Disney Live: 3 Princess Tales

Disney holds the secret to magic. 

The kids and I saw Disney Live! this past weekend. Baby girl was only impressed with the fireworks and Ty only cared for the witches (so he says) , but four-year-old Za...

Well, she was inspired, giddy almost. 

Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy narrated the three tales of Snow White, Cinderella, and Belle. My kids have not seen those characters' movies, but have seen the first four's show. Even though the stories were not familiar, they had no problem following along. 

Of course, I got mom memories, like Za waving her toy Minnie Mouse at the Minnie on stage, or Ty grumbling because Lightening McQueen was not present. 

The kids had fun, and the show was just over an hour long- perfect for little ones. 

The Pageantry 

Anything Disney will be well done, and this was no exception. The characters had costume changes, and the famous princess dresses from the three stories were dazzling. 

My favorite part was the kick line during Beauty and the Beast's famous,  "Be Our Guest." The kids commented about the lights and matching wardrobe for the closing- shimmery gold and lights.

The Stories

I'm not a huge princess fan. Za has never had a princess birthday party and she has not seen many of the movies. I feel that the movies are from a different time period and do not apply to today's norms, expectations, and common sense. 

BUT I am aware that aside from the verbal animals, talking mirrors, and carriages via pumpkins, some people take these stories literally, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. 

Women say they want "a Prince Charming" or rescued as princesses are. While I don't believe Belle suffered from Stockholm syndrome, I cannot ignore that these Disney stories are meshed in our American culture and my children will learn about them - from somewhere. 

Like all forms of media learning, discussing ideas with children makes sense. 

Media Learning

Za wanted to know why the witch hated Snow White, the stepsisters enslaved Cinderella, and the Beast jailed Belle. 

Actually, those weren't her words, but she did climb on her dad's lap upset. 

We talked about every story needing a problem, and that in kid stories, really, really bad things wouldn't happen - especially since the characters couldn't exist, like a beast or talking mirror. 

We also discussed that the stories are silly, and that most of those events couldn't happen anyway, to which Za replied, "yeah, people don't like mouses, only Mickey Mouses."  

Which, is the perfect quote to lead onto the kids' Christmas present: Disney tickets!

They will be surprised in about a month with a Christmas trip to Disney. We are excited, and the trip to Disney Live! hopefully set the tone for more fun to come.