Baby Born with Two Heads? Must be from Brooklyn!

"In 1899, the streets of New York City echoed with the voices of newsies. 

Peddeling the newspapers of Joseph Pulitizer, William Randolph Hearst, and other giants of the newspaper world.

On every corner you saw 'em carrying the banner.

Bringing you the news for a penny a pape.

Poor orphans and runaways, the newsies were a ragged army, without a leader.

Until one day, that all changed..."

Twenty one years ago, one of the world's most amazing movies premiered. 

Okay so maybe it was a box office flop. And maybe I only appreciated it because I was a really weird kid that REALLY loved musicals and hey...it had the kid from Doogie Howser and a bunch of the mouseketeers in it. Either way, it's still one of my favorite movies to this day. I'm seriously a hardcore nerd when it comes to this movie. The first time I saw the footage of Mickey in his little suspenders and cap singing Seize the Day, I legit started weeping tears of joy. The music from this film just fills me with joy. And Kenny Ortega is just genius, i'm sorry. Also. For those of you too cool for this movie. Heroin Bob from SLC punk? Totally a newsie. 

Also...I mean come on, where else are you going to see Bruce Wayne belt out a heartfelt ode to the capital of New Mexico and dance all over the streets of New York? Mr. Bale was a looker early on, but i'll admit I was more of a Spot Conlon girl. And then there was the guy from the Mighty Ducks who just didn't want to seem to keep his shirt on at all throughout the course of the movie. I couldn't really appreciate this back then. 

Newsies has taken on a whole new life with the release of the broadway play. I've suffered numerous heartbreaks every time I have to remember that I haven't made it up to New York to see this yet. I've wanted that to happen since I was a little kid. It's awesome to see a whole new era of fans come to know the characters and the music. I've gotten to see clips and listen to the music, but i'm still holding out hope that i'll get up there sooner or later to catch it. (Ps, if you're a fan and haven't listened to Jeremy Jordan's rendition of Santa Fe...it's freaking amazing.)

Happy Anniversary, Boys! Still proudly carrying the banner after all these years! 

See you real soon...

(Photo from IMDB)

When I was a kid, the Disney Channel didn't suck. The Mickey Mouse Club, Kids Incorporated, Dumbo's Circus, Welcome to Pooh Corner, all kinds of quality program that actually related back to Disney.  In the evenings, similar to the Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite format, they would play Vault Disney. It was a sorted collection of programming from days gone by. A lot of black and white shows and movies, old Disney specials, world of color....everything a budding young Disney fanatic could hope for to help them become the  crazed individual who sits here writing this blog today. It was through Vault Disney that I fell in love with the original Mickey Mouse Club.

I'd already become a fan of the "New" Mickey Mouse Club. Ryan Gosling sucked me in at the tender age of eleven. I had known a little about the old show before I'd started watching it late at night when I couldn't sleep. I mean, who didn't know that theme song? And I'd been introduced to (and started falling in love with) a certain infamous mouseketeer as a very little girl when my mom rented Babes in Toyland for me.

Annette won me over just as she had so many before my time. Seeing her sing and dance, always smiling and making people smile, I wanted to do that. I wanted to be her. I suppose it's growing up in theater, but musicals have always made me light up, and when I was that age, they weren't exactly popular. I wanted to be able to go back to that time and do the things she did.

I was ten years old when Annette announced that she had been diagnosed with MS. I didn't know what it meant at the time and I couldn't really wrap my head around the whole thing. Over the years, as more and more "Disney starletts" have come out, it's made me really long to have someone like Annette back. She was talented and lovely inside and out.

My heart broke today when I heard of Annette's passing. I lost a hero, but I'm just glad that she's at peace. A friend said to me today that they may not believe in Heaven and Hell, but that if there's somewhere that we go after we leave this earth...he's sure that Walt is there waiting for her. I like to think of it that way too.

The adventures of Mini-Stammer!

I used to bring my stuffed Figment to the parks with me to take random pictures. It was an idea i've shamelessly stolen from various people around the internets and what not. Kind of a Flat Stanley thing.

 It occurred to me that taking my vintage stuffed Figments to the parks where I've been know to drink a bit and get rowdy, may not be the best thing.

