Wife Mother Runner @DisneyPixar Archives

4 Reasons Why Toy Story 4 Related To Me

July 5, 2019

The whole family went to see Toy Story 4 on opening day. We bought our tickets in advance so we wouldn’t miss it! I loved all of the previous Toy Story Movies so I was very excited about this one. There are a lot of huge moments in this movie that made me feel many different emotions. I’ll share with you the 4 reasons why Toy Story 4 related to me.

I also took the family to Toy Story Land in Walt Disney World this past January during the Early Magic Hours so we could have time there to ourselves. That’s how much I love Toy Story.

1. Woody Fostered A New “Toy”

I love how Woody took the role of mentor to Forky. He was doing his job to make sure Bonnie was ok in kindergarten when he snuck in her backpack. Then when he saw she was upset he quickly came to the rescue with some various crafting supplies that later became Forky. When Forky came to life he was conflicted. Woody had to teach Forky that he was valuable and not a piece of trash.

Forky needed to learn that he has an important role to play in Bonnie’s life.

2. Buzz Lightyear Had To Listen To His Inner Voice

Woody had to leave Buzz Lightyear in charge and his advice to Buzz was to listen to his inner voice. Buzz, not really knowing what that was, used the buttons on his space suit and listened to that “voice” instead. It was quite hysterical. But Buzz did a good job stepping up for the job and took care of the rest of the toys while Woody and Forky were out in the world looking for Bonnie.

AND BEYOND – Buzz Lightyear is back on the big screen in Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4,” joining Woody and the whole gang on an eye-opening road trip that takes them to unexpected places, including a carnival. Featuring Tim Allen as the voice of Buzz, “Toy Story 4” opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

I related to this this year because I have had to listen to my inner voice and trust my instincts on decisions I need to make for my business. This has been a big year for me and so far I think I have been making good decisions. I don’t have regrets so far.

3. Bo Peep and Woody Are Meant To Be Together

Woody happened upon Bo Peep in an antique shop while looking for Bonnie and her family. He spotted her lamp in the window and was so surprised to find her there! Earlier in the movie when Bo was given away with other things, Woody and Bo had a tearful goodbye.

GIGGLE MCDIMPLES — In Disney•Pixar’s “Toy Story 4,” Bo Peep introduces Woody to her best friend Giggle McDimples. A miniature plastic doll from the 1980s, Giggle is Bo’s confidant, supporter and advisor, and spends a lot of her time perched on Bo’s shoulder. Featuring Ally Maki as the voice of Giggle, “Toy Story 4” opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019…©2019 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

Their relationship evolved throughout the movie and Woody saw Bo in a new light. She was independent, strong and knew what she wanted and went after it. I love that portrayal of Bo Peep in the movie. I also admired how she took charge of her group of toy friends and Woody’s admiration of her.

4. We All Have To Follow Our Heart

(Spoiler Alert!) I was surprised about this part of the movie and I actually felt really torn about it. Woody had to decide if he was going to stay with Bo Peep or head back home with the toys. He chose to follow his heart and stayed with Bo.

Sometimes we need to make difficult decisions in our life. It’s not always about what is right for everyone else, but it’s about choosing to do what is right for you.

Toy Story 4 was the perfect family movie. There was something for everyone, we laughed, cried, cried laughing, and there were a few screams during the movie. I loved it so much I am going to go see it again soon. I can’t wait to watch it again and look for the little easter eggs that Pixar drops into their films.

Have you seen the movie yet? What did you think of it? I’d love to hear if the 4 reasons why Toy Story 4 related to me are similar for you, too. Share your thoughts with me in the comments below.

Emotional Toy Story 4 Trailer And Activity Sheets

May 31, 2019

Toy Story 4 is coming out on June 21st! This is going to be the perfect movie to kick off summer vacation! But bring your tissues! I am hearing that it’s going to be an emotional Toy Story 4.

Emotional Toy Story 4 Final Trailer

The Story Behind Toy Story 4

I fell in love with Toy Story when it first came out in 1995. Then Toy Story 2 was released in 1999; and when Toy Story 3 came out in 2010, we took our son to see it for his first movie. I never tire watching any of these movies when they are on.

Toy Story 4 takes Woody, Buzz and the whole gang on a road trip. But first, Woody takes on a new role as Bonnie prepares to go to kindergarten. As Bonnie is growing up, Woody is also having to transition into a new role. He needs to be there for Bonnie.

When she was struggling during kindergarten orientation, Woody dug through a trash can to retrieve a few art supplies to create something for Bonnie. When his creation becomes a toy named Forky, Woody has to teach him how to become a toy and embrace being a toy. But Forky struggles with his feelings of being trash and not a toy.

