Christina, Author at A Mommy Story

Sep 3, 2014

Planning Our Dining for the WDW Princess Half Weekend

When it comes to Disney, we’re planners. Due to how quickly runDisney events sell out, we signed up for our races within 15 minutes of registration opening, which meant we knew in mid-July that we’d be going back to Walt Disney World for the Princess Half Marathon weekend in late February. Which then started us down the path of planning our full trip: how many days would we stay, which parks would we go to on each day, and several other choices to make. Yes, I already have a spreadsheet for our trip…like I said, we’re planners.

We’ve decided on the days we’ll be there now, but we’re waiting to book our resort package until the spring package sale prices are released. This usually happens in October, so we’re going to patiently wait a bit longer to book our room, park tickets and meal plan. (But believe me, I’d rather have it all planned already.)

The schedule for the parks is published well in advance. If you’re staying at a Walt Disney World resort, it’s worth looking at the schedule to see which parks have Magic Hours that day, giving you an extra hour before the park opens to the public or an hour after the park closes to the public. I love Magic Hours – we’ve had great luck in using that time to easily get on more popular rides without the long lines.

But there was one thing I was especially looking forward to as a result of knowing our schedule this far in advance: dining reservations.

There are dozens of great restaurants at Disney World, so planning out your dining this far in advance may seem crazy. However, it’s really a good idea to get your table service dining reservations as soon as possible. For our last two trips, we made our dining reservations about 2-3 months before our trip, and while we were lucky to get reservations everywhere we wanted, the times available were lousy. Having dinner at Be Our Guest is magical, but less so when your reservation is at 9:20pm and one of your kids falls asleep at the table before she can even take three bites of food.

So this time, we started as early as possible. You can make dining reservations up to 180 days in advance for Walt Disney World. Now, what you may not realize is that you don’t need to already have your park tickets or hotel in place in order to make a dining reservation. You can have all of your dining plans in place before you have any other element of your vacation planned other than the dates you’re planning to be there.

We’re planning to have the Disney Dining Plan again this year, which is a pre-paid meal plan that covers one quick-service (walk-up) meal, one table service meal, and one snack per person each day. What I like the most about this plan is that it also covers character dining – those experiences can often be pricier than a regular meal, but there’s no up-charge if you’re using the meal plan. (The exception is Cinderella’s Royal Table, which requires two table service credits per person.)

Here’s a peek at which restaurants we’re planning to visit during our Princess Half Marathon vacation:

Sanaa – This will be our first visit to Sanaa at the Animal Kingdom Villas. I’ve heard so many good things about this restaurant that I can’t wait to check out the fusion of African and Indian flavors. And thanks to the magic of Disney, Aaron will be able to have naan again in a gluten-free version. While I’m looking forward to the food, I also can’t wait to check out the scenery: this restaurant sits on the edge of the African Sunset Savannah, offering views of animals like zebras, giraffes, gazelles and more.

T-REX – After the half marathon on Sunday, there’s a post-race celebration in Downtown Disney that evening, so we wanted to find a late lunch option nearby. We’ve been to a few of the Downtown Disney restaurants, but wanted something new that might wow the kids. T-REX looks like it will do the job. Dining surrounded by dinosaurs, including a 15 ft. T-Rex, should be a lot of fun. Cordy is already looking forward to the Chocolate Extinction dessert.

‘Ohana – This isn’t just a breakfast at the Polynesian Village resort. It’s also a character meal with Lilo, Stitch, and friends. Last year was our first ‘Ohana breakfast. Mira loves Stitch more than any other character, so after Stitch took her hand and let her lead the parade with him around the dining area, of course we knew we’d be coming back! The food is amazing, too: a platter filled with a rainbow of fruit, bacon, sausage, eggs, fried potatoes, breads…and did I mention it’s all you can eat? We’ll be enjoying breakfast here on Monday after the half marathon weekend, and I’m sure we’ll all be happy to fill up on plenty of good food while visiting with Stitch again.

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall – This is THE place to dine with the princesses at Epcot. (And the only place for this many princesses at WDW when we’ll be there – Cinderella’s Royal Table will be closed for renovations.) We’ve been to this restaurant twice for breakfast, but this time we’re going in the afternoon to check out the Norwegian lunch menu. Cordy and Mira love the Princess Storybook Dining – each of the princesses visit every table for autographs and photos. We’ve never felt rushed with any of the princesses and they do their best to create a personal experience for each kid. I also enjoy looking at the beautiful interior of this restaurant – it really feels like you’re dining in a medieval castle.

Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant – Imagine having a meal in a classic car, parked at a retro style drive-in theater, while clips of 50’s sci-fi B-movies play on the screen with the stars twinkling overhead. That’s exactly what you can experience at this Hollywood Studios restaurant! This is one of Aaron’s favorites – he loves old sci-fi movies, and the way they create a nighttime, open-air atmosphere inside a building is amazing. The tables look like cars, all facing the movie screen, complete with (dimmed) headlights and tail lights. Our first visit to this restaurant was on the trip for our first anniversary in 2004. The food is great, the glowing ice cubes are fun, and it really feels like you’re in a completely different place.

That’s what we’ve got so far, and I’m very excited! It’s a good thing I’ll be running a 10K before we start all of this eating!

Filed Under: Disney, travel ·

Aug 26, 2014

CCS Transportation Department Twitter Abuse

By Christina ·

I mentioned that last week was a bumpy start to the new school year, but at the time of writing that, I had no idea what would happen the remainder of the day.

Right after I hit the Publish button on Friday, the school called. I learned that Cordy had been having a very rough day, eventually landing herself in the principal’s office. I talked with the principal, then with Cordy, and when I hung up the phone I was a stressed out mess, worried that Cordy wouldn’t be able to adjust to the gifted classroom and that there just wasn’t any possible good fit for her at school. (Note: Yesterday went much better, followed by an even worse day today. I’m trying to remain hopeful that these are just a momentary freak outs over her new routine and the roller coaster will smooth out soon. Now please don’t let the school call again tomorrow.)

I hoped that the bus would make it to the school on time Friday afternoon. The first two days it was 30 minutes late to the school, and while I was not too upset at the delay, I was frustrated at the lack of communication on the delay from the Transportation department of Columbus City Schools. Our district’s Transportation department has a Twitter account with the sole purpose of notifying parents about delayed bus routes. Yet for the first two days, our bus route wasn’t listed among the delay notices. I tweeted my frustration about this the first two days, pointing out the tool isn’t very useful if they only post some of the delays and not all.

When I checked the Twitter stream around the end of the school day, I was puzzled to see this tweet:

(I blocked out the name of our school in the image)

That’s our route, but according to this tweet it was on-time. This twitter account is for route delays, and they’ve never posted about a route being on-time. I was confused – why was there a need to post that?

But then it got even more bizarre:

So? This is not an update. The person replying has a real delay in need of an update, not us.

Again, this is not a delay and was completely unnecessary. Was the Transportation department mocking me with passive-aggressive tweets because I had complained about not updating all of the late routes? Surely they couldn’t be that unprofessional, right?

But then it continued:

Edits made by me to hide street names. I like all of you, but I’m not giving out the intersection near my house.

I was stunned by the childish behavior being demonstrated by a representative of Columbus City Schools. Meanwhile, other parents were sending tweets in reply saying their children’s routes were running late and they weren’t seeing the updates online. Was Transportation too busy playing this twisted game with me to actually do their job?

And finally:

I had to respond at that point.

What a petty, spiteful action to take because I called out the continuing communications breakdown with Transportation. Instead of productively using those complaints to improve services, they instead chose to be childish and harass me. Another bad decision in a series of bad decisions with this department.

But wait…it gets better!

I started calling attention to these tweets, pointing out the misuse of a district account and resources to act maliciously towards a parent. Others began commenting on the behavior. And then, over the weekend, POOF – ALL of the thousands of tweets ever sent from that account mysteriously vanished. At first, I thought they had blocked me from seeing any of their updates, but others quickly confirmed that they weren’t seeing any tweets in the account, either.

I wondered if maybe they were trying to destroy all evidence of the misbehavior, but I’d already told them I had screen shots of all of the tweets, so that seems silly. And deleting everything seemed a little extreme. For a district that’s already been found guilty of deleting student data, deleting district tweets seems like a really bad move to make.

The Twitter account was updating again as of Monday morning. But again, the slate was wiped clean before each new bus run. Why use a social media service when you plan to set each message with a self-destruct by the end of the day? Could it be they’ve figured out that leaving an electronic paper trail of the never-ending bus delays (or lack of updates on said delays) might be harmful to their reputation? Yet it’s even more harmful to deliberately cover your trail, too, especially for a group with a less-than-honest reputation.

