Disneyland with Naveen and Tiana
I was wearing this at Disneyland.
And this is the story of why I was wearing it.
On Friday, I went to Disneyland with sana-chan, richiied, rebel__princess, and scruffyrebel. sana-chan and richiied weren't just going for your typical fun day at the amusement park. They were going with a PLAN.
Mission: SHOWBOAT
The Princess and the Frog is the latest animated Disney movie, which will be coming out on December 11. The movie will feature Tiana, Disney's first African American princess, and Naveen, Disney's first Maldonian prince. (Tiana will also be the first "Disney Princess" from the USA!) The story takes place in New Orleans, which just happens to be one of the districts of Disneyland.
Having been to Walt Disney World in Orlando, the girls knew that the park would be promoting the new movie quite heavily. The main elements of the promotion were (1) having Tiana and Naveen in the park where people could meet them, and (2) Tiana's Showboat Jubilee, a little musical show performed on the Mark Twain Riverboat. Tiana's Showboat Jubilee told a short story of Tiana and Naveen and their friend Louis, the jazz-playing alligator, with several songs and a little dancing. More importantly, each performance of the show would include 20 randomly-selected visitors.
sana-chan and richiied decided that they wouldn't be satisfied simply to SEE Tiana's Showboat Jubilee. They had to be IN the show. Not only that, they wanted to be in the FIRST EVER performance of the show at Disneyland. That's why we were at the park on Friday, the first day the Tiana's Showboat Jubilee would be seen at Disneyland.
The plan began with a visit to City Hall in Main Street, USA (on the left, near the fire engine), where we loaded up on the free buttons which announced that "We're Celebrating!" The hope was that, by having buttons, the people who "randomly selected" people would be more inclined to select us.
Then we headed over to New Orleans Square to meet up with bri_chan, who was already in line to meet Tiana and Naveen.
Tiana and Naveen were both very friendly and in character, as would be expected of Disneyland royalty.
Certain members of our little party were really just there to fangirl over Naveen. I won't say who, specifically. But it was basically everyone with an estrogen level higher than mine.
Then we headed over to the boarding area for the Mark Twain Riverboat. We knew that Tiana's Showboat Jubilee took place on the Riverboat. And the girls had been advised by a friend of theirs that the randomly-selected visitors would be chosen around the vicinity of the Riverboat, about 20 minutes prior to each show. But beyond that, we had no idea how to be chosen for the show.
The girls started getting worried. They asked the line attendant at the Mark Twain Riverboat how they might be chosen, but all he told them was the standard blow-off line, that "Tiana's friends" were wandering all over the park, inviting guests to be in the Showboat.
With time running out, and no idea even where to go to improve our odds of getting chosen, things started looking grim. We wandered away from the Riverboat landing, toward New Orleans Square. We sat on a low wall near the entrance of New Orleans Square, sort of by the Royal Street Veranda (the place with the clam chowder and gumbo in breadbowls) and the Cafe Orleans (the place with the deep fried Monte Cristo sandwiches) where we could relax and bitch about how we wouldn't get on the Showboat.
Then richiied saw a trio of brightly-attired, sequined performers emerge from the street between the two restaurants mentioned above. "They look like Tiana's friends," she said. As they walked closer, we could see that they were carrying what looked like orange tickets. The trio began to separate, spreading out to approach different sets of visitors. One of them, a woman in yellow whose name we later learned was Genevieve, walked in our direction. Our entire group turned to face her, excitement on our grinning faces.
"Would you be interested in--" "YES!" We cried, before she could even finish her sentence. "We know what you're going to ask us, and the answer is yes!" She explained that we were to meet at the Mark Twain Riverboat landing at 11:00, and that it would be a 40 minute commitment, and asked how many were in our party, which she wrote on the orange ticket she handed us. She seemed quite pleased to have found a willing group without much effort, but of course, not as pleased as we were to have been chosen.
We got to the Riverboat where we and the other selected volunteers were given instructions. Basically, we were separated into two groups, each of which would follow one of the sequined "handlers." We would head to the "backstage" side of the Riverboat, the side facing away from the crowd on the shore. There, we would be given props for each of three songs, before taking position on the "on stage" side of the boat.
This is how Tiana's Showboat Jubilee went:
First, there was a parade of performers. The parade consisted of dozens of dancers, a small live band, and of course Tiana, Naveen, and Louis the alligator.