As the movie continues, the toys and their new friend Forky go on a road trip that unexpectedly reunites Woody and his long-lost friend Bo Peep. Woody learns of Bo Peep’s new life outside of Andy’s house. There was always a special connection or love between Woody and Bo Peep. When they are reunited she shares with Woody her new life and how she has changed.

There’s so much more excitement in the movie with the introduction of new characters such as Duke Caboon, Gigg McDimples, Benson, Ducky and Bunny. Woody and the gang meet these new characters in an antique store called Second Chance Antiques, and at a carnival.

I can’t wait to meet these new characters and follow the adventures of Woody, Buzz and the gang! Check out more fun facts about the movie on the Toy Story 4 Facebook page!

Toy Story 4 Activity Sheets

Download, print and color the pages with your kids for great summer fun before the movie comes out! Make some of the recipes to bring with you to the movie, too!

Coloring Sheets

Games

Recipes

Emotional Toy Story 4 Trailer And Activity Sheets

Are you going to see the movie? Which of the first three movies was your favorite?

Disneyland Half Marathon Medals Released

July 25, 2017

The new runDisney medals were released on Monday for the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend. With just over a month left until the race, things are starting to come together in regards to the theme for the race. This means I need to get my head around some costume ideas!

Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend Sponsored by Cigna Race Themes

Based on the images on each medal the themes for each race is the following:

5K – Incredibles

10k – Monsters Inc.

Half Marathon – Toy Story

Attention Dumbo Double Dare Legacy Runners!

Good news for Dumbo Double Dare legacy runners! I read the fine print and answered a question I had been wondering for a long time. With the change of the theme moving to Pixar, Dumbo Double Dare legacy runners will be recognized with a special medal.

Since I have never done a Pixar theme for a race before this will be fun and interesting to pull together rather quickly. Thank God for Pinterest and Etsy!

Do you have any ideas for me? What will you be dressed up as for these races?

D23 Expo Movie Updates From Pixar and Walt Disney Studios

July 20, 2017

In addition to the Disney Parks and Resorts announcements that took place at Day 2 of the D23 Expo, there were also announcements over the weekend in regards to movies coming up from Pixar and Walt Disney Studios, Disney, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm. Since there are quite a few new releases from each studio I will separate this blog post into two posts. One from Pixar and Walt Disney Studios and the second from Disney, Marvel Studios.

Here is my summary recap video of the news from Pixar and Walt Disney Studios.

Trailers

You can view available trailers for some of these upcoming movies below:

COCO

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure

And A Special Edna Mode Retrospective

John Lasseter was excited to share with fans a look at what the fashion world thinks of super-suit stylist Edna Mode—the petite-but-powerful character introduced in Pixar Animation Studio’s 2004 Oscar®-winning feature. Showcasing fashion phenoms from Heidi Klum and Kendall Jenner to Zac Posen and Rachel Zoe, the video can be viewed here:

With all these great movies coming out just from the Pixar and Walt Disney Studios you will have lots to do with the family for movie trips! Be sure to keep an eye out for my next update from Disney, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm. There’s just as many new movies coming from them as well!

Race To Your Theater To See Cars 3!

June 27, 2017

If you haven’t seen the new Cars 3 movie yet, I suggest you race down to your nearest theater to see it! My family and I went to see it during its opening weekend and loved it! I love to go to the newest movies during release weekends because I feel like there is a special excitement in the air. The theater is usually more full, and you are one of the first to see the movie. We had seen the latest releases of Star Wars, Beauty and the Beast, Moana, Finding Dory, and Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales all during their release weekends.

Cars is a winner in our house

My son was always a big fan of the original Cars movie. My son was born in 2007 and Cars was released in 2006. Since I grew up in a family who loves NASCAR, naturally we had to see the Cars movie. We loved it and when my son was old enough to watch movies this was on repeat in our house. He loved to line up all his cars on the rug and play with them. He had just about every Cars toy you can have and of course, one of his birthday party themes was Cars! Fast forward to 2017, he is now 10 years old and STILL loves his cars and the Cars movies.

NASCAR cameo appearances in Cars 3

Since I am a NASCAR fan it was fun to hear the voices of the drivers and racing-related personalities from NASCAR such as Kyle Petty, Humpy Wheeler, Ray Evernham, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Jeff Gordon, Shannon Spake, Darrell Waltrip, Darrell Wallace Jr. and Daniel Suárez in the film.

*SPOILER ALERT**

Cars 3 was special. I loved the relationship Lightning McQueen developed reluctantly with his assigned trainer Cruz. He worked with this trainer after a devastating crash which took him out of racing for 4 months. Reluctantly, Lightning started training with Cruz and inadvertently started training her to believe in herself. Cruz, having been told she would never be a racer, didn’t believe she had what it took to be a race car driver. As her friendship with Lightning McQueen grew they leaned on each other to help each other reach their goals. No realizing that in the end they both would end up winning. Your favorite characters from the previous Cars movies are in Cars 3 such as Mater, Mack, Sally and Doc. As well as some new ones like Doc’s old friends and his trainer Smokey.

