Inside Out Sneak Preview

Pixar

I was in EPCOT yesterday, and had the chance to see a ten minute preview of Inside Out. At the moment, it's an Annual Passholder exclusive. When we walked in, we simply showed our Annual Passes and were given Inside Out buttons, and an awesome magnet set. It says "Today I'm feeling" and you put the frame on the appropriate emotion: Joy, Anger, Disgust, Sadness, or Fear. It's pretty cool.

Before the preview, the film makers explained why they made the film, which took five years to create. The man who made the initial pitch for the film said that he was inspired by his daughter. She had always been a bright and bubbly, happy girl when she was young, but as she got older, she became quieter and more reserved and he and his wife wondered, "What's going on inside her head?"

Inside Out tells the tale of 11 year old Riley, although she's actually the setting for the film. The emotions in her head are the main characters. They help her to interact with the world. But when Joy and Sadness accidentally get sucked into the long term memory storage, Fear, Anger, and Disgust struggle to guide Riley until Joy can return. It looks like a very insightful take on what goes on inside our heads.

Inside Out arrives in theaters on June 19.

Where's Olaf - Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost

This week, Olaf was hiding in a bin of rubber snakes at Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost. So, did you get it right? Be sure to come back next week and try to guess, Where's Olaf?

Where's Olaf?

Are you ready for another round of Where's Olaf? I'll give you a hint: "Why did it have to be snakes?" Don't forget to post your best guess in the comments.

Be More Tea

Jim Henson Company

I love the Muppets Lipton commercials. They are so funny!

Star Wars Merchandise

Hollywood Studios has a lot of fun Star Wars merchandise at Villains in Vogue. Here are a few of my favorites.

Darth Goofy presides over the display.

Teebo was the only Ewok in this shop, but there are several others on the tag. Hopefully, they'll be available at another location.

There are several sets of action figures, including this prequel collection.

And a new set of Star Wars Rebels figures, too.

 There's also an Imperial Troop Transport from Star Wars Rebels.

The Mickey and Friends Sarlacc Pit is pretty hilarious.

 The Darth Vaders racers case is cool, while the Pez, fans with Yoda or Vader on top, and bobblehead talkers are just plain silly.

Lastly is my favorite item: a R2D2 suitcase. It even lights up and makes R2 sounds. Awesome!

Where's Olaf - Muppet Vision 3D

Olaf was hiding in the pre-show area of Muppet Vision 3D. More specifically, he was hiding in the barrel of Banana Puree. So, did you get it right? Be sure to check back next week for another game of Where's Olaf?

Where's Olaf?

 

During our most recent trip to Disney World, we took along a mini Olaf, thinking that Bean might like to do a kind of Flat Stanley photography project with him. However, Bean decided that I needed to create a new game for my blog. We like to call it "Where's Olaf?" As we wandered around Disney World, I took photos of Olaf hiding out in various places. He may be hiding in a ride queue, restaurant, shop, or show. At each location, I took two photos: one closeup and one farther away. In the first photo, you can see Olaf and just a little of his surroundings. In the second, you should be able to see where he was hiding. So, for each game, I'll show you the first photo and you try to guess Where's Olaf? The next day, I'll share the second photo (with a description of where he was hiding) and you can see how you did. How well do you know Walt Disney World? How many will you be able to guess correctly? Well, here's your first photo. Where's Olaf?

Sneak Previews at Disney World

All images: Disney

Disney World has started to share special previews of the latest Disney movies. When I was there last week, we had the chance to see a fantastic preview of Tomorrowland at EPCOT.

It was shown in the Imagination Pavilion Theater. The preview gave us a glimpse into young Frank Walker and also the importance of the T pins to Tomorrowland. It looks so amazing!

The second preview was at Hollywood Studios. In the ABC Soundstage Theater, we saw a preview of Cinderella. After introducing the characters, they showed the fairy godmother scene where she transforms the pumpkin, mice, goose, and dress to send Cinderella to the ball. Helena Bonham Carter is hilarious as the fairy godmother! I can't wait to see the rest of the film.

On May 30, the Tomorrowland preview will be removed to make way for Inside Out to arrive. Disney handed out Inside Out character cards in the Emotions Garden during the Flower and Garden Festival. The characters are very interesting and the movie looks funny and insightful.

Cinderella will also be replaced soon. In honor of Star Wars Weekends, you can watch the Star Wars Rebels: Ultimate Guide. I saw this over May the 4th Weekend on Disney XD. It's a great way to catch up on what has happened so far. I'm looking forward to watching many more Disney previews in the parks this coming year.

