Disney have done it again with #WreckItRalph

In February 2013 Disney will release their newest movie 'Wreck It Ralph' and in my humble opinion it will be a roaring success.  Last Sunday my family and I travelled up to the Empire Leicester Square for the official multi-media preview screening of this film and it was a hit, we all loved it.  From age 5 - 39, it went down a storm!

We have all come to expect a lot from Disney, especially in recent years. Films like Monsters Inc, Toy Story and Tangled have firmly established themselves as family favourites and Wreck It Ralph is sure to follow in their footsteps and become a must see movie.  It will certainly be joining our family DVD library when it is released.

The storyline is incredibly inventive, as I sat there and watched I found myself saying to my husband 'who thinks these things up?'.  It is just so clever. The film is set in a traditional amusement arcade and once all the customers go home and the shop door closes it is time for the characters to clock off-duty and come out to play. They travel around via their own quirky tube system through the electricity cables that plug in the gaming machines and they all meet up in Game Central Station - I just loved it!

The animation is superb and really varied too as there are so many types of arcade games featured that you get little aliens, cute girls, fighter types and everything in between. The main character of the film is of course Wreck It Ralph and we follow his journey to find acceptance and family.  He no longer wishes to be the 'baddie' and there are some really simple themes in this film that will talk to your children in language they understand. It will certainly help our kids to start thinking about their actions and presents a really great talking opportunity and they can think about - is it right for any person to be excluded?, do we all have to be the same? and Is the grass really greener on the other side?

I don't want to give too much away about this film as it is so good that you must go and see it yourself.  Suffice to say there is friendship, love, comedy and even a little bit of scare all bundled up as a PG rated movie.

I seriously cannot recommend this movie enough! 10/10 form our house.

Take a peek at the trailer and see if you fancy -



If you like the lookod the film, why don't you get your kids in the mood for the movie release by downloading some super colouring pictures - my kids are going to love these! There are also games they can play online too!


Disclosure:  We received tickets for our family to see this film free of charge.  I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

GoGoGo! Show Review (at the Empire, Leicester Square)

We had a wonderful time today at the GoGoGo! show.  You know we had a good time as here I am on the same day but 12 hours later writing this review up.  I know exactly what I want to say and it is no hardship to write it.

In short, the show is fabulous if you have young girls in your family!

My twin girls turn 5 next week and we took them to the show as part of their birthday treat (oh the perks of being a blogger) and what a wise decision that was.  There were two other groups of girls there on birthday party treats and I would guess those girls were more like 8 and 10.  So the age appeal of this show is pretty wide, my guess would be 2-11 years, or maybe even beyond.  My JJ came with us and he is nearly 9 and whilst there were a few parts where he was chuckling away, mainly when a bit of gentle toilet humour appeared, in the main this was probably not really his thing.

So what is the GoGoGo! Show?
Basically it is 1 hour and 30 minutes of 5 super happy and contagious young people dancing and singing fabulous pop songs which have been penned by Mike Stock (yes, as in Stock, Aitkin and Waterman fame) and Steve Crosby who created Steps.  The songs were definitely my favourite part of the show, they had my feet tapping and even my dh commented how catchy they were. The show is interactive and you get to shout out and join in very regularly, oh yes do not get too comfy in your seat!

What did we think?
Fab, fab Fab!  Yes I cannot shout it enough, this show is perfect for anyone who likes things like Glee and High School Musical.  Or even if you just like holiday camp shows, this did remind me of the Skyline gang from Butlins but of course the songs are a cut above.  I could easily imagine a top 10 hit coming out of this show.

For Miss M it was the dancing that really captured her and she loved that the show is completely interactive and they want you on your feet joining in. The more you boogie, the better!  Apparently Miss M tells me Holly is the best dancer and she wants to be just like her.

And look, Miss M has not seen yet but on the website they have loads of dance tutorials -



Miss E would quite like a Fluffalope to take home with her, apparently the purple fluffy creative is 'really cute mum'.

JJ had to admit to enjoying some of the magic tricks performed by Carl, as he does have aspirations of being a magician himself one day!