Along with being a rabid Disney fan, i'm a huge fan of the Tampa Bay Lightning. I have a love/hate (mostly love) relationship with one of our star players, Steven Stamkos. There's always just been something about his face that makes me want to slap it, idk. ANYWAYS. Last summer, during a venture to our team store with a post season 60% off season ticket holder discount, I came into possession of what the sporting world refers to as a "Bleacher Creature". Essentially, I bought a stuffed Stammer. It's one of the more ridiculous purchases I've ever made and at some point, we decided that Stammer needed to replace Figment as our Disney companion. Today, i'm pleased to present you with the photographic evidence of Mini Stammer's first trip to EPCOT.

I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!

 Hola from Mexico!!

 Here's our little buddy enjoying a frosty beverage!

 Mini Stammer believes that this may be an ancestor of his good friend, Victor Hedman. 

 And that THIS may be a distant relative of his other friend, Chris Dingman.

 Trollin!

 Trying on some of the awesome outfits in Norway.

Back! Back! Over the falls!

 Kind of an inside joke, but a few of you might appreciate it.

 Here he is doing some shopping in Japan.

 Mini Stammer was very popular in his native land of Canada. The CM's were very excited to meet him and even asked to take a picture with him!

Mini Stammer...how many Molsons did you have?

 Yum! His favorite treat!

Mini Stammer and I were both very excited for the premiere of Oz!

 He also enjoyed the Dolphins at The Living Seas.

 And he couldn't leave without getting the gratuitous SSE shot! 

Work insanity and blackout dates will be keeping me from Disney for the next several weeks. However! There's a big birthday trip scheduled for a weekend in April. It'll be a blast as it I'll also be celebrating my freedom from the crazy work season i've had to deal with. I'm sure Mini Stammer will tag along for that, but in the meantime, he'd like to give you a little glimpse of how excited he is for a big event happening at WDW this May. He's all fully prepared to go all out for it! You can also follow him on his facebook!

Warning: Big hair and fanny packs ahead!

When I was a little kid, I didn't have a lot of must watch TV like so many of us do these days. My weekends were usually the only time scheduled TV watching took place. Saturday night was spent with the big orange couch watching Snick. Sunday nights started with America's Funniest Home videos and then (duh.) The Magical World of Disney. Seeing Michael Eisner standing there with Mickey lit up my Sunday nights. This was back before I knew any better and seeing him didn't trigger a fit of rage. Then there were Fridays. TGIF. Every kid's must see TV line up.

Recently it was announced that Boy Meets World, one of those shows filled with amazingly nostalgic 90's goodness, would be producing a pilot for a spin off. This triggered the need to go watch my favorite episode of that series. Over the course of the 90's, many ABC sitcoms took trips to The Most Magical Place on Earth. (Not happiest, that's in California.) They all packed their bags and headed to Florida and took all of us to the parks with them. So, not only did I feel the need to go back and watch Cory, Shawn, and Topenga's pilgrimage to Disney....I decided to go all out.

Full House was the first to go. One of the biggest pet peeves any Disney fan has when watching these shows, is how many things they're amazingly capable of pulling off and participating in over such a short period of time. And the amazing time travel that they do. Full House is probably the biggest offender of this. Michelle participates in a magical promotion that never happens and becomes Disney World's "Princess for a Day" after Stephanie gives up her spot in line to keep Mary Kate and/or Ashley Olsen from having a hissy fit. Basically she gets three wishes granted to her and gets to ride in that afternoons parade. The rest of the two episode arch shows the family bouncing all over all three existing parks at a ridiculous rate. The other girls get fed up with Michelle's bossy ways, she runs away, they all freak out and look for her. Stephanie's pissed in general but after a heartwarming talk from good ol' Dave Coullier, all is well with the world. They proceed onto the Party Gras parade before the night ends with a cheese covered rendition of A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes from Uncle Jesse. Lets face it. John Stamos was nice to look at then, he's  nice to look at now Who cares what he's singing. As a side note, my favorite parts of this episode belonged to DJ Tanner pining over her boyfriend Steve. I had a huge crush on Steve. That DJ had great taste in men. Since Steve initially wasn't invited on the family vacation, DJ wanders all over Disney seeing Steve's face everywhere. On Indiana Jones, Prince Charming...and Aladdin. Inside little Disney joke that I LOVED as a kid. Scott Weinger, who plays Steve, also voiced Aladdin in the film. Seeing him actually dressed up AS Prince Ali himself gave me all sorts of goose bumps and giggles as a boy crazy tween. 