Overall, I’m disappointed in the Transportation department and just as disappointed in the district. I emailed all of the Board of Education members and Dr. Good (the superintendent) on Sunday night about this issue, complete with screen shots of the tweets.

So far, the only response has been from the superintendent’s assistant, telling me he was occupied and she was forwarding my concerns on to the Transportation director. I know how to contact the Transportation director – had I wanted to email him, I would have included his email address on there the first time. I specifically chose not to include him because I don’t believe he can or will do anything to fix the situation, just like how nothing was accomplished to better track buses last year. (And in a plot non-twist…no response from him.)

No one else included in that email has reached out to me. I’d like to say I’m surprised by this, but it seems to be common around here. I did receive a voice mail from someone in the Customer Relations phone center, but I know those call center workers have no power to accomplish anything – their purpose is to create a public record that the school district responded to the complaint, despite actually doing anything to address it.

It’s sad. Sad that an employee of a school district could be so unprofessional and childish at his or her job. Sad that a Transportation department would rather stick its head in the sand rather than accept criticism to tackle the idea of making things better. And sad that the school district can’t see the enormous communications breakdown happening between the district and the parents, or care enough about parents to want to enact change.

Filed Under: big issues, school ·

Aug 22, 2014

A Bumpy Start to School

By Christina ·

School started on Wednesday, but it hasn’t been as smooth as I’d hoped it would be. Honestly, this has probably been one of the hardest back-to-school weeks we’ve endured.

The week started with me getting what I thought was a small cold. By Monday evening I could tell it was spiraling into something worse, so I kept drinking lots of water, taking vitamins and supplements, and hoping it would go away. On Tuesday I was feeling run down, but determined to finish getting supplies packed into backpacks and clothing set out so everything would be perfect for the first day of school.

Wednesday started on a high note. The girls were awake, excited, and ready for their first day. And somehow Mira grew from 7 to 14 overnight.

No really, why does she look ready for high school?

The bus was even here only a couple of minutes late. I expect that on the first day, as drivers are still getting used to routes and some kids take longer than expected to get onto the bus. Cordy was a little nervous, and as the driver and aide greeted the kids she asked, “Are you nice? Because I had a mean bus helper in first grade and I didn’t like her.” The aide responded, “Oh, I think I’ve been on a bus with you before.” I’m really hoping it wasn’t in first grade…

But the bus pulled away with two happy kids, I settled into a (peaceful!) day of work, with only Cosmo curled up next to me and a whopping sinus headache to endure. I was pretty sure it was a full-blown sinus infection at this point. Even my fatigue couldn’t get me down, especially since there were no calls home from the school during the school day.

Then at 4pm, half an hour after the end of the school day and just as I was starting to wonder if the bus would show on time, I received a call from the school. I expected it to be an update on how Cordy’s first day had gone. Instead, it was her teacher telling me that Cordy and Mira were still at school, as their bus had not shown up yet and the school didn’t know where it was.

Seriously?? I expect first day delays, but when the bus hasn’t shown up to the school 30 minutes after it was due, and no one knows where it is or when to expect it, that’s a problem. I sent Aaron a message quickly and he left work to go pick them up, rather than wait for who knows how long for the bus to arrive.

While waiting, I checked the transportation department’s Twitter feed – which is designed to alert parents to bus routes running late – and despite notices for several other routes, ours wasn’t listed. What good is an alert system if you only provide updates on some of the routes?

When Aaron and the kids got home, the girls looked exhausted. Gone was the excitement of the morning, replaced by sweaty hair and shirts and half-open eyes. They said they’d had a good first day, but it was very hot at school. (No air conditioning in the building, and it was near 90 degrees.) We went through their folders and pulled out the requisite first day stacks of paperwork for me to fill out.

We ordered pizza as a special treat for the first day of school. Mira only ate one little square of pizza, and despite being home in air conditioning, looked really worn out. At one point she asked me, “Do I feel warm?” I placed my hand on her forehead and said, “No, sweetie, you’re cool to the touch. And a little clammy, too.” Half an hour before bedtime, she announced she was going to go to bed because she felt so awful.

But before she could go upstairs, she suddenly clamped her lips tightly together and had that wide-eyed look that all parents quickly recognize – she was about to vomit. Aaron rushed her into the bathroom and they made it just in time. After that excitement, we cleaned her up and, in true Mira fashion, she said “It’s a good thing I only ate one piece of pizza!”

