Minnie's Masquerade And The Mickey Mote!

About three months ago, I wrote a review of the new Disney Mickey Mote, interactive kid's remote for use with special Disney DVDs. While we weren't thrilled with the Mickey Mote at that time, I knew it was just a little too soon for Aubrey to grasp the concept and have the patience to listen to the video's instructions before pushing the buttons. My prediction was that in a few months, she would get the hang of it and love it... and I was RIGHT! She LOVES the Mickey Mote now and just in time for a new interactive DVD. Am I clairvoyant or what?

Lucky for us, we got to preview the new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse : Minnie's Masquerade DVD with the Mickey Mote and she is hooked. She loves anything Disney, of course, but especially Mickey, Minnie and Pluto. They are her current faves.

In Minnie's Masquerade - Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Daisy - take families on a new adventure as they dress up in costumes for Minnie's Masquerade Ball. This DVD features four episodes previously seen on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse TV show, a never before seen episode and a fun masquerade paper mask that kids can personalize.

Ignore the basket of laundry behind my child - I'm such a professional photographer.

Aubrey is having a great time with this new Minnie DVD and she even insisted in teaching her 64 year old nanny how to use the Mickey Mote with it!

The DVD can be watched just like a regular DVD or used with the interactive Mickey Mote. I love the Mickey Mote feature too because Aubrey is actually engaged and thinking while watching rather than sitting like a couch potato (the way I like to watch tv - shhh) and it even works with our 3 year old, $39, total piece of crap DVD player. (Yes, I'm that cheap. Or broke. Or both.)

Look for this awesome new DVD in stores February 8th and you can pre-order on many websites now:
Single Disc DVD + Mickey Mote = $29.99
Single Disc DVD = $19.99

Aubrey's Mickey Mote Review

Aubrey is ready to get started!

Today Aubrey and I received a new Disney Mickey Mote to try out and Aubrey's review is in!

The Mickey Mote is a preschooler remote control device that allows the viewer to interact with special Disney DVDs in a "Discovery" mode. The lucky preschooler's parent or caretaker gets to program the Micky Mote with the DVD remote and then you are pretty much ready to get started. Also, you are able to play the interactive Discovery mode games with your regular DVD remote arrow buttons.

The Mickey Mote seems fairly simple, and not to brag, but my kid's no dummy, so I thought she'd pick it up quickly. Aubrey is just under 3-1/2 years old and this product is being marketed to children between 2-5 years of age.

She really wanted to "do the star"

Aubrey's first reactions: 

She loved the packaging and couldn't wait to get it out of the box!

She loved the buttons and wanted to "do the star" immediately

There were a couple issues getting started: The Mickey Mote requires 2 AAA batteries which aren't included and I didn't have on hand. I had to charge up our rechargeable batteries and this made Aubrey really antsy having to wait. I popped in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Numbers Roundup DVD but apparently I programmed the buttons in the wrong sequence because I feel the directions weren't written in the best sequence. When we tried to answer the first questions on the DVD, it wasn't reading correctly, so this caused a little more lag time. (see the video)

I had to reprogram it and then we had it right. By this time Aubrey had lost a little bit of interest in answering the questions and simply wanted to watch. She also wasn't very interested in answering the questions correctly, but just wanted to click the characters or pictures she liked the best. Aubrey is a girl with strong opinions, much like her mother.

Aubrey tries it on her own

Now, before I go any further, I should mention that I have the world's CHEAPEST DVD player. It was the cheapest one you can get at Best Buy about 2 years ago, so maybe it's a little slower than others, but Aubrey seemed to be a little impatient waiting for the questions to load and then go back to the cartoon action. It was like a pause, then the question, then a pause before returning to the actual cartoon. I also felt there was a bit too much cartoon in between each question and the questions weren't worded really well for a preschooler. I had to really help Aubrey understand what they were asking. 

One other negative is that even though the remote is easy for little hands to hold, my 3 yr old didn't quite understand the concept of pointing it right at the DVD player to get it to work. Once again, my total piece of doo-doo DVD player might not respond quite as well as others' DVD players, so you might not have a problem with this, but it seemed like it didn't work very well unless it was pointed pretty directly to the player.

Now, for the good part... it's Disney and my kid loves anything Disney. As a test, I started out working with her, helping her answer the questions and prompting her to push the correct buttons and then I let her go and sat back to observe. Once she was doing it on her own, she wasn't getting the answer correct most of the time, but she still enjoyed playing with it and pretending she was doing even more than just answering the actual questions. 

Who doesn't want to see this face on their TV?

She loves Mickey's Clubhouse and really enjoyed watching the DVD, even if the Mickey Mote wasn't quite up her alley. She dances and sings along to the songs and bottom line, I think this will be a lot more fun and appropriate for her several months from now. This is the first kind of "video game" she has been introduced to at home, so I think she'll catch on with a little practice. I'm thinking four and five year olds will really get this right away and for two and three year olds, it's something you and your child will probably have to play with together and learn as you go. Nothing wrong with that.

