Meeting Merida From Brave at Walt Disney World is one of the most fantastic experiences for little girls.

Merida's Coronation

We had the privilege of watching Merida's coronation whilst on vacation in Disney World a few weeks ago. I wanted to share some of the lovely photos I was able to capture form that morning. At the event, Merida became the 11th princess to receive the Disney Princess title. Standing alongside her was Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana and Rapunzel.

A couple of days later we were back at Magic Kingdom and I wanted the girls to meet Merida in person. We had just finished our long lunch at Be Our Guest and the girls did not want to stand in line to meet Merida as lunch had taken longer than we had anticipated.

Meeting Merida From Brave at Walt Disney World

The Merida meet and greet is located at the Fairytale Garden near Cinderella's Castle. We arrived just at the gates were closing for a break. Merida would return in one hour. My children did not want to wait, but I knew they would regret it later, so I pulled out the iPods for the girls and let my son venture off to ride a couple of rides by himself (he had his cell phone, no worries).

I was third in line for the next meet and greet session and we lined up on the hillside pathway between the Fairytale Garden and Cinderella Castle. Thankfully it was fully shaded and the hour passed quickly with the photographer and attendant entertaining all of us standing in the front of the line with jokes and magic tricks.

Merida is a strong, independent young girl and I knew my girls would love meeting her. She came bounding out the gate, pushing them open with her arms wide. She skipped around the area for a few moments and asked everyone to come on in. She was as impetuous, rough and tumble, strong-willed, determined and playful and her movie character.

The line moved so quickly, my little one didn't even know to turn around. Merida had to call her to come over and get an autograph.

As Merida was setting the autograph books down, she noticed that our pen was also a bubble blower and a stamper. She had a delightful time trying to blow bubbles that I had just dumped out in my pocketbook at Be our Guest (look how endearing she is when she is sad we were out of bubbles).

Merida was thrilled to discover that the stamper was indeed working. She then went around and stamped my daughters, myself, the staff attendant and the photographer. She stamped the photographer a good six or seven times and my daughter's just thought that was hilarious.

After her fun filled stamping time, she posed for photos with my daughters and had a bit of a chit chat with them. We were hoping for a sighting of the wee bears, but they were not in attendance that afternoon. Merida was dressed in full-length green Celtic attire and had a head-full of fiery, bright curly red hair. I told her I liked her hair, being a fellow red myself.

Merida was fantastic. The girls they cast in these character roles are simply amazing! I can't imagine the gaggles of children she sees every single day and her eyes still lit up with excitement when my daughters went to meet her. She asked questions and joyfully played with their pen and she listened very attentively. She was not the least bit distracted by anyone else.

Merida was so wonderful that when we were walking away, my little one noticed that only her sister's autograph book had been signed and not hers. She was on the verge of tears and Merida quickly noticed, even though she was already with the next guest. She came over and explained that she had gotten so excited about the bubble and stamp pen that she had forgotten to sign the second book. All was well with a quick signature and a small hug. For those few moments, Merida was only interested in making sure my daughter was having the best, most memorable time ever.

That is why I made my girls stand in line for one hour to meet Merida!