She said she felt better and so we put her to bed. At first I thought her vomiting was probably related to being in the heat all day. Cordy had a 24-hour stomach virus on Saturday, but those tend to have short incubation periods, so Mira would have been sick long before Wednesday, right? I convinced myself that her proclamation of feeling better meant it was a one-time thing.

My assurances fell apart about five minutes later when she started vomiting again. And then 15 minutes after that. And 20 minutes after that. It was clear now that this wasn’t related to the heat. She finally stopped vomiting around 2:30am.

I slept fitfully the rest of the night, waking up with sinus pain and coughing. At 7:15am yesterday, I dragged myself downstairs to help Cordy get ready for school. The second day of school routine wasn’t nearly as cheery. Even though Mira was already on the couch sipping juice and announcing she felt better, I knew she wasn’t able to go to school. So yesterday she spent the day on the couch, watching Phineas and Ferb episodes all day long, while I sat across from her doing my best to get a little work done through the brain fog and exhaustion. I felt bad that Mira had to miss the second day of second grade – what a lousy way to start.

And then at 4:05pm, the phone rang. It was the school, telling me that the bus had just shown up five minutes ago, so to expect Cordy to be home late. 30 minutes late to the school again? And yet again, no notice on the Twitter feed. Oh wait, they updated after I complained to them on Twitter. But they updated 10 minutes AFTER all kids had been dropped off. Thanks for letting us know the bus was on its way back to the depot empty.

Guess who has earned themselves the special honor of being my project this year? I’m utterly fed up with transportation, and it’s only the second day of the school year. I can understand some delays at the start of the year, but their lack of communication and their lack of respect for parents and students is unbelievable. I’ve heard some horrible stories from other parents already, too. Stories that make ours look minor.

The good news is that we’re hopefully ending the week on a positive note. Mira was completely recovered by last night, so she happily went to school today. The bus was on time this morning. And I think I’m finally starting to get over this sinus infection. Now if the bus could make it to the school on time this afternoon, we’ll hopefully have a perfect day to end the week.

Filed Under: Mira, plague, school ·

Aug 14, 2014

Back To School Time!

By Christina ·

We’re now less than a week away from school starting, which has everyone in this house excited. Yes, even the kids. Summer camps are over, and this week they’ve been tortured with having to entertain themselves most days while I work. At this point, going back to school is a welcome alternative to the boredom of being at home and occasionally having to be super quiet while I’m on a call.

They really do like school, though. We went to the school last night for a “welcome back” ice cream social, and Cordy and Mira were so excited to see their teachers and some of their classmates again. We also found out which teacher Mira will have for second grade – he’s the same teacher that Cordy had for most of second grade. Cordy had promoted him so much to Mira that now Mira thinks she has the perfect second grade teacher.

We already knew which class Cordy would be in for this year. She was eligible for the gifted class this year, so in the spring we applied for her to have a spot in the class at our school. We found out in June that she was accepted into the class – not a big surprise, since she met all three of possible criteria for inclusion.

Because the district tried to drastically slash the number of gifted ed classrooms last year, applications for our gifted classroom were down this year, most likely due to a fear of sending a child to a school for only a year and then having to be re-assigned again the next year. There are only 14 kids in the class instead of the typical 20. (Not complaining, since that’s actually good for Cordy.) I’m going to stay on top of the issue to try to ensure our school keeps their gifted ed classroom, as it’s the perfect resource for a twice-exceptional kid like Cordy.

We also received the school supply lists for the year. Have you gone shopping for school supplies yet? I started shopping a couple of weeks ago when we received Cordy’s supply list in the mail, and then finished last night with Mira’s list. I’ve learned something very important in the process: compare prices between stores.

We did most of Cordy’s supply shopping at Staples, when they were advertising a sale on school supplies. This is what we bought:

All of that cost about $60. I was a little shocked that school supplies cost so much.

And then last night, I went to Target to get Mira’s supplies and get the last few items we needed for Cordy. This is what I bought:

Dog paw not included.

That includes a handful of extra items to donate to district schools as well. Total cost? $31.

That’s almost half the cost of the Staples items. Wow, what a difference! Yes, I did buy more Target brand for crayons and colored pencils, but the price difference between those and Crayola was less than thirty cents per item. And the glue sticks were store brand in either case.

Had I known that supplies were that much cheaper at Target, I would have gone there at the start. I’m considering returning the Staples items and getting them all at Target instead. (This post isn’t sponsored by Target, but I’m learning I need to shop there more often!)

