Entertainment Cuts Continue at Walt Disney World

    While Walt Disney World prepares to close tomorrow for an unknown period of time, it seems that the sadness that fans are feeling is only getting worse by the news that has been coming out today of more live entertainment cuts coming to EPCOT. Over the course of the last couple years more and more live entertainment has been vanishing from the parks at Walt Disney World and on the edge of the parks closing, more cuts have been announced. The sad thing is that based on the reactions of the performers, these cuts are not temporary.

    The cut acts are the Matsuriza Taiko Drummers, Sergio the Master Juggler, and the British Revolution. All of these performances are coming to an end today and both the Matsuriza Taiko Drummers and Sergio the Juggler have sounded off on social media about their final performances. Sergio in particular seems incredibly heartbroken to no longer be able to help bring magic to children and families all over the world as can be seen on his Facebook page As seen here . The Matsuriza Taiko Drummers also shared a very heartfelt goodbye to their fans on their Facebook page As seen here . The British Revolution also made a statement to the fans Seen here .

    The loss of these entertainers actually concerns me quite a bit for the direction of EPCOT and on a similar note Animal Kingdom. Culture is something that both of these parks had ways of teaching. The live entertainment of these parks, while yes entertainment, also went a long way in introducing kids and families to the cultures of the countries they represent. As EPCOT continues to transform and become more and more IP based, it's concerning to see things like this fall to the wayside as a result of budget cuts. I get that Disney is a company and needs to continue to turn a profit, but the trend currently is as the prices increase, the value and entertainment drops. I've never been to Animal Kingdom and not seen the African band playing. I've never been to EPCOT and not been wowed by a performance I just happened to come across. The loss of those does nothing but hurt the experience, wonder, and magic of those parks.

    With all parks closing I fear that when they reopen the cuts are going to continue at a rapid pace as Disney seeks a way to make up for lost ground. As much as it pains me to say, eliminate all the live entertainment around the parks and you end up with character meet and greets, rides, and food. You end up with an upscale Six Flags park that has more family oriented rides, more popular characters, better food, and is a much higher price. Take away the shows and as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter how amazingly themed World Showcase is because outside of a Frozen ride, there isn't much else to do for someone like me who doesn't drink besides walk around.

    Time will tell with how this virus is going to affect the parks in the near future. My hope is once reopened we may see a return of these live entertainment shows, but the future is certainly not looking the brightest if Disney's recent track record of entertainment is being taken into account. I've had the pleasure of seeing all the cancelled shows referenced in this blog and each and every performer are incredible at what they do and helped to make EPCOT's World Showcase what it is today and each and every one of them will be sorely missed when the park reopens without them.

Disney Villainous Review

    Have you even wondered what it would be like to be a Disney villain? What it would be like to try and achieve some horrible goal that would bring do-gooders to their knees? Have you even wanted to summon titans and have them march on Mount Olympus? If you answered yes to any of those questions then Disney Villainous may be the card/board game hybrid for you! Disney Villainous allows players to play as one of now fifteen villains throughout the many years of Disney animation. The game allows the villains to finally get one ups on the heroes that have thwarted them in their respective movies (or short). In this blog I'll touch on many of the villains and the game itself and why I think the game is a must buy for any fan of Disney villains!

    The base game comes with six villains and the three expansions add three more villains each to the collection. The original six boasts a pretty impressive lineup with Ursula, Maleficent, Jafar, Captain Hook, the Queen of Hearts, and Prince John. You may think Prince John seems a bit out of place as Robin Hood certainly is not held in as high a regard as the other movies these villains came from. Ah, but that is the beauty of villainous. The game is not afraid to take deeper cuts and include villains that are lesser known or not even thrown in most conversations of Disney villains. Prince John, Ratigan, and Pete (Steamboat Willie style) are the three current deeper cuts. If more expansions come out for the game I wouldn't be shocked to see more sneak their way in either. Other characters that have come out in the expansion packs include Hades, Scar, the Evil Queen, Dr. Facilier, Yzma, Cruella de Vil, and Mother Gothel. Each and every villain has a very different play style and a very different objective to complete.

    While I'm not going to make this blog a tutorial on how to play the game, it is important to know what the board looks like to better understand this review. I'll use Ratigan's board and cards as well as Maleficent's board and cards to show how the game works as I review it. As mentioned every villain has an objective to complete and it is up to the other villains to prevent you from completing said objective while they try to complete their own.

Ratigan's Board

Maleficent's Board

    For example, Ratigan must play the robot queen card, deliver it from his secret lair to Buckingham Palace and start  with it in tact on his next turn. If the other villains manage to destroy it by say bringing Basil of Baker Street onto the board, his objective changes to defeat Basil. Another example is Maleficent needing to play a curse at each location. Her objective never changes so the other villains need to make sure they are keeping track of where curses have been played and act accordingly.

Ratigan's Primary Objective

Ratigan's objective should the robot mouse queen be discarded

    The way you slow other villains down is super fun, you play "fate" cards on them which in Maleficent's case can be a card that discards a curse from a location, or summoning heroes (all from the villains respective movies) that do a ton of damage ranging from discarding a curse at a location to forcing Maleficent to play with her hand revealed. In Ratigan's case it can be discarding the Robot Queen to clogging the ever important Buckingham Palace to removing various items from the board.