The parade wound to the far end of New Orleans Square, then back toward the Mark Twain Riverboat landing, pausing briefly for a bit of showmanship.
The performers boarded the boat. By this time, we were already on the boat, getting prepped for our first song.
As you can see below in this shot of the "backstage" side of the Riverboat, the volunteers were getting instructions on the first floor as the band and Louis, the alligator, took their position at the bow of the boat, and Tiana and Naveen took their spots at the front of the third floor.
For our first song, we were given colorful handkerchiefs to wave. Then we took position on the "on stage" port side of the boat as the boat left the landing.
The riverbank in front of New Orleans Square was crowded with our audience.
As the boat set sail, Tiana and Naveen waved to the crowd.
We waved our hankies enthusiastically at our adoring fans.
Genevieve, our "handler," spurred us on to wave with gusto!
As the volunteers waved on the bottom floor, the performers were waving hankies too, above us. Meanwhile, Tiana and Naveen sang their first song.
The performers weren't just lip-synching. The singing and music were live!
The dancing was live, too. =P
Louis, the alligator, sang a song about his dream to become human, so he can play jazz with the great musicians.
Meanwhile, the volunteers on the first floor were given big musical notes to wave about. The musical notes each had two handles, and we rotated them by twisting our hands like turning a steering wheel.
Then, in an explosion, the villainous Dr. Facilier (fa-SILLY-ay) appeared!
He sang a song with Naveen, involving faux tarot cards and flying ghost demon monster things.
For our third song, they dressed us in sparkly choir robes and gave us tambourines! I felt like a choir singer in the Church of the Lakers.
The guy in the hat is Tony, another one of our "handlers."
For the finale of the show, the volunteers dance about and shake their tambourines as Tiana and Naveen sing their happy ending.
sana-chan and richiied did a coordinated dance which impressed our "handlers."
As we sailed into the sunset, or at least around the riverbend, Tiana and Naveen came down to take pictures with the volunteers.
The Tiana and Naveen in Tiana's Showboat Jubilee were different from the ones you could go meet and take a picture with in New Orleans Square. Since the Showboat prince and princess actually sing and dance and act in a little show, they have to be in the union, and presumably get certain union-mandated benefits and pay, while the ones you can meet aren't considered actors in the same way, and thus don't require such compensation.
In thanks for our participation in the Jubilee, we were each given a string of beads with a plastic medallion that says "Tiana's Showboat Jubilee" on it. Not available in stores! I'm selling mine on eBay! Starting price only $500.00!
Tiana and Naveen specifically requested that they be in a photo with me alone, not a group shot.
We also got to take pictures with Louis.
After the ride was finished, we were interviewed for the Disney company podcast.
tl;dr: Mission Accomplished
We got to be in the first ever performance of Tiana's Showboat Jubilee at Disneyland! So awesome~! Out of hundreds of people in New Orleans Square that morning, out of the hundred thousand people visiting Disneyland that day, out of the millions of people in southern California, they chose only twenty to be in the show, and we were among them. (Also an odd coincidence, a young girl was chosen, whose name was actually Tiana.) Whatever else I may accomplish in life, this will surely be the one that will go on my tombstone. However many lives I save, however many people I destroy, however much money I make, this shall be my crowning achievement. It's all downhill from here.
With the satisfaction of a questionable goal accomplished, we set off to enjoy the rest of the park.
We spotted Aladdin in Frontierland, Since he was the Disney crush of a number of our group (that is, before Naveen arrived), the ladies had to get a picture.
Prince Ali! Fabulous he! Ali Ababwa!
Genuflect, show some respect, down on one knee!
scruffyrebel was the only one to take this line to heart.
In case it wasn't immediately obvious from our attire, scruffyrebel and I came to the park with a second mission in mind: take Indiana Jones pictures!
While our friends went back to New Orleans Square to stalk Naveen once again, we rode the Indiana Jones Adventure ride.
Then, on our way out of the ride, we got some photos in some of the more fitting environments.
My hat got a little smooshed from stuffing it into our bag for the ride.
scruffyrebel recently got her new Marion Ravenwood blouse, a reproduction of the one Marion wore in Raiders of the Lost Ark, when they were in Cairo.
The blouse is a hand-embroidered and smocked Romanian blouse, just like the one in the movie. scruffyrebel also had her Staff of Ra headpiece with her.
