Frozen Sing-Along Comes to Theaters Tomorrow

Have you seen Disney's Frozen yet? My daughter was originally disappointed that our trip to Walt Disney World interfered with the Frozen screenings that we were invited to. However, she was more than thrilled that she got to meet Anna and Elsa at Walt Disney World.

After that meeting, she decided that she wanted an Anna costume. Since we don't have a local DisneyStore, we ordered one online. She has had many Disney costumes over the years (including Disney Parks, Disney Store, and versions sold in toy stores). Without a doubt, I would say that the Disney Store version of the Anna costume is the one that has impressed me the most. Sadly, it is probably her last Disney Princess costume as she now wears a 10 - the largest size the costumes are available in.

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After returning from our trip, we saw the movie on Opening Weekend and we both loved it. Over Christmas, my daughter enjoyed singing along to the Frozen Soundtrack with her cousins. I have already pre-ordered Frozen (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD + Digital Copy) from Amazon which will be released on March 18, 2014. You can also preorder a digital copy of the movie through iTunes for a February 25, 2014 release. We have also bought the Frozen Soundtrack for her to listen to (from Amazon or Frozen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Various Artists on iTunes).

My daughter is going to be so excited to hear that there is a Sing-Along version of Frozen coming to theaters beginning tomorrow. We attended a Sing Along Screening of The Little Mermaid at one of our local theaters two years ago and she loved it.

The press release below has more information on the Sing-Along version.

FANS GET IN ON THE ACT:

ALL-NEW SING-ALONG VERSION OF DISNEY’S “FROZEN” HITS THEATERS NATIONWIDE JAN. 31, 2014

Moviegoer Response to Film’s Original Songs Triggers Sing-Along Experience in More Than 1000 Theaters

BURBANK, Calif. (Jan. 22, 2014) – “Frozen” audiences are invited to join the act—literally—as more than 1000 theaters nationwide introduce an all-new sing-along version of Disney’s Oscar®-nominated, Golden Globe®-winning big-screen adventure beginning Jan. 31, 2014.

“‘Frozen’ fans have embraced the film’s original songs and its soundtrack with such passion—there are countless YouTube videos from people singing songs like ‘Let It Go’—we decided to create a version that would celebrate that enthusiasm,” said Dave Hollis, executive vice president, theatrical distribution, The Walt Disney Studios. “It’s a great opportunity for families to get together and have some fun with these songs.”

According to Hollis, on-screen lyrics and a magical bouncing snowflake will accompany select showings; moviegoers can check local listings for showtimes and theaters. The duration of the sing-along run will vary by theater.

Disney’s “Frozen” received two Oscar® nominations, including best animated feature and best original song (“Let It Go”). Named best animated film by more than a dozen critics associations, the film won a Golden Globe® for best animated feature, two Critics Choice Movie Awards, including best animated feature and best song (“Let It Go”), and a Producers Guild of America Award for outstanding animated feature.

In wide release since November 27, the film posted the No. 1 all-time Thanksgiving debut and the largest opening ever for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film. “Frozen,” WDAS’ 53rd feature film, has earned more than $773 million worldwide, including $337` million domestically. The film’s soundtrack was No. 1 in the Billboard top 200 for two straight weeks.

At Hollywood’s El Capitan Theatre, the “Frozen” sing-along version includes on-stage appearances from the movie’s Elsa prior to each showing, plus snow flurries inside the theater. Showtimes are at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

On Digital HD & 3D Feb. 25 and Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD & On-Demand March 18, the in-home version of “Frozen” promises continued family fun with a blizzard of never-before-seen bonus extras to complement the film’s gorgeous animation, memorable characters and unforgettable music.