    You can fight back though with allies (all from the villains respective movies). Have enough goons and Maleficent can push back Prince Philip. Give Fidget a few items and he can keep Ratigan progressing towards his objective nicely. When to deal with the heroes though is all part of the strategy that you'll need to develop as you play. Sometimes they are more of a hindrance and need to be dealt with as soon as possible. Other times they are an inconvenience at worst. That's the back and forth that you and your opponents will have as you work towards your objective.

    Now why do I love this game. Well for one I'm big into strategy games. Whether they are card games, board games, video games, etc. I enjoy a good strategy game and villainous fits the bill. Knowing when to move to the right spot on the right turn is imperative. The card or cards you play on your turn need to have an impact. Every waster maneuver sees you not advancing towards your objective and potentially allows your opponent to get ahead. Another thing I love about this game is the artwork. Every illustration on every card, every reference to the movies, everything about it is incredibly well done. The amount of nostalgia the game has is incredible, especially if you've seen the movie of the villain you play as. 

    Therein lies one of the potential issues with the game though. It is heavily tied to the movies which is wonderful, but it can leave people who haven't seen the movie in the dark on some things. For example, if you haven't seen The Great Mouse Detective, you'd have no idea why the Robot Queen getting discarded would change Ratigan's objective to defeat Basil. Another example is if you live under a rock and haven't seen The Lion King, you'd probably not realize why Scar's objective is to basically kill a bunch of heroes using the hyenas. If you haven't seen The Emperor's New Groove you'd never get why Kronk can turn into a hero if pushed too far. Stuff like that is amazing for people who have seen the movies, but if you haven't it can be easy to get lost in trying to understand why the game is having you do what it's having you do. 

    Another issue is that it is not new player friendly overall. The instruction manuals do a nice job at establishing the basics for each character, but often leave out important details. One of the biggest that I've encountered is with Dr. Facilier. He gets a fortune pile in addition to his usual two discard piles, but the instructions do not give any indication on how to do so. Instead the individual cards tell, so it becomes a kind of learn as you go experience with him. The game will also break it's own rules sometimes willingly as in the instructions say what is written on the cards themselves overrules what is written in the instruction manual. While that's fine once you know what's going on, it can be confusing for new players. 

    Something I find to be a plus, but I'm sure others can find to be a negative is that this is not a kids game. By that I mean a young kids game. Basic reading comprehension and the ability to create a strategy are imperative to this game. You literally cannot win without some sort of a plan in place for yourself. The box says it's for players ages 10 and up and I feel like that is pretty appropriate. Teens and adults though I think will have a way better time with this game though as a lot of thought can go a long way. Also, the game is by no means short. The estimated play time for a single 2 player round is about 40 minutes with a 6 player (max players) lasting around 120 minutes or more. Pretty intense for a Disney game right?

    My overall impression on Disney Villainous is that it is worth checking out for sure if you are a fan of Disney movies and especially of Disney villains. I would not recommend going all in and just buying up all the expansions until you've played the base game and decided as to whether or not the game is for you. Since it is not your basic board or card game I really cannot relate it to anything else that I've played so I cannot say if you like X you will like this. Again though, if you are a fan of Disney movies, check it out. If you are a fan of strategy games and Disney, then I can't think of a real reason why you couldn't enjoy this game! As always, thanks for reading and expect the next blog real soon!

        

When the World Closes

    Hello everyone and welcome to another installment here on the Snark N' Mouse Connection. Today's blog is my reaction to the world of Disney coming to a screeching halt over the weekend due to the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic. I held off for as long as I could in making this blog, because the reality of it is I want this blog to be somewhere that generally stays away from politics, hot social topics, and other world events, but now the world of Disney theme parks is coming to a halt and that is a historical moment in itself. That being said there is a ton of information flying all over the internet right now and not all of it is by any means accurate. From spending way too much time on it here is the current situation from how I understand it.

    Disney Shanghai Resort has partially reopened. The Disneyland park itself  remains closed, but some stores, restaurants, and entertainment has been reopened at Disneytown as well as the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. The park has been closed since January 25th.

    Disneyland Hong Kong remains closed and has been since January 26th.

    Then comes today's onslaught of today's closure announcements. Disneyland Paris as well as Walt Disney Studios Park, which remained open despite a few employees testing positive for Coronavirus will close on Sunday March 15th and remain closed for at least the rest of March. Disney Village as of now will remain open.

    The Disney Cruise Line will cease operations on Saturday March 14th.

    Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure will be closing on March 14th. The hotels will remain open until March 16th to allow guests to make arrangements to get out. That said, Downtown Disney is slated to remain open as of now. Disneyland and California Adventure will be closed for at least the rest of the month.

    Walt Disney World Resort will be closing on Sunday March 15th. This includes The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon, and Blizzard Beach. As of now the hotels and Disney Springs will remain open. The parks are expected to be closed at least till the end of March, but will continue to monitor the situation.

    Disneyland Tokyo and Disney Tokyo Sea both remain closed and both parks closures have been extended into early April. The parks have been closed since February 28th and were originally slated to reopen on March 14th.

    From what I understand that is the current situations with the Disney Parks as of now. Of course things can change as the month progresses, but overall this is a smart move by the Walt Disney Company to shut things down. People are dying all over the world from this virus and it is spreading at a super alarming rate. I applaud Disney for going ahead and shutting down the parks for what is going to be an incredible amount of time. So with that, that's all I really have to say about this situation. I feel for all the people whose vacations were crushed (especially the kids), but it is way better to be safe rather than sorry. Thanks everyone for reading.