Value for money?
I have to say yes, I have wanted to take my kids to a live stage show but I find London theatre so prohibitive when it comes to cost.  The GoGoGo! show is shown at the Empire, Leicester Square at 11am and as such they are able to keep the costs down.  It is £15 per adult and £12.50 per child but if you take a family of 4 it is £50 or 10 or more can get the tickets for just £10 each, that is practically cinema prices for a fully live and interactive show.Superb value and I also liked that you could buy a reasonably priced ice-cream in the interval.  The deal at the moment is 2 of the individual Hagen Daz pots for £3.00.

A fabulous extra!
For completing the tasks (which are part of the stage show) the kids all get a gold membership to the GoGoGo! getters club and they can go online and receive posters and music downloads.

My girls felt like special VIPs today, not only could the kids go down the front at the end of the show, all 6 stars then go out to the lobby after each show to sign autographs and have their picture taken with the children.  Today was not the busiest show but from what I saw I believe they would stay there as long as it took to speak to all the kids.  The 6 performers are genuinely warm and friendly towards all the kids.

In their birthday outfits chosen by them!

Mr Baffled signing the kids programs.

 

The GoGoGo! show is at The Empire over the summer, it would make a great day out during the holidays, especially if this awful rain keeps up!  You can book on the Empire's site. Go and check it out now.....

Disclosure: We were given free tickets to attend this show for the purposes of a review.  I was not instructed what to write and I remain honest.

You're Taking your Kids on the London Eye?

Look, there it is Mummy!

That was what a good friend of mine said at the weekend when I told her where we were going to the London Eye and out for a day in London on bank holiday Monday.  She was astounded and had no idea that it would appeal to kids but I have to tell you that all three of my children (near 4-year-old twins and a 7-year-old) really enjoyed it.

Miss M kept referring to the big windmill and Miss E announced upon seeing it, that she did not want to go up high. A naughty white lie from Mummy that our capsule would not go too high and we were OK. Dh had reservations that we might spend hours in the queue but take a look at the picture below, this is the queue we literally walked straight through - fabulous!

The wheel never really appears to stop so you get on and off as it slowly moves by but it really is very slow so this is not a problem, even with toddlers.  I was completely impressed with the staff who clean each capsule and check it over for safety reasons between travellers.

JJ tells me there were about 25 people in our capsule and this number was fine.  Yes it was busy but we could see out of every window and get good views, we always managed to get a seat on the central bench when we wanted one and everyone seemed to help each other out with taking group photos etc.  I was being a bit silly that day and ducked out of most photos!

The views were excellent and I loved the fact that you could see in every direction and the capsule was labelled so you could tell if you were looking North, South, East or West. We were lucky that the weather was good and thus our views were excellent, the kids got very excited when they could see the Wembly Arch.  Daddy was able to talk the kids through what they were seeing and even the girls could not keep away from looking out and watching London go by!  I was just grateful for a completely smooth ride.

Once we left the ride you were ushered into the shop but I have to say there was no pressure, the door was right there and you could escape if you did not wish to purchase anything.  Whilst you ride the eye a photo is taken from the outside and that is quite a novel photograph to buy, but at £10 per print, it was an expensive luxury in my view.  So we bought JJ a nice acrylic frame with the London Eye on it for £5 and we will print out our own photo so he has a nice memento.

With regard to price, you are best to book online at least 24 hours in advance and this will save you about 10% on the ticket price.  The price is £16.74 for an adult and £8.59 for a child aged 4 - 15.  Children of 3 and under are completely free, so all the more motivation for taking your pre-schooler on the London Eye.

The day does not have to turn out to be too expensive there is a great grassy area right by the eye and you could easily pack a picnic, or do what we did and have a McDonalds treat on the grass.  There is also a good adventure park right there.  We had thought that we would travel over to a museum after finishing the eye but the South Bank provides a day out in itself when the weather is nice. All the street performers and exhibitions outside the National Theatre made for a fun day.  I think my kids favourite part of the day was the bus ride back to Kings Cross on the double-decker - yes, they are easily pleased! However, if you want to extend your day into a weekend then check out some of the best Airbnbs in London.

All in all, we had a great time and every one of our kids said they would love to visit the London eye again. You never know if we win the lottery I might even let the is have a birthday party on the eye!

This is a review post.  I was provided with free tickets to the London Eye for the purposes of writing this review.  I was not instructed what to write and I remain honest.