This travel site has a whole blog page dedicated to putting together outfits that look like grown-up versions of all the best characters, like Megora from Hercules, Ariel and The White Rabbit from Wonderland. This week, however, I'm going a bit more literal when it comes to showing my love for disney...Since you know. It's not halloween or anything ;) Is it wrong to want blue hair just so I can copy/pull off this entire outfit?
0 Comments
While she may obviously have the overall look of Maleficent's latest incarnation, i was more impressed by the actress' mannerisms and voice. She really did her homework and gave guests quite a show! Hopefully she didn't frighten too many kiddies, since by the time most guests got around to seeing her it was very well "past their bedtime". Guests needed a special ticket to see her, so it was an extra special treat indeed. Other exclusive villain meet and greets included Hades and Megora (yeah,yeah I know she was only a bad guy in half of the movie) and a (non-angelina) Maleficent and the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The wait times for those meet and greets were 300 minutes- the same amount of time as the wait for Anna and Elsa from Frozen. Looks like good is just as popular as evil these days :) (Thanks to insidethemagic for the cool pictures) During the 24 hour long Disney Side party at the magic kingdom, some of the most beloved villains of all time came out to play in their very own late night parade.
Maleficent is obviously the most popular at the moment, with her new movie out in theaters. There were some villains that showed up that I had forgotten even existed! All in all, it was a great night- not too sure what a slumber party has to do with bad guys, but we were all more than happy to see them, that's for sure! Oogie Boogie has always been my absolute favorite! If you missed out on the 24 hour party, sucks for you. Just kidding- there are always cool things going on, you just have to stay on top of the news and keep an eye out for special events that interest you. I use this disney site to keep up on the news and events and so on. The terrifying trailers for Maleficent may be leaving your kids nervous, but now that the film has actually begun screening, it is clear that the PG rating is fair. The trailers cram more horror into two minutes than the film actually has. The effect is much easier to watch when spread out over two hours- the advertising was a bit misleading in that way.
I was a little disappointed that it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be (although it does take a lot to scare me) but it definitely has some jolts and scary images for the kids. Spolier alert: There is a death, and Maleficent herself has a very painful scene that can be difficult to watch. It's dark enough for parents to enjoy and light enough that it shouldn't give kids above kindergarten age any problems or nightmares. That being said, Angelina Jolie is pretty damn creepy in this movie. Her own daughter had to play young Aurora as any other actresses they tried to hire was too afraid of her. Roman Dirge, the writer and illustrator behind the dark and wildly successful "Lenore" comic books, has collaborated with Disney and other comic book artists to create a Haunted Mansion graphic novel. On amazon, there are plenty of good deals on the paperback copies available. I have been a big fan of Dirge's work since high school, and these comics seem to pre-date his Lenore fame, as there was an advertisement for those comics in the back of the book. heres a link to one of the copies i found- I had to be sneaky and screen-capture a couple of the pages since the format of the preview doesn't allow you to save them. You can just take them from here ;) http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Mansion-One-Welcome-Foolish/dp/1593620985 Ever notice how Disney has been making movies with backstories for all of it's original and "un-themed" rides? Like the great Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise or the absolutely terrible Haunted Mansion movie? You might be saying to yourslef, "but Splash Mountain is one of the most beloved theme park rides of all! Why doesn't it have a storyline or movie?" That's because it does, and it is terribly racist. The story features Uncle Remus, an ex-slave singing happy diddies {Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, anyone?) to small white children and telling them stories about his slave days. There are no legal DVDs of the short musical film anywhere, as it has become quite an embarrassment over the years to the Disney Company, but it is all over the internet and especially Youtube. One of the worst things about Splash Mountain's use of the characters? the portrayal of brier rabbit "running away" or escaping from home and being punished for it. (runaway slave references can be found all over the ride!!!) Not to mention the racist and stereotypical southern way that the characters speak. Long lost shows and character from the Disney parks are always entertaining to look back on. I have very vague memories of this show and now, as an adult I find that it was much more awesome than I thought it was a kid. These pictures are from fromscreentotheme.com and imagineeringdisney.com
This blog has guides to all of the newer shows and parades. I'm sorry to say, it looks like this one in particular is gone forever. This was a show put on at the Odyssey and was part of a character dining experience at EPCOT Center, back when there was a big push to make the park less educational and more fun. (it obviously didn't work out that way) The character show featured our favorite friends as galactic explorers and even though these photos are from 1991- the retro style and costuming is so painfully 80s. It looks like Mickey mouse and Rainbow Brite had a few babies- Or pets. One thing the Show didn't have was Donald Duck- it was never explained how he somehow was less important than Chip and Dale, but I suspect Donald refused to wear that outfit. This letter may be from 1938, but as a female artist myself, I still find it a bit offensive. Vulture.com used the image on a page "fact-checking" different and equally "not flattering" accusations made against Walt's character.
In the letter, (which appears to be signed by a female) says that no creative work is done by women, but if she wants to do some kindergarten style coloring, then she can go apply in person. Coloring someone else's work all day every day with no creative freedom (and paints mixed and planned out for you) seems like a pretty unglamorous job for an aspiring creative mind, but I think that using it as evidence that Disney hated and feared women is a bit of a stretch. This accusation goes hand in hand with the seemingly misogynist portrayal of Snow White, and in turn, her stepmother. As time goes on and society gets more progressive, the more insulting his original female characters appear to us as an evolved and equal opportunity culture. However times may change in the future, it is important to remember that nothing will change the past and that his early films will never reflect our modern views. His princesses may have been helpless and his mother figures may have been evil, but in 1938 women weren't getting hired for much of anything outside of typing and answering phone calls. This wasn't the only company who felt this way so, as ugly as the sentiment may be, it was the feeling of almost every employer at the time. How did i not know this was a thing in the nineties? i was a thing in the nineties!Somehow, I was a kid when this pop up book chronicling the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney became available in stores, and I just learned about it TODAY. Hopefully, it shouldn't be too hard to get a copy of this book on amazon- I want to add it to my library. Just kidding, I don't have a library! I barely have a bookshelf- But I still want this book. Take a look at these cool pictures i got from doombuggies.com I am in love with the illustration style of this book- the graveyard is the best page since it's the only part of the ride where things actually do jump up and frighten you- i would like to make one, however using real pictures of the ride so i can play with it and then give to my kids who will probably be as obsessy bessy about it as I am. Souvenirs from the parks themselves may be great, but I wouldn't bet on them having stuff that match all of our darker sensibilities. theorlandovacationstore.com has a lot of tips on how to save money on souvenir shopping for the kids while making backpacks or goodie bags more personal to your family. This, for instance, is something I would order ahead of time and put in my kid's knapsack for the plane- along with some candies and jack skellington toys :)
Every now and then, i come across hilarious pictures of Disney characters and face actors and I log them away for future smiles and giggles. I always like pictures of people on their disney world vacation- if you have any good ones like these feel free to post them as comments or send them to me :)
I decided I'm going to start posting some of my favorites on here. (Not all at once, obviously. The internet would crash) As these have been sitting on my desktop for a while, i don't know the sources of all of them- if you recognize any of these please let me know so I can credit them. The first one is one of the funniest- you barely notice there's a child in there at first! But there she is- a Tweedle-Dee, Alice, Mad Hatter sandwich. This is definitely a picture she's going to show her kids one day. The second is another Mad Hatter pic- showing off his silly side with an equally funny child. Please look at the ridiculous costume in the last photo- it is of the original Mad Hatter costume featured at the Disney Parks- The new one may not be as whimsical, but it is certainly way less creepy. Which one do you prefer? The exact replica of the animated film, or the more modern version? |