I’ve struggled with a long time on how to defend Jasmine. If I’m being honest, she’s probably my least favorite Disney Princess. I don’t have much sentimentality for as Aladdin was never my go-to childhood movie. My stereotypical feminine toddler self much preferred Disney movies that featured cats or ball gowns over movies about streetrats.   Jasmine also has the unique position of being the only Disney Princess whose movie is not really about her. Aladdin is, well, about Aladdin. I could say that hinders me from doing a proper analysis of her character, but I easily unearthed much out of Aurora’s character when she only speaks 18 lines – and her movie is supposed to be about her!   Jasmine ranked so low in my personal ratings on the grounds that she doesn’t do anything. Maybe this is ironic coming from someone who passionately defends the “do-nothing” Princesses like Aurora and Snow White, but they do something . They walk the walk, whereas Jasmine just talks the talk. She...

At first, I thought it was just one of those April Fool’s-esque jokes, like when everyone was putting out articles that Cinderella’s castle would be changed to the Frozen castle.   But as I read it from multiple sources, I realized that it was true. And my initial, knee-jerk reaction when I heard of this iconic Disney attraction changing was “No!”.   But the more I thought about it, the more I excited I became for the re-theme.   I kind of low-key hate Splash Mountain. Not the drop. The drop is the best part. I hate the show rooms. I already have a slight fear of animatronics, but the ones on Splash are terrifying. The animatronics look very old and move rigidly. Despite the fact that it is refurbished every winter, the “show” never really works right. There are constant animatronic failure and ride breakdown reports. Whether that’s due to the wear and tear of the ride or just the presence of social media, we’ll never know. But we’ve been hearing horror stories of anima...

This is a continuation of the series where I examine each of the Disney Princesses as role models. Disney Princesses have received much backlash and debate over their worthiness of being feminist role models for young girls. I set out to examine the admirable qualities in each and clear up any distortions of their characters.  Belle is a beloved Princess, often regarded as the "strongest", "smartest" or "most feminist".  Yet some  people like to simplify the character down to “read = smart”. But of course, it goes deeper than  that.  Based on the way the town citizens react to her reading (“and her nose stuck in a book/ what a  puzzle to the rest of us is Belle”) you can tell that not many people in the village are educated enough to  read, or even interested enough in becoming educated to read, let alone the women of the village.  Maybe they do not think education is important. Education is so important. I could rant forever a...

Here are several items from Disney Parks merchandise lines that I want.  Rainbow Minnie Ears I've had my eye on these for a couple of years now, and I might actually by them this June.  Rose Gold Spirit Jersey This one is not being made currently, I believe. But the first round of spirit jerseys are far superior than the sweater ones they're putting out now.  Be Our Guest Wine Glasses Another item from the past. I should've bought these when I could've.  Dooney & Bourke Disney Sketch Satchel Every time a new D&B Disney design is released, I get a little excited. But I think the good ol' Disney icon design is my favorite.  Sleeping Beauty Storybook Replica This is a notebook, but I'd really love just to display it somewhere in my house. 

Disney’s relationship with the LGBT is sort of a complicated one. From Disneyland’s early days, homosexual dancing was banned ( except for one couple ). In the 1980s, Disney’s best known openly gay creator – Howard Ashman – revolutionized the animation industry. In 1991 Gay Days at Walt Disney World was established. Gay Days was originally organized independent of the company – but Disney always welcomed celebrators into the parks each June. Just last year Disneyland Paris officially held a Pride celebration. In recent years Disney has started selling Pride rainbow merchandise, and more is added to shelves every June. In 2013, rumors started swirling the internet that Frozen featured Disney’s first gay character . This was debunked by the company, of course. In 2016, viewers headcannoned Judy’s neighbors to be a gay couple .  Then in 2017, Disney announced that they would have their first gay character . The...

Marceline Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. But he did not consider Chicago his hometown. That title went to Marceline, Missouri where he spent his early childhood. Marceline had a great impact on Walt’s life, as he used the small town as inspiration for Main Street, USA in his parks and the setting of The Lady and The Tramp .  Disney Goes Hollywood In 1911, the Disney’s moved to Kansas City. They moved again in 1917 back to Chicago. Walt took art classes wherever he could.  Walt dropped out of school to serve his country in World War I. He became an ambulance driver for the Red Cross. When he returned to Kansas City in 1919, he opened his own cartoon studio, Laugh-O-Gram. Unfortunately, the business had little success. So, Walt decided to move to Hollywood to with his brother, Roy, to join the growing film industry. There, they established another studio – Walt Disney Studios. Walt hired an ink artist named Lillian and the two l...

6. Liberty Square Liberty Square has some cool things in it – a replica of the Liberty Bell, historically accurate building facades and a genuine Presidential Seal that was approved by Congress. It’s got the classic Haunted Mansion and the Riverboat. But this land is tiny, and doesn’t have room for much anything else. That, coupled with my own American Disillusionment at the time makes Liberty Square not something I am dying to visit. Also, points off for the sewer system. It’s a “fun” fact that seems to be mentioned in every single article about Disney “secrets”, and it’s one I wish I could unlearn. I, for one, do not wish to reminded of literal actual shit while walking around what’s supposed to be the happiest place on Earth. I do love that Christmas shop, though. 5. Frontierland When I look at Frontierland objectively, it’s an awesome land. It’s got two iconic mountain rides right next to each other. And for those that hang on to “the good...

I had wanted to ride the newest update to Soarin’ ever since it was announced, which was during my Disney College Program back in 2015. In fact, refurbishment began the very same day my program ended. This summer, I finally got the chance to ride it. I was apprehensive about the changes, as I did not hear good things about them. The only thing that seemed to change with queue was the addition of monitors similar to the ones at airports that post the time of flights. The monitors show trivia questions about the different places Soarin’ takes its passengers. This is a great way to pass time in line. I love that this adds an educational component to the attraction as Epcot was made to be an educational park. Fortunately, the preshow video with Kronk Patrick Warburton still remains. Before he appears, a video of an airplane flying over a map shows the audience where it will take its passengers. My first impression of seeing the map was that there are a lot of...

Once I heard that a few of my former Disney College Program roommates had been accepted for a summer alumni program, I knew I had to go back to Walt Disney World to visit them. Due to both my work schedule and theirs, and the fact that I am a broke college student, I could only visit for a weekend. Normally I do not recommend trying to do all of Walt Disney World in just a couple of days as it can be very overwhelming. When visiting the parks, I stuck to one of my biggest tips for visitors, which is to not try to do too much. It’s impossible to do absolutely everything the Resort has to offer over a week long stay, let alone a weekend long stay. Keeping this in mind, I prioritized about 5 things that I really wanted to do and left the rest of my schedule open for flexibility. The main focus of my visit was my friends, and not necessarily the parks. It did not matter what we did, as long as we did it together. One of my biggest priorities was explorin...