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calliecat93 · 4 years

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Callie’s Disney Princess Retrospective: Cinderella

(Snow White Review)

The year was 1950, 13 years after Snow White’s release. Despite that film’s mass success, Walt Disney’s next feature films during the 1940’s such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi would all bomb. His only true success at the time was Dumbo, and that film was dampened by a mass strike during production that saw many animators walk out. It didn’t get any better when America entered World War II and the military took over many different animation studios, including Disney. They not only had to produce propaganda shorts but due to the limited funds, they were forced to rely on Package Films and live-action to survive. As the 1950s began to dawn, it was clear to Walt that if he wanted to stay in business, he needed another hit. But not just any hit, he needed the same kind of success that Snow White brought him. But what film could give him that success?

For that, he returned to fairy tales, and he found one. A story that he could relate to as a Missouri-born boy who began with nothing. A tale that could appeal to just about anyone. A true rags to riches story of one down-on-her-luck girl having all of her dreams come true. That film would be Walt Disney’s twelfth animated feature, his second fairy tale-based film, and of course the creation of the second Disney Princess who quickly became one of the most famous. Thus, let us discuss the 1950 film, Cinderella.

Overview

Since a young child, Cinderella has been in servitude by her cruel stepmother Lady Tremaine. She is regularly mistreated and worked to the bone by both Tremaine and her nasty stepsisters Drizella and Anastasia. Despite this, Cinderella keeps a cheerful and hopeful demeanor, caring for her mouse friends and hoping that someday the dream that she has wished for will come true. A day that seems to have arrived when the family gets an invitation to a ball held to find a suitor for The Prince. With all eligible maidens asked to attend, Cinderella believes that her chance has arrived, but Lady Tremaine has other plans.

Just as it looks like all of her hopes have been shattered, Cinderella’s kindness and hard-work are rewarded by her Fairy Godmother giving her what she needs to attend the ball. She has a lovely time but is forced to flee at midnight with only a lone glass slipper to remind her of that night. But the ended up charming the Prince and left the other slipper behind, so now the girl who fits the slipper will be made the prince’s bride. Once more, Tremaine tries to prevent Cinderella from succeeding. But with the help of her animal friends and her own hope, Cinderella’s dreams will at long last come true.

Review

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As a little girl, there were many films that I would watch over and over again, such as The Aristocats or The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. But I think that Cinderella was the one that I would play back the most. I remember every single part of this movie. The music, the story, the characters, just everything. And even after all of these years, my feelings and love for the film haven’t changed. If anything, it’s only grown. I still remember when my family went to Walt Disney World, and aside from Mickey Mouse the only thing that I cared about was meeting Cinderella. I did so on the last day in the Magic Kingdom, and she was so kind and beautiful and was everything I ever dreamed of. It is a moment that I will never forget.

Looking at the film itself, it’s clear that it took a lot from Snow White. A fairy tale-inspired movie, a heroine in servitude who charms all around her, an evil stepmother, a handsome prince, animal companions, you name it. I don’t think that it was accidental either. As I said, Walt /needed/ another Snow White success story. He needed to replicate what made that film work and make it better. Which he did. While the two films are similar, it’s arguable that Cinderella improved on many of those elements. While we only really get told that Snow was a servant and only see it briefly at the start, we see Cinderella’s suffering throughout the film. While Snow could look a little off due to the animators still getting used to animating realistic humans, Cinderella looks realistic, moves more fluidly, and fits the style of the film much better. While The Queen never interacted with Snow until the end and therefore never see how she treats her, we see Lady Tremaine’s cruelty towards her stepdaughter in full force and it’s equally as chilling. It truly feels like Walt looked over Snow White, saw what could be improved on, and did so with Cinderella. It really shows how far the company had come since 1937.

But Walt wasn’t the only important person on the film. In fact, he was less involved than he was with Snow White since he was focusing more on live-action and developing Disneyland. This was the film that established Disney’s most talented and loyal animators, his Nine Old Men. These men not only worked on the first five features and the Package Films, but they would go on to work on every film up to The Fox and the Hound and some even went into Imagineering. These would be the men who not only pulled the company back onto its feet after WW2, but they would teach future Disney animators/directors such as Glen Keane, Jon Musker, Rob Clements, Andreas Deja, Brad Bird, and so many others who would continue their legacy. Cinderella herself was done primarily by Marc Davis, Eric Larson, and Les Clark.

Like Snow White, the story is pretty straight-forward. It seems to be based mainly on the version written by Charles Perrault and some of the Grimm Brothers version. It does some expansion, like showing what Cindy’s daily life is like. Having her dress get ripped apart, her getting locked up, and of course, giving an expanded role to the mice. Otherwise though like with Snow White, it’s one of the more faithful adaptations minus a few things. For example, if we go off the Grimm version, the stepsisters don’t mutilate themselves to fit into the slipper… and I don’t have an issue with that either. It can feel a little dragged out, like IDK how necessary the King and Grand Duke scenes were aside from establishing certain things like the ball and the slipper search, but it’s nothing that brings anything to a halt.

The animation is gorgeous. The Nine Old Men weren’t chosen out of random, after all. This film really shows off their talents. Characters like Jaq and Gus, Lucifer, and the Stepsisters are very lively and entertaining to watch. Ward Kimball, who was the main animator for Lucifer the Cat, used his own cat as a reference after Walt pointed it out to him, and you can tell that he was having fun with it. The more realistic characters like Cinderella and Lady Tremaine look and move very well despite the challenge the animators had keeping that realism up. I’d say that their work paid off though. Lady Tremaine especially has some of the most chilling, frightening expressions of any Disney Villain. Frank Thomas did a masterful job making her cold demeanor reach through the screen and to the audience. The art itself looks beautiful and we can thank artist Mary Blair for it as she did the concept art for the film. The use of colors and shadows were done very well. It’s just the right amount of brightness when necessary, and the right amount of darkness when necessary. It hits the mark perfectly.

Then there’s the sound and the music. On the latest rewatch, I noticed how they use music for characters a lot. Take the sequence where Jaq has to distract Lucifer in the first act for example. When he’s crawling across the wall, getting ready to get at Lucifer and kick him into his own milk bowl. They use strings for his movements as well as for strings, like the other mice shutting up Gus when he laughs. It’s nothing new for Disney, after all, it was doing this in Steamboat Willie that launched the company into fame. But it always adds so much even if you don’t realize it. The score uses a lot of strings and horns, knowing when to sound triumphant and when to be subdued. It’s a very good score.

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Cinderella’s soundtrack was the first to be done by the newly established Walt Disney Records, allowing the company to gain profit for their own music. The vocal tracks have two classics worth mentioning. The first is Bippidi-Boppidi-Boo, the Fairy Godmother’s song. It’s a super fun, whimsical song and even though I still struggle to get the words right, it really fits the Fairy Godmother’s nature and is just so darn catchy! The other is of course the theme of the film, Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes. There are several variations of the song throughout the film, but of course, the first time done by Ilene Woods (I’ll talk about her more when I do Cinderella’s character in-depth) is the one we remember most. It’s beautiful, hopeful, and was one of my favorite songs as a little kid. I used to annoy people with how much I would try to sing it, haha. It really tries to convince you that your dreams CAN come true, and by golly did I believe it when I was a kid… and deep down I still do, I supposed. Point is, it’s a lovely song~

What about the characters though? Well, let us have a looksie.

As with Snow White, there are many animals, though this time it’s mainly mice and birds. The mice are the main ones, as well as the only ones who can talk. There are other animals like the birds, a horse, and of course Bruno the Dog. But the main animals to discuss are Lucifer the Cat and the du of Jaq and Gus. Lucifer is a cat, so as expected he chases the mice. But it’s clearly not just due to instinct. It’s shown throughout the movie that he seems to take sadistic glee in chasing after them, especially Gus which is especially clear in the final act. But he also enjoys tormenting Cinderella, such as messing up the floor when she’s wiping it down during the Sweet Nightingale sequence and trapping Gus with the key in part to keep her locked up. He also enjoyed getting Bruno into trouble at the start of the film, which ends up being his downfall at the end. He seems genuinely cruel which...I mean with a name like Lucifer, is it a surprise that he’s a little devil? He has some great expressions thanks to Ward Kimball and was a fun challenge for our favorite mice.

Speaking of, Jaq and Gus serve as comedic relief and the unofficial heroes of the film when you really think about it. They drive many of the events forward such as making Cinderella’s dress and retrieving the key from Lady Tremaine. Jaq is the unofficial leader of the mice and the most talkative by far. He’s charismatic and crafty, usually unafraid (for the most part) of going up against Lucifer or from helping Cinderella whom he cares greatly for. We don’t know how long he’s known Cinderella, but he’s the one who assures Gus that she’s a nice person. Gus the newbie of the mice and a little dim-witted, but well-meaning. Due to being new, he ends up getting into several incidents like nearly being caught by Lucifer several times. Jaq and Gus make a fun duo and I always enjoyed seeing what the two would get themselves into. Also for added fun, both mice were voiced by Jimmy MacDonald (nowadays they’re played by Rob Paulsen and Corey Burton respectively). Jimmy was not only the main sound effects man for the studio but at the time he was also the voice of Mickey Mouse himself. Guess he’s a natural fit for mice, huh?

Next, we’ll go to the royals. Sadly, like with Snow White, the prince is more or less a plot device. I guess they were still having a tough time with realistic male characters. He’s a handsome young man, but sadly that’s all there really is. He doesn’t even get a name, being dubbed as Prince Charming in most material and IDK if that’s really official. They DID plan on giving the Prince more of a role, such a planned sequence with him hunting a deer but it turned out it was play hunting, but this never happened. He doesn’t even go looking for his mystery girl in the end, the Grand Duke does which is pretty disappointing. It’s a shame too since going off the King’s dialogue about how he’s been evading mariage he could have been like the male version of Jasmine. A royal who’s being pushed to get married, even though he wants to find true love on his own time and just have some freedom. They did do a bit more with him in Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. They also did more with him in the live-action remake, expanding his and Cinderella’s relationship and giving him an actual name (Kit). But we’re focusing on the original, and it’s sad that he didn’t get more to him.

The King and Grand Duke are also comedic relief and overall pretty good ones. The King is loud, blusterous, and quick to anger. He’s not a bad man, after all the only reason he wants his son to get hitched is because he feels lonely and wants grandchildren. It’s kind of cute when you think about it, even if unfair to his own son. He can be very friendly, but as I said quickly to anger. After all, when the mystery girl got away, he outright attempted to /behead/ the Grand Duke until he told him about the slipper. In comparison, the Grand Duke is more timid, but quite sarcastic as well. Very much the straight man to the King’s blusterous personality. While very much afraid of the king (though not unwilling to backtalk him), up against anyone else he takes no crap from anyone. Just watch him as he tries to endure the Tremaines, it’s amazing how absolutely done he is with all of them, and he wins points for shutting up Lady Tremaine when Cinderella makes her way downstairs. A good man!

The Fairy Godmother is only in the film briefly, but she leaves a major impact. She is the first decent person to Cinderella in a long, /long/ time. She is very grandmotherly in her design, voice, and demeanor. She’s a little forgetful and scatterbrained, as she forgot where her wand was and it takes a good while for her to notice Cindy’s torn up dress. But she is a kindly old woman who was summoned by the hope remaining in Cinderella’s heart. She came at the girl’s darkest hour and gave her the one night that she had always dreamed of. She is voiced by Verna Felton, who was a pretty regular VA for Disney at the time. Though she often did much harsher characters such as The Matriarch in Dumbo and the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. But she perfectly portrays the Godmother’s kindly grandmother persona. Her modern VA was Disney Legend Russi Taylor, who also took over Drizella, who sadly passed away last year. It is unknown who will do the Godmother in the future, but I have no doubt that she will emerge again one day

We now come to the Tremaines. First, the daughters. Drizella and Anastasia are ugly, loud, snooty, and mean to both Cinderella and each other. They argue frequently, outright hitting each other during their… ugh… we’ll call it a music lesson. They’re spoiled in the worst way, never being happy with what they have yet get angry if Cinderella dares wear the things that they outright discarded as trash. It’s clear that their mother raised them to be as horrid as her, though they’re nowhere near as calculating. She pretty much raised them to be her attack dogs against Cinderella as well as to use them to marry off and move up in the world. Their obnoxiousness is their only real character trait, though their character animation via Ollie Johnston is quite fun to watch. Anastasia would gain more depth in the two direct-to-video sequels at the very least, more or less also getting a redemption arc. She was also voiced previously by Lucille Bliss, who played the teacher in Invader Zim, and is now voiced by the legendary Tress Macneille.

Then there is Lady Tremaine. Ho boy, Lady Tremaine. If I had the time, I could do an entire essay on this woman alone. She is one of the most chilling, yet memorable Disney Villains despite being nothing but an old woman. Why? First, her voice. In the film, she is voiced by Eleanor Audley, which remember that name cause it’s gonna come back later in this series. She is able to keep the perfect balance of calm and methodical, yet sharp when necessary. Perfectly in control. Actually, that’s a great way to describe Lady Tremaine, in control. She knows what she wants and is willing to go to any length to get it. She carries herself with confidence and regality, very rarely losing her cool. She’s calculative and methodical and you never quite know what she’s going to do until she does it. But most of all, she is cruel and petty, especially towards Cinderella.

