The Muppets!

I was so happy to see The Muppets this past Thanksgiving weekend!  I loved the Muppets growing up (especially Muppet Babies!).  I must admit I was a little nervous about the new movie but was very pleased!

I went with my sisters to see it and even the youngest who was newer to the Muppets really enjoyed it and we found ourselves singing songs from the movie all weekend!  I won't spoil anything and will just say if you love the Muppets, it's definitely worth watching!

I made sure to bring my stuffed animal from my childhood-- Muppet Baby Miss Piggy-- to the movie with me!  She was excited to see herself back on the screen too!

Ms. Piggy at the movies!

Here's a photo of me at D23 a few months ago by the Muppets display.  So happy to see them around again!

I loved it so much I hope to go see it again soon at El Capitan Theater.  I'll make sure to share photos if I do!

Christmas Day Parade Taping 2011

Last Saturday I was able to check out the Christmas Day Parade taping at Disneyland.  I've gone the last couple years and always have a lot of fun.  Plus it really gets me in the mood for the holidays!  The part of the show that is at Disneyland usually gets taped in early November and is aired with the part taped at Disney World on Christmas morning.

This year's parade was a combination of a few floats from the old Pixar Play Parade, Soundsational Parade, and the Christmas parade!  The parade taping is usually very slow going because they are doing several takes.  We stared at Lotso for about half an hour!  Lucky for us he was very entertaining!

The rest of the parade!

I loved seeing Daisy in the Soundsational part of the parade!

Eeyore was dressed for winter!

They had a camera on the back of this!

The camera!

I love how this tree looks with the Matterhorn behind it!

Ice skating fairies!

There were several large balloons!

One of the highlights was when it started to snow during the parade!

More balloons!

They had a stage set up in front of the castle for a later performance.  We couldn't stick around for it but I was told it would be OneRepublic.  Nick Cannon was also there as well as stars from the Disney Channel series "A.N.T. Farm".

The castle was a pretty sight with it's snow and Christmas decor!

Holidays at Disneyland officially start on Monday, November 14th!  I love how magical the castle looks at night and also the snow after the fireworks!  It's definitely one of my favorite times to go to the parks!

To read about my previous experiences at the Christmas Day Parade tapings check out the following post!

Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade 2010

Mickey's Halloween Party 2011

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  

This year I was able to go to two of Mickey's Halloween Parties. Both times were on Tuesdays and they were in the earlier part of October.  Last year I went on Halloween day and it was fun but Tuesdays are my favorite because of the smaller crowds and the short wait times for rides.  Whatever day you go though, the parties are a lot of fun!  My husband and I have gone the last few years and plan to continue going!
Here are some of this year's party highlights:

The park again had extra decorations for the Halloween party and there was spooky fun Halloween music playing throughout the park!

The parties usually have characters you don't always get to meet and this year's had some great ones! Pumpkin Duffy had a spot at Disneyland for this even though he is usually only seen at California Adventure!  I especially enjoyed seeing Phineas, Ferb, and Agent P!

Over by the Rivers of America was Pirates Wharf where you could meet different pirates such as Captain Hook and my sister's favorite, Captain Jack Sparrow!

There was also a small parade where you got to see several characters dressed up for Halloween!  Even the Country Bears were there!  Seeing Miss Piggy at the end of it was my favorite part!  

 

Both parties that I went to had short waits for many of the rides.  I rode Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder, Star Tours with little to no wait and we even went on Ghost Galaxy after waiting only 5-10 minutes.  At the second party we caught the special fireworks show, Halloween Screams, that you can only see at the parties.  We had a great spot for it and I was having so much fun watching them, I didn't take a single picture!   It's set to great Halloween themed music and features several Disney villains.
If you want to read about previous Halloween parties, check out links to some of my previous posts:

Mickey's Trick or Treat Party (at California Adventure)

Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland

I hope everyone has a happy Halloween!

Mr. and Mrs. Indiana Jones!

Halloween Time at Disneyland!

I love Halloween time at Disneyland!  During this time the park has Halloween decorations, themed rides, and some characters you don't always get to see.  Space Mountain is taken over by a creepy ghost and is called Ghost Galaxy. Plus Haunted Mansion is Nightmare Before Christmas themed! You can see Duffy dressed as a pumpkin at California Adventure or at Mickey's Halloween Parties. I've spent a lot of time at the parks this October with the wedding so I thought I would post a few photos of the Halloween decor and characters from this year.  I went to two of the Mickey's Halloween Parties this month so I'll share some photos from that in my next post!  

Hold on to your coins!  It's the Sheriff of Nottingham and he's collecting taxes!

Jack Skellington!

Pumpkin Duffy at DCA!

Coming Soon!

I've sort of disappeared the last couples months.  I'm going to let the Muppets explain where I've been:



I got married last week at the Disneyland Resort and it was a truly wonderful and magical day!

Now that I won't be busy with wedding planning I will again have time to get back to work on this site- so check back for new posts coming soon!

D23 Expo 2011- The Characters of Monsters University

At this year's D23 Expo, my fiance and I were able to attend the presentation, The Characters of Monsters University.  The presentation was led by the director Dan Scanlon and production designer Ricky Nierva.  They were both very enthusiastic about their upcoming film and shared several photos of different versions of Mike and Sulley that were designed before the Mike and Sulley we all know and love were decided on.  Here are some of the photos they shared with us!

Sketch of Mike and Sulley

An earlier drawing of Sulley

Another early drawing of Sulley and of Boo

Early drawing of Mike

After going over the different possibilties for Mike and Sulley before Monsters Inc. they discussed the challenge of Monsters University- how to make Mike and Sulley look 18 years old?  Monsters University is a prequel to Monsters Inc. where we get to see how Mike and Sulley's friendship is formed.  So to make them look younger, they went through several ideas and possibilities for their new look.
Here are a couple of the photos they showed us of different versions of Mike and Sulley they created as they were trying to figure out how their younger versions will look:

Then they showed us the finished product!  Here is Mike when he's 18!  There are subtle differences that are hard to see in the photo but he has a retainer, less spots, thinner, and overall has a younger look.

Older Mike next to younger Mike:

Close up of younger Mike:

Here is younger Sulley!  Again subtle differences- his hair, horns are shorter, and he's thinner.

Older Sully next to younger Sulley:

Younger Mike and younger Sulley together:

Overall this was a very fun part of D23 for me!  I love Mike and Sulley and am really looking forward to seeing them again on the big screen!

D23 Expo 2009 & Upcoming 2011 Expo Recap

A few weeks ago, I was able to attend the second D23 Expo!  I took many photos so I plan to split them up into a few posts.  To start off though I thought I would share a few photos from the first D23 Expo in 2009. 

In 2009 I was a member and got a ticket for just one day.  I had a good time but there were a few things about the event that I thought could use improvement. There were really long lines for everything!  They didn't have enough presentations for the amount of people attending.  I waited in line for one panel for about an hour before finding out that we would not be able to get in. But I was able to attend two presentations that both featured John Lasseter and got to learn about upcoming projects!  Despite the problems I had a nice enough time to want to attend the next one. Here are some photos from 2009!

We were able to take photos with him!

 

John Lasseter in the middle talking about the parks!

A moving Wall-E, loved him!

I'll be posting photos from this year's Expo so stay tuned for more!