Grimmsneyland

At some point, after playing with Cinderella’s carriage, my kids scattered into various chambers.

Bedtime

First I stumbled into two bedrooms with M5. The one full of roses belonged to Sleeping Beauty. The other, full of mattresses piled high, belonged to the Princess whose sleep was disturbed by a pea. Directly behind the mattresses was a roomful of funny mirrors belonging to a vain Emperor. We didn’t meet this character. I sure hope he finds his old clothes before the Princess awakes. Sleep-deprived, she might not be in the best of spirits to deal with his new ones.

Wish Upon A Star

Later, M4 & I found ourselves in Snow White’s room that was filled with stars hanging from colorful streamers. She encouraged the children to write their wishes on paper stars and clip them to the streamers. Wondering if M4 would write about world peace or an antidote to all illness for children around the world, I asked him what he wished for. Apparently, he wished to find a legendary Pokémon. But of course. I couldn’t help but recall that was the only reason he followed me to the hospital when I gave my talk about Resuscitation For Children With Cardiac Arrest.

Regardless, he hung his wish up and we proceeded to the next space that looked like a bar. On the walls were neon lights that asked what our poison was. Mine’s an Old Fashioned but nobody was really asking. There were other red signs extolling death of the ego. Intense stuff for my nine-year-old to ponder over. We wondered about death a little and then wandered out.

Mermaid’s Tale

M6 took immersive theatre quite literally when he plunged straight from a giant oyster shell, into a ball pit of pearls. We spent such a long time there that the others soon made their way over. They dived into the ball pit with delight. It was only slightly easier to remove them from here than Jack & The Beanstalk’s slide. By the end of this, I really did need an Old Fashioned!