Next up was Family Matters. The Winslows accompanied their adorakble and obnoxious next door neighboor Steve Urkel to Epcot where he was going to participate in an amateur inventors contest at EPCOT. I still to this day believe that this entire episode was filmed to promote the death of Communicore and glorify the opening of Innoventions. If you're not familiar with  the show, you probably won't follow and I apologize. Steve had invented a "Transformation Chamber" that allows him to transform him into a cooler, more suave version of himself. One that his neighbor Laura is crazy for. She sabotages his invention so that Stefan can stick around. They put the contest on hold and this is followed by a montage of Stefan and Laura making out all over Disney while the rest of the family runs amuck and enjoys the parks. Stefan then proceeds to propose to Laura in the most over the top and ridiculously gouda and brie packed way anyone could ever ask another person to marry them. Seriously, I don't think Oprah would have been able to afford that kind of a set up. Steve's cray cray girlfriend's spidey sense goes off and she flies off to Florida to find her Stevie. Then comes the drama of the Stefan vs. Steven debate and Carl's skillfully timed announcement of his plans to move the family to Florida while riding ToT after falling victim to Disney's special brand of magic. There's also a side story about Eddie and his weird friend getting lost while trying to drive and meet the family in Orlando, but no one really cares about that, lets be honest. In the end, Laura does the right thing, Steve comes back, we all learn a valuable lesson, and they all go back to Chicago and live happily ever after.

This episode does get bonus points, however, for throwing in a few seconds of some PI action.

I'll break away from the TGIFriday theming for a moment to give a shout out to Roseanne. The slow motion shot of the Conners running down Mainstreet is only out shined by Dan's slow motion run back towards the exit when he's informed that they only serve Beer at Epcot. The part with Roseanne and Jackie giving the custodial cast member hell is pretty great too. You can't really go wrong with Roseanne and more than anything that entire episode was just about family fun and what actually happens at Disney as opposed to some ridiculous made up plot like the others. But here i am writing an entire blog post about this ridiculousness so obviously I eat this stuff up with a spoon. You also get Johnny Galecki pre-Leonard Hofstadter. Score.

1996 also brought us a Disney episode of Step by Step but i'll be honest and tell you that I completely forgot that episode existed until I did a little research before writing this. I'd pretty much lost interest in that show at that point but I do remember some weird kid trying to set a record with how many rides he could ride in a single day. Also I think Carol Brady was in it. And Frank's hot surfer dude nephew. And Jason Marsden. Aka Max Goof. Aka another childhood crush. Yeah. That's all I've got for that one. I couldn't find the episode to re-watch so we'll have to make do.

And then there was the episode that inspired this post. After Cory and Topenga call it quits, Cory quickly starts worrying that he's made a horrible decision. Just as he feels the need to right his wrong, Topenga wins a writing contest and is whisked off to EPCOT for some sort of educational experience with a bunch of other winners from their class. Cory's worried that she's going to be wooed away by Andrew Keegan, so he and Shawn follow her to Florida. There's a few things I took away from this episode. For starters, I always wanted to know why it was SO easy for them to just wander all around the living seas all willy nilly. I mean seriously. At one point Dana from step by step is randomly sitting there feeding a dolphin, on hand to teach Cory yet another valuable life lesson. Why is she there? Who knows?! Secondly, I wanted terribly to follow Cory and Shawn's lead and sleep over INSIDE the magic kingdom. Who am I kidding, i'm now thirty years old and i'd still like to pull that off. Lastly, there's the kiss. Forget Scarlett and Rhett, forget Spiderman and Mary Jane, forget Jack and Rose. If you were a teen growing up in the 90's, Cory and Topenga's kiss in front of the Fountain of Nations was probably the kiss to end all kisses. This was the stuff dreams were made of, folks. It still makes me swoon a little. Aah, to be young again.

