E! News
A celebrity birthday to remember
E! covered the mermaid birthday celebration Flip or Flop’s Tarek El Moussa gave his daughter Taylor.
In the news
The story traveled.
Once Upon an Island has never hired a public-relations firm. Families experienced the worlds, carried the story outward, and publications and newsrooms followed, from People and E! News to the Los Angeles Times, FOX 11, KTLA and NBC Los Angeles.
The attention is meaningful because it came after the work, not before it.
Organic recognition
Built for children. Discovered by everyone else.
Celebrity celebrations, neighborhood stories, television segments and national features all began with the same thing: an experience a family believed was worth talking about.
As featured in.
People
An exclusive with People
People shared exclusive photos from Gretchen Rossi’s daughter Skylar’s first-birthday mermaid party with us.
LA Times · Daily Pilot
Where our story was first told
The LA Times’ Daily Pilot profiled Once Upon an Island in our early days on Balboa Island.
POPSUGAR
Princess magic, spotlighted
POPSUGAR featured our princess experiences and the world we built for them.
Orange Coast Magazine
Q&A with a mermaid
Orange Coast Magazine sat down with our founder, Heather, for a Q&A on life as a real-world mermaid and the world she built.
Good Day L.A. · FOX 11
Live on Good Day L.A.
FOX 11’s Good Day L.A. featured Mermaid Cove at Wild Rivers water park in a live morning segment, May 2025.
KTLA 5
Five features and counting
KTLA 5 has covered Once Upon an Island five separate times over the years.
NBC 4
On NBC Los Angeles
NBC 4 brought its cameras inside our worlds for a televised feature.
Stroll Balboa Island
The cover story
Our founding family on the cover of Stroll Balboa Island, December 2024.
See it on the news.
Good Day L.A. · FOX 11Mermaid Cove at Wild Rivers water park, live on the morning show, May 2025.
One minute inside Once Upon a Christmasincluding our television news features.
On the cover.
Our founding family on the cover of Stroll Balboa IslandDecember 2024.
For press, production and partnership inquiries.
For editorial features, on-location filming, interviews, brand collaborations or hospitality partnerships, contact info@onceuponanisland.net or use our partnership and media form.