'Frozen' Gingerbread Castle Returns to Contemporary Resort for Holidays

Due to the popularity of Frozen (though, Cinderella and Rapunzel's wait times have finally overtaken Anna and Elsa's), the Frozen-inspired gingerbread castle has returned for a second year to the Contemporary Resort!

All photos taken by Molly Blaeser for The Disney Freak's Blog.

The castle is located on the 4th floor, in front of the 'it's a small world' mural on the other side of Contempo Cafe. Because the Contemporary gets most of its lighting from outside through huge windows, going in the daytime is best for good lighting.

The castle is also inspired by Alice Davis' designs for 'it's a small world,' apparent in the stylized look of Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Sven.

New to the castle this year are the Snowgies from "Frozen Fever."

Olaf appears next to a sand castle. I enjoyed the hidden Nemo!

 

The bakery team also hid 15 Olaf silhouettes throughout the castle. I overhead lots of children pointing them out to each other and keeping track of how many they'd found.

To the side of the display are holiday sweets for purchase. Check out the video below for Cast Member Alexander's top picks.



See you all real soon!

Sanderson Sisters Debut in Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular at MNSSHP 2015!

Disney announced many months ago that the Villains' Mix and Mingle would not be returning to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) this year.

A few weeks later, further details were announced: the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus would be starring in the new show, making it their Disney Parks debut!


The first day of MNSSHP was Tuesday, September 15. I was lucky enough to be there and see the first show -- during which there were many, many excited screams from Hocus Pocus fans!

Their first appearance!
Images via mgmpluto.tumblr.com

Watch the full debut Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular stage show below:




As sad as I was about Villains' Mix and Mingle being replaced, I'm actually really in love with this new show. I think it's absolutely incredible!

The coolest part about the whole show? It really seemed the sisters had walked right out of the movie. I read in a Cast Member magazine that Costuming was able to get their hands on the original dresses Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker wore in the film in order to make the most accurate replicas. And also, fun fact: that's live dialogue and singing from the sisters!

Of course, the video doesn't do the show justice -- you really need to go in person and see it! Along with HalloWishes and the Boo to You Parade, MNSSHP is an absolute must for any Disney or Halloween fan!

"The Sanderson Sisters are back!"

Interested in attending MNSSHP? It requires an extra ticket, which you can get by clicking HERE. The party happens on select nights until November 1!

Happy (early) Halloween! See ya real soon.

Celebrate National Sisters Day with Your #DisneySide!

Today is a very special day: when we celebrate sisters all around the world! And what better way to celebrate than by showing your #DisneySide?

Image via Disney Parks tumblr page.

If you didn't know, I have four sisters (and one brother). All my siblings have code names, to protect their privacy. Three of them are not allowed to be shown on camera, but one of them, The Disney Mermaid, has been featured in many of my videos, which we always have a ton of fun making!

So today, TDM and I are celebrating Sisters Day by sharing our #DisneySide with you with a few of our favorite collab videos!





Young Disney Freak and Minnie Disney Freak have also been featured in this video, and you can read about my wonderful siblings in these posts from my blog.

How are you celebrating your sisters today? Share your #DisneySide pictures with me via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!

Happy National Sisters Day!

See you all real soon.

Happy Hoppity Easter!

Happy hoppity Easter!

Do you dye eggs for Easter egg hunts? Or maybe just for decoration?

Last year, Bestie decorated a few eggs with a Disney twist.

L-R: Mickey, EVE and Olaf.
Do you decorate your eggs, Disney-style?
Photo courtesy of Summer Rajavouri and used with permission.

This year, like every year, my younger siblings and I dyed our Easter eggs for the Easter bunny to hide in the morning.



From my family to yours, we hope you have a loverly Easter Sunday!

Disney Crime Scene at Target!

Due to today being the last day of Christmas, I figured it appropriate to share this Disney Christmas-themed crime scene video. Yes, I meant to share it earlier in December, but never got around to it/forgot about it.

My friend Mark posted this video to my Facebook wall on November 23. Along with it, he wrote:

Molly -- I came upon a terrible crime scene in Target the other day. I don't know what to make of it, but I thought you might know. What do you think?

Twelve Days of Christmas: Disney Yule Log!

Christmas Day may have passed, but the season is just beginning! (Those twelve days of Christmas refer to the following twelve days of Christmas!)

