One of the biggest attractions at Disney theme parks is meeting the real-life princesses.
Known as "face characters," the princesses not only have to look the part, but they need to know quotes from their movies, stay in character at all times, and know how to sing and dance.
Now thanks to two Reddit AMAs, we have an idea of what life is like for the women who work as these childhood characters at Walt Disney theme parks across the country.
Reddit user too-tsunamirecently held an AMA about what it was like to play Mulan, Pocahontas, and the fairy Silvermist (one of Tinkerbell's friends) at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla. Reddit user doublenn held an AMA two years ago about her time as Snow White at California's Disneyland (her Reddit username has since been deleted).
They both broke down what it's really like to work at the park as a princess, from the audition process to the weird things that children say.
NOTE: Answers have been edited for grammar and punctuation. While the women's identities were verified by Reddit moderators, it can't be verified by Business Insider. The following Disney Princesses in the slideshow are not associated with the Reddit AMA.
What's the audition process like?
"If you attend a look-a-like audition, you literally stand there in a line, they look at you, and choose who they want to stay. Everyone else leaves, and there is an animation portion where they put on music and say, 'Pretend you're giving a dog a bath! Pretend you're making a giant sandwich! Pretend the moon is made of ribs!'
"They will then make another cut if they have to, and send you to cosmetology to get makeup and costume. You will be coached a little bit from a trainer on what your character sounds like, and you will read an excerpt of the movie or a monologue they've written, acting like the character.
"You do this in front of several casting people. They will then take pictures of you, send you home, and call you if you get it." - too-tsunami
What are the specific look requirements?
"Tink has a specified height requirement, as do all the other princesses. Princesses are usually 5'4''-5'7'', Fairies and Alice or Wendy are all 4'11''-5'2''." - doublenn
How much training does Disney give you?
"Everyone is hired initially as the role 'Character Performer.' You are not allowed to learn a 'face' role (the characters that talk to you) unless you have had training as a fur character first (costumed characters such as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, etc.).
"It is probably different now than my training five years ago, but when I trained, I had five days of fur character training, which was three days of animation and autograph practice, and two days meeting guests as a fur character. After you are approved for the fur character training, you are allowed to move on to face character training.
"You have two days of training per face character you're given. Day 1 is watching the movie, learning how to walk, talk, and act, and day 2 is meet and greets with guests. I think there may be an additional day for accents (like Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins), but none of my three face roles had an accents, so I'm not sure." - too-tsunami
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