I Went to Mermaid School & It Was So Hard, They Had to Transport Me to the Pool in a Dolly

It seems like only yesterday that my sister and I tied our feet together, let our hair down and swam around the pool in our backyard, fully convinced that we were Ariel and that, if we put our minds to it, we could totally sprout fish tails.

As I grew older, these aspirations slowly dwindled, and the pool became nothing more than a cold body of water…

Until Disney approached me to see if I wanted to try Mermaid School.

Yep, in honor of The Little Mermaid’s 30th anniversary, the company teamed up with Sheroes Entertainment to hold a one-day “Mermaid School” in Los Angeles, where I learned everything from how to swim with a tail to how to apply fish-woman skills on land.

Mermaid classes are actually nothing new, and there are multiple places that offer lessons, camps and schools in multiple locations, including Aqua Mermaid and Fin Fun Mermaid. And while some folks do it for exercise and others do it for cosplay, in my experience it’s mostly attended by young women, who, like me, just really, really wanted to be Ariel when they were growing up.

Curious to know what it’s all about? Here’s everything you need to know about mermaid swim lessons.