Lauren Alaina has been performing for years. A trip to Disney World with her little girl still got her choked up.
If you don’t follow country music closely, you may remember Lauren from “American Idol.” The Rossville, Georgia, singer was the runner-up on season 10 in 2011, finishing just behind that season’s winner, Scotty McCreery. She went on to land a No. 1 hit, “Road Less Traveled,” and in 2022 she became a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
These days her favorite job might be at home. Lauren married Cam Arnold on Feb 4, 2024, and their daughter, Beni Doll Arnold, was born on June 11, 2025.
Her name has a sweet story of its own. “She’s named after my grandfather. It was my mom’s dad, Papa Benny,” Lauren said. Cam picked the middle name, Doll, for his aunt, Lucy Doll Arnold. He called it “a little nod to keep her name in the family and pass it along.”
Late last month, the family took Beni to Walt Disney World for the very first time. Beni is 16 months old, so this was all brand new to her.
She did all the classic things. Beni met Mickey Mouse and then Snow White, Cinderella and Rapunzel. She rode Dumbo at Magic Kingdom and went on the safari at Animal Kingdom. Lauren’s mom, Kristy, came along too, so Grandma got to see it all.
Lauren posted a reel of the trip on Instagram. “The first of Minnie trips to Walt Disney World with my girl,” she wrote. “My heart could burst.” She added that she’s “already planning our next trip.”
But the trip wasn’t only about the parks.
Lauren was at Disney World to work. She spent a few days singing at EPCOT’s Eat to the Beat concert series. And for one of those shows, Beni was in the audience.
She sat on her daddy Cam’s lap and watched her mom perform at Disney for the first time. And she clapped along.
Between the magic of the trip and that tiny fan in the audience, Lauren got emotional. In the video she posted, she asks, “Why am I wanting to cry.”
Any parent who has ever had their child watch them do the thing they love will understand.
A fan streamed one of Lauren’s EPCOT shows that week, on Oct 27. If you’d like to see the stage where it all happened, this replay puts you right in the crowd at Eat to the Beat.
Lauren Alaina performs at EPCOT’s Eat to the Beat
It’s easy to see why Lauren is already planning the next one. Beni is still too little to remember much of this trip, but there’s a whole reel of it waiting for her when she’s older.
And there’s more celebrating ahead for the family. Lauren turns 32 on Nov 8.