Under the Sea

Our main reason for going down to St. George over UEA weekend was to take our long awaited trip under the sea... a trip we've been looking forward to since last June (my fabulous siblings gave me a ticket for my birthday). Hooray!

My dad had the hook-ups and was able to get us free tickets to the dinner before hand there at Tuacahn theater... it was awesome and seriously yummy! I ate way too much and loved every last bite. And I was so busy eating that I forgot to take any pictures. At least we thought to get a group picture afterwards.

The show was AMAZING!!! It was closing night and the 62nd consecutive sold-out show, so we knew it would be great. This was the first time the show has been preformed since pretty much flopping on Broadway, and it sounds like Disney was pleased with how it went. The water effects were spectacular, the cast amazingly talented, the costumes outstanding (Heelies for those swimming under the sea = genius!) and of course the music was phenomenal. It was very similar to the Disney movie, but there were twice as many songs. Scuttle had a great one called "Posituity", and there were some really fun medley's sung by Ariel's sisters. My favorite parts of the show were the chef in the kitchen trying to cook up Sebastian, and when Ariel saved Prince Eric from drowning, which we watched from behind a water wall as they maneuvered through the air on pulleys. The light and sound techs projected fish swimming around on the water wall in the background when they were under the sea... it was simply amazing. I loved every minute of it!

Ivy's been singing "Part of Your World" pretty much word for word since last winter, so we'd been excited for a long time for her to get to see Ariel in real life.

The little girls seemed to enjoy the show. It didn't start until 7:30, so it was a little late for them. The show was about 2.5 hours long. Ivy LOVED it and stayed awake the whole time. Maddie was great too and would dance in her seat to the music, but Ursula scared her quite a bit, poor thing! She fell asleep about 1/2 of the way through the show and was out for the rest of the night. Which is why she doesn't appear in any of the pictures with characters, she was busy doing a lot of this:

Ivy didn't really know what to think of the show itself, but she REALLY wanted to go down to the stage to talk to Ariel and Flounder. We knew the actors did a meet-and-greet afterwards, so Ivy got her wish! She was a little bit shy at first (Scuttle was awesome!!!)...

... but then she warmed up to them. Here's Ivy with King Tritan, or Ariel's Dad as she likes to call him.

Matt, Selina, and Ivy with Flotsam and Jetsam. They were really creepy and played their parts as Ursula's minions incredibly well.

Ivy with Flounder, her favorite besides Ariel. He's like 13 years old and talk about talent! I thought he sounded like a young Michael Jackson when he was singing... wow!

Ursula casting her spell on us. :) On stage she was up on a huge moving pedestal that made her enormous. She told us that she controlled it with her toes... kudos to whoever designed her movement machine, it was way impressive.

Sebastian with his Jamaican accent was awesome! He was so friendly and got right down on Ivy's level to greet her.

This is my favorite photo of the whole night. :)

After some long lines and lots of waiting, Ivy finally got to meet Ariel in person. She couldn't have been more thrilled! Thanks to Ariel, who was still very happy, personable, and energetic, even after putting on the whole show and hanging out greeting guests for an hour after the show had ended. She literally made Ivy's night. :) Ivy ran right up to her, and showed her the picture of Ariel on the princess shirt she was wearing.

Then Ivy had her picture taken with Ariel and Prince Eric... you can see that Ivy was so happy. :)

And before we left Ariel gave her a big hug. Awwww!

As we were leaving Ivy was upset that she hadn't gotten to see Prince Eric. We showed her the picture that he was in with her and Ariel, and even took her back closer to show him to her, but then she was just confused. She said that wasn't Eric... apparently up close he didn't look the part to her. :) That's okay though, Ariel fulfilled all her expectations and more.

It was such a fun night at the theater, and I'm so glad that after looking forward to it for so long it lived up to our expectations. It was an awesome way to end our weekend away!

Disney has given Tuacahn permission to do Aladdin next summer... fun! We're looking forward to it already. Thanks everyone for an awesome night. and thanks to Lacey for letting me steal most of her post :-)