Nicole Siscaretti

“Teen Beach Movie” Beach Party Makes Waves at Typhoon Lagoon

1 July 2013 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

Now through September 1st, Typhoon Lagoon guests will get an extra splash of summer as the Teen Beach Movie Beach Party makes its way to the shore of the park’s wave pool. Expect a water balloon toss, hula hooping and more with a DJ providing the tunes. This Limited Time Magic event will happen a few times throughout the day so check for times in the park.

I got to experience the Beach Party on a special day. Three Disney Channel stars from the movie were there to surprise guests! I really enjoyed interviewing Garrett Clayton, Chrissie Fit and Kent Boyd and getting to know them a little better before Teen Beach Movie debuts on the Disney Channel on July 19th.

Garrett Clayton, who plays Tanner, has such an exciting story behind getting his role. He got the call that he was cast in the movie while working at a restaurant. Garrett had also auditioned for another role he was waiting to hear back about and the news went something like “you’re not going to be a cheerleader but you are going to be a surfer.” I asked about the big hair in the movie and Garrett was all for it. His friends once jokingly referred to him as a Ken doll.

You may already know Kent Boyd from his success on So You Think You Can Dance in 2010. It was totally adorable when I asked him about Teen Beach Movie merchandise and “how you feel about having your face possibly on–” and he excitedly blurted out “cake!” and laughed. I was thinking more along the lines of backpacks and lunch boxes but a cake would be way cooler. He thinks it’s fun and noted that his sister grew up with that with High School Musical. Boyd said “I think it’s an honor.” He later noted “I think it would be really weird to be on a bed spread.”

“The shock of it was crazy but I didn’t have a lot of time to live in it because I had to get on a plane the next day and go to Puerto Rico” Chrissie Fit told me about being cast as Chee Chee. Puerto Rico is where the movie was filmed. Chrissie is from Miami, Florida and grew up coming to Walt Disney World with her family.

I talked about the Disney Parks, Disneyland and Walt Disney World, with all three of them. “There’s so much history at Disneyland but Disney World is really a world” said Garrett. When I asked Kent if he preferred Space Mountain or Splash Mountain we ended up talking about these attractions on both coasts. How fun.

Since the Starbucks on Main Street just opened (and we here at Zannaland love Starbucks!) I thought it would be fun to ask the cast what their go-to drink is —

Garrett: Iced black coffee

Kent: Iced Chair latte with soy milk

Chrissie: White Mocha Frappucino

…

Big thanks to Nicole Siscaretti for covering this event for Zannaland and getting us the scoop on the Teen Beach Movie Beach Party going on now at Typhoon Lagoon, and to the stars of the movie for taking time to speak to us. If you are headed there this summer, get ready for extra fun! Be sure to watch Teen Beach Movie on the Disney Channel, premiering July 19.

Nicole Siscaretti Teen Beach Movie — Stars Garrett Clayton and Kent Boyd with Nicole (who is recovering from a theme park pyrotechnic fall-out and rockin’ a band-aid while it heals!)

Video: Beautifully Disney Cosmetics Line Debuts at Downtown Disney

3 March 2013 by Suzannah Otis 2 Comments

For those following along on Instagram, twitter or Facebook, I’ve been teasing the Beautifully Disney line of makeup as it launched unofficially Friday night, and officially Saturday morning. Some local bloggers were treated to a mini-makeover demonstration of the eye shadows and lip glosses from the first collection to be released – Wickedly Beautiful. Two other collections will be released in the coming months, and from what we are told, these will be limited release, so if you see something you like, stock up now!

Wickedly Beautiful features a dual personality – princesses and villains, taking you into a world of good versus evil, where soft and deep lacquer crèmes shimmer with glitter, richly unite to create modern interpretations of Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Aurora, Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine, Ursula, and Maleficent. For every princess-themed shade, there is a complementary villains color to go with it. The collection offers 2 eyeshadow palettes with 4 shadows each, 8 lip glosses and 8 nail polishes, each with a little bit of sparkle and fun that works for everyone. The eyeshadow palettes are Enchanted Kiss – the princess shades, and Midnight Hour, the villains shades.

What we learned this morning is that both the shadows and glosses are build-able, meaning you can use a lighter color for daytime/office wear and then build upon that with a darker shade or an additional pop of color for something more dramatic. I will say this – when I saw the lip glosses last night, I wasn’t convinced they would be worth investing in. But seeing them first hand, as well as the shadows, I was truly impressed and excited to add them to my makeup collection. Little tricks like adding the pop of shimmery silver or gold to the center of your lips on top of the colored gloss, makes a huge difference and looks really lovely in person!

Another treat for our little preview this morning was a visit from Isabella – the fashion diva who you may remember from the Disney Dooney & Bourke trunk show from last summer. I interviewed Isabella to get a little more insight into the new makeup line. She had a lot of fun things to share about her favorites:

Big thanks to Nicole from SparklyEverAfter.com for taking and editing this video! #Smoketural!