To continue the Christmas mood music, here is a lovely Disney yule log video. Put it on repeat, connect it to your TV, sit back and enjoy.

Make sure to watch for the special guest appearance at the end – it’s magical!

Image via giphy.com

Happy holidays!

Merry Christmas: 'Jingle Bells' Mashup

Merry Christmas to all! Enjoy this holiday mashup video of Disney characters singing the classic "Jingle Bells."


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My Disney family and myself wish you a happy holiday!

And Walt does too!
Image from waltyensid.tumblr,com

ttfn!

Happy Father’s Day!

Happy Father’s Day to all fathers out there!

Video from YouTube.

Who’s your favorite Disney dad?

Image from a Google search.

ttfn!

Halloween: Disney Style!

(So I apologize that this is late since Halloween was like 2 weeks ago – jeez, that makes me feel bad.)

Do you dress up for Halloween?

Or even better: do you dress up Disney-style for Halloween?

Joslyn is Violet Parr.
Don't you love how she even made sure
to have her hair cover one eye?
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Allison is hipster Ariel.
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And of course, my gals and I dressed up too:

Hipster Disney Princesses!
L-R: Thing 1 Kaihtlyn as Rapunzel, Michelle as Jasmine,
Thing 2 Mary as Belle, and me as Cinderella.
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Hope you had a happy, not-too-spooky Halloween!

See you all soon!

This is Halloween!

To celebrate the ghoulish of all holidays, here’s Nick Pitera singing “This is Halloween” from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Video from YouTube.

Happy Halloween!

Looks Like the Start to a Monstrous Summer!

I may be at Benedictine College now, but I can guarantee that come June 21, I will happily be on another campus!  “Where?” you might ask.  Monsters University campus, that’s where!

So if you didn’t get my “joke” there, what I mean is that I’ll be going to see the new movie Monsters University, the Pixar prequel to Monsters, Inc., when it comes out in June.

To celebrate the upcoming release, Disney has started an event called “Monstrous Summer!” at both ends of the US: Disney World in Florida and Disneyland Park in California!

Image from wdwinfo.com after a Google search

Remember One More Disney Day last year?

Well, Monstrous Summer also has an all-nighter event going on during Memorial Weekend – 24 hours straight from May 24 to May 25.

And to announce the upcoming all-nighter, Mike Wazowski himself took over Spaceship Earth.

Video from YouTube.

Not only that, but both scary stars of the flicks are soon to do meet and greets in their college attire.  Sulley now sports his college jacket, while Mike has a MU hat and retainer.

Video from YouTube.

While they’ve only met the media and Disney employees so far, “Mike and Sulley will soon be personally meeting and greeting with guests at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in their collegiate attire at the Monsters University Student Union, complete with a view of the campus.”

(Brigante, Ricky.  “Mike and Sulley debut in ‘Monsters University’ attire, ready to meet Walt Disney World guests at Hollywood Studios.”  InsidetheMagic.net.  Inside the Magic, 26 Apr. 2013. Web. Retrieved 26 Apr. 2013)

For more about the events during this Monstrous Summer, check out any of the links.

Who’s ready for one Monstrous Summer?

See ya all real soon!

Sing a Song, Hear a Story

For Christmas 2012, YDF and MDF each found a very cool CD in their stockings, gifts left there by Santa.

For MDF, it was the CD Songs and Story: The Littler Mermaid.

For YDF, it was the CD Songs and Story: Tangled.



Photo taken by THE Disney Freak;
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I’d seen other CDs in this series at Walmart and Target but hadn’t ever bought one, not really interested.  So when YDF and MDF each got one, I was curious and suggested we listen to them a few days later as we waited for the guests to arrive for our annual New Years Eve party.  Gave them something to do while they waited and gave me something to blog about for later.

Video from YouTube. The Disney Freak’s Blog original video.

My thoughts overall: the CD is great in terms of the story part, where a narrator narrates (no way!) the story of your favorite Disney movie.  However, in terms of the song part of the CD, it seems to depend on the CD you get. 

For YDF’s Tangled CD, the songs were all from the movie and featured the original voice actors.  There was one song that I guess was inspired by the movie, which was fine.  I enjoyed it. 

For MDF’s The Little Mermaid CD, the songs were the originals from the movie but other singers sung the parts.  Which was disappointing.  I’d rather hear Jodi Benson sing “Part of Your World” instead of some random singer they chose.