    Just because the parks are closed does not mean I am going anywhere. I'm still going to posting a variety of Disney content, but I would think there won't be too much in the way of park news over the next couple weeks. As we get closer to April I will be keeping watch on whether or not Six Flags Great Adventure will open as scheduled or not in addition to posting more news related blogs as the Disney parks prepare to reopen. In the meantime stay tuned for more blogs right here with the next one coming real soon!

Six Flags Great Adventure 2020 Preview and Wish List

    Hello everyone and welcome once again! Today's blog is going to be sticking right here in New Jersey. Inspired by today's very Springlike weather I've decided that now is as good a time as any to preview what is coming to Six Flags Great Adventure this year as well as my wish list for the park for the year. The topics I'm aiming to cover here include the current preseason prices for season passes and memberships, the big new ride coming to the park, the new animals coming to the park, the schedule, and as mentioned, what I would like to see this season.

    Lets kick this off with the biggest hype factor surrounding the park this year, the Jersey Devil  Coaster. This ride will be what many people consider the first "real" roller coaster for the park since Green Lantern opened in 2011 and no ladies and gentlemen this is not another El Diablo trick where they call a simple loop a coaster. This is going to be a bonafide monster of a ride when construction completes. According to Six Flags Great Adventure's website, the ride is going to feature a 130 foot hill that will end in an 87 degree drop. Other features of the ride include a 180 degree stall and roll as well as several other inversions. The rides max speed right now is stated at 58 miles per hour. You may be thinking Six Flags already has coasters that are bigger, faster, and have more inversions than this so why is it special? Well friends, in typical Six Flags fashion, the park is aiming once again for biggest, fastest, and longest for their new ride. The ride is going to achieve all three of these thanks to one super important detail that I have left out. The ride is a monorail coaster. The trains travel on a single rail and rides sit single file in the trains. So there will be no grabbing onto your friend as you scream in sheer terror. Upon completion, Jersey Devil will be the worlds tallest, fastest, and longest single rail roller coaster. Riders are beyond hyped already, but also a little skeptical.

    The biggest concern seems to be related to the ride's completion date and the ride's capacity. The ride went vertical just a few days ago. The season kicks off in less than a month, so it is super apparent that the ride will not be ready to go for that. When will it open? The last two years have not been the kindest to new rides at this park. Last year, Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth opened on May 23rd, but it was maligned with frequent breakdowns and down time through much of the first half of the season at least. It wasn't until sometime in the summer that I saw the ride routinely running. The year before debuted Cyborg: Cyber Spin which opened on June 17, 2017. It was a very short lived opening as it spent a chunk of the summer on wooden blocks as something had apparently gone very wrong with the hydraulics or something as the arms connecting the seats to the ride itself were removed for a chunk of time. The ride did better after whatever repairs or changes were made. That has some people around here questioning when this ride will actually open. Personally I feel that the ride will open sometime in late June or July. It's a massive project yes, but this year Six Flags has not had to contend with any snow. If watching the speed in which the Tron roller coaster is going up a Disney World is any indication, a roller coaster can go up quite quick, especially one that doesn't have any show buildings. Honestly I think a July 4th weekend opening would draw insane crowds, but we shall see! 

    Capacity wise it's going to be interesting to see what happens. The ride is going to have four trains that my guess is will hold ten to twelve people per train. How many trains they have out at once and the speed in which they are able to load and unload are going to be major, major factors on the capacity of this ride. Over the last couple years Six Flags Great Adventure has been really good about getting people on and off rides. While wait times are still long, it's not like years past where people were just lumbering onto the rides and doing five other things before sitting down. The staff has been pretty diligent about that. I've got a feeling there are going to be days that it runs better than others, but I expect this line to be quite long considering rides like Nitro fit more than 5 people in a row and the wait times for that still exceed 45 minutes, and that's an older ride now.

    While Jersey Devil is certainly going to be the main attraction, the Safari is going to be getting some awesome new animals that I for one am super excited to see. One of these animals is a ferret. Okay, not the most exciting I admit, but from there we have the Patagonian Cavy which is a rodent from South America that looks like a cross between a rabbit, guinea pig, and a capybara. Next we have the American Kestrel, which is the smallest species of falcon found in North America. Then we move to the Great Horned Owl which will certainly be an impressive bird to see as well. If I had to guess all of these animals are going to be found at Camp Adventura which acts as the midway rest stop for guests on the safari. Here guests are able to see a variety of reptiles, birds, and mammals. There is also food and a zipline at the camp as well as one of the coolest things in the park, the ability to hand feed a giraffe. The last animal though is, I would guess, not going to be at the camp and that is a cheetah! The safari already had multiple big cats in the form of lions and several different types of tigers, and I think the cheetah is going to round out the big cats incredibly well. 

    Okay so now that we know what's new, lets look at when the park opens. In April the park is open weekends and the entire week of the 14th for spring break. From there it will open on Fridays in addition to the weekends until May 14th when it will start opening on Thursdays as well. Starting May 25th, the park will be open daily though hours will greatly vary through the weeks until you get closer to summer. Fright Fest will kick off on September 11th this year with Fridays and Saturdays seeing the park open till midnight. The park will remain open on weekends and most of the week of November 3rd. It's looking like Holiday in the Park will kick off on November 14th and run as usual until January 1st. Check Six Flags website for when the event is going on other than just weekends because there are a few other random days and winter break sprinkled in as well. 