You can't tell, but I'm even wearing my authentic 1936 underwear.
We got some shots with the signage, just so there's no mistake about why we're dressed this way.
Monkeys! Why did it have to be monkeys?
Some of the architecture fits, but it's a bit too verdant to pass for Cairo from the movie.
Quick! Hide in the marketplace!
Our friends had to go, but scruffyrebel decided to stay until after the 9:00 Fantasmic show. We did scruffyrebel's favorite Disneyland attraction (shopping), then grabbed dinner at the Cafe Orleans.
We discovered that there is a shop in Main Street, USA, across the square from City Hall, that sells mouse ear hats. But unlike the countless varieties of existing such hats, at this shop you can customize you hat. You select from a dozen or so different hat bases, then choose a pair of ears from an even greater selection. The ears snap securely onto the hat base. You can then choose patches for your hat, or have it embroidered. scruffyrebel chose a pink, fur-trimmed hat with furry, pink ears. The fur is really thick.
We rode the Haunted Mansion.
I'd never seen it with all the Nightmare Before Christmas decorations up.
I love that movie, and I was pretty impressed with how they had converted the ride.
We also visited Toontown, and checked our Mickey's house.
I never really spend much time there, but it was pretty interesting to explore. Mickey's house is huge! It just goes on and on and on, until you finally end up in the room where you meet Mickey.
As you can see in the picture, there's an old-fashioned telephone and a top hat with us in the picture, indicating that Mickey is only a few inches tall, and that we have somehow shrunk down to his size during our visit to his house. We also visited Minnie's house, which was tiny by comparison.
We closed out the night by riding Star Tours (of course) and watching Fantasmic. I'd never seen Fantasmic before, and scruffyrebel hadn't seen it with the new, improved dragon, so it was a treat. I found it interesting that Mickey hardly speaks at all in the show. I wonder why they made that choice. In the audience near us, there was a little girl who kept exclaiming "that's Fantasia!" when they used footage from the movie. It's nice to see that the classic is still finding an audience with young kids, despite the corporation's single-minded marketing focus on the Disney Princesses and Tinkerbell fairies franchises.
I had a great day at Disneyland, and hanging out with friends!
And this is the story of why I was wearing it.
On Friday, I went to Disneyland with sana-chan, richiied, rebel__princess, and scruffyrebel. sana-chan and richiied weren't just going for your typical fun day at the amusement park. They were going with a PLAN.
Mission: SHOWBOAT
The Princess and the Frog is the latest animated Disney movie, which will be coming out on December 11. The movie will feature Tiana, Disney's first African American princess, and Naveen, Disney's first Maldonian prince. (Tiana will also be the first "Disney Princess" from the USA!) The story takes place in New Orleans, which just happens to be one of the districts of Disneyland.
Having been to Walt Disney World in Orlando, the girls knew that the park would be promoting the new movie quite heavily. The main elements of the promotion were (1) having Tiana and Naveen in the park where people could meet them, and (2) Tiana's Showboat Jubilee, a little musical show performed on the Mark Twain Riverboat. Tiana's Showboat Jubilee told a short story of Tiana and Naveen and their friend Louis, the jazz-playing alligator, with several songs and a little dancing. More importantly, each performance of the show would include 20 randomly-selected visitors.
sana-chan and richiied decided that they wouldn't be satisfied simply to SEE Tiana's Showboat Jubilee. They had to be IN the show. Not only that, they wanted to be in the FIRST EVER performance of the show at Disneyland. That's why we were at the park on Friday, the first day the Tiana's Showboat Jubilee would be seen at Disneyland.
The plan began with a visit to City Hall in Main Street, USA (on the left, near the fire engine), where we loaded up on the free buttons which announced that "We're Celebrating!" The hope was that, by having buttons, the people who "randomly selected" people would be more inclined to select us.
Then we headed over to New Orleans Square to meet up with bri_chan, who was already in line to meet Tiana and Naveen.
Tiana and Naveen were both very friendly and in character, as would be expected of Disneyland royalty.
Certain members of our little party were really just there to fangirl over Naveen. I won't say who, specifically. But it was basically everyone with an estrogen level higher than mine.