Otherwise, great CDs, and I’m going to look for some myself.  I really like the story part, especially since each narration is complete with audio clips from the movie.

ttfn!

Watch and Fall in Love

It’s that time of year again.

That time of year when you hear love songs in the air.  When you feel your someday might be today.  That day when you become a hero in love’s name (for the link, skip to 0:44 for the scene).  When you have that once upon a dream encounter.  That day when you finally believe fairytales do come true.

When you become “twitterpated.”

And just in time for this time of year (namely, Valentine’s Day – which has taken over all of February and just about all of January too), Disney has released its full-length short Paperman online for our viewing pleasure.

To introduce the video, it’s short but brilliant, wordless but charming, black and white but timeless.

Share it with someone you love today.

Video from YouTube.

Happy Valentine’s Day, and I’ll see you all real soon.

Twitterpated. Ha.

***UPDATE***

So yesterday, I found out my RA is just in love with this short as I am, and after talking about it with her this evening, I went to this post here to watch it with her.  Sadly, we both discovered the video is now private.  (Sorry for those just checking out this post!)  While I haven't discovered what the reason for this is, I have discovered it's not just my computer -- Wikipedia has the short listed as private.

***UPDATE***

For those of you who haven't seen the video yet or want to watch it again but can't, I found it uploaded by someone else.  Enjoy.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas....

Video from YouTube.

Merry Christmas from THE Disney Freak and my Disney Family!

A Once Upon a Dream Find!

While working on another post for ya’ll, I was searching Christmas songs on YouTube and stumbled upon this little gem.  It features Christmas favorite Bing Crosby and Disney Princess voice star Mary Costa.  I guess finding it was like well, once upon a dream!

Video from YouTube.

Kind of cute that she wore pink, huh?

Have a wonderful December and a very merry Christmas!

See ya all real soon too!

“October’s Here!”

It’s halloween-lo-ween, everybody!

And while I realize Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party has been going on since the middle of September, I wanted to do this certain post closer to Halloween.  And with my work schedule and certain important homework papers that need to be written, I decided to do it now.

One of the highlights of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is the Villains Mix and Mingle.  Since I saw it two years ago (online, not in person), I fell in love with it.

This was the version I fell in love with – the 2010 version:

Villains Mix and Mingle 2010

So when October 2011 rolled around, I anxiously - joined by my siblings, especially TDM - waited for the new Villains Mix and Mingle.

Of course, I figured it would be pretty much the same, as it had been since 2006 (this was the earliest I could find a video for, so I assume that was the year it began - I couldn’t find proof otherwise).

Villains Mix and Mingle 2009

 

Villains Mix and Mingle 2008

 

Villains Mix and Mingle 2007

 

Villains Mix and Mingle 2006

Imagine my surprise to discover that in 2011, the show was far different.  According to Wikipedia, Maleficent hosts the Mix and Mingle, as you saw in all the preceding videos.

Wanting to put emphasis on a newer character, Disney replaced the villainous host for the 2011 version:

Villains Mix and Mingle 2011

What did I think of this?  Maleficent may be my favorite villain (and I think the best candidate for their leader) but I was fine with Dr. Facilier being the new host.  However, I found the new costumes for the dancers to be horrible compared to the previous ones (even though those ones could be consider sexually inappropriate).

And what really upset me was that the new song at the end, replacing the previous, one…well I found it to be less catchy.  I never have that one’s beat stuck in my head as I did the 2010 final song.

Did Disney revert or stick with it?

See for yourself in the video below of the 2012 version.

I do have one suggestion for Disney though: bring in Mother Gothel!

Have a happy Halloween!  What do you plan on doing?  My co-workers want me to dress up tomorrow for work.  I’d love to be Maleficent (or Queen Grimhilde) for Halloween sometime during my college years, but I don’t have a costume this year!

Keep an eye out for those Disney Villains - it’s their turn to celebrate their way!

ttfn!

Easter Goodies--Oh, And Have a Happy One!

Happy Easter to all of you!

The Easter Bunny was especially kind to Young Disney Freak and I.  Young Disney Freak received a Polly Pocket Belle set with different dresses.  I on the other hand received another Mickey Mouse shirt--which I shall wear tomorrow!

Again, happy Easter to everyone.