Just in time for holiday shopping, the new Mickey Mote will be available beginning Nov 16, 2010, packaged in a DVD Play Set with either Mickey Mouse: Clubhouse Numbers Roundup or Handy Manny: Big Construction Job. It retails for around $29.99 and the other Discovery Mode enhanced DVDs are already on the market and ready to use with your new Mickey Mote, including Handy Manny's Motocycle Adventure, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally, Little Einstein's Fire Truck Rocket's Blast Off and six additional titles.

I hope you found this review helpful and happy Mickey Moting everyone! Woohoo!

I was not compensated for this review and I did receive the product to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed on this blog are completely my own. So there.

M-I-C...K-E-Y is MAGIC!!

I mentioned a little while ago that I am going to be taking my three year old daughter to a Disney Live! production later this month and I wanted to remind you of the details in case you're interested... 

The show is called Mickey's Magic Show and I'm SO excited to take Aubrey! This will be her first large scale, theatrical performance viewing so I'm sure she will be blown away by it. Honestly, I think I will be too. I've attended many Disney events since becoming a mom and they always do it up right, sparing no expense to make a memorable and magical experience for kids of all ages. 

I have always loved magic and Mickey's Magic Show is a combination of world class magicians and illusionists working alongside the beloved Disney characters, including Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, the princesses and more, to create a family show of oohs and ahhs that everyone will love.

Aubrey is a big Mickey Mouse fan and she also falls for that "I've got your nose" trick EVERY time, so I think this show will be a winner! 

Mickey's Magic Show is touring across the United States through April 2011. To find the performance nearest you, visit the Mickey's Magic Show website. I hope you can make a performance and if you do, please come back and tell me what you thought! I'll be sharing my afterthoughts too.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Mickey's Magic Show

I have a three year old and that means there is a lot of Disney action in our house. Last year, Aubrey got invited to her first Mickey Mouse event and I have to be honest, I wasn't sure if she knew who he was at that point, but apparently she did. As soon as she say the costumed character, she wanted to hug him immediately! Now when I'm trying to get her to look at the camera for a picture, I yell, "Aubrey look! It's Mickey Mouse!" Works every time... heh heh. (Don't worry. I'll cough up the green for her therapy bills later.)


We just found out that Disney Live! has a new Mickey Mouse show and we can't wait to go! It's called Mickey's Magic Show and we are thrilled that they are coming to SoCal and right down the freeway in Thousand Oaks too. 


In Mickey's Magic Show, world class magicians will perform family appropriate magic based on the beloved Disney movies. Of course, costumed characters Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Cinderella and more will be there too so it should be a fantastic night for the family.


Mickey's Magic Show just hit the road this Labor Day weekend and is crossing the entire US through April 2011. Check their website to find the location nearest you.

My Daughter's New Squeeze: Mickey Mouse

Ignore the look of fear! She was REALLY excited!

Last month my daughter - 2 year old Aubrey - and I had the privilege of being invited to a really fun Disney event: Mickey's Virtual Train Tour. This special event was the final stop in Mickey's virtual train tour from Kansas City to Los Angeles. It was held at the Griffith Park Travel Town Museum and I have to say, anything I have ever attended that was put on by Disney has been such a blast!

THE Mouse, himself, was there to greet the toddlers and their parents. We were treated to a private screening of the new primetime special Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Choo Choo Express which aired on the Disney Channel on Oct 25 and will be released on DVD on Amazon on December 1, 2009. The kids got also got to play with the new Fisher Price Mickey's Magic Choo Choo train toy. I was pleasantly surprised that this train toy was a big hit with my daughter as she has never expressed much interest in playing with trains. She'd rather ride them... and we got to do that too!

The Travel Town Museum has a really cool kiddie sized train that loops around the museum and it's big enough for adults to ride along. It's a nice long ride and my daughter loved every minute. Little ones were also treated to a a Hot Dog Dance lesson, coloring pages station, photos and hugs with Mickey Mouse, balloons and hunky Marines handing out take home surprises (a kiddie train conductor's hat, a book, some temporary tatoos)! This was mommy's favorite part.

I'll be honest here - I wasn't sure if my daughter even knew who Mickey Mouse was. We mostly watch Nick Jr in our house and she had only been to Disneyland once when she was 18 months old. But when I told her we were going to meet Mickey Mouse she got VERY excited. Something about the sound of his name, I guess. For about a year, she use to confuse him with Chuck E Cheese (sorry Disney) but after this event, there is no mistaking the #1 mouse in her life. She was totally smitten and we had a great time. Thank you Disney for some fantastic, happy memories from a special day together!

Here is a little video of Aubrey, waiting patiently, for her turn with a personal hang with Mickey Mouse. They played a little pat-a-cake: