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About Ashley

Ashley is a military wife, mom of two, sports addict, and over-tweeter. She is the owner of FiddleDeeAsh.com, a blog about nothing in particular and everything all at once. She will be launching an all-new site in September 2012. In addition to blogging, Ashley is a Social Media Community Manager and a member of the Walt Disney World Moms Panel. All postings are Ashley's thoughts and in no way represent any other entity.

Personalized Disney Gift Cards and $25 Disney Gift Card Giveaway

April 15, 2013 By 71 Comments

I’m excited to be here doing another guest post for Melissa!  Melissa is a Disney fanatic just like me, so I thought this post would be perfect to share on her site.  Hopefully, this gives her some extra time to snuggle those sweet baby girls.

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I was not paid to write this post. Giveaway is being supplied by me. The end.

I took this photo in 2011 and it remains one of my favorite photos I’ve taken of the kids at Walt Disney World. Is there anything better than two kids sharing their first Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar together? I think not.

First-Mickey-Bar-Disney-Gift-Card

When I was asked to join the 2012 Walt Disney World Moms Panel, my amazing friends decided to get together and purchase a Disney Gift Card so I could buy myself something special to commemorate the accomplishment. Imagine my surprise when I opened the envelope and saw this:

Personalized Disney Gift Card

My heart melted. They took my favorite Disney memory and put it on a Disney Gift Card. Every time I used the gift card, Cast Members would comment about the photo. I loved showing it off! I still reload and use the card on every trip I take. They didn’t just give me a gift card, they gave me a memento I’ll keep forever, and each time I look at it, I remember how happy that magical moment at Walt Disney World made me.

It was something so simple, that didn’t cost anything extra, but it made all of the difference.   That’s Disney magic for you.

If you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind gift for the Disney lover in your life, definitely check out personalized Gift Cards from Disney Gift Card.

Want a chance to win your very own Disney Gift Card? Well, to celebrate the new site and my upcoming Disney trip, I’ve decided to giveaway a $25 Disney Gift Card! You can chose a stock image or have yours personalized, it’s totally up to you.

And, while I try never to use automated giveaway widgets, I know this one will be popular and the thought of printing and cutting out all of your awesome entries to draw out of a hat makes me cringe. Yes, I’m lazy. I know. It’s one of my less endearing qualities.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Ashley, Giveaways

Secret of the Wings Review and Giveaway #DisneyInHomeBloggers

October 26, 2012 By 64 Comments

The latest Disney Fairies Adventure, “Secret of the Wings” is now available on Disney DVD, Blu-ray and 3D combo packs!

What is “Secret of the Wings” all about, you ask?

Well, for the first time in the Disney Fairies franchise, we get to step over to the Winter Woods, home of Periwinkle (remember how I told you Periwinkle was now greeting guests at Disney Parks?).   Tinker Bell and Periwinkle notice their wings have a very strange, magical reaction when they’re near each other.  Together, they discover a very powerful secret which will change their lives (and possibly the lives of fairies from all seasons), forever.

I had the opportunity to screen “Secret of the Wings” in 3D at Disney Toon Studios as part of my time at the #DisneyInHomeBloggers event.  I was blown away, but I was anxious to see if my children would love the film as much as I did.  As soon as it arrived, I made some popcorn and put the movie in the DVD player to gauge their reactions.  After all, this is a children’s movie, right?

Both of my children (four year old girl and two year old boy) love the film.  Did I say “love”?  I mean LOVE.  In fact, it was on repeat in the car during the six hour road trip to and from grandma’s last week.  It’s all they want to watch right now.  Bunny has even started dancing around the house singing ”The Great Divide”.  When I asked Bunny what her favorite part of the movie was, she told me “when Periwinkle’s friends take Tinker Bell ice sledding.”  She loved meeting the new Winter Woods fairies and all of the winter fun they had.  She’s a big fan of snow.  Who knew?

“Secret of the Wings” is an incredible film.  It has a little bit of everything: love, friendship, family, mischief (because it can’t be a Tinker Bell movie without that stubborn fairy getting into some type of trouble, right?), action and adventure.  Disney always makes sure to throw in some jokes that will fly over your child’s head, but make you chuckle, and the underlying love story definitely tugged at my heartstrings.  I can see this film being a favorite among young children like mine through the tween set: the soundtrack is made up of bubbly pop songs, perfect for the 9-12 year old range and the positive friendship/sisterly theme is something young girls will hopefully grab a hold of.

