Ok, so I'm back from the "Experience" today. I was at the 1pm show at the Ziegfeld Theater and then the Disney Experience at the Roseland ballroom.
I purchased tickets months ago, and I was hesitant to buy the General Admission tickets because I know how movies fill up for regular showings in the city - I was concerned that it would be impossible to get 4 seats together with a decent view of the screen. But $50 a pop for the "Royal Package" which included reserved seats (+ Mardi Gras beads and a lithograph) was way too much for the four of us. So, Gen Ad it was for $30 each, and I figured we'd increase our chances of getting decent seats by showing up around 45 minutes ahead of showtime.
We got to the theater at 12:10pm, and there were two lines outside the theater (in the cold) - one for the Royal Package tickets and one for Gen Ad. We only waited around 10 minutes outside and they fitted us with wristbands for the "Ultimate Disney Experience" (UDE) while we waited. Once the doors opened for us, and after I checked my camera and Flip, we walked into the very crowded lobby. It seemed like everyone headed for the concessions and bathroom because we headed straight for the theater and it was fairly empty. General admission was given the first 4 rows of the center, the first 6 rows of the sides, and the sides of the mezzanine in the back (not alot of Gen Ad seats available). Since most of the seats were empty, we had our choice - last row of Gen Ad in the front center - which was perfect because the Ziegfeld doesn't have seats up against the screen which are impossible for viewing. We were very comfortable (and I felt a bit bad for the guy who shelled out $20 more than me to sit right behind me). While we spent around 30 minutes sitting in the theater waiting, we listened to classic Disney movie tunes. Nice touch.
4 previews:
Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland, some Miley Cyrus movie, and DisneyEarth's
Ocean. Then the film. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I won't spoil it, but the two aspects that really blew me away were the soundtrack and the colors. Oh, the colors! Vibrant illuminating colors, and great scenes with a "black light" effect. Fantastic. My daughter (7) loved it as well, and my son (4) was not into it & scared at times. My wife, who is not a Disney fan per se, was less impressed. She felt that she wasn't drawn into the story as much as she'd hoped, and she didn't feel enough of a connection to the characters to care what happened to them. I see that. While Tiana's character has a ton of background story given to us, we know very little of Navine's character. I didn't feel quite the same as her. I had a blast.
Then, off to the Roseland Ballroom, which was around 4-5 block walk away. The ballroom had two floors. On the main/lower floor, the main attraction was the meet & greet for the princesses: nine of them - Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Pocahontas, Mulan, Ariel, Snow White, Jasmine, Cinderella, and Tiana. There was an area with three carnival-style games, but they were lame. Behind the princesses was the "Bayou Adventure," which was basically a smallish play area for tykes. Cute. My son liked it a lot. Around the corner was the craft area where one could decorate crowns or tiaras - weak. The big items from the Disney Archives were an the lower floor as well: Elizabeth Swann's wedding dress from
Pirates II, Gizelle's dress from
Enchanted, and Belle's dress from
Beauty and the Beast on Broadway (extinct).
Upstairs there was the rest of the Archives items, including Hannah Montana's guitar, HSM3 stuff, 2 items from
Enchanted (poison apple stuck to bike helmet and bag of NY souvenirs), early Disney merchandise, 2 cells (Donald &
Jungle Book), Declaration of Independence from
Nat'l Treasure, and Jack Sparrow's jar of dirt. I was thoroughly disappointed in the Archives collection here. I know what was displayed at the
D23 expo, and while I wasn't expecting them to roll Herbie out here, I was hoping for one or two big time items. It all seemed second and third tier stuff.
In addition, there was the Disney animator tutorial, where the animator was teaching all how to draw Ray the firefly, and a Kodak station where you could put your picture in one of three backgrounds from the movie. Both of these were nice, and the photo didn't cost anything extra. It's a download off the internet 24 hours after the photo is taken. I'll see if I can show you a sample of one we did (after tomorrow).
Overall, this was a fun experience and a happy day for the kids. The movie experience was great, but it's probably not terribly different from waiting a week and seeing it in a theater of my choice. I was fairly disappointed in the UDE - especially the Archives aspect. Unless you are a princess meet & greet freak (or your kids are), I think you aren't missing much. Don't feel bad if you decide to pay 1/3 of the price or less just to see the film elsewhere. You'll get your money's worth in my opinion.
Side note: it was clear that, aside from the princesses and animator, the people manning the place were not Disney cast members. It could be a bit jarring if you're expecting a Disney parks type of experience. Nobody was rude or obnoxious, but I noticed they didn't act as if they were "onstage," if you get my drift.
Anyway, I'll try to post photos and a video in the coming week.