Lastly, there was Sabrina. Much like I feel the Family Matters episode was to promote Innoventions, I KNOW this one was done to promote the opening of Animal Kingdom. And much like AK, it's pretty ehhhh. Clarissa turns her friends into Zebra's and has to fix things, her aunts hang out with a caveman and play with dinosaur bones,  Harvey is magicked into a guide on Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Salem makes a bunch of wisecracks. Everything is fixed in the end, Sabrina passes her witch test, Harvey gets to stop riding past the termite mounds and.....EVERYONE LEARNS A VALUABLE LIFE LESSON! 

In the end, it's fun to take a look back at things that were a part of our childhood. The hair and clothing alone are worth the laughs you'll get watching. But there's also a look back at the parks in their heydays. It's a little bittersweet to see those attractions that once were. It's almost like looking back on a trip, though. These ridiculous TV families let us in our their vacation. We got to enjoy the parks from afar when we needed a fix in between visits, and all from the comfort of our own living room. Just think of them as a really well done family video from a trip in the 90's. And then thank the lord your family wasn't that sickeningly adorable. 

Why I don't think that the new Fantasyland Sucks...

Let me start this post off by saying that I grew up during what many like to call the Disney Renaissance. I was seven years old when the Little Mermaid came out and almost every year after that, Disney was putting out another beautifully done film. Every year it was so exciting to see what they were going to put out next. I think it's because of this that i'm always going to have a soft spot for the characters and films that came from that period of Disney film making. Yes, even the princesses.

Despite the insane princess craze that's ensued over the past several years, I can't completely hate on the princesses. Like many of us do, sometimes I get sick of seeing them. And sometimes I get tired of the focus put on them. BUT! I think a lot of people are forgetting the fact that the princess section of Fantasyland is NOT the only addition. I feel like that's where a lot of the negativity is coming from.

Because the circus side of things had an earlier opening and not as much focus put on it, it feels like this has made people kind of forget about it. Especially if you're someone without children. You may not take the time to walk through and check it out. To look at the fantastic theming that's been put in or the smaller attractions that have been added. My point in this being, the entire Fantasyland expansion IS NOT completely princesscentric. Yes. A lot of focus is over on that side of things, the two bigger attractions are princess themed and those are they ones that required more time and thus, being exposed as the final part of the "New Fantasyland" through soft openings along with passholder, and CM previews.

My passholder preview is set for next weekend, but last weekend I ended up caving and spending the day at  the Magic Kingdom. When we got there on Saturday afternoon, we strolled to the back to see if anything was up and running. We were met by a gaggle of cast members informing guests that there was a special preview going on that day for Imagineers and their families. We shrugged it off and went on our way, enjoying the rest of the park for a bit. I mostly wanted to go check out the newest edition to Pirates of the Caribbean.

I'll hop off topic briefly to tell you that I absolutely love the little addition they threw in. It's enough to not take away from the original ride, not distracting from the nostalgia. The mermaids are projections in the water, just swimming along in and out. It's very brief. They also added a mermaid skeleton  in on the beach. Kind of morbid, but kind of awesome. The only other thing to change is the soft singing of the song from the movie. It is, in my opinion, a very eerie and beautiful touch.

As I mentioned before, we walked through the new area where Mickey's Toon Town Fair had been. I've been down this way a couple of times and I've shared how lovely I think the new dual Dumbo spinners are. The retheming for the Great Goofini is adorable in my humble opinion. The new set up for the meet and greet seems very well done too. Lots of shaded areas to escape under. The Casey Jr. Splash zone is there for kids to play and cool off in. I really do think it's very nicely done.

We were headed over to the Haunted Mansion when we couldn't help but notice a small line along the construction walls hiding the work being done on the mine coaster. We checked with a cast member and sure enough a few minutes later, we found ourselves headed inside. We headed into the Be Our Guest restaurant first. I'm honestly a lot more excited about the lunch menu than the dinner. It looks nice, but the choices seem very limited.