At this point the kids are ready for school to start. Of course, now I need to work on my parent back-to-school supply list. This includes:

Coffee k-cups to get me moving for those earlier mornings
Pajamas I don’t mind my neighbors seeing when I take the kids out to the bus
Space on my memory card for first day of school photos
Double-check that the Transportation Dept. phone # is programmed into my phone
Afternoon snacks for hungry kids getting off the bus
Lots of patience for helping out with homework

I’m hoping this will be a good school year for all of us!

Filed Under: Cordy, Mira, school ·

Aug 8, 2014

Review: Guardians of the Galaxy – Bring the Kids?

By Christina ·

It’s no secret that we’ve loved just about every Marvel movie that has been released in the last several years. We’re a family of geeks, and Marvel and Disney are two of our favorite fandoms. (Along with Doctor Who, the Whedonverse and a few others, of course.)

But when Guardians of the Galaxy was announced, my first reaction was, “What’s that?” Aaron, far geekier in all things comics, had to explain the storyline to me. And I was immediately worried that Marvel was becoming too smug with their chain of film successes. A space drama with a talking raccoon who likes to shoot things and a giant walking tree as two of five main characters? Seriously? It originally sounded completely ridiculous and I wasn’t sure how they would get audiences interested in this story.

I can now look back on this and see how wrong I was.

Aaron and I attended a preview screening last Wednesday, and then we took Cordy and Mira to see it on Saturday afternoon. I was concerned if it would be appropriate for our nine and seven year olds, and even waiting for the movie to start on Saturday, I was still a little concerned how they would handle parts of it.

So, should you bring the kids? Read on for my more in-depth (and mostly spoiler-free) review.

Synopsis (from the studio)

From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team–the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits–Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly and enigmatic Gamora; and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand–with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which first appeared in comic books in Marvel Super-Heroes #18 (Jan. 1969), stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, with John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Nova Prime Rael and Benicio del Toro as The Collector.

What I liked:

This movie felt like a gritty space opera, complete with a throwback soundtrack thanks to the Awesome Mix, Volume 1. It’s fast paced, fun, and full of action. No, really: LOTS of action. The humor maintains its endurance right alongside the action, too.

All five of the heroes are fully realized characters, with flaws to match their talents, and I appreciated that all five of them are not your “typical” heroes. They’re essentially a group of criminals who, when brought together and faced with impending doom, choose to work together to save the galaxy.

While they do discover new aspects to themselves during the climax of the film, this single event of heroism doesn’t transform them into model citizens, either, and that’s okay. It would make the story seem too much like a fairy-tale to think they would entirely change their personalities as a result of stopping Ronan and live happily ever after.

It’s also important to note that the heroes aren’t rewarded for their bad behavior. For example, Peter Quill (Star-Lord) acts like an entitled man-child occasionally during the movie, but this never works in his favor and he’s not rewarded for it.

“I’m Star-Lord, man.”

The CGI in this film is amazing. Two of the five main characters are computer generated images next to their more human-like allies, and yet they feel as real as everyone around them. Groot and Rocket were masterfully inserted into the film with more realism than I’ve ever witnessed in a live-action film. You could see the individual strands of Rocket’s fur, and Groot’s branches have solid weight to them in each scene.

He’s adorable…and deadly.

The performances by the actors in this film shouldn’t go unnoticed, however. They ranged from the over-the-top antics of Star-Lord, played by Chris Pratt, to Karen Gillan’s extremely subtle, yet precision-sharp development of her character, Nebula.

Best of all: Gamora does not become a love interest for Quill – and the mostly naked shot of Zoe Saldana from the rear which is so prominent in the trailers did not make it to the final cut of the movie. I was happy to see that the writers didn’t include the old cliche of having the male lead and the female lead fall for each other.

They’re teammates, that’s it. And for much of the movie she questions even that much involvement.

What I didn’t like:

While I think this is a well-made movie, it wasn’t perfect. My primary complaint is that if you haven’t read the comics, you may feel a little lost or have the urge to take notes to keep up with this new universe and everyone in it. There are new races, feuds and characters to learn quickly at the start of the film. It’s overwhelming.

Unlike Avengers, where we learned the back-story of the major characters previously in their own individual films, this film has to take on the back-story of all five main characters, the state of relations between worlds, and then deliver the current action of the story as well. Having not read the comics, I did have trouble keeping names and details straight. On the second viewing, I felt better at keeping all of the details straight, but there were still some names I couldn’t place.

