing the pictures! Congrats to Merida 🙂
Great photos! My niece LOVES Merinda! It looks like it was an awesome event 🙂
That is so cool!
Nice, looks like a great event. The pictures are not to shabby either.
.what an amazing experience… Congrats Merida
Disney is always so magical, I went in the 1970’s and it was the most amazing time even then.
i’m in love with brave. a strong willed girl willing to take matters into her own hands and make the life she wants. I was worried when I saw another post saying they were turning her into a skinny waist, large breasted “princess”. I really hope they stay true to her character and I hope there many more sequels.
What a fun event to be a part of . We love Merida in our house and I saw they are pulling the re-imagined Merida off the idea board and sticking with the original! I hope it’s true.
I wish she didn’t have to be a “princess”, it would be nice if she could just be an awesome chick 🙂
That sounds like it was a awesome event to attend!! My 4 year old wants to go to disneyworld 🙂
My daughters would have been in awe if they had been present!
I think little girls are lucky to have so many choices.
That is really cool! I love Merida! I went to DisneyLand when I was 7 and the only princess I actually met was Jasmine. It was nice. Although I had pretty bad heat stroke at the time. Aladdin made me sit down and got me water lol. It was sweet~ I would love to bring my brother and son to Disneyland.
I love that she a Disney princess. Strong and Brave!
Wow, I love the costumes, especially Belle’s. It is so big and beautiful. I so want Merida’s tiara! Thanks for the video it was so spectacular. I can’t imagine how nice it was live!
I think I am too old to appreciate Disney
I recognized most of the disney princesses, but there were a few new ones.
How neat that you were able to be there.
Looks like a great time!
Such a wonderful experience. I like how it was outdoors. We dont have alot of outdoor events like this in Ottawa.
I wish we did though. My kids would love it.
I loved Brave. Great role model for girls
Loved the photos! It seems like you certainly had a great time. I must admit that I am a bit jealous that I wasn’t there to see it too. Thanks for sharing though, so I can sort of pretend I was there. 😉
Amazing, thanks for sharing
Like the change in the ‘princess role’ but I have to say…I’m tired of the girls are princesses thing
The movie, Brave, was so great!
Awesome photos and what an exciting event to be a part of!
That would be so neat to see them all up close! What nice pictures!
While I love all the Disney Princess’s its nice to see them move into newer times
Very cool. I like the new princesses they are adding.
I had no idea there are so many princesses already!
That would have been amazing to see! I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Disney and the princesses. Of course my son isn’t interested.
What a wondeful experience….I love Disney and would be thankful to revisit DisneyWorld. You all look beautiful!
Amazing! Disney never ceases to amaze me, I hope I will get the chance to take my daughter someday 🙂
Beautiful photos.
I know someone who absolutely adores that princess. Can you believe I haven’t seen that movie yet?
great story.
looks like fun
That looks like a fun day.
awesome! how nice to have all the princesses there…i would love to take my family to Disney World some day!
What an amazing celebration! I agree with you that Merida is a princess for a new generation and should be a role model for all girls.
This looks like an amazing experience for both little and big girls. I love Merida and how her natural beauty shines. 🙂
This looks like so much fun! I love all the Disney Princesses!
Those Disney Princesses are so beautiful, along with their gorgeous attire! The world of Disney to me is so magical, thanks for this awesome post Tenille!!
That looked like a wonderful celebration! I’m so glad you got to share it with your family, and I am so jealous of you!
OMG this looks like SO much fun!!
Disney is a pretty cool place to visit, I didn’t realize there were so many princesses but I’m betting my daughter knew how many there are…We love the movie Brave!
All the princesses from the different movies – that’s cool.
How fun with all the princesses there!
I love to see all the princesses from all the Disney movies. They are all so gorgeous and with each one comes a special love for them. Princess Merida is an awesome example for the modern girls of today.
Merida is one of my faves. I’m glad they kept her wild hair and bow.
Interesting. I like to see the re-invention of “princess” through the eyes of Disney. Great pictures, by the way! 🙂
That looks like an amazing ceremony/experience! It’s such a shame that Disney is considering redesigning Merida in their Princess Collection.
Fabulous photos. What a fabulous opportunity for you!
How awesome you got to see this and all the Princesses together. you got to see piece of Disney history – wow…
Looks like so much fun!
Oh wow! That looks like such an amazing experience! I can only imagine how magical it would be for a little one to see their favorite princesses up close and all together!
Very much a once in a lifetime experience! 😀
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it looks like a fun experience!
I’m not very familiar with Merida, but it’s nice to know that there is a trend to update and modernize the female characters. Like how she entered on a horse too! Your pics of the events are really great.
great. princess can by strong yet nice
It’s great to see a Disney princess that breaks tradition and takes charge! Go Merida!