As a fan of the movie, I adored it. I'm a huge geek for Disney's rock work and they didn't disappoint. Next to the building, below Prince Adam's castle, is a tumbling waterfall built on a "mountainside". There's a walkway leading up to the restaurant and you're greeted by a very lovely and well carved entrance. The theming is absolutely beautiful. The stained glass set up is gorgeous, everything I saw just took my breath away. It really is like walking into the movie. You half expect Mrs. Potts to come hopping up next to you and start singing Tale as Old as Time.

Next was Gaston's tavern. More great theming. They weren't kidding when they commented about antlers everywhere. The portrait of Gaston hanging over the mantle is another little scene that sticks you straight in the movie, especially when you glance over and see Gaston's chair sitting nearby. We didn't sample the food there, but the cinnamon buns smell delicious. I did try out LeFou's Brew. Now, i'll admit how skeptical I was when Disney announced this little concoction of theirs. It was, and I still think is, Disney's answer to Butterbeer. Is it going to sell as well as Universal's frozen treat is? Probably not. But I tell you what....it was damn tasty. I'll definitely be returning back with another glass. Quite possibly with a bottle of apple schnapps or some sort of vodka. It'll be fun to experiment with. The gift shop was similarly themed, A lot of general beauty and the beast merch. Some of it was really quite pretty,  especially some of the nicer cups and glasses that they had there.

Next we made our way to Ariel's Undersea Adventure. Again, GORGEOUS theming. There's rocks and waterfalls all around you as you make your way through the winding queue. I did not get to catch a glimpse of the hidden nautilus that had been carved into the rocks, but a cast member pointed it out so that I could look for it next time when it wasn't dark. There's a little interactive area with these projected crabs that you can play games with, but we didn't really have time to check them out. There's a point in the queue where you're greeted by an AA Scuttle who greets you and gives you an idea of what lies ahead. We rode twice and didn't have a wait either time, just walked through and hopped into our little shell.

The animatronics are beautiful on this ride. There's a few cute little tricks they do with projection and lighting that are really cool. The first is that as you're riding back in your shell, you can look down and it looks like waves washing up on the shore. The further back you go, the higher up the water rises on the back of the shell in front of you, until you are completely underwater. The rest is a recreation of the movie, little scenes and songs.

The reason I love this ride, is that it's a very "classic" Disney ride. I was actually kind of annoyed by this at first. I thought, "If you're going to be making a big expansion, why not do something more cutting edge?! Why not do something with a huge WOW factor?". But then I started thinking about all of the things that made me fall in love with Disney and the parks. I thought about which rides were my favorite. And the closer I got to the debut of this ride, the more excited I got. I was not let down. It was beautiful, well done, and just very classic Disney....just with better looking AA's. Except maybe for the fact that my boyfriend swears up and down that the Eric in the final scene waving to you in his wedding attire looks stoned off of his ass.

We did stop by later to meet Ariel in her grotto, which is really just the same thing that had been put in after the closing of 20k. Speaking of 20k (what was once my favorite ride in the park!) Disney...for some reason...held onto vials of water from the original ride. A few days before my visit, they emptied those vials into the water outside of Ariel's new ride. I thought this was kind of neat. Uniting the past with the present and what not. Anyways, it was a cute little meet and greet. I'll tell you a secret, I kind of actually like the meet and greets when you're dealing with a face character that can play their part well. It's a silly experience, but they can definitely make it fun. When we met Ariel, it was our second go through the expansion and it was about five minutes until midnight. I think she was one tired little tuna.

We also paid a visit to Belle in Maurice's cottage. Kris was not particularly thrilled about waiting fourty five minutes to see Belle. Fortunately, I have an amazing boyfriend who, for whatever reason, puts up with my insane love of the mouse. Yet again, beautiful themes, beautiful attention to detail. This is actually a really neat attraction. Again, I wasn't sure about this one. I had seen the video though and it really did look worth checking out. This was originally a tiny little show performed on the side of the castle a few times a day. Belle would show up and use the kids in the audience with a few basic props to tell the story of how she and the Beast fell in love. This is the same basic concept, but on a much bigger level. You start in Maurice's cottage and are trasported via a very bad ass Magic Mirror to Beast's castle. There you are greeted by Madame Wardrobe and a cast member who tell you that you're going to surprise Belle by acting out a story. Little kids are taken from the Audience and they're all briefed on which part they will play. Then you head into the library where Lumiere helps you surprise Belle and they all act out the story together. I really don't think I can tell you enough about the AA's in this ride. You really do have to check them out for yourselves.