    Now the biggie, what do the prices look like for season passes and memberships this year. Well, as always seems to be the case, Six Flags currently has a promotion going on for season passes and memberships. For all the details on what memberships and season passes entail as well as current pricing at Six Flags Great Adventure click here! This will be my second season as a member. Last year Six Flags ran an opening weekend sale that was lifetime Platinum Membership for the cost of a Gold. What that means is that I am currently paying the price of Gold which is about $7 a month and getting the benefits of the Platinum (which is about $10 a month). I have no idea if the park will be running the same sale this year or not, so keep an eye on that link I put up. My feedback on the membership is that it is 100% worth it. Even at $10 a month, the Platinum membership pays for itself super quick and the added benefits of things like free drinks all season, free parking, 15% off food and 25% off most other things, and a ton of coupons and special events make it worth it over a season pass for me. That said, if you only plan on visiting the park twice in the year, the season pass may still be better due to the fact that you will not be able to get the most out of all the added benefits.

    There are still multiple levels of membership that come at a range of prices. All of the prices of the monthly payments appear to be the same as last year and are Gold at $6.99, Platinum at $9.50, Diamond at $12.50, and Diamond Elite at $18.49. As you may expect discounts and benefits increase as the price increases. Last year a couple of the added benefits of Diamond and Diamond Elite were the ability to ride Wonder Woman Lasso of truth before anyone else, including other members and season pass holders. Diamond and Diamond Elite members also gained their own park entrances to greatly speed up getting into the park. Which membership is right for you will depend on your wallet, how often you visit, and what you do at the park. As always the option of adding on the dining plan is also available to members and season pass holders.

    Phew that's a lot of information there. Again, please click the link above. The prices I placed in this blog are what was listed at the time of typing and will not be updated once the blog has been posted. I do not represent Six Flags in anyway so if the prices on the website are updated soon please do not tar and feather me or call Six Flags because they have no idea I even exist outside of the fact I'm a member. Alright, so what would I like to see this year? Really just continued little improvements for the most part.

Wish List for 2020

Fresh paint for Nitro. Superman Ultimate Flight got one last season, with Jersey Devil being built next door, it'd be great to see Nitro shining again as well.

Repainted/paved parking lot. Over the past two years Six Flags has improved safety for pedestrians and paved a portion of the lot. There is still a lot to go though and having actual directional arrows painted and clear parking spots would also help tremendously. 

Breakfast options. Yes the park doesn't open till late morning, but with the all day breakfast craze going around I'm still surprised the park removed all breakfast outside of pork roll and cheese a couple years back.

Remove or repaint the blue line. Two years ago the park painted a blue line from the pretty much the fountain all the way to the safari. It was all for a Dr. Scholls ad so it has no real importance other than leading people to the safari. Last year it greatly deteriorated and just looks bad.

Bring back Unleashed with Dead Man's Party: Pretty self explanatory. Both Fright Fest shows should make a return. Both have been incredible for years.

Replace the glass. The glass on the backside of the wild walkway that allows guests to see into the alligator and random animal exhibits are in serious need of fixing. Now that the path between El Toro and King da Ka has reopened, this should be a thing that happens because it's one of the parks biggest eyesores. 

Continue to care. The past couple of years I've noticed a big shift in supervisors around the park actually caring about what is going on. If I've had a complaint they're on it trying to make it right and they legit seemed super happy to hear positive feedback as well. Keep trying to strive for better and the park can only improve. Now get the food staff some better training.

    That's about it really. I'm not asking for anything crazy this year. The biggest things I could have asked for I already got in more animals and a new actual roller coaster. The 2020 season for Six Flags is looking like it is going to be quite interesting. With Spring seemingly here, or super close by, it could be a real big year for the park and I cannot wait to get back on that property. December feels like forever ago and I need to work on my Justice League score and perhaps challenge a few more rides this year! Thanks as always for reading. Expect a return to Disney and the next blog real soon!  

Frozen II Soundtrack Thoughts

    Hello everyone and welcome to a very different blog. Disney music is truly my go to music nowadays. Not a day goes by where my ipod isn't playing some sort of Disney music or Sorcerer Radio or Dpark Radio isn't playing on some sort of device. I didn't include this in my 2020 blog update, but something else I do want to do is do some blogs on Disney music. So to kick things off I want to take a look at one of the most recent soundtracks that have come out, that being the soundtrack for Frozen II. For this blog I'll be looking at the music from the movie that contain lyrics. The instrumental only music I'll save for another time. Also... movie and soundtrack spoilers ahead.

 

    When Frozen came out back in 2013 the music immediately became a focal point of the movie. Tunes such as Do You Want To Build a Snowman, Let it Go, and In Summer became pretty big hits. Lets be real, nearly every song on that soundtrack was pretty catchy and many of them were also pretty silly. The reason I bring this up is because it's important to understand how different Frozen II's soundtrack really is. Where Frozen mostly contained those happy, fun, and catchy tunes, Frozen II's explores a huge range of emotions ranging from that same happy to about as dark a feeling as one can feel. With so much emotion and power in the music it's really easy to forget that you're watching and listening to a Disney sequel considering their not so wonderful reputation overall. 

