Disney | The Angel Forever

Category Archives Disney

Fear of costume characters

Posted on February 6, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL & JSL,

I know we are all excited about going to Disney World. The two of you have been really great chatting up about all of the Disney characters that you are going to see. Of course, Daddy and I wonder if we will have a repeat of our trip in May. Flashbacks of JSL choking Daddy at Chef Mickey and NHL hiding far away are still in my memory banks.

By the end of our last visit, at least one of you was happy to see the characters. NHL, you were eager to get autographs and hug them.

This continued over the summer at Six Flags. NHL would go for a photo, while JSL would run to get away from Wags the Dog, Bugs Bunny and all of the other costumed characters there.

Both of you have said that you want to get photos and autographs. I guess we will know how it turns out soon enough. Either way, we will have lots of wonderful memories of our magical trip to Disney World.

Love,

Mommy

_______________________________________

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Dear Kid Saturday Disney jsl looking back nhl photos vacation

The Princess and the Frog Soundtrack (giveaway)

Posted on February 4, 2010 10:00 am by TheAngelForever

As a forever child of Disney, I have always bought their soundtracks. If you look in my collection, you will see cassette tapes and CDs for Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and many, many more. These days I buy them to share with my children. When I was asked if I would participate in a review and giveaway for the newly released soundtrack for The Princess & the Frog I jumped right at the opportunity.

Information about The Princess & The Frog Soundtrack (from Walt Disney Records):

Walt Disney Animation Studios presents the musical THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, an animated comedy set in the great city of New Orleans. From the creators of "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin" comes a modern twist on a classic tale, featuring a beautiful girl named Tiana, a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again, and a fateful kiss that leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana.

The collection of magical songs from this amazing soundtrack features Anika Noni Rose(Dreamgirls), Ne-Yo(R&B music star) and Academy Award® winning composer Randy Newman. Set in the great city of New Orleans, the sounds of Jazz, Zydeco, Blues, Gospel and more are all present for an unforgettable musical experience the entire family will enjoy!

To hear some of the songs, head over here to the Walt Disney Records website.

What we think:

The minute the boys saw I had a package, they came running. When I opened it up and they could see it was a new Disney CD they wanted me to play it immediately. Although we have not had a chance to see The Princess & the Frog, both are familiar with it. Thanks to the Disney Very Merry Christmas parade that was televised, both of the boys have watched Princess Tiana and heard several of the songs from the play list.

I turned the CD on for us to listen. Both of the boys started to dance and parade around. They really enjoyed the upbeat songs like Down in New Orleans and When We’re Human. It was like I had my own little Mardis Gras Parade in my living room. NHL (6) liked the music and asked to see the movie. We will definitely be doing this and it is likely going to be the first time JSL (2) sees a movie in the theater.

What I really enjoyed was the genuine jazz feel of the soundtrack. It seemed like I was picked up and placed in New Orleans listening to musicians playing their songs. Something else caught my ear. There was something familiar with the beats, sound. When I read the CD case I quickly saw why. All of the songs and score in The Princess and the Frog soundtrack is composed and conducted by Randy Newman. For some reason I just heard a little that reminded me of Toy Story. The song that strikes me as becoming a huge hit is Never Knew I Needed. Talk about a powerful song with a lesson behind it. This will definitely be a Disney Princess song to remember.

Thanks to the soundtrack, we are even more excited about seeing this movie and it will be listened to along with all of our other Disney music in our collection.

Giveaway:

Thanks to Walt Disney Records, one lucky reader will be able to win their very own copy of The Princess and the Frog soundtrack.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Who is your favorite Disney Princess and why?
1 Bonus Entry – What is your favorite Disney soundtrack that you have heard before?
1 Bonus Entry – Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TheAngelForever and The Princess and the Frog sountrack Giveaway in the Tweet. Please leave a direct link to your Tweet in a separate comment for each daily entry. Example Tweet (feel free to use): Chance to win a copy of the Princess and the Frog Soundtrack from @TheAngelForever http://bit.ly/aaCEWa
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of January/February. Be sure to leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done only twice per person.
3 Bonus Entries – Add my blog button to your website and leave a link with the location. Be sure to give yourself 3 comments for credit.
5 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the Exederm giveaway. Be sure to leave 5 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, February 4th, and ends at 10:59 EST on February 18, 2010. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclosure: I received the CD complimentary of Walt Disney Records to facilitate this review as part of a program with The Family Review Network. No other compensations was given. The opinions expressed in the review are my own feelings about the product that our family tried.