Here’s a gallery of photos from the today’s event at Tren-D launching the Wickedly Beautiful collection:

Princesses lip glosses plus Wicked Queen

Princesses lip glosses plus Wicked Queen names

The upcoming lines are Unlock the Spell, releasing in Spring/Summer 2013 and Fiery Spirit, releasing in Fall/Winter 2013. Unlock the Spell looks like it has a Belle theme, while Fiery Spirit seems to have Pocahontas as its theme.

Wickedly Beautiful is on sale now at Tren-D and World of Disney in Walt Disney World’s Downtown Disney, and Vault 28 at Disneyland’s Downtown Disney District. For a limited time, with any $40 purchase of Beautifully Disney, you can purchase the compact mirror for only $10. Current pricing on available Wickedly Beautiful products are as follows:

Lacquer Crème Nail Polish $8.95
Lip Gloss – $14.95
Mirrored Logo Compact – $16.95
Eye Shadow Palettes – $27.95
Cosmetic bags vary from $16.95 and up

Instagram Lets You Create and Enjoy Insta-Disney!

4 February 2013 by Suzannah Otis 5 Comments

It’s no secret that social media is an amazing way to connect with friends, make new friends, and in the case of bloggers, keep in touch with readers and reach new ones. The major networks are of course, Facebook, twitter, and most recently, Pinterest and tumblr have joined the mainstream. It may seem hard to keep up with all of the outlets out there, so you might decide to be a “Facebook person” or a “twitter person” much like people are dog people or cat people. (Have I mentioned I have a dog and a cat at home?) I do use both, but I will admit to having a definite preference toward twitter. It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s much easier for me to follow along on twitter than Facebook’s ever-changing news feed format. I will always update my Facebook page with photos and links from posts here, and if I’m at an event, try to add more photos too. If you click on any of those photos, you’ll most likely see where they originate – Instagram.

While I’m confessing my social additions, I will shout from the Splash Mountain-top that I am completely addicted to Instagram. Perhaps more shocking, I actually got an iPhone a little over a year ago, predominantly because of wanting to use Instagram. Embarrassing? Maybe, but I own it. Taking photos is something I’ve always loved and Instagram is a great way to get those photos in neat little square packages, and, just for fun, add filters and frames to make the photos unique. Instagram gets a lot of flack online, among those who say “why do you want to make photos taken today look like they were taken in 1978” and complain that Instagram (and other photo apps) mess with a good thing by editing photos too much.

Tilt-shift Big Thunder by @otisney — This tilt-shift Big Thunder Mountain Railroad taken by @otisney on Instagram

Well, my personal opinion is that, as a local, I may have taken approximately 1971 photos of Cinderella Castle, and while it never gets old for me, I like to shake things up. Instagram and other photo apps make it easy and fun to focus on one castle spire, or close-up on the clock, do a tilt-shift of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, all sorts of FUN stuff. And, within the Instagram app lies a whole other community, connected by hashtags and common friends, of people that support and enjoy photos as much as you do. It really is a wonderful place. And you can in turn share the photos you create on Instagram over on twitter or Facebook or tumblr or even Flickr and Foursquare. It’s so easy. (And I mentioned fun, right?) One note of caution: many people feel like using social networks in the parks can lead to missing out on what’s going on around you. As someone who is guilty of that, I’ve come up with a sort of solution. I will take photos along the way, but still enjoy everything that’s happening and not get too engrossed in my phone. Then later, when we stop for a break, I’ll edit and post the photos then. It makes for a nice balance where you aren’t spending the entire visit with your head down in your phone.

Over time, I’ve downloaded quite the collection of photo editing apps, for making photos pop or adding some sparkles here and there, and it’s become quite an art form in its own right. Of course other times I just want to share a photo of my cat or my kids being silly. That’s the great part about Instagram, there are no rules. Another great part of the Instagram community are the hashtags, just like on twitter using a tag like this: #disney will allow you to find lots of other photos using that tag, and ensure your photo is seen by more people. It’s also fun to go back and look at hashtags later on and relive the memories you created. My friends, family and I have taken to using “#widdlebabygio” every time we post a photo of my youngest – just looking back on that set of photos puts a huge smile on my face. The use of hashtags then leads to other fun stuff, like photo challenges.

Many people on Instagram start monthly photo-a-day challenges encouraging folks to use their creativity and be committed to posting at least one photo a day, based on the daily topic. This of course branches out into various fandoms, and the Disney fandom on Instagram is huge. My very sparkly and also Instagram-addicted friend, Nicole, from SparklyEverAfter.com and I came up with our very own photo challenge, and this month we’re focusing on the whimsical aspects of Disney (or anything else, you won’t get scolded for using other subject matter!).