Then we headed over to the boarding area for the Mark Twain Riverboat. We knew that Tiana's Showboat Jubilee took place on the Riverboat. And the girls had been advised by a friend of theirs that the randomly-selected visitors would be chosen around the vicinity of the Riverboat, about 20 minutes prior to each show. But beyond that, we had no idea how to be chosen for the show.
The girls started getting worried. They asked the line attendant at the Mark Twain Riverboat how they might be chosen, but all he told them was the standard blow-off line, that "Tiana's friends" were wandering all over the park, inviting guests to be in the Showboat.
With time running out, and no idea even where to go to improve our odds of getting chosen, things started looking grim. We wandered away from the Riverboat landing, toward New Orleans Square. We sat on a low wall near the entrance of New Orleans Square, sort of by the Royal Street Veranda (the place with the clam chowder and gumbo in breadbowls) and the Cafe Orleans (the place with the deep fried Monte Cristo sandwiches) where we could relax and bitch about how we wouldn't get on the Showboat.
Then richiied saw a trio of brightly-attired, sequined performers emerge from the street between the two restaurants mentioned above. "They look like Tiana's friends," she said. As they walked closer, we could see that they were carrying what looked like orange tickets. The trio began to separate, spreading out to approach different sets of visitors. One of them, a woman in yellow whose name we later learned was Genevieve, walked in our direction. Our entire group turned to face her, excitement on our grinning faces.
"Would you be interested in--" "YES!" We cried, before she could even finish her sentence. "We know what you're going to ask us, and the answer is yes!" She explained that we were to meet at the Mark Twain Riverboat landing at 11:00, and that it would be a 40 minute commitment, and asked how many were in our party, which she wrote on the orange ticket she handed us. She seemed quite pleased to have found a willing group without much effort, but of course, not as pleased as we were to have been chosen.
We got to the Riverboat where we and the other selected volunteers were given instructions. Basically, we were separated into two groups, each of which would follow one of the sequined "handlers." We would head to the "backstage" side of the Riverboat, the side facing away from the crowd on the shore. There, we would be given props for each of three songs, before taking position on the "on stage" side of the boat.
This is how Tiana's Showboat Jubilee went:
First, there was a parade of performers. The parade consisted of dozens of dancers, a small live band, and of course Tiana, Naveen, and Louis the alligator.
The parade wound to the far end of New Orleans Square, then back toward the Mark Twain Riverboat landing, pausing briefly for a bit of showmanship.
The performers boarded the boat. By this time, we were already on the boat, getting prepped for our first song.
As you can see below in this shot of the "backstage" side of the Riverboat, the volunteers were getting instructions on the first floor as the band and Louis, the alligator, took their position at the bow of the boat, and Tiana and Naveen took their spots at the front of the third floor.
For our first song, we were given colorful handkerchiefs to wave. Then we took position on the "on stage" port side of the boat as the boat left the landing.
The riverbank in front of New Orleans Square was crowded with our audience.
As the boat set sail, Tiana and Naveen waved to the crowd.
We waved our hankies enthusiastically at our adoring fans.
Genevieve, our "handler," spurred us on to wave with gusto!
As the volunteers waved on the bottom floor, the performers were waving hankies too, above us. Meanwhile, Tiana and Naveen sang their first song.
The performers weren't just lip-synching. The singing and music were live!
The dancing was live, too. =P
Louis, the alligator, sang a song about his dream to become human, so he can play jazz with the great musicians.
Meanwhile, the volunteers on the first floor were given big musical notes to wave about. The musical notes each had two handles, and we rotated them by twisting our hands like turning a steering wheel.
Then, in an explosion, the villainous Dr. Facilier (fa-SILLY-ay) appeared!
He sang a song with Naveen, involving faux tarot cards and flying ghost demon monster things.
For our third song, they dressed us in sparkly choir robes and gave us tambourines! I felt like a choir singer in the Church of the Lakers.
The guy in the hat is Tony, another one of our "handlers."
For the finale of the show, the volunteers dance about and shake their tambourines as Tiana and Naveen sing their happy ending.
sana-chan and richiied did a coordinated dance which impressed our "handlers."
As we sailed into the sunset, or at least around the riverbend, Tiana and Naveen came down to take pictures with the volunteers.
The Tiana and Naveen in Tiana's Showboat Jubilee were different from the ones you could go meet and take a picture with in New Orleans Square. Since the Showboat prince and princess actually sing and dance and act in a little show, they have to be in the union, and presumably get certain union-mandated benefits and pay, while the ones you can meet aren't considered actors in the same way, and thus don't require such compensation.