Disney World Trip

So we took another trip to Disney World last weekend. We bought annual passes again, and we had a blast! Luckily, we were able to visit the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival for the first time. The gardens were beautiful and the food was fantastic. My favorite was the candied strawberries from the China Pavilion. They were SO good!

We also visited the Magic Kingdom. We rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train just as the park was closing the night we arrived. It was only the second time we'd ridden it, and it was a lot of fun. We also found a few new popcorn buckets. I love the new shaped buckets. We got Cinderella's Carriage and a Seven Dwarfs Mine Train Cart. Both have moving wheels, the Carriage has an awesome soft strap for easier carrying, while the Mine Cart sways, just like on the ride. It was dreadfully hot last weekend, so I also discovered a ton of new shady places to rest. I'll be sure to share them soon.

photo courtesy of Disney

Our final day was spent at Hollywood Studios. I love the way it looks without the Sorcerer 's Hat. However, the view was somewhat obscured by the stage they'd already set up in anticipation of Star Wars Weekends. There were also several photo spot backdrops ready for costumed characters from Star Wars. We took advantage of the fact that they were empty and snapped a few photos. It was hot that day as well, so we took the time to see a preview for Cinderella as well as a drawing class in the Animation Academy. We drew Minnie Mouse and mine turned out fairly well (which was nice, because my Tinker Bell from a few years ago had a strangely misshapen head.) We also watched the Indiana Jones Stunt show because I'm not sure how much longer it will be there. We ate at Backlot Express for the first time. I'm rather surprised we'd missed it; the food really isn't too bad.

The only disappointing part of the trip was when we discovered that you can no longer trade vinylmation in the parks. I don't know whether Disney plans to phase out the collectible entirely or whether they simply plan to make series you'd actually want to collect all of (like the new Frozen set or Avengers), but you won't be able to trade them in the park. Pin trading, on the other hand, continues unchanged.

At the beginning and end of this trip, we stopped at Character Warehouse at the Premium Outlets in Orlando. They had some fantastic deals! All of the Beautifully Disney makeup was marked way down. What was originally $24.95-$36.95 was now $3.99.and all of the nail polish, which were $11.95 each, were now 99¢. The best deal, in my opinion, was on the Vera Bradley bags. They've stopped selling the original blue pattern, so they had a few totes and hipsters left at the outlet store. I really wanted the hipster when it first debuted,  but I couldn't justify spending $75 on a purse. However, $19.99 was a great price, so I bought one. I was also able to find some of the Indiana Jones vinylmation for $3.99 each. And I lucked out and got exactly what I wanted: Indy, Marion, Sala, and the Golden Idol mystery figure from Raiders of the Lost Ark. As a huge Indiana Jones fan, I was ecstatic!

In all, it was a great three day trip. We had a chance to visit the theme park we love, ride a few of our favorite rides, see a beautiful festival from our Disney bucket list, and enjoy time together as a family. And isn't that what the magic of Disney is all about?

Star Wars Weekends have Arrived

Disney

Are you ready for Star Wars Weekends?
The fun starts today!
It's a great time to show your Disney Side.

Tsum Tsum Shorts: Butterfly Chase

Disney

The final Tsum Tsum short is my favorite. Tigger is so easily distracted!

Tsum Tsum Shorts: Mission Cake Decoration

Disney

The Tsum Tsums are getting ready for Minnie's birthday. But can they finish decorating the cake in time for the surprise?

Tsum Tsum Shorts: Frozen

Disney

This is the Bean's favorite of the Tsum Tsum shorts. Mickey and Minnie are such great skaters!

Tsum Tsum Shorts: Hunny Popcorn

Disney

Have you seen the adorable Tsum Tsum shorts on Disney Channel? They're so cute!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

Disney Infinity 3.0

Disney

Disney released exciting news for Infinity fans yesterday - Version 3.0. And even more exciting, they've added Star Wars characters! It looks so fun!

Happy Star Wars Day

May the Fourth Be With You!

Star Wars Jello

Just in time for Star Wars day, Jell-O has created a set of Star Wars jiggler molds. The kit comes with two molds, two packages of berry blue Jell-O and two boxes of strawberry Jell-O. The shapes include Darth Vader, R2-D2, C-3PO, Chewbacca, a Stormtrooper, and Yoda. The kit is available at retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target.

Avengers: Age of Ultron Featurettes

Marvel

Avengers: Age of Ultron arrives in theaters today. Here are a few behind the scenes featurettes about the characters.

The first featurette focuses on Black Widow and Scarlet Witch, the women of the Avengers.

The second is about the team as a group. 

And the third introduces Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, the twins glimpsed briefly at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and mentioned recently on Agents of Shield.