Unlike her obnoxious daughters, Tremaine’s abuse towards Cinderella is calm and subdued, preferring to use emotional abuse and manipulation. She has brow-beaten the poor girl so bad that she becomes obedient as soon as the old woman speaks up. Tremaine is jealous of Cinderella’s beauty and therefore tries to make the girl’s life as difficult as possible. She enjoys mistreating and controlling Cinderella, wearing a cold smirk any time that she ramps up the cruelty. Probably her cruelest act in the film is manipulating her own daughters into ripping Cinderella’s dress right off of her after she managed to get it on for the ball. Despite having agreed to let Cindy go to the ball if she got her work done, she ruined her chances anyway just because she could. She’s not only horrible to her stepdaughter but even to her own daughters with how they ultimately turned out and clearly only interested in marrying them off

What makes Tremaine scary though is because… well, compare her to The Queen/Hag and later villainess Maleficent. In the real world, you’re not likely to encounter an evil queen who uses witchcraft and turn herself into an old hag just to poison you. In the real world, you’re unlikely to encounter an evil fairy witch who can curse you to die and transform into a ferocious dragon. But running into a cruel, petty old woman who will abuse you due to jealousy and for her own enjoyment? Oh yes, that can and does happen. Lady Tremaine is real. She is a perfect depiction of an abusive stepparent. Plus as I said before, Frank Thomas did an excellent job depicting her expressions as utterly chilling. I was afraid of her as a child, and I still am now. Even at the end after her daughters failed to get on the slipper, she breaks it just to keep Cinderella from achieving a life of happiness out of pure spite. On the upside, seeing her plans all fall apart and especially her face when Cinderella reveals the other slipper is deliciously satisfying. One of the greatest all-time Disney moments.

Well, that was a lot more than I thought. But with all of that out of the way, there’s only one more character to discuss. Strap yourself in folks, because I have been waiting /years/ for this.

Cinderella Analysis

As I said above, Cinderella was one of my favorite princesses as a child. She was beautiful, had an amazing singing voice, was kind, and I wanted to have my dreams come true just as she did. She is one of the most famous Disney characters by far. I remember her pretty much being the face of the Disney Princess line when I was a kid. Nowadays I’d argue that Rapunzel is more of the face (or if we wanna count Frozen, Elsa is) but that doesn’t mean that Cindy has faded out of the public eye. After all, it is her castle that stands as the main landmark at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. That alone will ensure that she never fades out of popular consciousness.

In return, however, Cinderella is probably the most criticized princess of the Classic Three. It’s mostly for the same reasons as those two. She was a damsel-in-distress. She was domestic and passive. She got together with a man at first sight. She needed others to save her. It’s all the same thing you hear about pre-The Little Mermaid, but since Cinderella is probably the most well-known, she’s the one who gets it levied against her the most. As I said in Snow White, there is some truth about this portrayal furthering the depiction of women as domestic/passive in film. But it truly baffles me as to why Cinderella is the one who gets this criticism the most. It really, really baffles me. I can somewhat get it with Snow White and I can get it with Aurora, but Cinderella? Ugh… no. Just… no.

First of all, let’s get this part out of the way. Cinderella is an abuse victim. I think that Cinderella is meant to be about 19 years old in the film. While we don’t know how old she was exactly when her father died, we see in the opening narration that she was still a child. A child. Let’s say that she was around nine years old. That would mean that she has been under Lady Tremaine’s thumb for ten years. A full decade. If you are under abuse for that long at any age, but especially ever since a child, then that is going to affect you. So Cinderella being passive? Yeah, that’s likely in part because of the abuse that she went through. She was conditioned to not fight back, or if she did she would pay the consequences. As great as imagining standing up and fighting against your abuser is, it is unfortunately very rarely that simple especially when you are under years of psychological conditioning like Cinderella was.

But it is also unfair to say that Cinderella is blindly obedient and broken either. She isn’t. Cinderella is introduced as kind, cheerful, and playful when she teases her bird friends and gets ready for the day. Cinderella is a kind young woman, facing every day with a smile despite her treatment. The girl lives in an attic, yet she happily sings as she gets her day started. Cinderella’s defining trait is that she is a dreamer. As she herself says in the opening, her dreams are something that no one can control. Not her step-family. Not the clock telling her that it’s time to get on with a new day. In her dreams, she is able to do whatever she wants. It is her escape. The one thing that gets her through the day, hoping that one day the dreams that she wishes in her heart will come true.

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This is what fuels Cinderella ahead. It is what allows her to remain kind. It is what allows her to be sympathetic to others. What shows this most is her treatment of the mice. She treats them as her friends, making them clothing, feeds them, and frees them from traps. This is important for what happens later, but we’ll get to that later. She is also kind to the other animals, such as the horse and to her dog Bruno. In fact, it’s pretty interesting when she scolds Bruno for wanting to chase Lucifer. She tells him that it’s bad, how he’ll lose his warm bed, and quote “you know the orders”. She expects Bruno to obey the same way that she must obey. Doing so otherwise will mean consequences such as losing one’s own bed. The only animal that Cinderella doesn’t get along with is Lucifer, who is also the only character she is willing to speak against. At one point she was even willing to smack him with her broom when he ruined the floor she just finished scrubbing. It makes sense since Lucifer not only goes out of his way to make things more difficult for her, but he can’t order her around or really do anything to her as Lady Tremaine can. So in a way, it’s one thing that she has some power over.

Still, the first act shows what Cinderella’s life is like. It doesn’t seem too bad at first glance. She seems happy and treats her morning more like an annoyance than anything. But once we meet the Tremaines, it becomes clear just how bad it is. Anastasia immediately accuses Cindy of planting a mouse under her cup on purpose and Cinderella gets no chance to defend herself, though she is able to make Lucifer free Gus. She’s then summoned into Lady Tremaine’s room, clearly uneasy. Whenever she tries to explain herself, Lady Tremaine snaps back at her, making her go silent. There is no arguing. Lady Tremaine likely knows that Cinderella did nothing wrong, but doesn’t care. Whatever makes the girl miserable works for her and gives her an excuse to pile on that misery. Thus she piles on the workload, even making Cinderella do things that she already did once over again. Cinderella is unable to do anything but listen to the commands.

Everything changes, however, when the invitation to the ball arrives. Now we go back to one of the criticisms against Cinderella. Many accuse her of only going to the ball to meet the prince and get married. Now I will go more into this later, but there’s a reason why I am bringing it up now. Cinderella never at any point time from this point until the search for the mystery girl starts, even so much as mentions the prince. The ones who want to go to get married are the Tremaines. The whole reason that they go is because of the royal command for every eligible maiden to attend. Lady Tremaine wants to marry off her daughters. The sisters obviously want to get hitched to a good-looking man of power like the prince. Cinderella though? She just wants to go to a fancy ball because she can. By royal command every maiden is to attend no matter their status, so a lowly servant girl like herself is allowed. She even points this out to her step-family in one of the few cases she does stand up to them. Not by getting angry or defensive, she just outright points out the fine print. But no, nothing about getting with a guy ever comes up until much, much later.

Lady Tremaine agrees that Cinderella can go if gets her work done and finds a dress. But she uses the first part of that deal to bombard Cinderella with orders to make her unable to accomplish the second half. Cinderella has the dress picked, one of her mother’s, but she has no time to mend it up. As Jaq points out to the other mice, the Tremaines are going to make her do everything to make her unable to get her dress. But this is where Cinderella’s previous kindness kicks in. It’s clear that the mice really care for her because of how she cares for them. As such, they decide to fix up the dress for her. Jaq and Gus outright risk their lives against Lucifer to get some discarded trimmings.

Sure Cindy ultimately didn’t mend the dress herself, but it shows how her kindness came back to reward her. Just look at how downcast she is when the carriage arrives. She realized far too late that her step-family was never going to give her the chance to go to the ball. She is saddened as she returns to her attic-dwelling, looking out at the castle from the window and trying to convince herself that the ball would have been boring anyway. It fails. She is standing in darkness until the room lights up via candlelight and the mice reveal the mended dress to her. You can just hear the glee and gratitude in her voice as she swings around the dress and is at a loss of words before thanking her friends. Her kindness was rewarded… but sadly, not for long.

We now come to what is by far the darkest scene in the movie. Cinderella comes down to the door, shocking her stepfamily that she actually got a dress. At first, Cinderella is elated that she can actually go… until Lady Tremaine begins to approach. The old woman doesn’t seem to be doing anything wrong, agreeing that Cindy kept her end of the deal and even compliments the dress. But then she points out the beads to Drizella, who previously discarded them. It provokes her and Anastasia into a bitter, angry frenzy. They outright rip the dress apart while Cinderella is still in it. It is disturbing, Cinderella unable to do anything as her dreams are literally ripped away from her bit by bit. By the end, Tremaine calmly calls her daughters away and bids Cinderella a good night, leaving the girl standing in a pile of rags.

This is the final straw for Cinderella. She runs out to the back garden and breaks down. After trying so hard for so long to keep her hopes up, she can’t. All that she wanted was to go to the ball. Not to get married, just to have one night where she could have a good time. That was it. But her stepfamily just couldn’t allow for even that and tore it all away from her. Can you blame her for crying after all that? After dealing with that kind of treatment since she was a little girl? I can’t blame her. Her friends can only watch in sympathy and sadness as she says that there’s no use in dreaming and that she can’t dream anymore. She has hit her breaking point, a far cry from the hopeful young dreamer she was at the start of the film.

But not all is lost. In her despair, Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother is summoned. So a big question I’ve seen some ask is how the Fairy Godmother was summoned to begin with? Well, it’s as she herself said, she couldn’t be there if Cinderella didn’t have hope in her heart still. She is essentially a manifestation of Cinderella’s hopes and dreams. If I had to guess with Cinderella reaching her breaking point and ready to give in to despair, the Fairy Godmother manifested because she now truly needed help. It was to restore her hopes and allow her to get to the ball after the chance was so cruelly ripped away from her. I know what some are going to say, once again Cinderella got something handed to her. But this is a case where Cinderella herself more or less summoned the one who would help her. Her kindness caused the mice to help her, now her hope summoned up her Fairy Godmother to help her. It’s not happening just because.

So The Fairy Godmother creates her carriage, makes her new dress, and gives her the glass slippers. But like all dreams, this can’t last forever. She has until midnight, after which the spell will be broken. Which is perfectly fine with Cinderella, she’s just grateful for what her Fairy Godmother has done for her. Seeing her smiling and hopeful again after the previous moment and her just receiving some motherly kindness from someone is just really nice to see. Thus, she is whisked away to the ball, and almost as quickly as she arrives, she catches the eye of The Prince himself. While Drizella and Anastasia are trying to get him to look at them, funny enough.

So let’s get back to the ‘Cindy only wanted a man!’ critique. As I already said, she never mentions a man until near the end. But here at the ball, it’s not even her who goes to The Prince. Heck later when midnight hits, it’s pretty clear that she didn’t even know that the guy she was dancing with was The Prince. No, it is Prince Charming who approaches her. We outright see him look up, notice her as she enters, and is stricken by her beauty. It is him who walks to her and presents himself to her, a major contrast to how all the other girls were going up to him with him clearly bored. So no, Cinderella never wanted to get a man. It all happened purely by chance, and again she didn’t even realize that he was The Prince until after the ball was long over.

Cinderella dances with the prince throughout the night, getting so caught up that she loses track of time until the clock goes off. Once again, the clock is telling her that it’s time to wake up from her dream. She flees, but loses one of her slippers along the way. Midway on the road home, the spell is broken and she is once more in her torn-up dress. She apologizes to her animal friends for losing track of time, but happily recalls the night. But the mice then point something out to her: her glass slipper is still on her foot. Now… why is that? Well what summoned the Fairy Godmother to begin with? Hope. It is my opinion that this is why the slippers didn’t disappear as well. Cindy’s hope kept them manifested, to the point that I don’t believe that her losing one happened by chance. It is the key to her having a chance at a better life. It slippped off her foot due to that, and the other one remained for the same reason. Cindy seems to think it’s the Fary Godmother’s doing as she thanks her, but the truth is it is herself who caused both of those.

Thus, we come to the next day. The Grand Duke is looking for the mystery girl, and Tremaine is ready to leap at the chance. At first, Cinderella is pretty much ready to resume her regular life now that she’s gotten the one night that she had wanted. But as Tremaine explains the new development to her daughters, Cinderella hears it. This is when she realizes that it was The Prince that she was dancing with. That it was her slipper that was found, which means that she’s the mystery girl. Which means that she’s the one who can fit it and thus she will become The Prince's bride. This is the point that she wanted to get married to a man. In the final fifteen or so minutes. But look as to why she wants to. This will absolutely ensure that she is able to have a better life than she has now, so can we blame her for being happy?

Cinderella is so elated that she outright ignores her stepsisters demands and starts to day-dreamingly go to her room to prepare for the Grand Duke’s arrival. But this turns out to be a mistake. Because of her elation, Lady Tremaine immediately puts the pieces together. Cinderella not only managed to defy her and go to the ball, but she is now in the way of her plans to marry her daughters off. If she is there when the Grand Duke arrives, then that’ll be it. She’ll fit the slipper, be taken to the palace, and will marry The Prince not long after. That is something that Lady Tremaine simply cannot allow. Not to mention that she can’t allow the girl to go unpunished for her defiance. Thus, she locks Cinderella in her room. To both keep her out of the way and to make sure that she can never leave.

So… it looks like that’s it. There is nothing that Cinderella can do at this point. She realizes that she’s once more going to be trapped in a cruel life and begs Tremaine to let her out before just breaking down. She had her chance once more, and once more her stepmother took it away. But once more, Jaq and Gus act to help their friend and manage to get the key. But of course Lucifer interferes, trapping both Gus and the key and Cinderella is now in a position where she can’t make him stop. All of her animal friends try to help, but it proves futile. That is, until Cinderella has a realization. There is someone who can chase off Lucifer. The same someone that she previously scolded because it would be going against orders; Bruno the Dog.