Our hashtag for this challenge is #WhimsicalDisneyGram and there you can see all of the daily topics and the photos participants have created. February just started and we’ve already seen some amazing content! So if you haven’t tried Instagram before, give it a go, you just may fall in love! And if you’re already up there, look me up – I’m @zannaland, Nicole is @sparklynicole and you’ll find so many other Disney friends there too! Nicole and I would love to have you take part in our February photo adventure, with more to come each month! No pressure, just drop in and out as you please, and have fun!

I hope to see you ‘gramming soon!

PHOTOS: Inside Walt Disney World’s NEW Dumbo Interactive Kids Lounge

6 June 2012 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

Disney fans may have been following the news of the opening of the next phase of the new Dueling Dumbos attraction at the Magic Kingdom’s Storybook Circus area, part of the new Fantasyland expansion. The Disney Parks Blog recently shared some video from inside the tent:

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Thanks to Nicole Siscaretti we now have some photos from testing going on today at the Magic Kingdom. You can find more photos and awesome video of the activities and interactive areas inside the new Dumbo queue at Nicole’s new site: SparklyEverAfter.com – be sure to check it out! The area should be open permanently for all guests in the next few weeks.

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Enjoy the photos – can’t wait to take my little guy down there to check it out in person soon!

VIDEO: Disney’s Wild Africa Trek-A Passage to Africa

8 May 2012 by Suzannah Otis 4 Comments

Correspondent Nicole Siscaretti rounds out her coverage for us with a personal tour of the Wild Africa Trek at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. As you may recall, I was able to preview this trek before it opened to the general public, and shared the Wild Africa Trek Facts and Figures. It remains one of my favorite things to do at Walt Disney World, because it is simply so unique. It is worth every penny, and the experience is one you will remember for a lifetime.

I never shared the video I took that day, but it’s good I didn’t because the tour has been improved since I saw it. You now get to hang by a harnessed cable over crocodiles as well as hippos, and the safari truck tour at the end is covered. I feel like the tour narration was much more in-depth on Nicole’s video and you learn so much about the animals on the trek!

Let’s go on safari with Nicole:

To recap from the Facts & Figures post, the Wild Africa Trek is a 3-hour group tour held at various times throughout the morning and afternoon at Animal Kingdom. You are also served an African-inspired breakfast or lunch, depending on the time of your tour, and given a PhotoPass CD of the experience. Pricing varies seasonally but right now you can save $50 on tours at or after 11:45 a.m. from 5/29/12 – 8/25/12. Call Disney for pricing details and to book at (407) WDW-TOUR or (407) 939-8687.

I would like to take a moment and thank Nicole for her amazing coverage here on the site and twitter and facebook, giving Zannaland readers all the latest with great photos and videos. Nicole has a new site she’s creating as we speak so keep an eye out for her magical new venture! Asante sana Nicole!

Disney’s Art of Animation Video Tour With Imagineer Interviews

2 May 2012 by Suzannah Otis 1 Comment

The Art of Animation Resort is a whimsical new place to stay on Walt Disney World property beginning Summer of 2012 with the opening of the Finding Nemo themed rooms. The family suites start at $249 and sleep up to six with two bathrooms and a kitchenette. Opening at later dates will be Cars (June 18), The Lion King (August 10) and The Little Mermaid (September 15) themed sections.

The theming of the resort is similar to the progression of the making of an animated film. In the lobby you are first presented with the Ink and Paint Shop, a merchandise store, and the character sketch wall which has renderings of some of your favorite pals from the resort’s featured movies. Then as you continue out to the pool area and guest room buildings you are rewarded with fabulous landscapes and backgrounds. Here in this video you’ll have a tour of the resort with interviews and commentary from Disney Imagineers like Gary Hoffman, who was the Senior Project Manager over design and architecture for the resort and offers a personal greeting for Zannaland readers below!

I can not get over the wondrous colors displayed here. It was a whole lot of fun to photograph, especially the pool area which was rich in tropical and undersea inspired hues. Check out this gallery and tell us what you think of the design!

Disney's Art of Animation Resort — It’s just like walking (driving?) into Radiator Springs.

We took so many photos we had to add them to flickr so you could see them all! Check out our flickr Art of Animation photo set to see even more images.

I think this will quickly be the most popular value resort upon opening. Would you like to stay here with your family? Which themed section are you most drawn to?

[Notes from Suzannah: I was also able to preview Art of Animation last weekend during Disney’s Social Media Moms Celebration and was blown away with the level of detail incorporated into this value resort. I think it sets the bar much, much higher for a value resort and with a family of five, I know the family suites here are now an option I will actually look forward to using.