And while the heroes are well-developed characters, Ronan – the primary villain in this film – was flat. We didn’t get much of his history, and we’re presented with a guy who is determined to wipe out the people of Xandar, with little explanation as to why after we’re told the two races have recently agreed to a peace treaty. And why do the Kree seem unwilling to protect the treaty they just signed and let Ronan go on a killing spree? His motivation is weak and poorly explained, likely cut for time. Hopefully we’ll see more of his development in the extras section of the DVD. (Aaron tells me he’s a deeply complex and interesting character in the comics.)

I want to know more about this guy.

Bring the kids?

If you’re a big Marvel fan, this part is probably not for you, as you probably saw it on opening weekend, and you most likely knew your own kids’ interests in the movie. But a few of you might have kids (like ours) who saw the trailers and said to you, “Awwww! A talking raccoon! I want to see this movie!” without knowing much about the actual plot, and so you may be concerned about if it’s a good fit.

There are a few aspects of Guardians of the Galaxy that might make you pause before bringing the kids. First, there is the violence aspect. There are a handful of space battles where minor characters die, several punches thrown and plenty of knock-back injuries, lots of blaster fire (although most are stun blasters, it seems), and an Infinity Stone that will rip apart any person who tries to hold it – and does. Those moments can be a little scary for some kids.

The humor and language can also border on the crude at times, too. At one point a character is called a “prick” and a few other choice curse words are used, too. While there is no actual sexual content in this film, there is a joke about how a blacklight could prove Quill’s ship to be far more dirty than they assume, but that joke should go right over the heads of most kids. Actually, most of the more questionable jokes and comments were completely missed by our two kids, and they didn’t even ask about them. If you have a kid who is more inquisitive, just be prepared for a few questions.

One additional concern to be prepared for (slight spoiler here): at the start of the movie, we see Peter Quill as a child at his dying mother’s hospital bedside. Only a few minutes later, his mother is dead, and he’s quickly torn away from his family. This might be tough for a sensitive kid to deal with – I was even teary-eyed in that moment. We (wisely) told our kids about this scene before we went to the movie, making sure it wouldn’t be a surprise to them or a scene that might make them re-think the movie.

Originally, I was more concerned that Cordy and Mira would not enjoy the film, while Aaron was convinced that they’d be fine. For Guardians of the Galaxy, Aaron was right. We chose to tell them a lot of the plot up-front and let them decide if they still wanted to see it. Cordy brought her stuffed Rocket with her to hug through the movie, just in case it got too scary.

And? They loved it. Both kids were engaged through the entire movie, and while some of the finer details of the plot were beyond their understanding, they followed the story and enjoyed the action. Cordy loved all of the humor, while Mira danced in her seat to all of the music throughout the story. They each loved Rocket more than before the movie. And they are both demanding a dancing Groot sprout toy before Christmas.

Just watching this GIF makes me happy.

Is Guardians of the Galaxy a film to see? Yes, absolutely. If you like superheroes, sci-fi, space dramas, and/or silly humor, you will enjoy this movie. Aaron has a more in-depth review of the film on his site if you want more specifics.

Is Guardians of the Galaxy a film to take the kids to? I’ll answer that with a qualified yes. Kids will like the characters and they won’t be bored with the constant action of the film. I think it’s appropriate for most elementary-age kids and older, but those who are more sensitive to violence or language might want to hold off. You know your kids best to decide where the line needs to be drawn.

I was very happy with this film, and I’m excited to see the start of another section of the Marvel cinematic universe. We know a sequel is already in the works, and the extra scene at the end of the credits provides a quick glimpse of an older Marvel character that we just might see again.

Once again, Marvel has proven they’re on the right track with their films. While DC is still wringing their hands over how they could have a hit movie with Wonder Woman as the solo (female) lead, Marvel has created box office gold with a talking CGI raccoon and a walking tree that can only say “I am Groot.”

Keep up the good work, Marvel.

Disclosure: I was provided with complimentary passes for the screening event only. Affiliate links may be used in this post.

Filed Under: Disney, geek paradise, pop culture, reviews ·

Planning Our Dining for the WDW Princess Half Weekend

CCS Transportation Department Twitter Abuse

A Bumpy Start to School

Back To School Time!

Review: Guardians of the Galaxy – Bring the Kids?

Synopsis (from the studio)

What I liked:

What I didn’t like:

Bring the kids?

Hi, I’m Christina!

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