ABOUT THE MOVIE
Walt Disney Animation Studios, the studio behind “Tangled” and “Wreck-It Ralph,” presents “Frozen,” a stunning big-screen comedy adventure. Fearless optimist Anna (voice of Kristen Bell) sets off on an epic journey—teaming up with rugged mountain man Kristoff (voice of Jonathan Groff) and his loyal reindeer Sven—to find her sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf (voice of Josh Gad), Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom. The film is directed by Chris Buck (“Tarzan,” “Surf’s Up”) and Jennifer Lee (screenwriter, “Wreck-It Ralph”), who also wrote the screenplay. It is produced by Peter Del Vecho (“Winnie the Pooh,” “The Princess and the Frog”). Featuring original songs from Kristen Anderson-Lopez (“In Transit,” “Winnie the Pooh”) and Tony® winner Robert Lopez (“The Book of Mormon,” “Avenue Q”), and an original score by Christophe Beck (“The Muppets,” Oscar®-winning short “Paperman”), “Frozen” opened in theaters nationwide on Nov. 27, 2013. Accompanying “Frozen” is Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Get A Horse!” With Walt Disney himself as the voice of Mickey Mouse, the all-new short features Mickey, his favorite gal pal Minnie Mouse and their friends Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow as they delight in a musical haywagon ride. For more information, check out Disney.com/Frozen, like us on Facebook: facebook.com/DisneyFrozen and follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/DisneyAnimation.

In the meantime, get ready for the Sing Along version with this multi-lingual version of Elsa singing "Let it Go"

Michaels Store Events

Does your child love crafts? If so, you may want to check out your local Michaels store.

Michaels Kids Club Events are half-hour sessions that are held each Saturday from 10a-noon for kids ages 3 & up. Each session costs $2/child. The parents are welcome to stay and assist or shop in the store.

Upcoming events are:

• Saturday, January 11: Mini-Masterpieces - Painting Fun
  
• Saturday, January 18: Alien Foam Door Hanger
  
• Saturday, January 25: Glitter & Tie-Dye Designs
  
• Saturday, February 1: Crafty Valentine's Day Bags
  

Niagara Falls Trip Overview

In August we spent a weekend in Toronto followed by three nights in Niagara Falls, ON.
In Niagara Falls, you will find a variety of activities - Falls related activities, "tourist-trap kitsch", Fallsview indoor Water Park, casinos, and more. We spent our time in the Falls area and did not venture to the wineries or Niagara on the Lake which are a little further from the falls.

We stayed at the Clifton Victoria Inn which is part of the Falls Avenue Resort which includes the Fallsview Indoor Water Park. While in Niagara, we were able to enjoy the views of the Falls, the fireworks over the falls, the Falls activities, the Clifton Hill Activities, and the Fallsview Indoor Water Park.  We loved the location of our hotel as it was easy walking distance of almost everything, but set off the main tourist areas so it was a little quieter.

Disclaimer: I am a Groupon Affiliate and am compensated for sales through Groupon links. I appreciate your support of my blog by shopping through my links. Please read all terms and conditions before purchasing.

Groupon is currently running deal on the Sheraton On the Falls which is part of the complex that we stayed at.

Sheraton On The Falls

Stay with Dining Credits and Wine Tasting for Two at Sheraton On The Falls in Niagara Falls, ON. Dates into June.

More details at Groupon

On Friday, Sunday, and holiday nights in the summer there are fireworks over the falls. We arrived on Sunday night in time for a light dinner. We had the Secret Garden recommended to us by a concierge at the Falls Avenue Resort. The restaurant is located adjacent to Oakes Park and is built into the hill between Falls Avenue Resort and the falls. They had outside dining that overlooked the American Falls and Rainbow Bridge to the US. We had sandwiches which were well done (their croissants were great). The waitress recommended the adjacent Oakes Park as a non-crowded fireworks viewing location. We were able to find benches to sit on to watch the fireworks. It was not crowded and was a very pleasant walk from there back to our hotel.

Our original plan had been to split the Falls activities across Monday and Tuesday and spend parts of each day at the Fallsview Indoor Water Park. However, the possibility of storms on Tuesday encouraged us to make sure to finish the Falls activities on Monday as many were outside. While it did not storm on Tuesday, it worked out well to have done the Falls first and arrive at the water park in the morning when it was less crowded than in the afternoons.

For the Falls activities, we bought the Niagara Parks Commission package that included Maid of the Mist*, Behind the Falls, Niagara's Fury and White Water Walk. It also included transportation on the WeGo bus system. We loved Maid of the Mist and Behind the Falls and enjoyed the White Water Walk. For more details, see my review of Niagara Falls Attractions.

Ready to Ride Maid of the Mist

Monday night we spent in the Clifton Hill area which I would classify as "tourist-trap kitsch". There are several mini-golf courses, several wax museums, numerous horror attractions, gift shops, and various other attractions (Guiness World Records, Ripley's Believe It or Not, arcades, etc). For more detailed reviews of the Clifton Hill attractions, see my review.

at Wax Museum

Tuesday we spent most of the day at Fallsview Indoor Waterpark which my daughter loved.

