By Eddy

When D and I first saw Cars I wasn’t particularly impressed.  With such a spectacular line up of films to have to live up to including the first two Toy Story‘s, I was left pretty underwhelmed leaving the movie theater.  I especially didn’t really connect with the Mater character played by Larry the Cable Guy (I was never big fan of his comedy).  Yet in the years to follow after its release, the movie has really grown on me; to the point that I now appreciate its place in the Pixar cannon.  Along with that with the advent of Mater’s Tall Tales show I have learned to appreciate Mater as well. Mater’s Tall Tales are animated shorts which feature Mater as he tells his friends the crazy things he has done. Also starring in the short films are all the characters from the original Cars films including most notably lightning McQueen. 

To commemorate the completion of two seasons and the its popularity, Disney released a video game for the Nintendo Wii allowing you to play in many of the episodes of the show.  The game has a surprising amount depth that I was really not expecting.  Players start out in a garage area where they are allowed to customize their cars with a number of different enhancements including body types, stickers, color and hats.  Additional, prizes including story boards and other unlockable items can be found or won throughout the game.  Up to four people can play at the same time and players can play either cooperatively or competitively with each other. Continue Reading

About Divina Rodriguez

Divina is a wife, a Mami of 2 boys under the age of four and a full fledged social media butterfly with a Masters in Communications. She loves sharing the best of Disney on TheDisneyFiles.com whether its movies, video games, shopping or the themeparks. In addition to TheDisneyFiles, Divina writes about entertainment, technology and family products on www.DancingHotdogs.com and is a founding mother & partner at Trumpeting Media, a social media consulting company that is dedicated to using social media for social good.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

By Divina

The Dancinghotdogs.com family has reviewed several Wii Disney Sing It games and no matter how hip Eddy and I think we are, we never know all the songs by the Disney stars like Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers etc.  So playing the game and failing all the time because you did not recognize the songs got old really quickly.

We wanted a game with all the songs we grew up listening to like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Lion King etc.

The Disney Interactive gods heard us and came out with Disney Sing It: Family Hits in August which features songs and videos for the whole family from popular classic Disney movies like the movies mentioned above as well as The Jungle Book, Sleeping Beauty and new films like The Princess and the Frog . 

The Facts:

·         30 songs and videos from classic to today’s Disney hits

·         Karaoke set up that allows solo play or up to 8 to join in the fun

·         Vocal tips from Anika Noni Rose, the sing voice of the princess from The Princess and the Frog

·         The Wii game retails for $39.99 with microphone or $19.99 without a microphone if you have other versions of the Sing it family.

I love the party mode and the competition modes.  It definitely got the competitive juices going when we had a family showdown.  Rosa totally spanked all of us to all our embarrassment! Continue Reading

About Divina Rodriguez

Divina is a wife, a Mami of 2 boys under the age of four and a full fledged social media butterfly with a Masters in Communications. She loves sharing the best of Disney on TheDisneyFiles.com whether its movies, video games, shopping or the themeparks. In addition to TheDisneyFiles, Divina writes about entertainment, technology and family products on www.DancingHotdogs.com and is a founding mother & partner at Trumpeting Media, a social media consulting company that is dedicated to using social media for social good.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

By Divina

Have you heard about these amazing new products by Crayola and Disney?

Color Wonder Coloring Books and Markers let your child’s imagination run free by coloring all their favorite Disney characters like Cars, Toy Story , Disney Princesses and Disney Fairies but has this special ink developed by the brilliant Crayola scientists that only works on the special coloring paper!

You no longer have to worry about leaving your child alone with some markers to come back and find your walls covered with sweet but really hard to remove works of art.

The best thing is it really works! 

Babyboy got a chance to try out the markers on the five hour plane ride to California and he and I both fell in love.

He loved coloring in Buzz and Lighting McQueen while I loved how it did not get all over his hands or clothes or airplane chairs and tables. Continue Reading

About Divina Rodriguez

Divina is a wife, a Mami of 2 boys under the age of four and a full fledged social media butterfly with a Masters in Communications. She loves sharing the best of Disney on TheDisneyFiles.com whether its movies, video games, shopping or the themeparks. In addition to TheDisneyFiles, Divina writes about entertainment, technology and family products on www.DancingHotdogs.com and is a founding mother & partner at Trumpeting Media, a social media consulting company that is dedicated to using social media for social good.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

By Rosa

A couple of weeks ago, Divina, my little sister and I got a chance to try out all the new Disney Interactive games.  Here are some of the great games they showcased that will be released for the holiday season.

Disney Sing It Pop Hits

The new version of the Disney Karaoke has new songs from Disney stars and other popular stars.  It works like the first version of Sing It.  There is a microphone which you sing into. You are given points each time you are able to reach the correct note of the song.  The lyrics and pitch are shown to you on the screen.  All you have to do is sing along and show your talent!  The artists included in this Sing It are Colbie Caillat,Coldplay, Demi Lovato, Duffy, Jesse McCartney, Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Steve Rushton, Taylor Swift, and Vanessa Hudgens.  The entire list of the artists and songs can be found at www.DisneySingIt.com .  Anyone can play and have fun with this game.  AND if you already have any of the Disney sing its the mircophone works with all versions.

Princess and the Frog  

With the new Princess making her debut, the game Princess and the Frog is based on the movie.  There are different stages throughout New Orleans.  Princess Tiana and her friends have dance parties, cooking competitions, and many more adventures.  You can play the game with four users at a time.  Each character from the movie is used in the game as well.  Just like the movie, you are welcomed into the jazz filled New Orleans to have fun.  There is no need for any extra equipment.  All you need is a control and a good attitude to have fun. 

My younger sister and I tried the New Orleans Dance Party.  We both enjoyed the moves and at the same time felt like we were having a work out.  This one can also be played by all ages.  I had fun doing it! 