I don’t want to give away too much of the story, so I’ll leave it up to you to step on it and make a pit stop to your theater and see it soon!

Making of the Movie

Disney Pixar on Twitter shared some great backstory information about the making of the movie. John Lasseter holds a Motorama event that takes place on the lawn of Pixar Studios. This year’s Motorama took place on the same day as the release of Cars 3! John Lasseter has always loved car. He said “I have always loved cars. In one vein I have Disney blood, and in the other I have motor oil.” Jay Ward is the Creative Director for Cars 3. He is the perfect member of the team because of his knowledge of the details in cars. He visited the ghost tracks in the deep south to get a sense for the sport and added that feeling into the film.

After You Reach The Finish

After you see the heart racing film, you can download a fun app to your phone for playing the new Cars 3: Driven to Win game and continue the fun to train and challenge your family and friends in the Battle Race to become the Ultimate Champion!

2016 One Word Resolution

January 26, 2016

For the past few years I have been using a one word resolution around the new year as the word of my year. Last year the word I chose was Challenge, the previous year was Grow. This year is Joy. I want to bring joy back into my life. I want to bring it back into my running, my work and my entire outlook on things.

Ironically Joy is also a character from the movie Inside Out. I was fortunate enough to be selected last year to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration in Orlando and we had a sneak peek preview of the Movie Inside Out. The main character in the movie is Joy. I connected with her. She ran the main dashboard in the brain of the character Riley. Joy did everything she could to make sure that Riley was happy all of the time. She tried to ward off sadness, fear, anger and disgust. I feel like I am running the dashboard of life and my family’s life like Joy does.

I can’t lie, there have been times in the past year when I was lacking some Joy in my life. There were some really tough times. You may not see that in my blog posts or in my social media posts because I don’t show those sad times. I share the happy events that we are having. Who wants to hear someone complaining about life and the challenges they are up against or the sicknesses that they are fighting? I’d rather share my good news than my bad ones. But that still brings me to my point. There are things that I am going through in many areas of my life where the Joy is missing. I am working on that. That is my plan for this year. To change some of the things that lost some Joy and bring it back.

One area for certain was my running. Last fall I was falling out of love with training – not running, it was the training that I was hating. I was training for my marathons and was struggling with putting in the long runs required. Something happened, I think it was burnout, that made the actual training runs more of a chore than a time of enjoyment for me.

I just completed the Walt Disney World Dopey Challenge a few weeks ago and I enjoy running. The taper weeks leading up to that race were better for me. The pressure was off, the longest run was done and the little runs I did prior to the races were to stay loose and to keep my mind from going stir crazy. Now that I have completed the races I am in a recovery period where I am not pushing hard for speed or high mileage; but just getting out on the road when I want to for my pleasure. I do have to increase my runs soon to prepare for my next races but I am not dreading the training like I did last Fall.

This is a look of pure Joy! I was so glad to have completed my second Dopey challenge and I loved every minute of the races!

I want to add Joy back into my work. In December I was involved with a large project at work that was taking up many hours of my time. I had some very long work weeks; but I was also learning new things. I want to feel the joy of trying new things and testing things out and growing in my career. I had that for some time last year and then things got a little hectic where I felt like I wasn’t learning as much as I wanted to. So I want to make sure that I still enjoy my work and am growing from it.

For my family life things have been a little rough at home. I have to be honest. The kids are fighting a lot; they have been coughing since November and it seems like every 5 minutes someone is complaining to me about something that the other person said. I just had to pause writing this post to play referee about an elastic band that goes around the base of a toothbrush because the kids were fighting over what color they can use even though my husband did rock-paper-scissors with them to make it fair.

It must be something about the middle of winter making everyone nutty. Even though we just had a large snowstorm this past weekend and the kids can go out and sled ride there seems to be something wrong with the snow each time they go out. It’s melting too fast, or the sleds aren’t fast enough. Where’s the joy??? Time for me to don my snow pants and get back out there with them more to make insane sled riding paths and ramps, start a fire in the fire pit and bring the fun back into winter.

Motherhood isn’t easy, I realize that. I want to always have a good time. I know not every day will be days with smiles and happy children and husband. I know every day at work won’t be easy or fun. But I’m trying to change my outlook. I’m trying not to lose my cool. I’m going to work hard this year to fill my life with more Joy!

