As part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias®, my daughter and I enjoyed an afternoon of #DisneyPrincessPlay in Central Park.

It is well known that my little girl is a Disney Princess lover and no secret that I treasure the creativity inspired by this sort of play.  If only I could encapsulate Lucia’s magical five-year-old thoughts to unleash at a time for us all to revisit.

Bob and I try to schedule little dates alone with each child – as uninterrupted time is incredibly important to all of us.  Although the majority of our special outings are simple in nature, a recent one began in the Disney Walmart Toy isle.  You can imagine Lucia’s excitement upon receiving an Ariel costume and Under The Sea Surprise Ariel, before embarking on a mother-daughter adventure in Central Park.

Lucia quickly concocted plans to bring The Little Mermaid to life in a perfect setting for her imagination to run wild.  The giant boulders served as mermaid coves where we searched for Ariel’s aquatic friends.  The Ariel doll came with a Flounder toy and Lucia transformed bits of nature into Sebastian and friends.

We had a lunch date complete with dried seaweed (Mermaid’s eat seaweed and LOTS of green vegetables!) and discovered a few things about little Ariel.  With the press of a small button behind her neck, Under The Sea Surprise Ariel speaks and sings in Spanish.

With little Ariel in her arms, Lucia talked about her feelings and her back-to-school jitters.  At five, she is incredibly open, and I hope that I navigate the upcoming years in a way that strengthens and maintains this connection.  I cherish the little performance that she gave me and her elaborate storytelling, singing and dancing.

I listened to Lucia’s sweet voice singing Under the Sea with her new Ariel doll.  She still squeals with excitement when the doll’s  iridescent tail lights up.

With the touch of a button, the Ariel Doll reminded us to search for more treasures for her “collection“.  Little does she know that Lucia has a pretty interesting collection under her bed.  We continued our explorations and picked up several rocks along the way.  We even stopped for a ride on the Central Park Carousel.

Lucia insisted that Ariel wanted one more glimpse of the world above before heading home to put her light up tail in the bath.

I’m incredibly grateful for this day with my girl, a few days before she entered the first grade.

Central park holds a special place in my heart as it is filled with memories of Lucia’ s first year and a half of life.  So many visions of early motherhood always come flooding back when we return.  She stops me with a leg clutching embrace as we exit and says “Oh Mommy, I just love our special alone time so much“.  I tell her how much I treasure her too and can’t wait for the next moment in time.

The Little Mermaid Collector’s Edition BluRay/DVD will be available on October 1st.  Check out the Under The Sea Pinterest Board for more Little Mermaid adventures. 

Thank you to Collective Bias®  for sponsoring this post.  As always, all opinions are my own.