Photo: Sparkles and Stretchmarks
Hayley McLean's 3-year-old son, Noah, is obsessed with the Disney movie Frozen. She describes Noah as one of the biggest Elsa superfans in the world. "He wears his beloved Elsa dress all day every day...he even refuses to take it off at bedtime. He knows every single word to Let It Go and all of the other Frozen songs, he'd be able to stand on your stage in the Frozen show and give your Elsa a run for her money I'm sure!"
One day, Hayley and Noah were scrolling through a Disney Facebook group when they stumbled upon Princess for a Day photos. The program at various Disney theme parks around the world allows kids to dress up as their favorite princesses, wear makeup, and have a photo-shoot with their idols.
Hayley thought this would be an amazing Christmas present for Noah and reached out to Disneyland Paris. She was shocked when they blatantly refused. Their reply was brief and to the point. "At this time it is not possible to book Princess for a Day for a boy."
Photo: Sparkles and Stretchmarks
Luckily, Hayley is a mommy blogger at Sparkles and Stretchmarks, and in a blog post titled 'Why Can't My Son Be A Princess At Disneyland?', Hayley called out Disneyland Paris for their hypocrisy. "If a little girl wants to be a super hero, she can be. If she wants to be a Jedi, she can be. She can be whatever she wants...just like Walt Disney himself said, 'If you can dream it you can do it!' ...Unless you're a little boy who wants a Princess experience at Disneyland apparently."
Hayley's post gained international attention, and Disneyland Paris quickly apologized for the incident.
"[This is] an isolated incident. The cast member’s response is not reflective of any policy or belief held here at Disneyland Paris. We are going to ensure this does not happen again," said a Disney spokesperson to ITV News. "This experience is available to all children ages three-to-12 and we’ve reached out to the family to apologise for them being provided with inaccurate information."
Photo: Sparkles and Stretchmarks
"My son is very young, he doesn't yet have any idea that there is such judgement and outdated perspectives in the world," Hayley wrote. "He has no reason at all to believe that anybody would ever see anything wrong in a child playing dress up...and I have no desire at all to expose him to the ridiculous inequality of this world until it's absolutely necessary."
Mom of the year goes to....