Remember when I pointed out how Cinderella got after Bruno dreaming of chasing Lucifer because he’d lose his home otherwise? Yeah, it comes back around here. She’s now close to getting out of her situation, so why not allow Bruno the same thing? She has her bird friends alert Bruno, and indeed the dog rushes in and causes the evil cat to jump from the window. I think it was supposed to be implied that this killed Lucifer, but we see in the later sequels that he survived. But with him out of the way, the mice slip Cinderella the key and she is able to get out and to the stairs just as the Grand Duke is beginning to walk out. And he’s clearly glad to see her to, outright making his way past Lady Tremaine and reminding her that he’s supposed to give every maiden a chance when she tries to ward him away,

But, of course, Tremaine can’t just accept defeat. She trips the earl and the slipper is shattered. It looks like once again, Cinderella’s hopes have been for naught. But this time, she doesn't cry. She doesn’t even get sad. Why? Simple, because it wasn’t for naught. She pulls out the other slipper, proving beyond doubt that she is the mystery girl. It was her hope that created the slippers. It was her hope that kept them manifested when the spell was broken. Now it is her hope that gave her the key to at long last break free from her stepfamily for good. She gets married to The Prince (we don’t know how long after, so there is a window open for those who want to get after her for marrying a guy she just met) and is whisked away to a better life. The wish that she made at last came true.

Cinderella is defined by hope, kindness, and dreams. It is these things that fuel her to continue on with her life. It is these things that allow her to remain a good person and not be broken by her stepmother’s attempts to humiliate and demean her. Even at her lowest moment, her hope couldn’t be truly broken. Sure in real life you’re not going to be able to magically summon a Fairy Godmother or be married into royalty because of a shoe. But this is NOT real life. This is a fairy tale. It is escapism. It doesn't have to adhere to reality exactly. Plus even then, there is something to be said about not giving up hope and remaining kind in the face of adversity. It is that lesson that I have carried with me since I was a child, to remain kind no matter what. I’ve had my own breakdowns, especially since it’s still 2020 at the time of this writing. But even so, I’ve tried to remain kind. Because Cinderella taught me to do so.

It is why I have never understood the hate against her, and never will. I love the modern princesses and yes, they did need to become more proactive and strong. But this does NOT make the first three bad. Especially not Cinderella. She is an abuse survivor. She is a dreamer. She is a young woman who only wanted to have some happiness in her life. Her kindness and hope was eventually rewarded, and in a way was granted to her by herself. The mice helped her with both her first dress and to escape the attic because she was kind to them. Bruno and the animals liked her because she was kind to them, so they repaid her. The Fairy Godmother manifested because Cinderella wanted to give up, but hope still remained in her heart and gave her the help she desperately needed. The glass slippers remained because of her hope, and became the keys to her achieving a better life. Sure she didn’t have to physically fight for it, but it doesn't change the fact that things happened, that others helped her because she was kind and hopeful. Because of herself.

The last thing to note is her voice actress, Ilene Woods. She was originally hired to do the singing for Cinderella, but after Walt heard her he cast her to also do the speaking lines. She did a beautiful job. She conveys Cinderella’s grace, kindness, and hopeful nature absolutely beautifully and her singing voice is outright angelic. Do you want to know a sad, yet beautiful story? Well at the end of her life, Ilene Woods had sadly been inflicted with Alzheimer. I think we all know how devastating that disease is. She was living in a nursing home, unable to recall anything. Reportedly, the nurses would often play A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes for her. Even though Ilene couldn’t recognize that it was herself singing, it was the one thing that could make her happy all the way up to her passing in 2010. Mind you that story is from Wikipedia /TV Tropes and I haven’t been able to find an actual source saying this, but I’ve never seen anyone contest if this was true. Either way, Ilene was and will always be the Cinderella, a legacy that the current actress Jennifer Hale is keeping alive and well today.

Final Thoughts

Cinderella will always be special to me. She’s not my overall favorite princess, we still have quite a while before we get to her. But she is firmly my second favorite. The film is outright my second favorite of all time (again, we’ll get to number one later). It’s the first movie that I remember seeing in my life. I would watch it for hours over and over again. I had dolls of her. I would dress up as her. The whole reason I wanted to go to Disney World was to meet her, and I did. The film looks beautiful. The music is beautiful. The characters are memorable. The story is an outright classic even before Disney adapted it. To quote Beauty and the Beast, it is a tale as old as time. Maybe it’s just nostalgia talking, but even after all these years, I love this movie just as much as I did when I was a little girl. Maybe even moreso now. It is a true Disney Masterpiece.

Disney was hoping for a miracle, and he got it. Cinderella was the biggest hit that they had had in a looong time. Audiences and critics loved it. It was the moment that Disney was back in business and able to return to feature film, launching them into the Silver Age of Animation. While his next film, Alice in Wonderland, didn’t go very well, both Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp helped keep the studio afloat. As the decade came to a close, the studio decided that it was time to release another fairy tale-inspired film. Would this one strike gold like the first two? Come back next time to meet the final Classic Princess, Sleeping Beauty.

Image Sources: Disney Wiki, Animation Screencaps Other Sources: Rags to Riches: The Making of Cinderella Documentary

#cinderella #disney princess #disney princess reviews #callie reviews

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loveforpreserumsteve · 4 years

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Those Who Fall: “APTF” Story (Modern Domestic Stucky AU)

Twenty:

Running his hand over the purple comforter, Steve made sure it hung perfectly over the end and the sides. Pinching and pulling here and there until it hung just right on the bed. Once it was to Steve's liking, he walked over to the head of the bed and took the green flat sheet to fold it over the top of the comforter, just to give it a little flare.

Next came the pillows. First the ones they slept on with Bucky's on the right in a green case and Steve's on the left in a purple one. Second came the extra pillows with one on the right in a purple case, the other on the left in an orange one that matched the fitted sheet. When those were the way he liked it he moved on to the two pillows in an orange sham and a green sham that matched the sheets.

Swiftly moving on to the decorative Halloween pillows, Steve quickly placed them in front. A short white rectangle one that had a cauldron and calligraphy that claimed, I put a smell on you. A fuzzy black square one with a ghost and skeleton holding hands and an embroidered orange heart between their bodies. Jack-o-lantern pattern on a middle size orange pillow. Boo-tiful, white middle pillow. Steve's favorite, a white square pillow with a cartoon ghost showing off its bootie. Another black fuzzy pillow that suggested, let's get wicked.

As Steve reached for the last two pillows, a shrill cry broke out over the baby monitor. Quickly, Steve tossed the black pillow with a heart made out of bones on it, and a heart shaped black one asking, be creepy with me, onto the bed. Turning the monitor off, Steve climbed up the staircase and placed it on the side table beside the sofa in the living room.

Holly's cries echoed down the staircase and Steve rounded the banister to head up to the upper level of the house with all the kids' bedrooms. Breathing a little raggedly from being so active today, he kept going, so he could tend to the youngest member.

"Hi, sweetheart," Steve breathlessly greeted the baby when he found her standing in the crib, holding onto the high side railing.

In reply, Holly just cried. Exaggerating his frown, Steve picked the baby up. As he laid her down on the changing table, he asked, "How was your nap? Hmm? Did you have some good dreams? I hope you did."

The whole time Steve changed her into a fresh diaper, she just stared up at him while her cries turned into hiccups. As she chewed on her hand, Steve pulled up her purple polka dot pants. Settling her on his hip, he smoothed down her wild red curls and asked, "How about we have a baba and watch some Winnie? How's that sound?"

Squirming on Steve's hip, Holly spoke her baby gibberish, and Steve took that as her assenting, so he chuckled, "Yeah? That's a good plan?"

Happily, Steve carried the ten month old down the grand staircase. Just as he stepped on the floor, the doorbell rang. And since he was right there, Steve grabbed the door. Momentarily surprised to find Vis, Steve just stood there for a moment looking at the teen. Vis's smile faltered for a moment before he greeted, "Hi."

Shaking his head to snap himself out of his shock, Steve returned the smile, "Hi." Situating Holly further on his hip, Steve opened the door wider and invited, "Would you like to come in?"

With a nervous bounce to his step, Vis entered and stood in the foyer as he peeked into the living room. Probably hoping that Wanda would be there. Steve offered, "You can make yourself at home. The kids should be back soon. They ran to the store and are picking up the little ones."

Giving Steve a hesitant smile, Vis nodded in acknowledgement before entering the living room and taking a seat on the floral love seat. Steve pulled out the retractable baby gate and locked it into place at the bottom of the staircase. Then, he set her back down on the quilt in the center of the living room that she had been playing on before her nap.

Standing upright, Steve asked, "Can I get you something to drink?"

"No, thank you," Vis politely answered, glancing down at Holly and smiling as she slobbered over

"Okay," Steve turned and headed for the kitchen.

"Wait, where are you going?" Vis asked, panicked.

Turning around, Steve's expression became amused as he clarified, "I'm gonna make Holly a bottle. You'll be okay, right?"

"A bottle," Vis nodded, glancing down at the ten month old as he quietly said, "Yeah, okay. Of course."

Steve smirked, nodding to himself as he continued through the dining room to the kitchen. Grabbing the formula from the cupboard and a clean bottle, Steve peeked over at the living room. When he noticed that Holly had crawled over to Vis and was messing with his combat boots, Steve's smile grew. Especially when Vis didn't know how to interact with her.

He's gotta learn sometime, Steve internally mused as he shook the bottle until the formula was thoroughly mixed. Steve wondered if he should give Vis another minute.

However, once Holly started crying again, Steve rushed through the house to get to her as he reassured, "I'm coming. No need to cry, sweetheart."

Of course, she continued to cry, making Vis look very uncomfortable. Especially as she used Vis's leg to pull herself up, wanting him to pick her up. And because Vis wasn't picking her up, she was quickly approaching a tantrum.

"Shh," Vis tried to quietly soothe and hesitantly patted her slobbery hand. Which only made her want to be picked up more, and therefore, cry more when he didn't.

"Oh, Miss Holly," Steve sing-songed, entering the living room, gaining her attention. Steve watched as she fumbled in her attempts to turn to face him. Managing to stand without holding onto anything for a moment. But eventually, her wobbly, chubby legs gave out and she fell on her bottom.

As her sobs came back full-force, Steve approached her and she lifted her little arms up, so he would hold her. Instantly, he hefted her up in his embrace and let her hold the bottle herself. Only helping her when the bottle started to droop.

Taking a seat on the couch, Steve situated Holly on his lap. Letting her lean back and rest against his chest, Steve grabbed the remote. Gesturing towards the TV, he asked, "Do you mind if I put on something for her?"

Vis blinked, almost as though he hadn't expected Steve to talk to him, let alone ask for his opinion. Shaking his head, Vis allowed, "No, go ahead."

Steve nodded and put on her current favorite show, the late 80s-early 90s animated, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Happily, the baby kicked her little legs and clapped her hands as best she could with the bottle and her still learning to do so.

"That's right," Steve smiled, smoothing her curls away from her face and dropping a kiss to the top of his head while he clapped in front of her, "Yay!"

As Holly tilted her head up so she could look at Steve, Vis asked, "How many kids have you fostered?"

Smile growing when Holly grinned around the bottle's nipple, Steve questioned, "At one time or all together?"

"All together," Vis clarified.

"Upwards of 30 kids over four years," Steve answered, smoothing Holly's red curls when she redirected her attention to the flat screen TV over the fireplace.

"Wow," Vis shifted in his seat. Making himself more comfortable, he asked, "How many are you fostering right now?"

"Excluding Wanda, two," Steve explained, glancing over at the older teen. He seemed surprised, and Steve wasn't sure why. He helped Holly with holding her bottle and continued, "But right now we're just waiting for the judge to approve and finalize the adoptions."

Awkwardly, Vis chuckled, "You must really like kids."

Grinning, Steve confirmed, "We love kids."

#a place to fall #jump then fall #those who fall #bonus #stucky #steve rogers #bucky barnes #steve rogers x bucky barnes #marvel #fanfic #wattpad #ao3 #modern au #domestic life #fluff #smut #otp

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carriagelamp · 4 years

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April 2020 Book Review - Quarantine Brain Fry Edition

This month of quarantine was much more challenging for me that last March... I suppose because we’re really in the throws of it, and the “extended spring break” feel has worn off. Between general World Anxieties and the incredible challenges of trying to adapt my work into an online setting, my brain has been absolute mush -- and I have a feeling I’m not the only one. Most of my books this month are either very easy reads (comics and children’s novels) or rereads or both! Honestly, I’ve been playing a lot more Animal Crossing than I have been reading...

So the theme for this month of reading? Treat your brain to a rest, and go reread that favourite comic or picture book or graphic novel from when you were a kid. We don’t have libraries or book stores at the moment, so dig deep into your shelf for something you love that you haven’t touched in a while. Here’s what I read:

Ghost Hunters Adventure Club and the Mystery of the Grande Chateau

I’m going to start with best and most unexpected book that I read this month (although this is actually a New Book and not a reread, so maybe it’s a bad start). It’s a Hardy Boys parody novel, and yes it’s by the Game Grumps. The only reason I even found out it existed was because my brother heard about it and we decided that this would be our next Sibling Read Aloud. It made a great read aloud. I was rather skeptical at first, but it was genuinely very clever and very, very funny. There characters were fucking delightful, as they bumbled their way through the mystery, and we ended up accidentally reading almost half the book in one sitting because we couldn’t put it down once we got to endgame. If you like satire and Classic Youth Mystery then do yourself a favour and give this a go. I am desperate for a sequel.