After the water park, we had a buffet dinner at Fallsview Restaurant with spectacular views of the Falls from one of the top levels of the Falls Avenue Sheraton. The food was quite varied including pasta, seafood, Mexican, and more. There was fresh fruit, salad, and sides. The desserts were also great. We arrived for dinner early which worked out great. We were able to get seats against the window (right next to the door for the observation deck) and they offer free kids buffet with an adult buffet from 5-6p.

View from Observation Deck at Fallsview Restaurant

We never made it across to the American side of the falls. The Rainbow Bridge crossing near the Falls frequently had a long line for Customs (into the US in the morning and into Canada in the evening). Had we been doing our main border crossing at Niagara Falls, we would have done the American side on our way in or out. Since we live in Michigan, it is considerably shorter for us to drive across Canada from Niagara Falls instead of through the US. My daughter was quite confused when we got in the car to leave Niagara Falls and we told her we wouldn't be back in the US for 3 hours even though she could see New York.

We had a great time on our Niagara Falls Trip and definitely recommend a family trip to Niagara Falls.

* I just discovered that Maid of the Mist is no longer operating from Canada. They will still operate tours from the American side. Boat tours from Canada will be provided by Hornblower Niagara Cruises. Hornblower currently provides boat tour experiences for US National Parks at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco and the Statue of Liberty from both New York and New Jersey.

Fallsview Indoor Water Park & Falls Avenue Resorts

In August, we spent three nights in Niagara Falls. When we were planning our trip, one of my friends mentioned they had stayed at the Fallsview Indoor Waterpark. I knew that would be a big hit with my daughter, so I made sure to check it out. You can choose to stay at one of the Falls Avenue Resort Complex's four hotels and include a water park on your stay or you can visit Fallsview Indoor Water Park on a daily pass.

The four hotels in the complex are:

• Sheraton on the Falls
• Crowne Plaza Niagara Falls - Fallsview
• Skyline Inn
• Clifton Victoria Inn at the Falls (which was a Hampton Inn when I booked our stay in June)

When I looked at the on-site hotels, I was drawn to the Clifton Victoria Inn since we have had good experiences at other Hampton Inns and because it offered FREE breakfast, FREE parking, and FREE Wi-Fi all of which are big money savers for us. The FREE Wi-Fi was especially important since were were trying not to use the internet on our phones while in Canada (at $2.05/MB I was cautious). It was the only Falls Avenue hotel not physically connected to the waterpark, but it was a short walk - across the street and roughly a block to the parking garage. In cold weather you may be able to walk through the Skyline Inn so you would only need to walk across the street while outside.

We booked the hotel for three nights with the water package for only two of the nights. The water park passes are valid from 1p the day they start until the water park closes on the day your pass ends. We arrived on Sunday evening and based on the weather forecast that had Tuesday with a threat of rain, we decided to spend Monday on outdoor activities near the Falls and start the waterpark Monday afternoon and have it run through our departure on Wednesday.

We were traveling with my parents and my family of 3 staying in separate rooms. You have the option of booking just the hotel or the hotel with water park. The water park package is only sold as 4 admissions, but offers the ability to add additional passes for each day. Since the water park add-on was for 4 people (and I only needed 3), it made more financial sense for my parents to just reserve the hotel and use my extra Water Park pass and purchase an add-on pass.

The Clifton Victoria Inn was similar to a Hampton Inn. We found the WiFi to be adequate, the breakfast was typical of an included breakfast. It was quite crowded the first morning that we were there, but it was a Canadian Holiday (Monday of a 3 day weekend) which increased the crowds at the hotel. It was considerably less crowded the other two mornings that we were there. FREE Parking was available behind the hotel (most Niagara Falls hotels that I looked at charged nightly for parking). Our room decor was perhaps a little dated, but not overly so and everything was clean. I would definitely consider staying there again. While the Clifton Victoria Inn is not directly on Falls Avenue like the Sheraton or Crowne Plaza (and does not offer rooms with falls views), I enjoyed it's location. It was a quick walk to the water park, Falls Avenue, or Clifton Hill, but it was set apart from the noise and lights of the touristy areas.