The best part of this, was that we were the last to head into Belle's library. The little boy in front of us who had been selected to play the part of Maurice, suddenly chickened out. His mom, slightly panicked, turned around and asked Kris if he wouldn't mind stepping in. Seeing my 31 year old boyfriend on the floor cross legged with a bunch of little kids telling Belle a story made me laugh and just light up. He really did take it like a champ.

I'm sure there's a lot left to see. And yes, it's a lot of cheese. But you also have to remember that fantasyland has always been geared towards the little ones. It just so happens that a lot of us are kids at heart and still enjoy the rides and attractions there!

I will tell you one thing though. Even if I DO enjoy the occasional meet and greet with a character and even if I don't mind the idea of progress....I still think it's BS that they pulled out Snow for this Princess Fanfaire whatever the hell it's going to be. And there's my little piece of negative feedback!

An ode to the Dreamfinder...

The first time I rode Kongfrontation, I was in the sixth grade. My first year of middle school was coming to an end and my dad and step-mother had decided that a long weekend in Orlando was in order. Mind you, I was fairly disappointed that our final destination did not involve my favorite mouse, but I was willing to give this new place a try.

It's no secret that I'm a huge chicken. This little problem of mine has actually improved over the years. This trip occured when getting me on any ride I had never experienced before was a long, daunting task. These were the days when even the drop on POTC turned me into a big bundle of nerves.

After being assured over and over again that there were no drops, just a big monkey with a bad case of banana breath, I psyched myself up to face the beast. I still remember freaking out walking through that haggard queue, my stomach in knots. I also remember holding onto my dads arm for dear life as the tram started off. It was the girl holding the mic at the front of the tram that caught my attention, though. She was amazing.

Exiting the ride, I was a completely different girl. The ride quickly became a favorite. More importantly, I wanted to operate that tram. I wanted to read that cheesey ass script and make peoples days the way that girl had made mine. That was what I wanted to be when I grew up. And so, dear readers, began my fascination with working at a theme park.

As most of us know, we lost King Kong to Brendan Fraser in the early 2000’s. I, like so many others was devastated by the loss. It was just prior to that time, however, that I had recently graduated high school and started rediscovering my love for the Jungle Cruise. I had also discovered The Adventure’s Club. My options were expanding! Ha! I’ve said it a million times, I’m now thirty years old and if I could survive life working on The Jungle Cruise and delivering cheesey puns all day, I’d pack my bags and head for Kissimmee in a heartbeat.

The fact of the matter is that I love to perform. I adore entertaining. I fell head over heels in love with the theater at a very young age and it’s stuck with me ever since. If I had the chance to make others smile and laugh, to share a bit of that magic that I love so very much, I’d be on cloud nine.  Maybe it’s growing up in Florida, maybe it’s my insane love of theme parks, or maybe it’s just my love of all things dripping with cheese, but the thought of working at Universal or Disney has been almost every bit as appealing to me as Broadway or Hollywood is. I know. I’m weird. Deal with it.

I tell these stories because I recently read From Dreamer to Dreamfinder by Ron Schneider. I guess you could say that I’ve been a fan of Ron’s for the majority of my life, I just never realized it. Ron was the first to portray one of my favorite Disney icons. The Dreamfinder. He brought that character to life along with that devious little purple dragon the way no one else could. While I had recently learned of some of his other work, I still knew little when I anxiously purchased his book.  I had no clue that he had been so involved with so many of the attractions that I had grown up with and loved. That it had been his voice leading me around on that darn train I love so much for years. Or that he was partially responsible for the way I love to remember Universal Studios as it was. Dripping with old Hollywood goodness.

 The book just struck so many chords with me on a personal level, it really hit home hard.  I’ve found myself recommending it to all sorts of people. It’s filled with awesome stories for theme park fanatics, bursting with inspiring information and advice for performers. Even if you’re the average Fred, George, Joe, Bob, or Sue…get it. Read it. I promise you’ll be entertained.