One concern I had was that the Winter Woods would give the film a holiday feel, making it watchable only during the holiday months, but I am very happy to report that is not the case.  There are no sleigh bells or holly in the Winter Woods.  It is just a world of pure, snowy beauty, making this a relevant film year-round.  And it is a beauty!  The animation is breathtaking.  There’s really no other word for it.  I’ve always loved the vibrant, bold colors of the Disney Fairies film, and somehow, the animators were able to achieve the same vibrant, beautiful coloring, even in the snow-covered Winter Woods.

Definitely stay tuned, too, to see my coverage of the making of “Secret of the Wings”!  We were given an insider’s tour of Disney Toon Studios and met some of the creative geniuses behind the film.  It gave me a whole new respect for how animated features are created.

What’s even more exciting?  We’re giving away an amazing “Secret of the Wings” prize package to one very lucky Sippy Cup Mom Reader including:

  •  1 copy of the Secret of the Wings Flitterrific 4-disc combo pack (3D Blu-ray/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Download
  • 1 Secret of the Wings zipper pull
  • 1 fairy-sized Secret of the Wings storybook pamphlet

The entry is open to US and Canada residents and ends on 11/1/2012.  Simply enter using the Rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I attended the #DisneyInHomeBloggers event as a correspondent of SippyCupMom.com. Disney paid for my transportation, accommodations, and incidentals in exchange for coverage of the events.  

Filed Under: Ashley, Disney, Giveaways

Meet Periwinkle at Disney Parks #DisneyFairies #DisneyInHomeBloggers

October 8, 2012 By 11 Comments

The Disney Fairies family has a new member…Periwinkle from the all-new Disney Fairies film “Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings” (available on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack & HD Digital Download October 23rd).

In honor of the movie release, Disney Parks has introduced Periwinkle as a new meet-and-greet character. I had the opportunity to meet Periwinkle (and Tinker Bell in her fabulous Secret of the Wings winter outfit) at the #DisneyInHomeBloggers event in August. She was so cute and I love the way Tink and Peri interact with each other.  Be sure to keep an eye on their wings…something magical just may happen when they are close to each other!

Who is Periwinkle?  Well, she’s a Frost Fairy from the Winter Woods.  She also happens to be Tinker Bell’s sister!   You’ll notice a little touch of the Winter Woods when you visit the Disney Fairies at Tinker Bell’s Magical Nook in Magic Kingdom Park and Pixie Hollow in Disneyland Park.

 

Are you excited to meet Periwinkle?

Disclosure: I attended the #DisneyInHomeBloggers event as a correspondent of SippyCupMom.com. Disney paid for my transportation, accommodations, and incidentals in exchange for coverage of the events. 

Filed Under: Ashley, Disney

Cinderella: Diamond Edition Blu-ray Review and Giveaway #DisneyInHomeBloggers

October 3, 2012 By 66 Comments

 

 

“Cinderella”  has always been one of my all-time favorite Disney movies.  I can remember watching it as a little girl (on VHS, no less) and waltzing around my parent’s living room humming “So This is Love”.  I’m pretty sure I wore through at least one VHS tape.  We’ve owned “Cinderella” on DVD for as long as I can remember and now my daughter dances around the living room and pretends to try on glass slippers.

You can imagine how excited I was to have the privilege of covering the latest release of “Cinderella: Diamond Edition” for SippyCupMom.com as part of the #DisneyInHomeBloggers event.  62 years after its original release, Disney has brought “Cinderella” out of the vault and onto Blu-ray for the first time ever. Enhanced picture and sound has made “Cinderella” even more beautiful than before.  I compared the quality of our DVD to the new Blu-ray version and I was blown away at the crisp picture and clear sound.  It’s definitely worth upgrading your DVD to the Blu-ray version.

During the #DisneyInHomeBloggers event, we had the opportunity to meet with Brian Kwan and Evan Acosta from Disney Interactive to preview the Personalized Digital Storybook: Bibbidi-Bobbidi-You Disney Second Screen Experience.  Viewers can connect their iPhone/iPad to their Blu-ray player (we did it through our home wireless to our PlayStation3) and watch as the Fairy Godmother jumps from your television screen to the device screen while telling you the story of “Cinderella” and leading you in interactive game experiences.  The games were simple enough that my two year old could play along, but enough to keep my four year old interested.  You can even play the games on the go, without needing to connect to your television.

“Cinderella: Diamond Edition’” bonus features don’t stop there.  There’s a behind-the-scenes peek at New Fantasyland at Walt Disney World, never seen before scenes from “Cinderella”, interviews, and the animated short “Tangled Ever After”.  ”Cinderella:Diamond Edition” is a must-down for any Disney movie or Disney Princess fan.

