Cali - 24 - Dole Whip Enthusiast
DCP Spring Advantage 2011- Main Entrance-Epcot
DCP Fall Advantage 2014- Main Entrance- WWOS/MK PAC
Formerly Part Time PAC/MK Park Greeter
Currently Concierge at All-Star Music
Here you'll find lots of Disney movies, fanart, and Walt Disney World photography, as well as other Disney-related things that I like and my adventures as a Cast Member!
I’m visiting my sister in Kansas City over Thanksgiving, and I’m not the only one in the family to live near something Disney-related. She lives two hours from Walt’s old hometown of Marceline! We drove past the house he grew up in and got to go inside a replica of the family barn, and I even got to walk right down the middle of Main Street USA! The coolest part, though, was the museum they have full of artifacts and letters from Walt himself, saved by his younger sister Ruth. Like, Walt Disney Presents/One Man’s Dream is a museum with a similar setup but most of it is replicas. This was stuff he really touched or wrote, which was really, really cool, and it was run by people who actually knew him! It’s still a tiny town in the middle of nowhere with nothing around for miles, but if you’re in the neighborhood it’s definitely worth the day trip.
So we’ve kinda hit the point where we’re too busy doing stuff to take pictures but Fantasia is visiting for a few days! And that means the SANDERSON SISTERS ARE BACK! We know we wear the same thing every year but we have so much fun in them why end a good thing? There was one amazing Photopass guy outside Liberty Tree Tavern who egged us on into a little impromptu photo shoot that consists of a lot of pictures of me spinning around like a weirdo and looking under my skirt to try to find Mary (I have shorts on I promise). This is the only time I’ve ever felt it was worth it to spend money on pictures but we’re both actually laughing and it was one of the best moments we’ve ever had in these dresses. Also we got to hang out with some very cool people in line for Jack and Sally and banter with two girls dressed as Alison and “the little girl who called [Winnie] ugly!!!!”
Last night my mom and I hit up Disney Villains after hours! Of course I had to do a little tribute to one of my favorite villains, the Shadow Man! I love when they give the bad guys some love, it’s such a different atmosphere. And the Maleficent Dragon and the stage show were soooo cool!!!
... meh?  I didn’t think it was the worst live-action remake (Maleficent), and I didn’t think it was the best.  There were definitely things I liked about it but a lot of things that I hated about it. It was just... mediocre.
Possible spoilers under the cut
The Good:
The backgrounds and sets were amazing. Â The Cave of Wonders looked just like the original, and Agrabah looked so bright and lively. Â I praised Beauty and the Beast for its set design and this was a step above that. Possibly several steps.
And the costumes!  Oh my gosh the COSTUMES!  I loved that Genie’s human outfit took so much inspiration from the Broadway version, and that Aladdin and Jasmine had their movie outfits taken up a notch.
Jasmine in particular is my favorite updated classic princess dress so far.  Aurora’s was hideous, Belle’s was ridiculously out of place and hideous, and Cinderella’s looked nice but didn’t look like Cinderella.  Jasmine’s resembled her classic teal outfit but with the gold embellishments and that awesome peacock train.  If her park look looked more like than then whatever they did to her, I’d be a happy girl.
Jafar was really really hot
Actual Middle Eastern actors in Middle Eastern roles! Â Yay!
The autotune wasn’t nearly as distracting as in BatB, and the actors could actually like... sing.
Jasmine isn’t defined by her relationship to men which is cool.  She’s a lot more her own character here.
“Prince Ali, handsome is he, Ali Ababwa...”
The new Arabian Nights was kind of a jam
And the new One Jump Ahead was a really fun action sequence. Â
Razoul/Hakim and the Sultan are actual characters whaaaaat
Seriously. Â Jafar. Â Gorgeous man.
The Bad
So much conspicuous CGI.  Soooo much.  Rajah in particular looked terrible, as did Genie’s blue form.  In fact blue Genie was so bad I could see Will Smith looking anywhere but at Mena Massoud.  It was rough.
Okay, I know no one is ever, ever going to be Robin Williams ever in a million years.  But the least Will Smith could do is try to bring something to the table other than just acting like Will Smith.  And I like Will Smith.  But it doesn’t feel like he’s acting here.  He’s just playing himself.
There were a few references to animated Genie that made me cringe. Â C R I N G E.
There’s no pizzazz to Friend Like Me, although the art style change is better executed here than Be Our Guest was.  When that song feels lifeless, it’s a problem.
The ending of Prince Ali felt forced and awkward and what was that line about Jasmine oh my god I’m dead inside.
They were trying SO HARD with Jasmine.  SO HARD.  I almost felt bad for the writers.  Yeah, it’s cool that she’s well-red and wants to be Sultan, but they were pushing so hard for the girl power thing that it was almost physically painful.  It’s like they were screaming at the viewer that they’re better feminists than those silly people in 1992 and it got bad.
Dahlia contribued nothing to the plot except “oh look we have more than one woman in the story!  Are we progressive yet?”
I like Jafar better when he’s not talking, that is what I’m saying.
Still hot though
They cut Prince Ali Reprise and that is a travesty.
SPEECHLESS.  Okay, on its own merits, it’s actually a pretty good song.  But it does not fit here.  It wasn’t written by Menken and Rice, and it really, really shows.  And the fact that time stops so we can see just what a Strong Female Character Jasmine has become through these incredibly generic lyrics is painful.  Even Walt said a song always keep the story moving, and this one literally, actually stops the plot dead by freezing time.  It’s really stupid.