“You have to get through your fear to see the beauty on the other side” – Poppa

December 2, 2015

That was a quote from Poppa, the father dinosaur from the movie, The Good Dinosaur. We took the kids to see the movie last Sunday, our last day of the wonderful Thanksgiving weekend we had. I wanted to have something fun planned for each day that we had off. It was a fantastic weekend!

The movie was full of emotions! On our way our of the theater my son and I were talking about how the movie was like Inside Out because we felt every emotion during The Good Dinosaur – sad, happy, fear, disgust and anger. It was yet another hit from Disney Pixar.

That one particular quote was said close to the beginning of the movie and as soon as Poppa said it I immediately wanted to write it down. As I thought about it over the past few days it really ties into many elements of my life. One in particular that I can recall is last December with my job. My co-worker was going on a 3 week vacation from work and we preparing me to handle all of the accounts while she was out. But she was always going to be available for me should I need to reach out to her. But this was my chance to spread my wings a little more and stand on my own two feet. I recall specifically one account with a person that Heidi worked with primarily. I had very little to almost no contact with this person and the site they worked on. Her name is Ellen. Now Ellen is one of my favorite clients to work with.

So when Heidi left and Ellen reached out to me with a question, fear set in. I was afraid of the type of work that needed to be done for Ellen’s account. I was still learning some things and wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to deliver the standard of support that Heidi delivered to Ellen. Well I did my best and was able to give Ellen what she needed (with some gentle guidance from Heidi). I pushed past my fear and learned some new things.

In my running life I have fear. Anytime I am at a race there is that rush you feel prior to the race, sometimes up to 3 or 4 days for a marathon. But I don’t know what the fear is, specifically. I always finish, so I can’t say that it is about failing. I know how to be smart about my training to avoid injury, so I haven’t gotten injured in a race. So what is the fear? Is it just part of the process when doing races? Fear to give you the edge you need to push yourself a little harder and go a little longer when training?

I know for sure, that when I have a long training run on my schedule I get anxious. I think it is the fear that I am going to be out on the roads alone for such a long time and that I am doing something that many “normal” people don’t do. But once I am done and I am showered and refueled and refreshed I do see the beauty on the other side. I have those miles behind me and I accomplished another feat.

The movie had a lot of great learning points in it. I will give a more general review of the movie in another post, but I wanted to share the point that struck me the most within the first 10 minutes of the movie.

Did you see The Good Dinosaur? What did you think of the movie?

Inside Out Sneak Peek

June 13, 2015

Prior to our arrival to the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, the agenda said that we would be going to Downtown Disney early in the morning on Saturday for a few hours. I suspected that we were going for a movie screening; buT didn’t know which movie we were going to see.

During the General Session on Friday, Jonas Rivera, Producer and Vice President of Production for Pixar happened to mention a little movie coming out called “Inside Out”. It was then, that we learned we were going to get a Sneak Peek into DIsney Pixar’s latest new movie.

Jonas shared with us what goes into the making of an animated picture. He showed us several of the different roles that the artists have and how much work goes into a movie. He said they make a movie nine to ten times before a movie is actually completed! The premise of the movie was inspired by the experiences ones of the team members was having with his tween daughter. I’m sure you all want to know what goes on inside the brains of your children. During Jonas’ presentation we saw movie clips, sketches and the voice artists of all of the characters. I was excited to learn that we were going to see this movie. I wasn’t sure if it would be Inside Out of Tomorrowland for our special sneak peek so I was excited to learn that it was Inside Out. I was even more excited after I saw more about the characters in the movie and the voice personalities.

On Saturday morning, after our ride-along video taping in the Magic Kingdom (more to come on that in a future post), we were bused back from the Magic Kingdom to the Yacht Club where we got on another bus to Downtown Disney around 8:30. When we got to the theater we had to check our cell phones in at the front. No video taping or photographs were allowed during the screening of the film. It was TOP SECRET! We then picked up our Grab and Go breakfast boxes, fruit, muffins, coffee, tea and juice and went to the theater. I have never been to the AMC Theater in Downtown Disney. The seats were very comfortable and the theater was really nice!

Before the movie started we were treated to some previews to Star Wars Rebels coming on Disney XD June 20. We also saw a preview to the new Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. I had seen it before but seeing the preview in the movie theater gave me goose bumps!! I didn’t consider myself a big Star Wars fan (I’m sorry, don’t shoot me!) I like the movies; but I don’t consider myself a Star Wars junkie. But now that I saw the preview I want to watch all of the movies over the next few months to get ready for the new movie. I can’t wait to see it in December!

We had one last surprise before we saw the movie. We Pixar short file called “Lava” which was adorable! We had the chance to see the entire movie but you can see a clip from it here:

Inside Out comes out in theaters on June 19th. We saw two thirds of the movie so we will be going to the theater to see the entire film! It was THAT good! Will you be going to see Inside Out this summer?

Tag: @DisneyPixar