ISHI: Simple Tips from a Solid Friend

A picture book that was recommended to some of the local elementary children who are dealing with isolation from school and their friends. Its beauty is in its simplicity. It shows Ishi, a very simple white stone, experience challenges that it must then find ways to cope with. Things like loneliness, feeling empty or scared, being sad... all things children (and adults, I very much appreciated this little story) may be experiencing. This is definitely a picture book, not a self-help book, but it’s still very encouraging and makes me want to go and create my own Ishi. There’s a reading of it is online, and if you’re feeling like having a solid stone friend reassure you, I would recommend going to listen to it!

Bone 1-5

So, the first in my long list of books that I reread: I’ve started rereading the Bone series for the first time in years. Hands down one of my all time favourite graphic novel series. If you haven’t read Bone, it’s a classic and one of the best example of American graphic novels imho. It’s about Fone Bone and his cousins who, after being driven out of Boneville by Phoney Bone’s money-grubbling stunts, have found themselves across a desert and in a strange, fantastical valley where nothing makes sense. The three of them get drawn into the strange mysteries and adventures of Thorn, her grandmother, and the village of Barrelhaven. Such a perfect blend of beautiful art, comedy and off-the-wall cartoon-level hijinks, as well as really intense, dark adventure and tension as the story unfolds.

Also created this sequence, which may be the funniest two panels ever drawn in a comic

Here Is Greenwood v1

A charming ‘90s manga from my stash that I decided to reread. Honestly one of my favourite feel-good mangas, because it’s such a simple, pure, good-hearted slice of life without some of the gimmicks that other manga use. It’s about Kazuya starting at an all-boys school partway into the year, and moving into the school’s dorms. The entire book is just about him being constantly pestered by the well-meaning characters that share the dorm with him. It’s just goofy and fun, and has the fantastic aesthetic of a good ‘90s manga. Also, it was one of those books that, while technically not ~queer~ was also ~queer enough~ for my deprived teenage soul.

Blood Of Elves

The fourth book of the Witcher series that I’ve finished. I’ll be honest, not my favourite. I really enjoyed the beginning, the whole espionage thing with Dandelion, and then Ciri with Geralt, the Kaer Morhen witchers, and Triss. That was all really fun. It felt like it dragged a lot more though after Ciri joined Yennefer... And yet I love Yennefer as a character, she is hilariously snide and clever and really sweet with Ciri. But it felt like a scene that could have been done in a couple chapters took up half the book. Maybe that’s just because, as I said, my brain was mush and I couldn’t deal with it. I have the next book and as soon as my brain doesn’t look like chicken noodle soup anymore I will be starting it!

The Mouse and the Motorcycle

You know I love a good animal adventure story, and this is one that I adored as a child. The story of Ralph, a young mouse living with his family in a rundown motel, and how he and a young human boy discover that they can understand each other through a shared passion for vehicles... in particular a red toy motorcycle. There’s just something heartwarming about Ralph racing around a motel on a tiny toy motorcycle that runs when he makes motorcycles noises. I’ll have to find the second one as soon as libraries are open again.

Kit: The Adventures of a Raccoon

Another animal adventure story from my childhood, although this one is more of a chapter book than a true novel. This is a book that I’ve been lowkey hunting for years and finally came across in a school library. It’s a more realistic look at what a raccoon’s life is like, from birth to adulthood. Rereading it, it’s not a particularly exciting book and wouldn’t have otherwise stood out to me, but there’s still something that calls to me. It’s very gentle and makes this raccoon’s growing and learning feel very soft and compassionate, even if there are tragedies and death.

A quick edit because it was only just now that I realized that this is a Canadian lit book! Always exciting to discover that a favourite is Canadian!

Calvin and Hobbes: Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat

Calvin and Hobbes, yet one more bullet to add to the list of Comfort Comics that I’ve pulled out to keep my mind entertained while I can’t quite process Proper Novels. I doubt there’s anything I can say about Calvin and Hobbes that hasn’t already been said. You’ve either read these books already, and are nodding along with me, or you haven’t and therefore are not a human being I can relate to.

Spy vs Spy

I dug out some of the old Spy vs Spy comics we had as kids. They’re basically falling to pieces, but it was fun -- like so many other books on this list -- to revisit something so familiar but which I haven’t looked at in years. These were a very odd experience to reread, because on one hand Spy vs Spy comics have such a simple, goofy premise it’s hard not to just grin and laugh while you read them, but also like... yup they sure are old and kinda ~problematique~ eh? Whatcha gonna do.

The Twisted Ones

The read aloud my brother and I did before Ghost Hunters, although we technically finished reading it at the very end of March, but too late for it to make that book roundup post. Look, I’m not going to defend myself here. Yes, I’ve read an obscene number of Five Nights at Freddy’s books. The first one of this series The Silver Eyes was honestly better than I would have expected. This sequel was not as good, unsurprisingly, but the main character is still so fucking bizarre, so different than the sort of protagonist I would normally expect from a series like this, that I can’t quite bring myself to stop reading them. And when I had a moment of Realization, about what might be in store for the third book, I genuinely screamed at my brother who was reading at the time. So yes. Somehow this youth horror is better than it has any right to be -- not good but better than it should be -- and yes I will be reading the third the second the libraries open again.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Another reread! This was a book I got as a birthday present when I was in... probably preschool? It’s a cross between a large picture book and a chapter book. It’s essentially a “novelization” of the original Disney movie, and it has such cute art to go along with it. Winnie the Pooh has always been a favourite of mine, and reading this old book was like a warm hug. Makes me want to see if I can get my VCR set up so I can watch that old movie again...

Frog and Toad Together

A friend found someone reading this book in a very asmr-style on youtube and recommended I listen because they found it super chill. And they were right! It is ridiculously chill. I’ve never read a Frog and Toad story before, but it’s really just a very cute old book that immediately launches you right back into grade one.

The BFG

This is my first time reading the BFG and it has all of Dahl’s usual charm and quirkiness. A young girl gets plucked out of an abusive orphanage by the Big Friendly Giant, who brings her to the terrifying Land Of Giants... all of which are bigger and crueller than the BFG, and who have an appetite for human flesh. It was quick and fun, and it’s always hard not to fall in love with Dahl’s sweet characters, especially this big eared, dream-catching giant.

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yikesola · 5 years

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Hospital Update—

howdy! did i emo post about feeling sick and going home from work and then didn’t post for a few days except to complain and say “i’m okay! i’m in hospital but i’m okay” 😦

oops, i guess i did

so if i worried you with that i’m truly sorry, and i want to emphasize the i’m okay bits of this story and the fact that i am still definitely okay but still definitely shook up and exhausted and processing that this week even really happened. so i’m gonna try to go over what went down and y’all aren’t allowed to make fun of me if it’s not as funny as my usual writing, deal? deal!🥰 i just have had a verrry shitty time with the fact that so much that happened is a blur and i kinda depend a lot on my interpretation of events, and i want to write it down so i have some kind of record before i lose even more details— and that can mean that while writing this out it’s gonna actually be a litttle tmi, and more medical mumbo jumbo than you care about, but hey what level of social media isn’t dripping in performativity? what else am i gonna do, besides type this out? watch more family feud? wait for my next potassium horsepill?

so i legit just thought i had a flu last week, thought i’d need to just sleep off the nausea and fever and body aches and tummy troubles, have some soup, have some sprite and gatorade, have some saltines, have some tylenol. i had been complaining for a few days about not feeling well and thought that’d be the worst of it as i never really get sick and when i do i never do much about it other than being a pioneer woman and suffering through it. and this post would be soooooo boring if that were the case— don’t worry, it was not the flu.

so something cracked in my blood after i went to sleep to try to feel better, and my body did that autoimmune thing that bodies do where it said “hey..... something’s trying to kill us. what if we died first?? that’ll show em!” and my blood platelets started eating themselves. not ,, good.....

meanwhile it was the next morning and i was supposed to get ready for work but i still felt like shit (because my body was torpedoing itself) so my dear memere coming to check up on me saw me wild and vomit-strewen, except i wasn’t actually wild at all i was just shutting down blood-utilizing organ by one and imagining that i was this wild Romantic mrs rochester in my burning nightgown while my aunt and memere quibbled over whether they could get me into the car to try urgent care. in my haze i heard that and my dumb ass was like “is it that necessary??” and luckily my dumb mouth wasn’t functioning at the time bc she didn’t say nothing and instead my relatives called an ambulance. our little mountain town has its own hospital, that’s a nice part of the story! it’s a nice little hospital!

the paramedic was lovely and tried to get me sweatpants because it’s november. i didn’t listen to her because my fever was insane and i was more concerned with making sure my cats weren’t in the way of the gurney 🤪#yikesolabranding

i had the same paramedic in the ambulance with me when they sent me to the hospital in the big city and i spent the whole 90 minute drive talking about how much i love those fucking cats

that’s beside the point, but i want to be clear about who i am at my core apparently, always talking about the gals 😻

so i get to the hospital and this is the first black out. i guess technically second because of when it all started, but let’s pick up with me waking up in the hospital. i have nine plasma. i have a fever of 105. i’m being given a blood transfusion, thanks high schoolers who wanted to get out of running the mile in PE that day!

they throw their dartboard tests and decide i have TTP—

basically, they just need to trick my blood into calling off the attack. how are they gonna do that? they’re gonna confuse the blood, overwhelm it, overcrowd it. they’re gonna get me to the fancy city hospital and treat my veins like frosting piping bags.

it’s snowing— no helicopter for me. i have a catheter at this point btw, and this is one of the parts that i know is tmi but ....... ladies and friends, y’all ever had a catheter?? 😩🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪 i’m dying and legit think i’d rather piss myself to death, it hurts that bad. we take an ambulance down to the valley, i complain enough about the catheter that they finally take it out for which i apologize incessantly (something that’s probably more annoying than the original complaining but i could die in my own piss comfortable and happy so whatever let’s not worry about it.) i pass out again.

i wake up in ICU. i’m assured i am neither pregnant nor have AIDS. good news✌️ especially considering some family history i won’t dive into here. they’re saying the catheter word again and that scares me bc ow, but don’t worry! this one is going in my neck :) it’s how we’re gonna save my life—

we pump thirteen (13) bags of plasma into my neck via dialysis. it works so well they decide they’re gonna do it for a week! i am weeping through the entire 90 minute procedure btw, and apologizing for it. i’m a Fun Patient!

i pass out again.

i wake up to another assurance that i am still unpregnant and don’t have AIDS. hmmm glad those ones stick!

my aunt is begging me to rub my two brain cells together so i can unlock my phone. i do, which is interesting considering when asked the year i repeatedly answer 1992 and 1994. but my 4digit phone passcode? try and wipe that from me, bitch ass stroke

my aunt calls my dad. he is less of a jerk than he could be :) he thinks my uninsured ass should move to the hospital he works at in california. fucking comedian

i text some friends waiting in my hospital bed. it’s a messy text. if you’re a friend who got one of those texts, bless your reading comprehension abilities and please know that my intention was to say something like “i don’t want to worry you, I’ve checked into the hospital but am okay” but it was like in pooh’s grand adventure when pooh bear spilt honey all over christopher robin’s note that literally said “DONT worry about me, i’m NOT going far away” and read it as “worry about me, i’m going far away” and basically i should’ve taken the opportunity to pass out again instead of trying to text lol

i did call one friend instead of text and she was at dinner with her husband, so sent a little “call you back later!” before listening to the voicemail and the poor dear felt very bad for blowing me off, though i promise i did not feel blown off, i shouldn’t have called at dinner time like a damn telemarketer!

so i wake up again and it’s been two days 😞😞 whoopsie! they’ve done more plasma, i’m stable, and my brain is coming back. I’m BORED. i’m trapped in my body and can’t move and in incredible pain! i’m covered in bruises. i’ve vomited on myself. it’s time to pump me with more plasma. while they’re doing the 40min prep work for that, i am drenched in confusion, like that camouflage spell in hp5. i start screaming apologies (even when my brain is broke i can apologize, social feminization is a hell of a drug) to my doctors who ask me who the president is and i become the “don’t make me say it” meme. that made us all feel a little better.

they pump their plasma. my episode passes. i have a violet allergic reaction all over my body. they pump some benadryl. it goes away.

i can eat solid food! by “solid food” i mean strawberry jello. they tell me to order food of more substance. i order a meatloaf, and pass out before it arrives. i feel bad, eat it cold. i have Never had a better meatloaf, although if i’m being perfectly honest she was closer to a salisbury steak. genuilnely, *chefs kiss*

it’s day five, it’s time for me to leave the ICU. this fancy new room has a toilet :) and a shower! i finally get that vomit out of my hair. my aunt brings me my glasses; they’ve been on my bedside table this whole time

day six is a petulant day ..... idk why but my neck catheter was killing worse than usual and the plasma treatments had been slowly getting more bearable but then this day ,, wasn’t. and suddenly this all felt like a lot of hoops to jump through. and i had some “this isn’t fair🥺” moping as though not being dead isn’t wicked cool enough on its own. whatever, i’m feeling a lot better today, and y’all were really nice about my grumbling so thank you for that, without an ouce of facetiousness🥰

day seven, thanksgiving! i’m finally awake early enough for breakfast. i have fruit loops and laugh at mr amazing’s pain. i have hospital turkey for thanksgiving. it’s as bad as hospital turkey has to be, i can’t blame it for that. my memere sends two blank text messages. she’s 84, so i interpret them as “happy turkey day” and “love you”

i have what is supposed to be my last plasma treatment. before they pull my neck catheter out, they decide it willl not be. i’ll have at least one more in the morning. they’re still not comfortable, but i don’t cry through all 90minutes now. only like ,, 70 minutes of it🤙 maybe i’ll break under an hour tomorrow.

that’s all for now— at this time discharge is looking like monday or tuesday. my TTP recovery is likely, just a matter of time. i’m having a really hard time looking at my phone screeen (typing this has taken on and off 4hrs of dizzy and break) but so look forward to getting back into things that make me happy like japhan content and all the fests and kiss prompts i was working on before this. thanks for listening to this poor approximation of what i remember of my hospital experience! ✨✨🥰 sorry idk how to add a damn read more

#me talking #my face

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blowingoffsteam2 · 5 years

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Part 1: I would like to apologize ahead of time, this might be a bit long. I can't help but feel a bit confused by Square Enix/Nomura as well. For me, it is pretty clear that Sora's feelings for Kairi were not much more than a crush, and it did not really become much more than that. As of Kingdom Hearts III, it seems that Sora's feelings are starting to change, that he possibly does not feel that way for Kairi anymore/he is getting over (or has gotten over) that crush.