I seriously can’t tell you enough how thoroughly I connected to this book personally. Seriously. I’m adopted. If I hadn’t already met my birth parents, I’d have myself convinced Ron is my father. Is that creepy? I don’t care.

Prior to reading his book, Ron had been a hero to me strictly for his portrayal of Dreamfinder. I wasn’t even a few chapters in when this started to change. As a girl who grew up wanting nothing more than to make others smile and laugh, he quickly became an inspiration. We may only have a small statue in a room full of mummies to remember Kong by. My hopes of cracking Jokes at the Adventure's Club may have been dashed out by Disney's new idea of "progress". And alright, Jungle Cruise Skipper may not be the most lucrative of career choices for a grown adult. But at the end of the day, I still find myself keeping an eye out for auditions. I keep dreaming, and Ron's words have encouraged me to do just that. After all, you never know what adventure is waiting for you next. 

(Side story!) 

I always love telling this story. The King Kong queue was one of the most awesomely themed queues that there ever was. It was also one of the most disgusting. It smelled like asshole. The whole thing. It just stunk. I don't know if this was on purpose, but I now like to think so. It was a recreation of Penn Station. Grafitti on the walls, dank and icky. I had never been in a subway before, but that was how I had imagined it.

I was 22 before I finally made it on my first trip to New York. We took the train from New Jersey and arrived at Penn Station. I will never ever forget getting out of that train, getting a whiff of the air, and the look that crossed my face.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed. Totally dumbstruck. "I know, it smells as unpleasant as everyone says it does." Someone in my party remarked. "No." I replied, standing in the crowd for a moment. "Holy shit it smells exactly like King Kong!"

The one where a princess steals my heart...

I'm not going to lie. I've been very excited for the release of Brave. I got sucked right into all of the hype with very little hesitation. The story sounded great, the animation looked spectacular, the music that i'd heard so far was beautiful, and for the first time ever....we were introduced to a princess with a real pair of stones.


Jasmine came pretty close, Belle had a good head on her shoulders and seemed to be going down the right path, but Merida? She takes it to the next level. So I showed up to the theater first thing Saturday with my friend and sat anxiously. By the time the credits rolled around, I was pleased to say that once again Disney and Pixar did not disappoint.


I'm a little bit biased. Archery is a big thing in my family so I think that's awesome to start with. I also know how difficult it is to handle a bow and arrow, so her ability to do so won me over almost instantly. I also adored the fact that she wanted to do things for herself. I went in hoping they stayed true to that story line. A princess that doesn't need a prince? It's a good message to put out there. If  had a little girl, I think i'd rather she learn a lesson like that over one that tells you to give up everything you have and know, including your own voice,  for a hot guy with pretty blue eyes who you've never said two words to. No offense, Ariel, this particular ginger seems to have her head a little more together than you did. 




In the end, I walked away and got exactly what I expected from this film. A lot of Pixar fans so far seemed to be less than thrilled with it, and I can understand that. I knew going in that this wasn't going to be your average Pixar film. It's their first shot at a fairy tale. Brave hangs in the area somewhere between Pixar and the classic disney animated features we all know and love. I think that's probably why I'm so in love with it. It's a mix of old and new. They've managed to mesh the movies I've come to love as an adult with the ones that I loved growing up and in my personal opinion, it mixed perfectly.


The animation was absolutely stunning and I found myself caught up in admiring the details throughout the movie. It really is difficult in some of those scenes to tell that they're actually animated. The soundtrack, as I mentioned before, is beautiful. The story, however, was the icing on the cake. It was action filled, full of meaning, and very touching. There is of course, plenty of comic relief. Most of this was provided by a very dainty bear and Merida's three younger brothers.


I've read that the pizza planet truck does, in fact, make an appearance though I was way too caught up in the movie to catch it. I've also been informed that here's a cute little scene after the credits along with at small tribute to Steve Jobs in there as well. As with any Pixar flick, there's a million things hidden here and there, i'm definitely going to have to check this one out again. I recommend you do too.