In the Finding Nemo area, the landscaping around the pool and buildings look as though they are undersea plants, specifically chosen to make it look like you are in the Big Blue World. Brilliant. The design and details within the rooms are just breathtaking. They are bright and fun for families with young children, but the design palate is cool and mod; adults will appreciate and enjoy staying there as well. I also love that the family suite rooms are accessed by an interior hallway vs. the usual outdoor access value resorts offer. I asked about this decreasing noise level and was told that yes, sounds are reduced with the interior entry as are the instances of bugs getting into rooms (this is Florida after all, home to prehistoric armies of insects!).

After peeking through the construction fence into the Cars section, I can see the level of detail does not stop with Nemo. You truly feel as if you are walking into Radiator Springs. I’m excited to see the lush jungle-feel of the Lion King area as well, after getting a little taste of it in the food court – Landscape of Flavors. Be sure to check out all the photos and let us know what you think of this amazing new resort! Big thanks to Nicole for her wonderful video and photos! ~Suzannah]

VIDEO: SeaWorld Orlando’s Spectacular Sea of Trees

6 December 2011 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

SeaWorld Orlando recently invited my family out to experience their holiday happenings. I was completely blown away and impressed by what SeaWorld had to offer. I thought maybe the Shamu show would have a Christmas theme to it, but SeaWorld was completely transformed into a winter wonderland of lights, music, special shows and more. As you walk toward the Waterfront area lighted arches show the way and trees drip with twinkling icicles. Live bands perform in various areas around the park, even special holiday meals options are served.

I’ll post more about the wonderful shows offered during this season, including “O Wondrous Night: The Greatest Story Never Told” which was just beautiful, with a surprise ending that brought the audience to its feet in applause. But for now, I’d like to share the awe-inspiring Sea of Trees show. Expanded this year to include 100 massive trees, each sparkling, lighted and choreographed to classic holiday tunes, making a dramatic display around SeaWorld’s center lake. It is just breathtaking! Well, I’ll just show you:

We loved this show so much and my family had a fabulous time enjoying all SeaWorld had to offer for the holidays. It’s definitely going to be an annual tradition for us. Thanks once again to Nicole Siscaretti for creating that video for us. Check back for more updates on SeaWorld’s Light Up the Night holiday festivities!

VIDEO: Ho Ho Highlights From Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

28 November 2011 by Suzannah Otis 1 Comment

Peppermint Castle — It's a Candy Cane Castle!

It’s no secret that I love Christmastime. It’s the perfect time of year for me – everything is sparkly and festive (it’s so much easier to get away with sparkles everywhere now!), you can walk around singing songs and no one thinks you’re crazy…and you can be EXTRA cheerful (hopefully people will be extra cheerful back!). I’ve said before that Walt Disney World during the holidays is just magic times ten. The spirit of the season is amped up and you find little details and cheer around every corner.

That is part of why I love Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. I’ve shared more reasons why on TampaBay.com’s mom blog, Whoa, Momma! It’s an annual tradition for my family and the holidays officially start when you see the castle glittering in Dream Lights and see the Once Upon A Christmastime Parade. In addition to reading about it, my friend and video correspondent Nicole Siscaretti has captured some of our favorite moments from our most recent Very Merry Party to share here:

If you can make it down to Walt Disney World during the holidays, I highly recommend this magical special event. If you can’t, just keep watching the video while you have some hot chocolate and cookies! 😉

Kinect Disneyland Adventures Gameplay Preview

4 November 2011 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

During our first Disneyland visit we managed to squeeze a little D23 Expo in, including this fun preview of the Disneyland Adventures game for Xbox 360’s Kinect. Santa brought my eldest a Kinect last year, and he has loved playing Dance Central, Kinectimals and Kinect Sports. There are absolutely no controllers for the Kinect, because YOU are the controller. It’s pretty amazing and once you get used to it, a great immersive game experience.

Friend and zannaland correspondent Nicole Siscaretti got to experience Disneyland Adventures first hand, as one of the games creators explains the ins and outs of the game. Things like “you never die in Disneyland” (you just splat and come right back) and how you collect coins and can then purchase costumes for your avatar in Bibiddi Bobbidi Boutique within the game.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures arrives in stores November 15th. Be sure to pick it up for your adventurer or the whole family!

…Here are some screenshots of the game to entice you, the created world is just breathtaking!

Main Street, USA in Disneyland Adventures — Walk right down the middle of Main Street, U.S.A.

Alice Croquet Ball — Become Alice's croquet ball!

VIDEO: Fun Overview of LEGOLAND Florida on Opening Day

26 October 2011 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

I had some friends along with my family at the Grand Opening of LEGOLAND Florida back on October 15, and my good friend Nicole recorded some of our experiences that day. This is just one short example of the many sights to enjoy at LEGOLAND. I’ll still be spotlighting a few of my favorites in the coming days here on Zannaland but until then, enjoy this video from Nicole!