Part 2: Or, at least, Sora is not sure of his feelings yet (for Riku or Kairi), and he is starting to figure it out. I hope that this may not mean anything, but I heard that at one of the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra shows recently, there was an encore performance of Don’t Think Twice. During the encore, they showed footage of Sora and Kairi from KH1 to 3, ending it with Sora fading away. I honestly do not know what Square/Nomura is trying to get at when it comes to Sora’s “relationships.”

Part 3: There has been major development and build up involving Sora and Riku’s relationship throughout the series as whole. Sora and Kairi’s “relationship,” not so much. Riku’s character grew more (in KH3) by expressing and accepting his feeling for Sora for what they (taisetsu na hito), Sora’s heart lead him to the worlds he was visiting in KH3/he went to these world to learn things about himself and his true feelings.

Part 4: Then there are Riku’s actions he has done for Sora prior to and during Kingdom Hearts III. (His sacrifice for Sora cannot be downplayed as not an act of true love, especially with that focus in KH3 itself). Sora is now close to to realizing the things (for the most part) that Riku has done for him, how Riku feels about him, that Riku is Sora’s light, and how Sora might feel for Riku. I refuse to believe that all this was for nothing.

Part 5: I understand that KH3 was for wrapping up the Xehanort Saga, but, before Sora went to face Xehanort, he went on this journey of self-discovery for a reason. I do not want Square to pull the rug out from under our feet and say Riku recognizing his true feelings for Sora and Sora’s journey was pointless in the end.

Part 6: Besides Xehanort’s story arc coming to a close, if Sora’s adventures and soul searching leading up to that moment is (possibly) not going to amount to anything, then why would Square even have Sora go on this journey to realize these things about himself? To have us, the audience, pick up on non-verbal cues and a deeper meaning to what is presented to us, for it to mean nothing? Don’t get me wrong, I love the Kingdom Hearts series.

Part 7: I loved and enjoyed KH3 and discovering these things involving Sora and Riku on my own, through you, databoy-reekoo, and the Sleeping Realm Theory, etc., but if it possibly amounts to nothing in the end, then is KH3 only good for wrapping up Xehanort’s story and not Sora’s “self discovery” journey in between? I know you don’t have a full answer yourself (since we can’t look into Nomura’s mind), so I guess I am just wondering what you think?

Part 8: I also cannot help but be a bit concerned over how SENA will handle Sora and Riku’s possible relationship from here on out. For Riku’s true feelings getting extremely downplayed and with the romantic angle between Sora and Kairi that is still being pushed in the English version, in which these aspects were going relatively untouched in the Japanese version. Things are not quite as “romantic” for Sora and Kairi and Riku was free to express his true feelings.

——————————————————–

I understand it can be confusing when we can’t know exactly what Nomura is planning, and for so long we’ve all been under the impression that while Sora and Riku’s relationship was developing beautifully, we all expected it would never lead anywhere more explicit, while the main games continued with a mediocre,undeveloped straight romance. After all, we have seen this pattern many times in media, haven’t we? As I’ve said before, the bar for straight romance is so low it’s in the ground, and I honestly thought this was what we’d have to deal with in KH in the end. But then KH3 came, and boy was I wrong. Almost everything Nomura had been setting up thematically, primarily since the end of KH2 (but some things even from the very beginning), culminated in KH3. The question of “what is true love”, what is light, what is the power that comes with being able to protect someone precious to you (the power of waking). These were things Sora himself was learning in KH3, and will continue to learn. But for Riku, KH3 was the result of having learned those things- he reached the break of dawn when he realized the strength to protect his most precious person came from love. And the climax of this was his sacrifice.

So, Nomura knows very well how to set up themes and follow through with them even across multiple games (even through the mobile game!). We have no reason to think that he would all of a sudden do a 180 on everything he’s been building slowly and deliberately between Sora and Riku. If Nomura really was as bad at writing romance as people like to say he is, there’s no doubt in my mind that he would have confirmed a romance between Sora and Kairi in this game. It was what everyone was expecting anyway, and being so bad at romance, would he really care that he hadn’t properly developed their relationship, that Kairi had been virtually absent from all the games since KH2?

Yet instead what we got was very transparently uncomfortable and hesitant looks from Sora in the paopu scene, where he didn’t move to take the paopu until she essentially downplayed it as “just a lucky charm” (in jpn), and very big parallels on the themes of separation and fading connections. Which, again I have to remind everyone that Nomura explicitly stated it was his intent to show how childhood friendship change and don’t stay the same as we grow older (And specifically with Kairi, the theme of friends growing apart has been on his mind since KH1, as shown in the KH2 Ultimania). So we can at the very least know without a shadow of a doubt that changing connections (or rather, fading connections, taking into account the Pooh parallel) was a theme of the game and 100% intentional.

My point here being that I would be very shocked at this point if all of this was thrown down the drain in the future, as long as KH is under the direction of Nomura. Could it happen? Sure. But I would say it’s not a 50/50 chance if we are taking an honest look at everything. Not even close. But hey, that’s just my onion :) All we can do is wait and see to be sure.

As for the orchestra encore, I’ve said this elsewhere but having watched the montage myself, it really does come across as a heartfelt farewell montage. It starts off with the ending scene, up to Sora and Kairi on the tree, then cuts to scenes of them together through KH1, KH2, and KH3, and ends with Sora fading away. Certainly doesn’t end on a happy note. And important to know: the tunnel scene is not included. What an odd choice this would be, if that scene were really meant to be Sora’s grand realization that she is his light and if those flashbacks to “true love” were really about her. (and don’t forget that Sora and Riku got their own montage during the “Always on my Mind” section of the KH1 medley- which was actually just the Dearly Beloved part). In any case, the orchestra is nothing to be concerned about.

And as far as the English translations go in the future, all we can do is hope that Nomura and team have a sit down with them and make it clear what their intent is. And hopefully not have such a haphazard process with translating as we know they did with KH3. Besides…if things keep progressing, there will only be so much they could do to obscure the truth.

So yeah, I guess those are my thoughts. So much is continuing to be uncovered about kh3 and Sora and Riku’s relationship, I can’t wait to see what comes next.

#soriku asks

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mable-stitchpunk · 5 years

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Disney’s Song About Loss

So, whenever anyone brings up sad Disney (or Pixar) songs, especially in a list, there’s usually and unspoken agreement that the most emotional song would be “When Somebody Loved Me” from Toy Story 2. It almost always tops the charts.

To give it some context, in the movie the song is played during Jessie’s backstory, telling of when she was owned, forgotten, and eventually abandoned by her child who grew up and outgrew her. There is no denying that this moment is a somber one, and even without this context the song is melancholy in a way that anyone who lost a friend would understand.

...But it is not the saddest Disney song, nor the one with the most raw emotion.

I would argue that honor goes to a lesser known song, “Wherever You Are” from Pooh’s Grand Adventure.

In this song’s context, Christopher Robin goes missing and Pooh and the gang go to search for him. After a long journey and seemingly lost with a torn map, the group takes shelter in a cave to rest for the night. That’s when Pooh goes out on his own to sing the song.

The song is, like “When Somebody Loved Me”, about losing a friend or loved one, but there’s no denying that the context in how this person is lost is much more finite. The song sounds much less like people drifting apart and more like they were torn apart.

These lines in particular are rather revealing:

“I'll hear you laugh, I'll see you smile, I'll be with you...Just for a while. But when the morning comes, and the sun begins to rise, I will lose you. Because it's just a dream, when I open up my eyes, I will lose you.”

Whether it is intentional or not, Pooh’s song comes off like someone in mourning. That feeling someone gets when someone leaves their life for good and they can’t get them back. The lyrics- contradicting with the scene- almost suggest that Pooh knows he’s never coming back, and that maybe he doesn’t understand it.

This would especially make sense in the context of how children- and someone as innocent as Pooh- would see the loss of a loved one. Suddenly they’re gone and they don’t know where or why, but they know they won’t come back. They hope and pray that they will, but they won’t.

To punctuate this, during one lyric Pooh gives a rather exasperated, “I don’t know what else to do!” This feels both like denial and bargaining, stages associated with mourning. As though Pooh believes there is something he can to to bring him back. Even though, as he said, he’s tried everything he can. Eventually coming to resolve that dreaming of him is almost like him being there.

Another comparisons between the songs are the subjects. Not specifically Jessie and Pooh’s characters, but the voices in which they are spoken in. “When Somebody Loved Me” is very much aimed back towards the singer. She’s telling her own tragic tale of loss, which is certainly sad. But it is sadder to consider that “Wherever You Are” is aimed towards the person lost. Like one last plead to bring them back.

In movie context, “Wherever You Are” ends on a very bittersweet note. Pooh falls asleep alone at the tree when Rabbit appears. During the film, Rabbit has been bossy, fussy, and sour- as he usually is- and has made a massive deal about this now torn map and their reliance on it.

And then he uses it to cover Pooh up. He uses the thing he was so desperate to cling on and uses it to give comfort to Pooh, who isn’t even awake to acknowledge it. Then Rabbit wraps his arms around himself and silently stares at the sky as Pooh did.

That’s not just Rabbit sympathizing with Pooh, that’s his way of dealing with the same thing. He is coping with this ‘loss’ just like Pooh is. The moment is silent, but it punctuates why the scene is so powerful.

While Jessie’s scene and song were still wonderfully made, don’t get me wrong, there’s a much different tone to this. We’re supposed to understand her now, why she acts the way she does, why we should feel bad for her.

But we already understand Pooh. We feel bad for him not because what happened to him in the past, but because of the current confusion and sadness he’s going through. Jessie was hurt long ago and isn’t yet over it. Pooh is currently going through the hurt, and that’s not the kind of hurt one ever really moves past.

In short, I wish more people acknowledged this song and moment from this movie. It- like the film itself- was largely overlooked, and that is a shame. Just because it was Winnie the Pooh and Rabbit didn’t mean that it couldn’t portray longing and mourning in such a real way.

#Wherever You Are #Winnie the Pooh #Rabbit #Disney #Pixar #Toy Story 2 #When Somebody Loved Me #Jessie #Sad Disney Song #Mourning #Loss #Pooh's Grand Adventure

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obediencegolden15 · 4 years

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The Story of Us

In memory of Maddie ~ 1/22/2004 - 1/1/2020

“If there ever comes a day where we can’t be together, keep me in your heart, I’ll stay there forever.” -Winnie The Pooh

Sixteen years. Well, if you want to get technical, it was actually 15 years, 11 months, and one week.

To some that seems like a blip on the radar and in all reality, it is a short amount of time, but there were a ton of memories packed into that time. Time is a funny thing, you see, we keep track of seconds, minutes, and hours--but our dogs have no concept of time. They’re more present than we’ll ever be as humans.

They say that diamonds are a girl's best friend, but I’ve never really been about diamonds. All you had to do was look at who was next to me and know that Maddie was my best friend. A confidant. Teacher. But most importantly, a cherished member of the family. I don’t know of any being on this planet that knows every tear and every secret there ever was to know, than Maddie. Before I continue, I think we should start at the beginning of our story.

When I was 11 years old, we had finally gotten our first dog as a family. It was something I had always wanted growing up. My sister and I had our Mom convinced, but we had to get our Dad on board. Finally, he agreed.

During that time, I was in 4-H and knew I wanted to train Maddie and show at the county fair. Not only did we do that, but we did so much more. At that time, I had no idea that God had given me the passion to train and form a connection with a different species. The world of training and competing at local, regional, and national dog show events was opened to me after some of my mentors noticed my love of training and working with Maddie.

Once I learned about dog competitions, I was hooked. While an entire book could be written about our experiences and travels to dog shows, those memories will always be locked away deep in my heart. While the competitions were a blast, the titles, ribbons, and accomplishments mean so little in the grand scheme of things. I would love to write about those experiences, but as I’ve gotten older, it has made me realize what’s important in life. The ribbons, trophies, and prizes will always be visible, but a special dog will not always be here forever. The miles driven, the hours training, the early mornings at the show, and the laughter with friends are the greatest parts about dog shows.