Categories:
Disney giveaway Music Product review

Scanning old picture memories

Posted on February 2, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I have always loved looking at old photos. Growing up, I remember pulling our old photo albums that my parents had made. They ranged in topics from when I was first born, growing up, birthdays, Disney World vacations and beyond. My parents collected items to do 70’s and 80’s style scrap books. I love looking at the attention to detail in the books. Unfortunately, the old albums contained chemicals that are damaging to the memories within them. We now need to figure out a way to rescue them.

Last year, JL’s grandmother passed away. When this happened, he wanted to help and preserve the photos from her past. He agreed to get a new scanner and capture them onto DVDs for all of his relatives. That project involved scanning over 200 photos. I always figured when JL was finished we would move onto the photos that my parents have.

The other night after dinner, I asked my father to help me find the old albums in the basement. We brought up my baby album, along with two from Disney World. In addition to that, there was a shoebox filled with a variety of photos. These ranged from when my brother and I were little, trips to Disney World, Hershey Park, Circus World, fun with neighbors, and Girl Scouts. My father wants us to figure out how to work on the photos that are in the albums without ruining them. So for the time being I took home the shoe box to work on.

Thanks to getting ready to go away, I pulled out 30 pictures that I really wanted scanned. The other night, JL did them for me. I now have photos scanned of my Nana & Papa, special times with my cousins (whoa the 80’s hair), and little me getting autographs of characters at Disney World and more. Below are a few to preview.

This would be my family at Disney World. We were staying at the Contemporary Resort. This is the day bed in the room. My mother is hiding behind me and that is my little brother just before he turned three.

Here we are waiting for Dad to fix his big camera on the concourse at the Contemporary Resort. This is basically right outside of where Chef Mickey is now located.

This would be my little brother taking a nap in the really old style Disney strollers. Holy cow have these suckers changed over the decades! I believe we were waiting outside a garden at EPCOT waiting to meet up with family friends.

Those are just a few of the photos that were scanned. I will be sharing more in the next few weeks.

Do you scan your old photos to preserve them for future generations? Always curious to see what others are doing.

Categories:
Disney family interesting looking back me moments photos

Disney’s Celebrate Today Parade

Posted on January 27, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

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Disney looking back vacation Wordless Wednesday

Shoes for Disney World and beyond

Posted on January 26, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

When I was teaching, I learned a tough lesson with shoes and my poor feet. I was young, naive and wanted to wear heels. I already knew that buying cheap shoes was not a good plan. I spent a little bit of extra money and bought nicer shoes that would make me a bit taller than my students. After my oldest son was born and I went back to teaching, my poor feet had had it. They no longer could tolerate standing for hours on end in the classroom in heels. I quickly became a creature of comfort. Aerosoles became my best friend since I could find them all over.

After our honeymoon at Disney World, I also knew that comfortable shoes at Disney were a must. Just before our trip in May, we went out to look for new shoes. The boys got new sneakers, hubby a pair of sandals and I got Teva. I was intrigued with Crocs, but nobody locally had any at the time for me to try on. My father mentioned that he loved his Teva, so I tried them on. My feet melted into them.

While at Disney, I thought I would wear my sneakers a lot. My feet showed me differently. I was happier in my Teva. I wore them almost every day there and the entire summer. Putting them away for the fall/winter months has been rough.

Since the summer, I have fallen in love with the wide variety of shoes available from Crocs. I have a pair of their Sassari wedges, Nadia boots, LA Dodger (for around the house) and recently added the Juneau.

When the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration came up, I immediately started to think about shoes. What was I going to wear on my feet that would be practical not only for a conference, but also for wearing/walking at Disney World. I figured the Sassari may be good at night, the Juneau for during the day. Still, I wanted something else for Disney and beyond. While shopping at Kohls and armed with a 30% off coupons I bought a pair of Sketchers Biker’s – Step Up.

Want to see photos? Here are my shoes (sans sneakers) for the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration:

So I think I am all set. My only wish is that I could swing a pair of Crocs new Frances.

Crocs Frances

As much as I like the Sassari, I think the wider toe area on the Frances would make it more comfortable for me (high arch make shoes a pain to get at times). A girl can dream right of owning a pair – right?!

So what shoes do you like to wear at conferences? What about when you go to places like Disney World?