by Lori Cunningham
Seventeen years after it’s inital release, Lion King is debuting again…this time in 3D! Lion King 3D rolls out in theaters this week on September 16th. Just when you thought Lion King couldn’t get any better, it does.
Disney offered 22 mom bloggers the opportunity to see this great classic again…in 3D…in addition to having an incredible opportunity to talk to some of the people who worked on the movie many years ago.
Mom bloggers were flown in from across the United States. Disney planned a fun 2 1/2 days for us including being some of the first people to see Lion King 3D before it debuts, staying in the famous Beverly Wilshire hotel at the end of Rodeo Drive, meeting people who worked on the movie, and getting a glimpse of what it’s like to be a star on the “red” carpet.
Regarding the whole event, all I can say is, WOW!
OK, you know me better, I have a lot more to say than that!
Bloggers Hit Beverly Hills!
You may be interested in knowing who attended the Lion King 3D Blogger event. Here’s the list, and let me tell you, Disney handpicked some wonderful woman. It was so much fun getting to know many of them.
Disney Mom Blogger event with Don Hahn (Producer) and Niketa Calame (voice of young Nala)
We were given this list of bloggers the night before the event started. Eying the list, I noticed Christine Fernandez from theIEMommy.com. Guessing IE stood for Inland Empire, which covers several cities including the one I live in, I tweeted her to see if we could carpool into Beverly Hills together. We became instant friends and merrily chatted and got to know one another on the ride down.
The Grove Shopping Center in Los Angeles
The first night we took a shuttle from the hotel to The Grove Theater which is next to the famous Los Angeles Farmers Market.
Inside the theater bloggers and members of the press were treated to a bucket of popcorn and a drink of choice.
Next we received a pair of these cool red 3D glasses. We all looked like hot items in these flashy red frames. The glasses were thick due to the rechargeable batteries in them. Unfortunately, about 1/3 of the way into the movie, my nose felt like it was bruising. The glasses are just too heavy. Throughout the movie I was constantly lifting them up to give the bridge of my nose a break from all of that heavy lifting. Other moms felt the same way about the glasses.
Christinefrom theIEMommy.com and I looking stylish after the movie.
Lion King 3D was great. I cried again through the sad part when Simba’s dad died. Soaking up my babbling river tears with my butter soaked napkin, I remembered again why I love this movie and how much I love my children and their father, my husband.
No nose-tickling 3D cheap effects in this movie. Lion King presents 3D in away that adds depth and interest to the main characters, adding a new perspective and intimacy to the movie that wasn’t possible before. Lion King movie was even better than I remembered.
The Beverly Regent Hotel at night.
After the movie, the shuttle took us back to the Beverly Wilshire hotel. The hotel was beautiful at night. Inside was a table chock full of beautiful fresh-cut flowers. Everyday this table had a completely different display of fresh-cut flowers; they were truly stunning.
Many of us headed to the restaurant for a late bite to eat and to get to know each other better.
My first ever Brie cheeseburger on Rodeo.
Here we are in line waiting for our free Sprinkle cupcake! Note: the lady in the middle wasn't with us!
Knowing that my favorite dElish cupcake bakery was in town, I made plans with the girls to take the hotel’s house car…the Rolls Royce….to Sprinkles the next morning for, what else but breakfast! Life’s too short, an earthquake could swallow us up and we might not get dessert for the day, right? Being a HUGE fan of Sprinkles, I happen to know that everyday they tweet out and put a message on Facebook that the first 25-100 people who come into the store and whisper the “word of the day” receives a free cupcake. The girls were all over that. What a lovely breakfast we had. Later 5 more mom bloggers joined us as we ventured down to the other cupcake store in town to compare and contrast. We all preferred Sprinkles.
Can you say, yummy!!!!!
Anyways, I digress. Back to our Disney Lion King 3D adventure. We had a packed-filled day planned for us with the opportunity to meet a number of people who worked in or on the movie including meeting Don Hahn, the producer, Naketa Calame, voice of Young Nala, Tony Bancroft, supervising animator for Pumbaa , Mark Henn, supervising animator for Young Simba, and Moira Kelly, voice of Adult Nala. We were filled with excitement and to-die-for cupcakes…ready to start our day.
This article is the first of thee posts surrounding the Lion King 3D premiere. In the next article, I’m going to jump ahead and talk about the premiere showing, since Lion King 3D is premiering this week in theaters. I will then post the third article which will cover all the wonderful things we learned from the people who worked on the movie later in the month.
Lion King 3D Opens This Weekend!
I highly recommend taking your kids to go see Lion King 3D. Lion King hasn’t been in the theaters for over 10 years, so a new generation of kids will be able to see this great movie for the first time in theaters. Seeing Lion King in 3D brings a closer intimacy with the the film’s characters.
Lion King 3D opens in theaters this Friday, September 16th…for two weeks only. The Disney Digital 3D version of Lion King debuts October 4th in high-definition Blue-ray nad Blue-ray 3D.
Here’s the Lion King 3D preview, but of course, it’s not in 3D:
Stay tuned for the next Disney Lion King 3D post, “Lion King 3D Premieres at El Capitan Theater.” The next article, “Disney Lion King 3D Mom Blogger Event: Behind the Scenes,” will be posted later this month. If you go see the movie this weekend, please comment back and what you thought of it. Enjoy!
Disney provided me with food, lodging, and incidentals for the three days. All expressed opinions are my own.
Are you an over scheduled mom with little time to figure out technology? Or are you a technology guru who loves sharing tips with others?
We cover different ways to make technology work for you without spending hours researching & learning how to do it on your own.
How fun! thanks for tagging me to this post. It was a great event and even greater because of you!!
Thanks Lori!!
It was a fun event. hope we can do more fun events together, Christine!