In thanks for our participation in the Jubilee, we were each given a string of beads with a plastic medallion that says "Tiana's Showboat Jubilee" on it. Not available in stores! I'm selling mine on eBay! Starting price only $500.00!
Tiana and Naveen specifically requested that they be in a photo with me alone, not a group shot.
We also got to take pictures with Louis.
After the ride was finished, we were interviewed for the Disney company podcast.
tl;dr: Mission Accomplished
We got to be in the first ever performance of Tiana's Showboat Jubilee at Disneyland! So awesome~! Out of hundreds of people in New Orleans Square that morning, out of the hundred thousand people visiting Disneyland that day, out of the millions of people in southern California, they chose only twenty to be in the show, and we were among them. (Also an odd coincidence, a young girl was chosen, whose name was actually Tiana.) Whatever else I may accomplish in life, this will surely be the one that will go on my tombstone. However many lives I save, however many people I destroy, however much money I make, this shall be my crowning achievement. It's all downhill from here.
With the satisfaction of a questionable goal accomplished, we set off to enjoy the rest of the park.
We spotted Aladdin in Frontierland, Since he was the Disney crush of a number of our group (that is, before Naveen arrived), the ladies had to get a picture.
Prince Ali! Fabulous he! Ali Ababwa!
Genuflect, show some respect, down on one knee!
scruffyrebel was the only one to take this line to heart.
In case it wasn't immediately obvious from our attire, scruffyrebel and I came to the park with a second mission in mind: take Indiana Jones pictures!
While our friends went back to New Orleans Square to stalk Naveen once again, we rode the Indiana Jones Adventure ride.
Then, on our way out of the ride, we got some photos in some of the more fitting environments.
My hat got a little smooshed from stuffing it into our bag for the ride.
scruffyrebel recently got her new Marion Ravenwood blouse, a reproduction of the one Marion wore in Raiders of the Lost Ark, when they were in Cairo.
The blouse is a hand-embroidered and smocked Romanian blouse, just like the one in the movie. scruffyrebel also had her Staff of Ra headpiece with her.
You can't tell, but I'm even wearing my authentic 1936 underwear.
We got some shots with the signage, just so there's no mistake about why we're dressed this way.
Monkeys! Why did it have to be monkeys?
Some of the architecture fits, but it's a bit too verdant to pass for Cairo from the movie.
Quick! Hide in the marketplace!
Our friends had to go, but scruffyrebel decided to stay until after the 9:00 Fantasmic show. We did scruffyrebel's favorite Disneyland attraction (shopping), then grabbed dinner at the Cafe Orleans.
We discovered that there is a shop in Main Street, USA, across the square from City Hall, that sells mouse ear hats. But unlike the countless varieties of existing such hats, at this shop you can customize you hat. You select from a dozen or so different hat bases, then choose a pair of ears from an even greater selection. The ears snap securely onto the hat base. You can then choose patches for your hat, or have it embroidered. scruffyrebel chose a pink, fur-trimmed hat with furry, pink ears. The fur is really thick.
We rode the Haunted Mansion.
I'd never seen it with all the Nightmare Before Christmas decorations up.
I love that movie, and I was pretty impressed with how they had converted the ride.
We also visited Toontown, and checked our Mickey's house.
I never really spend much time there, but it was pretty interesting to explore. Mickey's house is huge! It just goes on and on and on, until you finally end up in the room where you meet Mickey.
As you can see in the picture, there's an old-fashioned telephone and a top hat with us in the picture, indicating that Mickey is only a few inches tall, and that we have somehow shrunk down to his size during our visit to his house. We also visited Minnie's house, which was tiny by comparison.
We closed out the night by riding Star Tours (of course) and watching Fantasmic. I'd never seen Fantasmic before, and scruffyrebel hadn't seen it with the new, improved dragon, so it was a treat. I found it interesting that Mickey hardly speaks at all in the show. I wonder why they made that choice. In the audience near us, there was a little girl who kept exclaiming "that's Fantasia!" when they used footage from the movie. It's nice to see that the classic is still finding an audience with young kids, despite the corporation's single-minded marketing focus on the Disney Princesses and Tinkerbell fairies franchises.
I had a great day at Disneyland, and hanging out with friends!