Jafar.  He’s really, really hot, but he doesn’t feel like Jafar.  He does the soft-spoken, slithery, calm, cool, collected thing decently, but... that’s all he does.  And the Jafar I grew up with had absolutely no chill once he didn’t have to pretend to be a trusted advisor.  The last third of the original movie has him cackling around spouting bad puns and having the time of his life.  This time, he’s just... cold.  Even as a Genie, he’s doing this weird whisper.
And of course we finished it out with a trip to Magic Kingdom! I can’t believe Fantasia didn’t have Gaston’s autograph in her book. But I am never opposed to a photo with him because he is delightful. This Peter was also super cute. We even met Friar Tuck and Prince John of all people but of course, someone still hasn’t sent those pictures or the ones with Mickey and Minnie but we look like trash in that one because it was the last thing we did and we’d bene there for fifteen hours. We had breakfast at Be Our Guest and dinner at Liberty Tree-- my favorite and her favorite! And we got tons and tons of pins because apparently they’re having “pin events” throughout the day and a helpful CM told us where and when they all were!
And then the day after my mom and sister left, Fantasia came down to visit for the first time since she moved! Her friend’s mom got us a room for one night at Saratoga Springs which... did not go smoothly. I checked in at noon and apparently, though they gave me a room number, they didn’t actually check us in. So we didn’t get our bags and stuff until like way later and I had to wait on hold for forty-five minutes so they could activate our MagicBands. Whee. But the rest of the first day was great! We went to Epcot of course because we’re pin trash, and even though there was really only one guy out we got some good stuff! Then we went to hit some rides and met Ralph and Vanellope, and had dinner at Teppan Edo. Yum. :P
The next day, we had our bags transferred to Pop Century which is absolutely beautiful since the remodel oh my gosh you guys. I actually thought the value resort was nicer than the DVC Deluxe resort. Loved it loved it. But more importantly we started our day at Animal Kingdom, though we didn’t get to Flight of Passage. We did all the other important rides and met a ton of characters! Highlights included Chip and Dale noticing our dual birthday buttons and giving us leaves as presents, and Pocahontas randomly coming up to our table at the Starbucks where we were having breakfast, and remembering us when we went to meet her later! It made me like Pocahontas more, which is pretty cool. After we finished up at Animal Kingdom, we headed over to Studios for Rock N Roller Coaster, Toy Story Mania, dinner at Mama Melrose, and Fantasmic!. The character situation there is a little sad but oh well. I was really pleased to see Rock N Roller Coaster Fastpasses still available at like 4PM.
And on Wednesday we were traitors and went to go be wizards at Universal. Breakfast was my first time ever at Voodoo Donut, and all the pictures are on Fantasia’s phone ahem. I was also very dumb and left my wand at home. Some Ravenclaw I am. But we went back to Hogwarts anyway. Also the Horror Makeup Show is absolutely delightful and I love Toothsome very much.
I have had an extremely busy week. First, my mom and sister came down last weekend. There aren’t any pictures of the first day, but we ate our way around the Flower Garden Festival and then nearly drowned at a very rainy Hollywood Studios day. And then we spent day 2 at Magic Kingdom!
There’s a Kingdom Hearts 3 exhibition and DEMO!!! at Disney Springs today. It’s a three hour wait for the demo but it’s a virtual line so I’m finishing my Christmas shopping and getting dinner while I wait for my text to come back. KH2 came out when I was in middle school so I am SUPER stoked right now! It’s been 12 years!!!
Idk why she’s party exclusive, but she liked my SHINY necklace! I told her not to worry about it getting stolen- this sea witch tries to avoid crabs :P
Jack and Sally have a new home and I kind of love it. Jack complimented my “spooky black and white, like a briar!” And Sally gave him this “you IDIOT” look and said, “no, Jack, that’s blue” and asked I had anything trapped in my necklace. Then they told me that they didn’t have any oceans for a sea witch like me to swim in but they did have a big swamp, and last time Jack swam in it he glowed green for three days. It sounds like I have something new to use in my magic potions!
Met up with Sebastian for a hunny of a Not So Scary! He mentioned he was going as Christopher Robin and I whipped together a Pooh really quick! And I mean really quick. I made my bag and ears this morning.
Tonight was actually Danielle’s birthday! So to celebrate, I took her to the BEST THING DISNEY DOES ALL YEAR! That’s right, it’s another Not So Scary! And for the first time in a while, I debuted a new costume! My sister’s really into princesses so that’s what we did. I’m not sure I like the way I look with short hair lol. But a lot of cast members seemed to, including Flynn Rider in the parade! Also Stitch licked my face. Thanks to Fantasia for altering my dress!
Danielle’s birthday extravaganza continues! We took her first trip to Universal, then pretended to like each other at Hollywood. And yesterday we took a Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride to Animal Kingdom (thanks to Fantasia for the Scrump doll!)
Danielle’s visiting for a week for her birthday, and there’s only one way to start a birthday week at Disney! She also wanted to do some Disneybounde, so here’s Mickey and Oswald. People got who I was, too! We even got to be in Monsters Inc Laugh Floor! I actually got picked first to have my “mind read”, then she got in trouble for recording it lol. And we got to meet THE BEST COUNTRY BEAR.