I often wonder if God knew I needed an Earthly companion such as Maddie to get me through those teenage years when I was bullied in school. There would be times after school where I would come home and sit and cry with Maddie. She had no judgement, all she had was her love. Sometimes I wonder if He hand-picked her to be in my life for over half of my 27 years thus far, knowing that we’d go on so many adventures, meet an abundance of people whom I call my dear friends to this day, and open so many doors for me. While it might be crazy to think a dog could do this for one person, but I believe God has done all of this for me. I might have had some basketball dreams that went unfulfilled, but now I can see why those dreams didn’t happen. Because this was supposed to happen. Maddie was supposed to happen. The people, places, and faces were supposed to happen.

At times I wonder where my life would be today if it wasn’t for Maddie being placed in my life. Would I even have dogs? Would I have went to the University I went to? Would I work where I work now? What type of hobbies would I have if I had never learned about dog shows? A lot of these questions can’t be answered and may never be answered. But one day they will be.

To know Maddie was to love Maddie. I don’t think I ever remember a day where she wasn’t joyous about life or full of zest to see new people. Whether it was basking in the sun in the dining room of our childhood home, laying in the grass in the sun soaking in the rays, or finding a spot of grass or snow to roll in and then lay there afterwards being fully present. Maddie was a very social dog and could walk up to anyone and greet them with a hello and a friendly wag of her tail. I fully believe she came into my life with a purpose to teach me several lessons that I wouldn’t have learned elsewhere.

My first two years at college went by in a blur, but I had always missed Maddie. To me, she was a constant in my life, even when times were difficult and it felt like the rest of the world walked out on me. Luckily, my last two years Maddie was able to come to college with me and was the 6th roommate to the girls I had lived with during that time. I think she provided comfort for all of them when classes were stressful. Even in school, we went and trained every week at a local training school, which brought more people into our life. This became a very important outlet for me to not focus on the stress of school so much, but be able to tune it out for a bit and focus on something I loved. During my second semester of my Junior year, I experienced some health issues for several months, not knowing the true cause, but Maddie was there for me again. She was the reason I got up, got outside, and still trained with her, even if I wasn’t feeling good. Sometimes she was even a study buddy who would curl up next to me on the floor and fall asleep while I studied for exams and wrote papers.

After I graduated college, Maddie and I moved to Green Bay (she actually was born in Green Bay), where I would begin my career. The best part of the job I started was that I was able to bring her to work with me, where she received lots of petting and snacks. I think this was the highlight of her day! From here we started a different and new life adventure together. Every transition I faced, we faced it together. You were such a trooper and for that I’m thankful.

So Maddie, thank you for being the very best teacher a girl could ask for. Thank you for teaching me how to love. Some days I had to put your needs above my own, but it was all out of love. Love is always a choice we make every day, but with her she never had to choose, she just did. Thank you for teaching me how to be selfless, especially in your older years. Thank you for being that constant in my life and my best friend. No matter how many storms we weathered, we weathered them together. Thank you for your goofy ‘happy dances’, sun bathing, nose nudges, hiking buddy, the paw you’d give while someone was petting you, the special quiet moments we shared, and so much more.

Saying goodbye was the hardest thing I ever had to decide for you and while I wasn’t ready to say goodbye, I felt I had to honor you in the best way possible. You had been there for me through everything and I didn’t think it was fair for you to be suffering. I hope you know that my choice was only out of love and it was the least I could do after all of the things you have done for me. While my life will never be the same without you in it, it will be different, a new different. The house certainly isn’t the same without you and it will take me a bit of time to get used to the new normal, but please know I miss you every single day and would give anything to have you back. Your presence is sorely missed, as are your shenanigans. The hole in my heart will eventually heal, but I know that one day we will see each other again -- filled with no pain or sorrow. Please know that I will always love you and you forever hold a very special place in my heart. You can never be replaced or forgotten. You may be gone from my life, but the memories and the journey we shared was special. Thank you doesn’t seem like it’s enough for your unconditional love and while I’m only human and made mistakes, you still forgave me. I thank God everyday for you and to Him all the glory!

Life may be different and take some time to adjust, I know that Maddie is with me wherever I go. I will always love each and every dog I own, but Maddie will always hold a special place in my heart. She has been there through every major life transition. From growing up, graduating high school, spending two years with my roommates and I at college, to starting my first real job in a new city, and also my first home. When you look at all of that, it’s a lot. Way more than most people can ever expect to have with their dogs. For that I am so grateful. As they say in obedience competitions, exercise finished, Maddie dog, exercise finished.

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psyga315 · 5 years

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Rewriting Pooh’s Adventures

With everyone getting obsessed with rewriting, I decided to rewrite myself. However, I’m going with an old topic I used to touch up upon: Pooh’s Adventures.

Basic gist: Take a movie, insert clips of Winnie the Pooh, done. However, Pooh’s Adventures ends up having such a huge meta-plot involving villains having apprentices or the reasons behind the team ups that I can’t help but see some sort of nugget worth salvaging. So that’s what I’m gonna do. Rewrite Pooh’s Adventures to be a more streamlined story.

First off, some guidelines:

1. It won’t be in video format. While Pooh’s Adventures is mainly shown through video, I feel like it would most benefit from something like written prose or comic format. Unless Sony Vegas suddenly becomes cheaper to access, the most people will have is a defunct application and a scramble to find an application that isn’t a free trial or overtly complex.

2. No crapton of characters. I made a parody of Pooh’s Adventures where Pooh had 100 people that followed him, only for the number to get quickly decimated to about twenty or so. I’m not exaggerating the number at all. I remember at least one Adventure where a character outright states the absurd number of 78. As in “It’ll be just the 78 of us”. And that number grows with each character added. So, obviously we’re gonna stick to a low number, especially starting out.

3. The Adventures in question are multi-chaptered “Episodes” of a long season. Not sure the approximate length, but 12 episodes seems like a good guideline.

With that out of the way, let’s begin:

This is a long post so...

PROLOGUE

It’ll be simple: Pooh and his friends at the 100 Acre Woods sans Christopher Robin. The set up might be a re-telling of Pooh’s Grand Adventure, but during their trip to Skull, they find Bowser there and he captures them, establishing his connection to Pooh.

EPISODE 1

Bowser then sells them to Queen Grimhilde who has them work alongside Snow White. Grimhilde has Ratigan and Fidget who keep tabs on her for Bowser. Prince Charming ends up getting replaced by Ash Ketchum, who had been separated from his friends as they faced a “legendary Pokemon”. And this inevitably gets to crossover shipping between Ash Ketchum and Snow White as she slowly realizes that Ash is the person she’s been wishing for, though Ash has cold feet about committing to a relationship, especially when he still wants to go on journeys.

Pooh is, for the most part, that kind of spectator protagonist, as are his friends. They witness the journey rather than partake in it. Of course, sometimes the characters take a course of action, like Tigger who Grimhilde easily manipulates into hunting down Snow White in trade for freeing him and his friends. This drives an already huge wedge in between Tigger and Rabbit and makes a conflict for Pooh on whether to trust one of his closest friends. Pooh, while not taking an active role, is going to be the most affected by these adventures.

The episode ends as usual, with Grimhilde dying, albeit the lighting bolt that broke the cliff is from Pikachu’s Thunder attack. Ash has a guilt trip over murdering someone in the heat of the moment (he realized he does love Snow White, but was too late to save her, at first) that he shut himself away. It’s here that he encounters newly appointed Conscience, Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Ash’s companion for his B-plots. Yeah, Ash is the deuteragonist for the story, at least for this first season. And yes, I do mean season.

Bowser, for now at least, is this overarching villain who always enters Pooh’s life in one way or another. Mostly through his associates or allies. As foreshadowing to his eventual final fight, Ratigan gets slightly angry, only for Fidget to calm him down and the two retreat. Upon hearing that Grimhilde is dead, Bowser mourns a bit for her before he mutters: “He won’t be happy to hear this”…

EPISODE 2

With Pooh and friends now freed from Grimhilde’s grasp, they go on a journey to find home. This lands them in France where they grab the interest of an inventor named Maurice, who instantly adores and wants to help them. They soon meet his daughter Belle who gripes about this man named Gaston and you know where this is going.

Ash, meanwhile, upon the advice from Jiminy, seeks to try and find someone to regain his strength. He finds Gaston and, upon hearing how he’s a hero to the town, effectively becomes a second LeFou and hangs on his every word. Though it isn’t until Ash eavesdrop on a conversation between Gaston and an old judge named Frollo that not only is Gaston a dick, but that Frollo, like Ratigan, is working under Bowser.

Gaston quips about how Frollo supposedly died at Notre Dame, only for him to chuckle and go “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”, all while he seemingly holds onto a wooden talisman. Ash tries to confront Gaston, only for him to beat him up and leave him for dead in the snow. There he’s taken in by the Enchantress and healed up. Jiminy recognizes her as a fey, akin to the Blue Fairy. She warns Ash that what he did against Grimhilde stained his heart with darkness and that it would take an act of equal value to cleanse it. In other words, Ash must revive or otherwise save someone’s life, even indirectly. She also warns him that dark hearts will attract other dark hearts, even if they are slightly tainted. In other words, Ash is gonna find himself bumping into villains more than Pooh will.

Speaking of, the experience at Beast’s Castle helps Pooh to better trust Tigger. There may also be a nod to the Christmas Special where they joke about that time a piano tried to kill them (may be in feature length though) and after Gaston is killed, Ash and Pooh reunite and go off on their next journey. Maurice helps Pooh out by inventing a means for easier transport. “I call it the Wah-gon.”

EPISODE 3

There, they go to Agrabah where we get a little more insight as to the villains as Jafar has a brief chat with a dark fey named Maleficent about Bowser’s plan to get revenge over Grimhilde’s death, with a brief aside that Bowser plans in involving him into the matters.

Meanwhile, Ash and Pooh are easily separated. Ash ends up with Aladdin and is concerned about his thieving considering the Enchantress’s warnings about dark hearts attracting dark hearts. However, he eases up as Aladdin hands a spare piece of bread to a child. Pooh ends up in Jasmine’s palace, where, like before, her father ends up being enamoured with the stuffed animals. Jafar easily spells trouble for Pooh and friends, especially after he mentions someone named Bowser Jr. as a potential suitor for Jasmine.

Details are rough here, but I do want to see a scene where Jasmine initially gets interested in Ash over Prince!Aladdin, if only to hammer in the point that Jasmine loved Aladdin for himself and not for his riches. There’s also a bit where Jafar, after getting the lamp and becoming a sorcerer, gloats to Maleficent about obtaining more power than her. They have a brief clash to which Bowser interferes and tells the two to knock it off. Maleficent merely glares at Jafar and leaves, telling him that pride comes before the fall. Jafar is soon defeated and with a free Genie, he decides to tag along with Pooh, just for a bit while he stretches his legs.

EPISODE 4

There’s a rather light-hearted episode about them encountering Alice and going to Wonderland. For the most part, it’s just a silly episode to break away from the more serious stories. Even a funny bit where Ratigan tries to recruit the Queen of Hearts, only to find she’s off her rocker and goes “okay, screw this, I’m outta here”. Because Wonderland is meant to be wacky. That said, there’s two important bits of information: one, Alice recognizes Pooh as Christopher Robin’s toy and explains about how he’s been busy with school but that he’ll always have Pooh in his heart. And two, Ratigan mutters that he’ll try “the other Queen of Hearts.”

EPISODE 5

Another light-hearted, but more serious story involves Cinderella. Having been through this before, Ash and Pooh resolve to beat up Tremaine, only for the Fairy Godmother to interfere and tell them that by doing so, they’ll increase the dark stain in Ash’s heart. For Tremaine to truly be defeated, they must instead help Cinderella. The group take her advice and leave to help her. The Godmother is happy at this change and waits to help Cinderella in her time of need…

Only for Maleficent to find the Fairy Godmother and kill her, taking her wand. Genie is the one that replaces her in the “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo” sequence (citing he can’t stand to see a pretty woman cry) and stays out of helping her because he knows Pooh and Ash have it handled.

Ratigan is seen “helping” the mice, only to instead tip off Tremaine and her sisters about Cinderella. Pooh and Ash see Ratigan during the “break Cinderella out” scene and confront him, only for him to obtain control of Lucifer through a magical bell given to him by Maleficent. He uses Lucifer to nom at least some of the lesser important mice before being forced to retreat after Ash sics Pikachu at them. Ash still feels a little shook given how the last time he used Pikachu, he murdered someone, but Pooh reassures him that he’s helping Cinderella.

A dark idea I have that might not be featured because this is involving way too much than what is necessary is that Maleficent comes in Cinderella’s time of need and offers her power in trade for her allegiance to Bowser. In a moment of weakness, she accepts and burns the Tremaines, her hair turning blackish brown from the ashes. She goes full coocoo for coco puffs and embraces the teasing nickname she is given, renaming herself Cinder Fall. You can see why I’m not so keen on the idea, though if it sounds like a fun idea to you guys, I might include it.

Instead, Ash confronts Prince Charming (who ends up being the same Prince Charming that would have saved Snow White) about Cinderella and the two trade opinions. Ash tells Prince Charming that if he truly loves Cinderella, he has to be the hero and save her, while Prince Charming tells Ash about how he feels like marriage is an obligation, especially after his father passed away and it was made imperative that he married. Tempted to go further with this, go all Once Upon A Time, and reveal that he’s really the Pauper to the real Prince.

Tremaine also confronts Ash and tells her the backstory she had from the 2015 remake, where she had married Cinderella’s father and tried to make it better for them, only to realize that she had lived in the shadows of both the deceased mother and of Ella herself. She merely wanted to bring joy to their lives only to get slapped in the face and be indirectly told that she’ll never be significant in their lives. Ash shoots her down by pointing to the depressed Cinderella and telling her that rather than bring joy, she brought misery and despair and says how she will merely become a shadow that haunts Cinderella’s dreams.