    As I mentioned already, Frozen's soundtrack had a handful of songs off the soundtrack that really stuck out from the rest. Sometimes I find myself skipping a few of the songs in-between those stand outs, but with Frozen II I have yet to skip a single track. Is there tracks that stand out to me more than others? Of course. That said I don't think a single track stands out nearly as much as Let It Go stood out in the original movie. Into the Unknown has been marketed and pushed as the big song in the movie, but pretty much anyone I've talked to agree that while the song is great, it is by no means head and shoulders above some of the others. So what are the tracks that stand out to me?

    Right off the bat I have to call attention to All is Found which is the opening track of the movie and the album. I'm a huge fan of stories and legends being told through songs. The movie kicks off as Queen Iduna sings the song to Anna and Elsa as a lullaby. It then reprises multiple times throughout the movie as the lullaby ends up essentially becoming a reality. Right from the get go, the ominous lyrics of this track had me very curious about the movie. It does a great job foreshadowing even though it takes place in the past when Anna and Elsa's parents were alive. These types of songs always stand out to me and have always been an easy way for a movie to suck me in.

    I find When I'm Older to be hysterical. For whatever reason a lot of my coworkers constantly say that I am always say things like "this is fine" and "that makes sense" (sarcastically on that one). That allowed me to kind of connect on a different level with this song. In Frozen II Olaf is maturing? Or at least getting older and facing a lot of questions about life. In the movie he sings this as the earth, wind, fire, and water spirits all find him and mess around with him. Each time one messes with him he just goes on believing that what just happened will make sense when he's older. I cant help but laugh as I find myself thinking the same thing when crazy things happen in my daily life. That'll make sense someday I tell myself. I know I can't be alone in that. Josh Gad hits it out of the park singing as always as well. While In Summer introduced us to Olaf in Frozen, When I'm Older really explores his dilemma of being lost in the forest and trying to figure out things in life as he matures compared to the 10000% happy go lucky character we see in the first movie. 

    Before I get into my top two songs on the soundtrack, lets get back to Into the Unknown. The "standout" track of this film I think is actually weaker than several others in the movie. It's still a good song and is certainly one worth talking about, but I have a few issues with it. I admit some of these issues may be due to how frequently this song is being compared to Let It Go, so please bear with me. Visually I feel that the song gave too much away. While the animation is nothing short of stunning, seeing all of the spirits kind of spoiled the surprise. Up till this song all we had hinting at anything possibly happening in this movie was the lyrics of All is Found. Here we see each spirit, though we don't know they are what we will be seeing as the movie went on. That kind of ruined the suspense for me when the spirits force the people of Arendelle out since we knew that wind, fire, water, and earth were all going to be involved. Of course that's just the visual end of things and really has nothing to do with the song itself. Back to the music as they say...

    Let It Go did such a great job in setting up Elsa's character for the rest of that movie that it was going to be hard to match. One of the things that I feel that song did so right was controlling high notes. Much of Let It Go focuses on seeing what Elsa can do. Testing herself and finding the strength to make the most of who she is despite her fears and hesitations. When she finally reaches that point of power where she has her ice castle built she belts out some high notes near the end of the song. This created so much drama. The first time I watched Frozen I thought that at that point she was turning into a villain. The power and confidence in her voice in comparison to how it was at the start of the song was like night and day. Into the Unknown I think misses that mark. Much of the song consists of high notes. I guess you could say I find it too dramatic. Both songs set up the rest of the movie for what Elsa wants, but where Let It Go was an epic slow build that climaxed as Elsa realizes what she can do, Into the Unknown just screams it's time for an adventure. 

    While not as stand out to me as the others in this blog, Into the Unknown is still a great song. The lyrics themselves I feel are overall well done. Again, comparing it to Let It Go will make them seem weaker in comparison, but on their own they're solid. It's still a very powerful and driving song. While the amount of high notes make me feel like it's too dramatic, the other side of the coin is that those high notes show just how brave and strong Elsa has become. By the time the first half or so of the song ends Elsa is ready for the adventure and that's where the high notes commence. Again, I like the song and it is certainly a stand out, but really this next song I think is the one that should be getting the praise and that is Show Yourself.

    Show Yourself is one of the final songs in the movie and it is one of the two most powerful. It comes at a point where Elsa has just tamed the water spirit and she arrives at her final destination. That nervousness and uncertainty are there again at the start of the song. As the song progresses though, Elsa again gains confidence as she continues to hear the mysterious call and heads deeper into the island. The suspense continues to build throughout until she finally gets to what I'm guessing is the center of the cave. Before we go further remember what I was talking about with high notes. This song does it so right. It starts off with Elsa almost at a speaking level as far as notes go. By the time she reaches the center the excitement and suspense of the song is reaching a climax and the notes start to get higher. It's a very similar feel and strategy that helped Let It Go become the mega song it turned into. Anyway...

    Elsa is again visited by the spirits that form a massive snowflake when Elsa steps in the center. There is then a reprise of All is Found right in the middle of the song as Queen Iduna's spirit is revealed as the voice Elsa has been hearing. There is an incredible and emotional duet between Elsa and the spirit of her mother which Idina Menzel and Evan Rachel Wood knock straight out of the park as Elsa is revealed as the fifth spirit. The animation is incredible and powerful in its own right, but there is more to it. The message behind this song though is so powerful that I think it should send Let It Go out of the top Frozen song slot of the masses. 