Toy Story for the Wii 

Who doesn’t love Toy Story ?  It’s a great movie and I was so happy when I saw that the Wii game.  My younger sister and I tried a part of the game dealing with shooting plates.  Each plate had a certain amount of points you could gain.  All you needed was the Wii control and you can play the various different games.  The games were inspired by the Disneyland and Walt Disney World attractions.  You also have to option to play the games in 3D!  You can play with Woody and Buzz and the whole gang from Toy Story.  For more information you can go to www.toystorymaniagame.com .     

Split Second

This game was a HUGE hit with the boys!  I tried to sneak in a try but wasn’t able to.  From what I saw, the racing game looked really cool.  You get to choose which car you want to race with and start racing!  I’m not great with hand eye coordination but I definitely would have liked to try out the game.  Divina was able to try it out and she said she liked it.  Out of all of the games this was my favorite, even though I didn’t get to try it.  I like cars and racing games.   

Iphone & Itouch Applications 

There were also demos of the games you can play on your Iphone and Itouch.  I personally don’t have either of them but when I tried them out and they were entertaining.  The games can be purchased on Itunes just like any other game you would buy for your Iphone or Itouch.  The options vary from Fairy games all the way to Toy Story games.  If I had an Itouch or Iphone I would get one of the applications.  It’s just a quick game to play while I’m bored in the car or on the train or even when I’m at the house.   

GIVEAWAY 

We have a great giveaway for all of the readers!  You get a bunch of games for the DS like Christmas Carol, Jonas, Tinker Bell Toy Treasure , a shirt, the new Toy Story Wii game, and the Disney Sing It!   Talk about saving money for Christmas! 

All you have to do is comment on this post. 

Since Disney is all about making your dreams come true; comment on what dream you would like to come true.  My absolute dream is to live in the city for a couple years and work in Public Relations for a music company. 

The giveaway will end at 9pm,  Wednesday, 12/9.  

Other ways to win:

• follow DancingHotdogs rss feed
• follow @dancinghotdogs on twitter (leave a comment)
• follow @rosadancing on twitter   (leave a comment)
• Retwitter about the giveaway (leave a comment)
• Blog about the contest (post link in comment)
• Join our fanclub on facebook

Good Luck!

About Divina Rodriguez

Divina is a wife, a Mami of 2 boys under the age of four and a full fledged social media butterfly with a Masters in Communications. She loves sharing the best of Disney on TheDisneyFiles.com whether its movies, video games, shopping or the themeparks. In addition to TheDisneyFiles, Divina writes about entertainment, technology and family products on www.DancingHotdogs.com and is a founding mother & partner at Trumpeting Media, a social media consulting company that is dedicated to using social media for social good.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

By Divina

I have to say one thing about Disney Pixar, hit after hit they always manage to keep surprising me, especially with the level of talent they have within the Disney Pixar organization.  The writing, the computer graphics, the directing and every other element of the movie is so well done it leaves no room for competition.  Yet with all the talent and excellent story telling prowess I was really disappointed by UP.

Quick synopsis: Ballon salesman Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Ed Asner (the Boss from The Mary Tyler Moore show ) has lost the love of his life and is being pushed out of his lifelong dream home because of corporate suit-wearing developers.  He reaches his limit and decides to fulfill his lifelong dream he shared with his wife of visiting South America by blowing up thousands of balloons which he ties to his house and flies away.  Everything is good until Carl discovers thousands of miles up in the air he has an eight year old stowaway along for the trip.  Throw in some talking dogs, the jungles of South America and disgraced adventurer voiced by Christopher Plummer (he has done so much but I know him only as the dad from Must love Dogs ) and you have an adventure story from Disney Pixar.

Why was I disappointed?

This was a supposed comedy adventure family movie so why was I crying all the time?

There was some very adult topics discussed in the movie like death, divorce and life after  you lose a loved one and your world falls apart.

The graphics were exceptional along with the writing and directing.  Disney Pixar’s favorite actor John Ratzenberger  also makes another appearance. 

There was some funny moments in the film but the main message of the movie is life is too short! 

Don’t wait to have your adventure. 

Timing will never be perfect. 

You will never have enough money but we only get one life so make the most of it.

All in all a good movie but I would not bring small children to this movie unless you want another Marley moment.

Eddy’s Note: As far as I am concerned this was Pixar’s attempt to make not a cartoon, or children’s film but a true film with absolutely no age restrictions, which I believe they succeeded in doing.  I feel that Pixar has reached a point in movie making that they were no longer driven by providing movie goers with exactly want they want all the time (something that DreamWorks does with their movies ie. The Shrek series) ultimately they would have ended falling in a rut. Therefore, they decided to challenge the audience, both adults and children, into watching a movie with a deeper meaning and much more emotion that was present in their past movies.  To me this was a logical transition from Wall-E, and signifies substantial growth on the part of Pixar and it’s creative teams.

The true challenge for Pixar will be to continue this growth while staying within the confines of their older stories, which we will see with the sequels to Toy Story and Monsters Inc. They will no longer have the benefit of an original story of which they can manipulate and move to their purposes. 

While I agree with Divina that I was not overwhelmed with love for the movie like I have been in the past, I do find myself even more intrigued in what they will think of next.

About Divina Rodriguez

Divina is a wife, a Mami of 2 boys under the age of four and a full fledged social media butterfly with a Masters in Communications. She loves sharing the best of Disney on TheDisneyFiles.com whether its movies, video games, shopping or the themeparks. In addition to TheDisneyFiles, Divina writes about entertainment, technology and family products on www.DancingHotdogs.com and is a founding mother & partner at Trumpeting Media, a social media consulting company that is dedicated to using social media for social good.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•