So, after the glass slipper breaks, rather than bring out the spare, Prince Charming decides to go with his gut and accept Cinderella as the woman he fell in love with. Tremaine has one last talk with Cinderella where she breaks down and apologizes, only for Cinderella to forgive her. However, Tremaine is so wrecked with guilt that she feels like she can’t be forgiven, and goes into exile. Ash realizes how, like him, she too has a dark sliver in her heart that must be overtaken with an act of equal value. He goes off to follow her as Genie parts ways with Pooh to travel the globe.

EPISODE 6

This is a turning point as it’s a two-parter.

Pooh, following on a letter given to him by Alice, goes to the Darling estate, close to where Christopher Robin lives. However, they get a detour when Tinkerbell accidently puts pixie dust on Pooh and the happy thoughts of reuniting with him end up making him fly. Meanwhile, Ash finds Ratigan about to manipulate Tremaine to the dark side and confronts him. Ratigan ambushes them though and takes them to Captain Hook’s ship where they’ll be taken to Bowser to complete their corruption.

Thankfully, Hook has a one-mind track named Peter Pan and is busy fighting him instead of transporting them to Bowser. Once he gets more serious about killing Peter Pan, Ash believes it’s because he lost his hand to him and confronts him on it, only to be told that he lost more than that: Peter Pan killed his wife. Ash, having met him at some point during the battles between him and Hook, doesn’t believe him and that there has to be more to the story than that. Tremaine proves to be an effective lady on the ship and puts the pirates in line, helping Ash escape in the huge climax.

During said climax, rather than getting chased by Tick Tock like in the original, Hook tries to get Peter Pan to admit his murder. Maleficent appears and tells Hook to hurry up. The way she enters via green fiery entrance causes Hook to notice something off and remembers how his wife died: green fire. He asks Maleficent if she killed her. Maleficent gloats about it, telling him that she did kill his wife and blamed Peter Pan for it, if only to ensure that he’d side with Bowser. She reminds him that he’s only Bowser’s lapdog and that he should do as told if it’s good for him. Hook takes out a sword and swears revenge…

And then Maleficent explodes him with magic a la Watchmen. She groans and as Ash tries to fight her, she goes “ENOUGH OF THIS!” and uses the Fairy Godmother’s wand.

EPISODE 7

Ash wakes up in another timeline where Hook survives, never knowing of Maleficent’s actions, but Peter Pan has grown old and has kids. He tries to tell Hook the truth, only for him to refute Ash. He has gone on too long without revenge and the fact that Peter Pan gets to have a happy life and not him drives him to the deep end. Tremaine, meanwhile, tries to get through to Peter’s son, who has grown upset with his negligence, something she feels like she has done to Cinderella.

Pooh, meanwhile, is on another timeline where it’s Wendy who grew old and had kids. Basically the plots for both Hook and Return to Neverland happen side by side. However, Pooh is able to get through to Hook a lot easier than Ash by simply being dumb enough to let Hook come to the conclusion that Maleficent killed his wife himself. He swears vengeance on them, gives up fighting Peter Pan, and takes them back to London just as Ash returns from his version of Neverland. When the wand is used, it split the realm into two timelines, hence why London is the same. Ratigan is there to try and capture them all right here and now.

Ash retaliates by having Pikachu fight him. The fight is where Ratigan loses his temper and goes all out. The two are evenly matched until Pikachu steals the bell from Ratigan and causes him to fall off of Big Ben (with a little help from Peter Pan, who ends up getting synchronized between Hook!Peter and RTN!Peter thanks to returning to London.) Ash, not wanting to have any more blood on his hands, uses Pooh and his friends as makeshift cushions to save Ratigan and tells him to run. He does… then finds Maleficent who monologued about using the wand for her own purposes. Thinking she wants to overthrow Bowser thanks in part to his anger, he tries to fight Maleficent… only for her to step on him and call him vermin.

Oh, and at one point during this two parter, there’s a nod to Ash never aging from Peter Pan and possibly an implication that Ho-Oh gave him that immortality. And also the words “all of this has happened before and all of it will happen again” becomes a pretty relevant phrase throughout the two-parter and throughout the next couple of episodes.

EPISODE 8

Wendy informs Pooh that Christopher Robin has gone on a field trip to the amazons, so that’s where Pooh and his friends go with the help of Hook’s ship. This is where Hook departs, telling them that if they ever need a lift to simply call him with a repurposed communicator device that Bowser originally gave him. There, Pooh meets Jane, Christopher Robin’s aunt, who is out wanting to research for gorillas. There, he also meets Clayton and Injun Joe. Having met the Neverland Injuns, Pooh assumes both Clayton and Joe are friendly. Spoilers: they’re not.

This time, Ash is with the heroes and Pooh is with the villains. The reason is that Ash sympathizes with Tarzan as he had encountered someone like him before (The Kangaskhan Kid) and also how Tarzan’s savagery had him confused that he’s the one he should be worried about, not Clayton. Meanwhile, Pooh gets friendly with Clayton, while Rabbit and Tigger’s schism gets to its boiling point, causing the two to split. Tigger encounters Ash and finds the gorillas. He then goes to Clayton and tells them the location of the gorillas. This causes Clayton’s true nature to be revealed, to which Rabbit and Tigger just grow further apart.

There’s a brief war between man and gorilla, though in the moment of this, Maleficent appears before Clayton and Injun Joe and tells them to accomplish their gorilla hunting mission for Bowser. To help, Maleficent uses the Fairy Godmother’s wand to turn the in Injun Joe’s heart to turn him into a vicious Beast named Injurin’ Joe. Yes, I’m going with that. However, Joe’s new powers get to him and rather than Clayton hanging himself, as soon as he’s defeated, Joe kills and eats Clayton. Ash fights him, only for Pikachu to come in and save him with a Thunderbolt to the chest, killing Joe. Ash’s flashbacks are triggered and he shakes. Keep in mind that he’s a ten-year-old and had not only witnessed death, but also murdered two people at this point. Needless to say, Ash isn’t all right in the head, but Tremaine comforts Ash. By this point, she’s become the mother of the group, much to Rabbit’s dismay.

Jane informs Pooh that Christopher Robin sadly was lost at sea during a storm. The group is devastated. Too devastated to even move on…

EPISODE 9

A group of sailors hired by Professor Porter escort the group home on the ship, only for the storm to kick up again. Jiminy, in the midst of this, recognizes a whale that attacks them as Monstro, the very same whale that ate Geppetto and Pinocchio. With no time to react, the group is nommed by Monstro and this becomes our Belly of the Whale episode. With the very real fate of being digested by Monstro, Pooh and the others must make do with the fact that Christopher Robin may have died.

Pooh is depressed knowing his journey is for naught, Piglet is upset that Tigger and Rabbit are fighting amongst themselves, Eeyore is depressed because he’s Eeyore, Ash is convinced he’s doomed to be a villain, Tremaine is confronting her cruelty over Cinderella, and overall everyone’s bummed out. That’s when they hear a familiar voice. It’s Christopher Robin! Turns out he isn’t dead, but rather saved by Monstro. Jiminy wonders how that makes sense since the last time he met him, he wasn’t so nice…

Turns out he wasn’t. He expels them out before the newly crowned Queen of the Sea: Ursula.

EPISODE 10

Ursula, after granting the group the ability to breathe out of pity, tells them about how Bowser wanted them alive. Pooh & friends to once again be Bowser’s slave and Ash & Tremaine to become fully corrupted. Ash is tempted to use Pikachu to thundershock her, but that’s when Ursula stops him, pointing out that with each kill he racks up, it’s another stain on his heart. When it becomes fully tainted, he’ll be one with the darkness.

She locks them up and gets ready to meet Bowser. However, Ariel, in the process of trying to nab the trident from Ursula, finds Pooh and his friends, then breaks them out. Ariel ends up being fascinated with Ash and Tremaine given they’re humans while Pooh goes over and takes the Trident from Ursula. The group fight Ursula and manage to defeat her, only for Maleficent to appear and attempt to capture Pooh and his friends… Then Pooh uses Triton’s trident and causes a disruption with the Fairy Godmother’s wand, splitting the group including Maleficent. They split across time once more…

EPISODE 11

Ash awakens in the Fairy Realm where the Enchantress finds Ash. Her not knowing who Ash is confirms he’s in the distant past of Sleeping Beauty. Pooh and the others end up in a cottage where three kindly old ladies and a growing girl take them in, the present time of Sleeping Beauty (the past). And lastly, Maleficent and Tremaine end up at her broken castle in the future (the present).

Let’s break this down:

Ash and the Enchantress come across a beautiful fairy with hawk-like wings. To his surprise, she is Maleficent. Yes. I’m. Going. There. Anyways, this is the eve where Stefan goes to kill Maleficent to be crowned king. However, he can’t go through with it and so cuts off her wings. Ash confronts Stefan about this to which Stefan comments how he is willing to do anything to be king, but killing the one he loves is a line he couldn’t cross. He says that Ash should be grateful that Maleficent was spared and goes off into the night.

Pooh learn about the situation from the fairies and realize how much of a dick Maleficent is. The fairies conveniently leave out the bit where she used to be good until Stefan screwed her over. Prince Phillip is revealed to be a cousin of Prince Charming. The plot goes pretty much like Sleeping Beauty/Maleficent, except without Stefan going crazy-go-nuts in-between scenes.

Tremaine and Maleficent discuss about what Maleficent wants, as she recognizes the wand from the tales she used to read Cinderella. A wand with infinite powers, even reviving the dead if need be. She asks why she holds such a power to which she tells her about Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother. Or rather, she tells her about how she held so much power and yet did nothing when Cinderella suffered under her heel or even before Tremaine entered her life.

Tremaine is both upset and angry at this, but this time not to herself, but at the Godmother. Maleficent rubs this in by telling her about the Enchantress and how she turned a prince into a beast, with the servants being turned into items just to spite them. She gives her the revelation that fairies used to be nice and good, hearts of pure light. Then man intruded on their lands and turned them rotten. Now they wish to exact revenge on humanity, with Bowser giving them the means to do so. What she left out was that the fairies only do so to rotten humans. Those with black hearts. Prince Adam was selfish and so turned into the Beast. Injun Joe was cruel and so turned into Injurin’ Joe. Only to those who are pure of hearts or have a chance at redemption do the fairies intervene and help them.

And that’s what the Blue Fairy does: intervene. And boy is she pissed. Maleficent murdered her own kin for power. Maleficent calls her out by showing the wand. What kind of all-powerful being just sits there and does nothing while people suffer? With the wand’s power, she will save everyone, starting with herself. Before the Blue Fairy can do anything, she casts the spell and goes back in time.

Ash, due to the time travel on Maleficent’s part, ends up getting warped back to the point where Stefan is about to cut off Maleficent’s wings, only for Maleficent, the Blue Fairy, and Tremaine to appear. Maleficent tries to kill Stefan before he can do the deed, but Ash stops her and shows her how he couldn’t go through with killing her in the past. That, deep inside, he truly loved her enough to spare her. Maleficent, however, is far too gone to reconsider and before she can attack Stefan, the Blue Fairy rams into Maleficent and forces her to the present.

By this point, Pooh & friends are at the scene where Phillip is captured and the fairies go to break him out. It’s revealed that this is before Maleficent has teamed up with Bowser, let alone team up with him. Pooh and Christopher Robin break Phillip out while Rabbit and Tigger, finally finding a common ground, beat up the goblins while Piglet and Eeyore get the wagon ready for the group to ride out on. Soon, Ash’s group emerge and the two Maleficents, as they share the same time now, merge and the result is a more powerful dragon, the likes of which not even the fairies can stop. The Blue Fairy, however, summons Charizard and Ash hops on him to fight Maleficent in a sky battle while Pooh and the others figure out how to defeat Maleficent. The fairies enchant Phillip’s sword, but it can’t pierce the scales. Pooh, however, figures out a weakness and as soon as Maleficent roosts, he climbs on her. She can’t feel Pooh because he’s stuffed with fluff and during the battle, Pooh slowly and surely starts to rip apart her scales, eventually leaving a piece of flesh where Phillip can impale her. For added cool points, this is right after Ash’s Charizard does that “fly around the world” Seismic Toss he’s known for.

With Maleficent dead, Ash looks at the remains of her: the Fairy Godmother’s wand. He frowns and mutters that she’s the one whose darkness overtook her heart. He picked up the wand and with that resolve in mind, he goes to Stefan and tells her about Maleficent, only for him to break down into tears and realize the consequences of his actions. Tremaine notices this and reconciles with Stefan, telling him that what’s done is done and that they can only work towards a brighter future. She announces her intent to stay with Stefan and Aurora. Blue Fairy takes everyone back to present time where Ash finds that Tremaine had lived a good life with Stefan and Aurora, having found her one true place and redemption.

It seems like the happy ending is achieved since Pooh is reunited with Christopher Robin and Ash seems to have resolved his inner conflict, buuuut there’s one more obstacle that comes in and attacks Pooh and Ash: the same legendary Pokemon that split Ash from his friends. It descends and transforms into a warlock, who declares that Ash killed his sister, Queen Grimhilde.

