Photo: @jeanettetapley / TikTok / Instagram
Truly magical!
By Megan Quinn — Written on Aug 09, 2022
A heartwarming moment between a cast member portraying Princess Anna at Disneyland and a deaf guest is going viral.
Theme park characters have been making headlines recently for all the wrong reasons but this latest video, shared by an appreciative mother, is proving that there is still some magic at Disneyland.
A mom shared a TikTok of Disney's Princess Anna using sign language with her deaf daughter.
In a TikTok video posted by the guest’s mother, the cast member begins interacting with the guest in sign language after learning that she is deaf.
The video has been viewed over 2 million times.
Jeanette Tapley and her husband Jesse thought it would just be an ordinary visit to Disneyland in Anaheim, California with their family and friends.
When their 11-year-old daughter Zoe met Princess Anna from the Disney movie “Frozen” during a character meeting in the park, they never could’ve predicted the interaction that would transpire between the two.
Zoe is deaf and uses American Sign Language to communicate with others.
When Princess Anna realized this, she began signing to Zoe so that the two of them could have a conversation that Zoe would understand.
“When Princess Anna can sign and have a full conversation with my deaf child,” Jeanette captioned the post.
“Zoe has never been able to chat with a princess without Jesse or myself interpreting,” she shared. “This was magical. Thank you Princess Anna for making our trip so special!”
Jeanette also shared the video on her Instagram.
“Princess Anna had a full ASL conversation with Zoe and we all sobbed,” she wrote. “This was by far our favorite princess interaction of all time. I cannot even express it.”
TikTok users were touched by the encounter between Zoe and Princess Anna.
“Aww this made me cry,” one user wrote.
“This is why Disney is so magical!” another commented. Others who used American Sign Language in their everyday lives resonated with the encounter.
They expressed their desire for Disney cast members to learn sign language and use it to interact with deaf guests.
“I’m deaf, and I am a native sign language user. All I can say she signs amazing! Wow! I’m really in awe! It seems to be at Epcot! Hoping to see her!” one user shared.
“This literally made me tear up! My mom is deaf and you don’t see this much, I wish we had more of this!” another user wrote.
In a follow-up video, Jeanette posted an English-interpreted version of the conversation between Zoe and Princess Anna so that people who don’t use sign language could follow along.
During their interaction, Anna asks Zoe who she came to Disneyland with, if it was her first time at the park, what rides she liked to do, and where she was from.
Jeanette thanked supporters and Princess Anna after the video went viral.
“To say we are thankful is an understatement. Really the best way to sum it up is WOW!!!!”
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.