    There's a large number of people who have really connected with this song and it is really easy to see why. Elsa finds herself in this song and no longer has any fear of who she is. She isn't going to hide who she is at all anymore and embraces everything about herself. That is such a hard thing for so many people to do. The emotion that was put into this song helps to make it a powerhouse and incredibly inspiring. We have a character that went from being petrified of who she was at the start of the first movie, to one that had confidence yet was still unsure of who she was or why she was the way she was, to one that realized all the answers she was looking for were within herself. It's really powerful stuff. I personally know a couple people that have tried to change their outlook on themselves based on this song. They have stopped letting their pasts define them and are showing themselves as who they are and not what they're supposed to be or what they used to feel they needed to be.

    While I truly believe Show Yourself  is the Let It Go (but done even better) of this movie, it is The Next Right Thing that completely stunned me and by far hit me the hardest in all the ways. Full disclaimer here. I do not cry during movies. I do not cry listening to music. I think I've gotten through this song perhaps twice without shedding a tear. The song takes place shortly after Show Yourself as Anna is lost in a cave. Kristoff was nowhere to be found, Elsa had just froze, and Olaf just flurried away. Left completely alone Anna delivers what starts out as the most hard hitting Disney song and builds into an incredibly moving yet equally as hard hitting song. Early on the lyrics strongly suggest that Anna has a past of being in dark places, though none as dark as the current one during the song. She even states that she is ready to succumb to that darkness. Despite that dark though she hears a whisper that tells her that she must go on. The rest of the song is a battle between that darkness pulling at Anna and her drive to do the next right thing. 

    As the song continues Anna breaks down the overwhelming situation into literally the next breath, next choice, and next step. When she does her confidence begins the grow and the music crescendos as Anna stumbles through the cave realizing that while things will never be the same she will still do the next right thing. As is the case with this movie in general, the animation that goes with this song is nothing short of stunning. Anna's raw emotions are so easy to see and feel. Kristen Bell delivers an A+ performance here and literally no emotion is lost in her singing.

    With all of that said, I've got to touch on why this song hits so hard for me. Depression is a nasty beast. It's one that affects many people all over the world and has many different effects on those people. Just a little over a year ago I had a major life changing event that sent me down into probably the darkest place I had ever been in. I'm still battling back from that event and this song almost word for word describes the battle I personally have been having. That feeling of being totally alone I felt. That feeling of not knowing what to do I felt. The feeling of having to take things one literal step at a time I continue to feel. The feeling of stumbling blindly towards the light I feel everyday. Just trying to do the right thing every day. It sounds so simple, yet it is just so difficult to do when you've got that kind of darkness pulling you back. When I heard this song the first time it floored me with its lyrics. I was shocked that Disney actually put this song in the movie, but I was so happy they did.

    As I said before, there are people all over the world that are dealing with their own personal depression battles and not everyone is able to handle it as well as others do. Disney brought attention to this and again, I don't think this song is the best overall on the soundtrack, I do think it may very well be tied with Show Yourself as the most important on the soundtrack. Is the song too much for kids? No. Even earlier in life depression rears its ugly head and even the most basic of tasks can become mountains. Things like getting out of bed, taking a shower, eating. They sound so incredibly basic and trivial, but they all fall into that next right thing. Waking up and feeling like complete garbage and feeling like it isn't worth getting up is awful. That voice of doing the next right thing though is so true. One literal step at a time each day. It's all that can be done when those feelings are there. In the movie Anna ends up reunited with everyone she lost, which made all her next right things worth it. In the real world the same thing can apply. Do those next right thing and eventually something good will happen. You'll find someone else after losing the most important person in your life. You'll get that job that will save you from not the best of living conditions. You'll rise from an addiction. You'll conquer whatever mountain life has thrown at you. Your life won't be the same as it was, but that doesn't mean it wont be a great one.

    I could go on and on about The Next Right Thing and just how important I think the song is in this movie and outside the move, but it's time that I start wrapping up this blog. There are a few songs from the soundtrack I didn't talk about such as Lost in the Woods and Some Things Never Change. Both of those songs are great as well, but personally they didn't connect with me as much as these others did. The deluxe edition of the soundtrack also adds in a few deleted songs that are also really well done. I much prefer these outtakes to the outtakes on Frozen's soundtrack. Some like Unmeltable Me are silly while others such as Get This Right and I Seek the Truth actually would have added some serious character development for Kristoff, Anna, and Elsa respectively. It's pretty wild that these two songs in particular were left out, but that just shows how incredibly strong the rest of the soundtrack is.

    Frozen II's soundtrack is one that will resonate with me I would think for a long time for a multitude of reasons. Show Yourself is my pick for best song on the soundtrack and if I had to pick I'd say that The Next Right Thing is the most important. As far as the weakest song goes... I'm not going to count the brief Reindeer are Better Than People (Continued) so I will have to say Some Things Never Change. It's a very Frozen song for sure and is great in its own right, but it's not one I find myself singing or having many thoughts on when I listen to it. If you have been listening as you read along, perhaps you agree with me, perhaps you don't. Either way thank you as always for reading! If you'd like to discuss this soundtrack leave a comment, otherwise expect the next blog coming real soon!  