We spent most of the day Tuesday at the Waterpark and stayed until lunchtime on Wednesday. We loved the watermark. One of the main features of the park is the slide tower which features 4 tube slides, 2 mat slides, and 2 body slides. We tested all of the slides, but our favorite was definitely the bowl slide. You can ride the bowl slide in either a single or double tube. You proceed through an initial pipe slide that exits onto the edge of a large bowl. You circle the outside towards a raised drain with a single opening. Once you enter that opening, you continue down a pipe slide (sometimes backwards) until the landing chute. We did have a few cases where we got stuck in the bowl just missing the exit and had to push ourselves back into the main flow to catch it the next time around.

I was very impressed with their organization on the slides. They had color coded lines on the stairs for the 4 tube slides and holding areas on the main landing if the lines were long (as was typical for the bowl slide). We definitely noticed an advantage in line length by arriving early in the morning.

On the mat slides, you could race since the tracks were mirror images of each other. You ride these slides head first on your belly. We also liked the body slides which you rode on your back with legs crossed, although we did end up with wedgies after each ride.

Fallsview Waterpark also features a Wave Pool, an outdoor basketball pool, and a play structure with anumber of slides on it. However, it does not have is a lazy river. We definitely missed not having the lazy river. The play structure had a number of slides, that went in different directions making it hard to keep track of our daughter. Our second day, we were smart and claimed chairs near the play structure so we could sit and watch our daughter play on the structure. Unfortunately the Wave Pool broke our second morning at the park. My daughter was not happy with us as we had hustled her past the wave pool to ride the slides before the line got long and then the wave pool was broken when we went back to it. They were working on the Wave Pool for quite a while, so it was probably up and running soon (unless they needed to order a part).

The first day, we walked to Fallsview Water Park from the Clifton Victoria Inn in our swim suits with t-shirts/coverups on and walked back to our hotel in the same way to shower and change when we were done. The second day that we were at the Water Park, we had already checked out of our hotel since we were heading home that afternoon. There are showers and changing rooms available in the mens and women's restrooms that we used. There were only two showers (private) available in the ladies room, but since it was mid-day, my daughter and I were the only two using them. There are also open showers available in the hallway outside the restrooms for a non-private shower.

There are lockers that you can rent at the Water Park. We rented a large locker each day to store our phones, wallets, and dry clothes in. If it hadn't been for the phones we may have skipped it and used a waterproof case for money and credit cards. I loved the locker setup where you bought a key for a locker and had free in and out access to it all day. It was very nice not to have to pay each time we wanted to get something from our locker.

Our first day at Fallsview Water Park we stayed at the park from 10a until around 3p. We had lunch at the Planet Hollywood Beach Club (a counter service restaurant) which is inside the water park. They offered a variety of items such as burgers, wraps, chicken fingers, and more. It was convenient and nice to have options other than pizza or burgers and fries.

We definitely recommend adding the Fallsview Water Park to your itinerary at Niagara Falls. Note that we were there in the summer when the water park is open daily. During the winter months, the Water Park is not open daily.

Disclaimer: I am a LivingSocial Affiliate and am compensated for sales through LivingSocial Links. I appreciate your support of my blog by shopping through my links. Please read terms and conditions before purchase as they are only summarized below.

LivingSocial is currently offering a deal for the Clifton Victoria Inn that includes a one night stay for up to 2 adults and 2 children, four 2-day passes at the WaterPark (day of arrival and departure), 4 Mini-Golf Passes, and 4 Games/child at Adventure City. You will also receive dining credits at various restaurants in the Fallsview complex. You can combine vouchers for a stay of up to 4 nights. The package costs $145 Canadian on Sundays through Fridays and $169 on Saturday. Your LivingSocial voucher will be valid until February 29, 2016. Be sure to check blackout dates and other terms before buying your voucher.

Lowe's Build and Grow Holiday Train Workshop

Lowe's holds Build and Grow workshops on select Saturdays throughout the year. For the 2013 holiday season, they will be having a Train Engine Workshop on Saturday, December 14 from 10-11a.

Kids will be able to build a Train Engine complete with Rub & Smell Stickers. This craft is so cute. Unfortunately, all of the stores near me have already reached capacity. Maybe you'll have better luck where you live.

You can check for availability and register online on the Lowe's Build & Grow website.

I took my daughter to a Lowe's Build and Grow workshop last spring and she had a really great time. We would have attended again except the location near our house books up quickly so I often don't know our schedule before it fills up.