Want to own your very own “Cinderella: Diamond Edition” Blu-ray Combo pack?  Well, we have one to give away to a very luck Sippy Cup Mom reader!  Simply follow the Rafflecopter instructions below!

Good luck and remember, “A dream is a wish your heart makes”!

“Cinderella: Diamond Edition” Blu-Ray Combo Packs are available at retailers nationwide now! 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I attended the #DisneyInHomeBloggers event on behalf of SippyCupMom.com.  Disney provided my transportation, accommodations and other incidentals in exchange for coverage of the events.  While talking points were suggested, all thoughts are my own.  Contest is subject to the rules set forth by SippyCupMom.com.  I was given a copy of “Cinderella: Diamond Edition” for review purposes and is providing the giveaway prize.

Filed Under: Ashley, Disney, Giveaways

Disney’s Animation Research Library Tour #Cinderella #DisneyInHomeBloggers

September 27, 2012 By 14 Comments

 

The #DisneyInHomeBloggers trip was incredible, but the highlight for me was our visit to the Disney Animation Research Library (ARL).  The ARL is the official “safe house” of Disney animation property.  Once known as “the morgue”, the ARL is now a state-of-the-art preservation and storage facility.  The location of the ARL is kept secret and we were not permitted to take our own photographs inside of the building.  (all photographs in this post are property of Disney, used by permission)  We met two incredible, passionate ARL team members: Fox Carney, an ARL Librarian and Lella Smith, the Creative Director for the ARL.  Their Disney and animation knowledge blew me away.  It was a huge honor to have them conduct our tour.

Disney Animation Research Library Lobby

Our tour started in the camera rooms.  Here, specialists take high-resolution photos (and I mean HIGH res…the output of the images could be printed onto your living room wall) of individual sketches.  This method replaces the old scanning method which caused undo stress to images from being flipped upside down and pressed down by the scanner lid.  It also allows Disney to send sketches electronically, when requested, instead of having multiple sets of (gloved) hands manipulate the papers.  I am amazed at the patience the specialists have. Can you imagine snapping a photograph of every single piece of paper used to sketch a full-length film such as Cinderella?

Once the sketches are photographed, they are cataloged.  The digital images are assigned special tags and file names.  The amount of digital storage used by the ARL is beyond massive, as you can probably imagine, but the filing system makes it easy for the ARL team to find what they’re looking for.  One of the techs showed us an animation sequence from the digitized Cinderella sketches.  I’m pretty sure you can tell by the expression on my face how amazing it looked to see those sketches “dance” on the screen in front of us.

The sketches are packaged and archived into large vaults within the ARL.  We went inside the infamous Vault Three, which houses films from Snow White (1937) to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977).  The vaults are protected with a fire system which uses gas, instead of water, to diffuse any fires and protect the contents within.  As Mr. Carney put it “putting out a fire in here with water would be trading one evil for another.”   In other words, water is just as bad as fire when it comes to protecting a large amount of paper. We also saw some very rare hand-painted glass planes, used for backgrounds on a multiplane camera, which created a three-dimensional effect in two-dimensional animation.

The vaults also house many 3-D pieces, some of which were uncovered in the trash or in random storage boxes.  These pieces, called maquettes are used by animators to get a better perspective on how a character should/would react to light and shadows.  This Pinocchio was used while animating the film (you can see Walt Disney with this marionette in the photo)

We also had the great pleasure of meeting some of the ARL design team.  This team is responsible for designing everything from artwork for high-level executives offices to exhibitions featuring Disney art.  We got a sneak peek of the plans for the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Fransico, which will be on view from November 15, 2012 to April 14, 2013.  The ARL design team works on everything, including things like choosing a wall color or frame for the art.

My favorite part of the tour came at the end.  We were brought into a room with original sketches and concept art from Cinderella.  I stood right in front of something the legendary Mary Blair drew.  There were tears in my eyes and a chill down my spine.  Mary Blair has always been my favorite Disney artist and to see something her hands actually touched? It was incredible.  Mary Blair worked on concept art for Cinderella and her influence is seen throughout the film as well as several other Disney films.

It was truly a once in a lifetime experience getting to tour the ARL and see original artwork up close.  It’s something I will never forget and always be truly grateful for.  Hey, who knows, maybe if I get that Masters in Library Science degree one day, I could find myself working at the ARL.  Dare to dream, right?

Be sure to check out the Cinderella Diamond Edition Blu-Ray and Disney DVD Combo pack on October 2.

I attended the #DisneyInHomeBloggers event on behalf of SippyCupMom.com.  Disney provided my transportation, accommodations and other incidentals in exchange for coverage of the events.  While talking points were suggested, all thoughts are my own. 

Filed Under: Ashley, Disney