Solo Time at EPCOT

    Hello everyone and welcome to the Shark N' Mouse Connection! Today's blog is going to be my personal experience on a solo day at EPCOT. To many people the thought of going to Walt Disney World by yourself can be extremely intimidating. From being around thousands of families and couples having a great time to not having someone to share the experiences with, it's understandable how it can be difficult. I'm a perfect example of those difficulties. Last year I ended up taking a solo trip to Walt Disney World. I saw a couple of friends and went to a wedding (my best friends actually and shout-out to him and his wife on their anniversary today), but the majority of the time in the parks I was as solo as solo could be. My hope with tonight's blog is that I may be able to help anyone out  who is thinking about spending some time at EPCOT by themselves. 

    I'll start off by saying that I am an incredibly socially awkward person. I don't do well in crowds and I don't do well with random conversations. When it comes to Disney though I am really comfortable just letting loose a bit and it all started with this trip. In particular when I do a blog like this for Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom I'll get into why. By the trip's end I felt like a pretty new person with a ton of experience I never thought I'd gain.

    While EPCOT is currently a construction zone, I'm sure many of these ideas and thoughts still remain the same for the parts of the park that are still open. That said, the most enjoyable thing for me while solo at EPCOT was actually exploring The Living Seas. The aquarium isn't exactly large, but me being an ocean lover and working in an aquarium I felt right at home. It's a place that I was able to relate to my home life a bit and it was really relaxing to just look into the large exhibit and watch the sharks and fish swimming around. It was really great to be able to go at my own pace in there and not worry about what anyone with me thought as far as how long I was spending at any given exhibit. It was also great for photographing some animals I don't get to work with too. 

    Perhaps the biggest thing I did in EPCOT was exploring World Showcase. I don't mean just going around and looking at all the Flower and Garden stuff that was going on at the time, I mean looking at all kinds of stuff within the pavilions ranging from decorations to the buildings themselves to whatever movies may be playing in a particular pavilion. I learned more about World Showcase's pavilions on this trip than any other due to being able to take everything at my own pace. I rode The Grand Fiesta Tour three times in a row just to look for things I missed on each ride through. I even got into a conversation on the last ride through with a family who knew Donald, but were very confused as to who Panchito and Jose were. Perhaps the most awesome part of this exploration was talking to a ton of cast members from different countries. Of course all cast members have a story to them, but with how unique EPCOT is with cast members from their respective countries working the various pavilions, it was truly amazing to hear so many different stories from around the world. The best part was that they were all eager to tell those stories and even if they had to help another guest, returned to finish the story.

    Of course it wouldn't be a visit to the parks without rides. I already mentioned the Grand Fiesta Tour, but there was more ride fun to be had. Another fun fact about me is though I enjoy flying, I have a fear of heights and had never requested to be on the top row of Soarin because of that. Well this time I challenged myself and got the top row and didn't regret it an ounce though I admit I was gripping the bars a little bit at the start. On Test Track I made the absolute worst looking car I have ever made and made use of the single rider line. When my car won the handling category, no one in the car could understand why... Neither could I... Man that single rider line was a life saver since I had Soarin as my fast pass. The wait time was 70 minutes and I got on in under a half hour. Man it was great. Spaceship Earth was even a bunch of fun as I threw on a ridiculous face for the camera. The person next to me sure didn't judge. Thank the Phoenicians for that! I skipped out on Frozen Ever After on this trip though. Too long of a wait for me, even by myself.

    The best thing I can say about EPCOT solo is that there is just so much to focus on and take in that it really feels like you are taking a trip around the world. It was a completely different feeling than going with someone and trying to match their pace or skip things they don't like. Even talking while walking distracts from the beauty of everything around you in World Showcase. The detail is so incredible, yet at the same time, it is so easy to miss. Places to stop and sit and just take everything are endless too. If characters are your thing, meet your favorite. Who cares what the person next in line thinks of you for it. Even solo, seeing Mickey, Belle, Snow White, Baymax, etc. can bring a massive smile to a face. At the time Illuminations: Reflections of Earth was still showing so when I wrapped up the day I decided to try something new and wait out the crowd. Looking across a mostly vacant World Showcase at night is truly beautiful. All in all my solo time at EPCOT was a lot of fun and very full of sight seeing and talking with cast members.   

    

Fantasmic! A Journey Through The Magic of Imagination Finale

    Welcome everyone to this finale blog on the Fantasmic! A Journey Through The Magic of Imagination series. Now that I have gone over the four shows and what I like about each of them, I want to take the time to weigh in on some of the controversies surrounding them, point out things that I find interesting about each of them, and try to determine which of these shows is my favorite, because it honestly is a very tough call for me. Yes, there will still be spoilers aplenty in this blog as I'll be referencing many parts of the shows as I go along. So, lets get to it.

    Fantasmic! is a show that has kept my interest since the first time I got to see it at Disney's Hollywood Studios. While that is the only show I have seen live, I've probably watched the original Disneyland version more than the Hollywood Studios version with Disney Tokyo Sea's version not far behind. It's a go to show for me when I'm sitting at home and am looking for some Disney Park magic. That's what led me to this blog marathon. There are just so many things that I love about these shows (and a few things I don't) that I just had to throw it all out there. One thing I tried not to do was compare shows as I went along, and while the basis of all four are the same, I'm sure you can tell how we get to the end is not by any means the same for better or for worse.

    The two shows that constantly get compared are the original two (Disneyland and Hollywood Studios). Both shows vary enough that they each have their own set of defenders across the Disney fandom. Some of the most compared segments is the Pink Elephants on Parade and I've Got No Strings On Me from Disneyland versus the seemingly endless stream of bubbles that reference a bunch of different Disney animated features of Hollywood Studios. Personally I give the nod to Disneyland there. I feel like the segment helps to progress the plot along while visiting iconic scenes from both Dumbo and Pinocchio. The bubble stream thought I feel like was an attempt to please everyone and just cram as many characters in as possible, especially after the scene was updated to include Princess and the Frog, Tangled, and Frozen.

    I've got to give the nod though to Hollywood Studios in maximizing their stage. There are very few times in that show where the stage is not being utilized. The new version of Disneyland's show certainly does that as well and even ups the ante with the new projections, but I cannot fairly use that when comparing it to a show that's nearly ten years older than it.I just think of how much things like the flower blooming on stage compared to just water effects adds so much to that early slow scene. If we wanna get really deep into this though, hats still go off to Disney Tokyo Sea for putting on the show they do with a few barges and virtually no stage.

    The villains are another hot topic when comparing the two shows and I still stand by what I said in the Hollywood Studios version blog. That version is my favorite hands down. Having so many villains appear gives the illusion that Mickey is in such big trouble that it makes it all the more satisfying when he pulls the sword from the stone and defeats Maleficent and the other villains. Speaking of which... Why was the sword in the stone removed from the updated Disneyland version? I always thought it was so cool to not only have a The Sword in the Stone reference, but to have Mickey dressed as a pauper as well was great. I get why Tokyo Sea had him in his sorcerer's clothing, but I'm not sure why that was omitted from Disneyland, especially considering they far and away have the best looking Maleficent dragon. The new effects of Mickey blasting the dragon with magic is really cool, but I would have loved to have seen it still involve the sword, especially considering Maleficent dies by a sword in Sleeping Beauty.

    As far as the middle scenes, I still prefer the Pocahontas scene overall. As I mentioned, Pocahontas is more of a movie I grew up over Peter Pan. I also really like how they did the music throughout that section. Is it long? Yeah, it may overstay its welcome in the eyes of some people, but this is a Disney nighttime spectacular. Let it be long. If I had to cut it down a bit, I'd probably eliminate some of the buildup to the battle is all. It certainly doesn't take away from the rest of the show and I highly doubt it's the reason that there is no Pink Elephants on Parade portion like I've heard some people say. THat being said, there is a bigger middle scene debate nowadays and it's Disneyland versus Disneyland.

    This is an easy one for me as I prefer the Peter Pan scene over the Pirates of the Caribbean scene, and that hurts to type. I love pirates so much, but it just does not fit. From what I can tell, the action is much harder to keep track of, the ship tries to be The Black Pearl, but it just isn't, and the transition is just so rough. We go from a beautiful underwater scene ending in a high paced chase featuring Monstro and then we get Barbossa. For a show that features all animated characters it's a really jarring transition. Personally unless it was designed for it a la Mary Poppins, I like to keep my animated and live action shows separate.

    I understand that pirates is a very popular franchise, but I just find it weird that it is frequently slammed into Disney animated shows. We also have the He's a Pirate theme playing in Happily Ever After at The Magic Kingdom, but that's a different story. The plot of the scene is also weird. It's trying to look like Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl with Elizabeth Swann being there and a cursed Barbossa battling Jack Sparrow. However Jack is mostly after his compass, which while used in several movies became a focal point in the latest movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Overall I can't help but feel there was no real reason for the change. The new projection mapping looks great on the stage, but I wonder how awesome some Peter Pan projections would have been.

    So that's my thoughts on some of the more debatable things in the shows. Disneyland gets the nod with their incredible dragon and I still wish Hollywood Studios would adopt something similar to how Tokyo Sea does their dragon. Disneyland also gets the nod for the jungle scene whether old or new. I especially still love how the pink elephants show up and slowly take the scene over. Then Hollywood Studios kind of takes over for me as I prefer both the Pocahontas, and villain segments. I also prefer the blooming flower sequence in Hollywood Studios, though the new version in Disneyland now also has the blooming flower so that difference is kinda of taken away.

    The ultimate question. Which version of Fantasmic! is my favorite. It's a really tough question for me to answer. All four shows have incredible ups and very little downsides (I admit most are even nit picks). For now I have to say that the Hollywood Studios version is my favorite. While both Disneyland versions are spectacular and the Tokyo Sea version is super innovative and interesting, the Hollywood Studios version just feels like so much more of a battle against the villains, many of whom are some of my favorite Disney characters. It also helps the shows case that I have actually seen it live compared to the other three that I have only seen via streams and online videos.

    Whether you love or hate Fantasmic!, there is no denying the impact that the show has had on every park that it has come to. It's a show that has proven it can stand the test of time and going through incredible transformations. Thank you for joining me on this massive look at Fantasmic! I know I normally do not do blog marathons like this, but for this show I made an exception. I'm sure as time goes on I'll be revisiting Fantasmic! again, but for now I'll be moving onto some other topics. After all, progress around the Disney Parks is seemingly unending just as the Disney collection of entertainment. So while February accidentally became the month of Hollywood Studios related things, expect some more varied content as we head towards the spring where flowers, gardens, festivals, and construction all flourish! As always thank you for reading and expect the next blog real soon!