EPISODE 12

The man introduces himself as Maliss and wants revenge on Ash. Ash steps forwards and tells him to kill him if it satisfies him. To which he does… Only for Pikachu to take the bullet. Cue that scene where Pikachu talks and everyone freaks out. Thankfully, Pikachu is spared thanks to the Blue Fairy’s intervention, but she ends up weakened from it. She reveals the reason fairies only intervene for good humans and punish bad ones. The pureness of someone’s heart fuels the magic. If the magic is to benefit a cruel person, then the fairy is punished for it by giving their life force. Same goes if they punish a kind person. It was put in place by Mother Nature herself to keep the Fairies in balance. There’s also one other problem, one that explains why the Fairy Godmother didn’t just bring Cinderella’s mother back: life must be paid with life. Essentially, Pikachu’s wounds transferred over to the Blue Fairy.

As the Blue Fairy dies, she tells them to seek out a wizard named Merlin. Before Maliss can continue his onslaught, Mewtwo intervenes and teleports them to his hideout: Skull, the same place Bowser was at. It turns out that the reason Bowser was there to begin with was to try and strike an alliance with Mewtwo, only for him to rebuff. Ash tries to talk to Mewtwo, given how he met him, but he tells Ash that he doesn’t remember Ash. The only human he does remember his is creator, someone named Dr. Spengler.

He explains that, like the previous Mewtwo, he escaped, but was without purpose. That’s when the Blue Fairy came and told him to prepare for a battle against the forces of Darkness. He basically gets Pooh up to speed about how Bowser is this evil dude who has legions of villains and he won’t stop until the world’s in his grasps. Ash feels guilty over what happened and goes to sulk. The Blue Fairy’s wand activates with the Fairy Godmother’s wand and sends him to an alternate universe entirely for a brief moment. There, he meets an adult Snow White who is happily married, not to him, but rather the Prince Charming that was meant to marry Cinderella. Snow White finds Ash familiar, but can’t seem to put her finger on it. Ash wants to tell Snow White how sorry he is for not reciprocating her love, but realizes that she might not even know what he’s talking about, so he words it as a “I have a friend” situation. She tells Ash not to lose hope and that true love can break any curse.

Ash flashes back and, with that resolve in mind, he goes off to revive Snow White with love’s first kiss. Snow White wakes up and they have a touching reunion. Maliss comes by to crash the party, but Pooh, with the help of Mewtwo, stop him. Bowser then arrives, fed up with Pooh’s constant interference and how each of his allies fell to him. He attacks Pooh while Ash fights Maliss. It’s a pretty climatic showdown, but Pooh is shown to be on the ropes despite putting up a good “fight” (read: running from Bowser). That is until Aladdin shows up on Carpet and slashes Bowser with a scimitar. Then Tarzan throws a spear at Bowser. Peter Pan flies in with his knife. I’d add more returning characters, but Adam’s no longer the Beast, Wonderland is explicitly a dreamish realm with no desire to interfere with this war, Ash is pulling double duty for Prince Charming, Ariel can’t walk on land yet, and Phillip died of old age.

But the point still stands, Pooh may not have strength, but he has something Bowser can never have: friends. This is made poignant when Christopher Robin, the friend that kickstarted his adventure in the process, being the one to defeat Bowser by tipping him and having him on his back. Bowser retorts by saying how his circle of mages are his friends and that he will come back with many more. Before the group can finish him off, a large owl flies in and carries Bowser off, telling him that his father wishes to speak to him.

Ash, meanwhile, utilizes a weakness of Maliss: he uses a cape that turns people into stone. Ash grabs the cape and uses it on Maliss, turning him to stone. He falls down and gravity finishes him off. Ash feels guilty at first, but doesn’t have the same twinge of malice he had when he killed Grimhilde nor the fear when he killed Injurin’ Joe. He feels Snow White hugging his back and realizes why. He wasn’t fighting for revenge or in the heat of the moment. He was fighting to protect the people he loves.

With everything neatly wrapped up, Ash leaves with Snow White to find his friends, Mewtwo stays in Skull while petting a wolf he calls Aisling, and Pooh and Christopher Robin have a heart-to-heart about school and how Christopher Robin tells Pooh that while he won’t always be around, he’ll still have a place in Pooh’s heart. Roll credits, everyone lives happily ever after, right?

WRONG!

EPILOGUE

Bowser is brought to a world of darkness by the Grand Duke of Owls. There, he is brought face to face with a robed man he calls “father”. The man demands to know why some of Bowser’s strongest wizards have been put out of commission, to which Bowser tells him of Pooh. He is intrigued by the notion that Bowser was defeated by a fluffy teddy bear, but also embarrassed. He declares that Bowser’s son, Bowser Jr., will depart to far-east Asia to prepare for the oncoming storm. Bowser tries to protest, grabbing the man by the collar. The hood falls off, revealing a skeleton.

The skeletal man reassures Bowser. He’s training with a powerful empire and that when he returns with his betrothed, he will be the most powerful Koopa in the land. Bowser is pissed, but acknowledges what needs to be done. “I know… I must avenge Mother….” The skeleton then tells the Grand Duke of Owls to fetch him a potato sack. Confused, the DGoO obliges and goes over to fetch a sack. The skeleton then summon forth bugs to go over and infest the bag, eating the potatoes and eventually making the sack its home. It then rises and stands straight up before contorting the bag to make arms and legs, and finally, a head.

“What brings me to your service, oh Wiseman?” Oogie Boogie asks.

----

And yeah, that’s basically how I’d rewrite Pooh’s Adventures. Took about a good 6 hours to write up the first season. What do you guys think?

#Pooh's Adventures #Winnie the Pooh #Fanfic #Crossover

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travelersguidetodisney · 5 years

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Top 5 Table Service Restaurants at Disney World

***Disclaimer: These are the views and opinions of the author(s). Though many Disney World visitors may share these opinions, they may not apply to the overall general public. All opinions are valid and appreciated. Note: I have also excluded Victoria and Albert's from this list. Though it is arguably the best restaurant at Walt Disney World, being a AAA Five Diamond Recipient. However, since the dining experience cost $250-$300 per person and is not suitable for younger kids, I can't in good conscience recommend the restaurant. If you do not have younger kids and have a lot of money to blow on a celebration, then by all means, go to Victoria and Albert's. Some of the best food at Walt Disney World is there. However, it will be excluded from this list because it is not younger-family and financially friendly. Planning a trip to Walt Disney World is overwhelming to say the least. There are so many different places you could stay and so many different places you could eat. And a lot of the times, it is hard to tell if you're going to a place with good quality food unless you do some serious research. So to make your next Disney trip easier, here are Travelers' Guide to Disney top five favorite table-service restaurants at Walt Disney World.

5. Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom

If you're looking for a scenic character-dining experience, look no further--Crystal Palace is for you! Located on the edge of Main Street USA, bordering Adventureland, the Crystal Palace offers a buffet/family style arrangement of American cuisine. It ranges between $35-$59.99 per adult and it also accepts some dining plans. If you're on a dining plan, it takes up 1 for either the regular or the deluxe plan. However, it does not take the Quick-Service dining plan. Set in a beautiful building modeled after the Crystal Palace Exhibition in Hyde Park, London in 1851 (which is now destroyed), you'll get too look upon the hustle-and-bustle in front of Cinderella's Castle as you dine with some friends from the Hundred-Acre Woods! Honestly, Crystal Palace is probably my favorite character-dining experience in terms of characters; you get a lot of bang for your buck. In addition, friends from the Hundred-Acre Woods are sort of rare to be seen anywhere else in Disney World (apart from the character meet-and-greet at the Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, though that is commonly just Tigger and Pooh). You and your kiddo will get to meet Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore. For the Crystal Palace, it is really important to make a reservation and even then there could be a little bit of a wait time--it is one of the most popular restaurants in the Magic Kingdom. And though the restaurant itself can get crowded and a little loud, it is a great character-dining experience. However, if you are going with older kids or you and your friends, this might be a character-dining experience you can skip out on. That being said, you'll really enjoy it if you do decide to do it. I grew up going to the Crystal Palace, so on my latest trip it was hard to pass on this character-dining and try out new restaurants.

4. Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom

Be Our Guest is the newest restaurant in the Magic Kingdom, a part of the overhaul that is New Fantasyland. Ranging between $15-$34.99 per person, Be Our Guest offers American and French-style cuisine a quick service/fast casual dining experience. For breakfast and lunch, Be Our Guest accepts 1 of all dining plans (the quick service, dining plan, and deluxe dining plan). However, at dinner since it is a character-dining experience, it only accepts 2 of the dining plan and deluxe dining plan. One of the reasons why Be Our Guest is on Travelers' Guide to Disney top 5 is its impeccable theming. Walking up the restaurant, you see the castle from Beauty and the Beast up in the mountains. It is truly amazing how imagineers made the castle appear life-size and far away. And as you walk through the broken archway and a bridge, you enter through the gates of what seems to be like a hidden fortress under a mountain range. And as you walk in, there is a beautiful mosaic of Belle and Adam, so make sure to snag a picture of that! You have the options to eat in three rooms: the ballroom, the library, and the west wing. The ball room is the largest and it is gorgeously decked out at Christmas. At the back of the ballroom there are seven large grand mirrors depicting a snowy night outside--and get this! For that display imagineers used actual animation from the original film! And if you look above to the breathtaking chandeliers, you'll see a fantastic mural on the ceiling--and the cherubs are the actual faces of imagineers or their kids as a baby! On one side of the ballroom is the library, which personally I think is the least cool room in the Be Our Guest restaurant--but that does not mean its theming is less extraordinary. The center of the room there is an arched enclave on a spinning Belle and Beast and depictions of scenes throughout the movie are hanging on the walls. On the other side of the ballroom is my favorite room (and probably the hardest to find tables in) is the west wing. This room is themed to the shattered remains of the Beast's personal corridors, with torn curtains, paintings, barely-lit lights. The iconic rose is placed in the center of a bay window--and this is something you should keep an eye on. Every time a petal falls, the Beast roars and the picture of Adam briefly flashes to that of the Beast. Note: if you make a reservation online prior to your Disney vacation, you can order your meals! It's always a fun treat!

3. Chefs de France in Epcot

Chefs de France is one of the more underrated restaurants in Walt Disney World, but I think it's one of the best. In the front of the France Pavilion at Epcot, it cost $15-$34.99 per person. It takes one Disney dining plan and one deluxe dining plan. Chefs de France offers a delicious menu of French cuisine surrounded by unique French theming. I had a mouth-watering filet that I devoured in ten minutes. It was truly one of the best dishes I have ever had a Disney World. The dessert section of the menu is also incredibly good, offering an array of French dishes that will surely satisfy your sweet tooth! The restaurant itself is family-friendly and offers amazing views of the World Showcase and the rest of Epcot. Commonly, there is also street shows in front of the restaurant. It's a really entertaining way to pass the time while you're waiting for your food. There is also a beautiful fountain that you can view through the windows of the restaurant. The French theming is impeccable, giving you a perfect Parisian vibe. As I mentioned above, it is family-friendly, but I still would recommend it more for older visitors, since it is not a character dining.

2. Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge

I've only recently discovered Sanaa and I really wish I knew about it sooner. Located in Kidani Village of Animal Kingdom Lodge (the Disney Vacation club section of the hotel), Sanaa offers delicious African cuisine with Indian flavors as exotic animals roam the savanna before you. Ranging between $15-$34.99 per adult, Sanaa also takes one regular dining plan and one deluxe dining plan. Though Sanaa does offer kids menu, I still would recommend this restaurant to older family and friends instead, for some of the food may not appeal to the younger audience. That being said, it is absolutely DELICIOUS. When you go to Sanaa, you have to get the Indian-style bread service. Before going to Sanaa, I had read numerous reviews all loving the restaurant and recommending the bread plate. You get five types of bread and my favorite was the Garlic Naan--it almost melts in your mouth. Then you get nine accompaniments, all ranging in different level of spiciness. My brother and I tried every single spread, which is probably one of my fondest memories of our latest Disney trip. My entire family has a relatively low spice-tolerance, so my parents found it quite hilarious when my brother and I got to the spicier accompaniments. Though the rest of my meal and the view of the wildlife was absolutely delicious, the Indian-style bread service was my favorite part. The view of the wildlife was also amazing. I definitely recommend arriving to Animal Kingdom Lodge before your reservation. For starters, it is a really pretty hotel to walk around. Secondly, the waiting area for Sanaa is an outdoor patio that is in the heart of the wildlife savanna. You can get a really great and close view of wildlife. When you go to Sanaa there's no definite chance that you'll be seated next to a window, so it is always good to get there beforehand so you can get a good look at the wildlife.

1. The Garden Grill

Numerous Disney blogs rank Garden Grill as the best character-dining experience and I one-hundred percent agree. I have been going to Garden Grill since I was a little kid and every time I go back I love it even more. It is my family's favorite restaurant and I don't see us ever not going. Garden Grill is a family style/buffet of American cuisine in Future World of Epcot. It is $35 to $59.99 per adult and also accepts one dining plan and one deluxe dining plan. Not only will you get to meet Chip and Dale, but also Mickey and Pluto in their special Garden Grill outfits. What makes Garden Grill unlike any other restaurant is that it is slowly rotating--that's right! It's spinning in a circle. However it is so slow that you barely even notice and does not give you motion sickness or effects your meal. You even go through a bit of Living with the Land, a fun educational ride about our earth's ecosystem and is definitely an attraction you should hit before or after your reservation. Speaking of reservations, you should always make one at Garden Grill; it is so popular that sometimes there is even a wait time with one. Garden Grill has some really great comfort food that really hits the spot, especially during the holidays. It is incredibly family friendly and even the young kiddos will love the food. Everyone is super friendly and you should definitely make a reservation at the Garden Grill during one of your days at Epcot!

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