Trying to be a big girl and sit in the theater chair beside Daddy before the movie started.
Sitting in her car seat her Daddy lugged in after we found out we could not use the stroller. Playing on the floor in the very front.
Sitting in her stroller right when we first arrived, before we found out she could not stay in it.
She held onto her Olaf stuffie throughout the majority of the movie.
My husband and I saw Frozen a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it. It instantly became my favourite Disney movie. There were multiple moments throughout the movie where my husband and I turned to each other and said “Evie would love this and all the music in it!” I had tried to look into if there was a Stars and Strollers showing at the local theater on the website but had no luck. If you don’t know what Stars and Strollers is, it where theaters show movies in a more “kid friendly” way by providing a baby friendly environment. I ended up forgetting about our crazy thought that Frozen would be a fun first movie for her to see.
Frozen is about Anna and the journey she ends up on to find her sister Elsa. Anna needs to find her sister to end the frozen spell her sister’s icy abilities have put on their kingdom. Anna teams up with Kristoff and his reindeer Sven. Olaf, the snowman, is a key part of comedic relief throughout the movie.
My husband surprised me this week by taking a day off work and getting us tickets to go to Frozen again. He had done all the research and found out when the Stars and Strollers showing was. If you don’t know what Stars and Strollers is, it where theaters show movies in a more “kid friendly” way by providing a baby friendly environment. He and Evie came and picked me up from work and we were off to see the movie.
With a name like “Stars and Strollers” you would think strollers would be allowed, sadly no they are not. You can bring your child in with the stroller, but the staff take the stroller away and lock it up for safe keeping. This was really disappointing for us, as the one thing I did manage to find in my searches and phone calls was I had been told that strollers were allowed. Someone goofed in their information they told me. We had been thinking the whole time that she could sit in her stroller during the movie as she is always content and comfy in it. So we were a little disappointed to arrive and be told we could not have her sit in it. Evie is way too little to sit in the theater seats, so the option suggested to us was to bring in her car seat. Poor Jason had to lug in her heavy car seat (The Foonf is not a light car seat!). I am thankful we got there early so we had enough time to do all this shuffling, and get the car seat situated so Evie would be safe in it. One other Mom had the same situation as us where she ended up having to lose the stroller, and some how maintain 3 young children on her own. She sadly left with her children before the movie even started. If you are bringing a younger child who cannot sit in the chair on their own be ready to bring in their car seat, or to have them sit in your lap. We went with the car seat option that was presented to us so that we could keep Evie secured in a seat, we knew she would just wiggle in our laps.
Soon the theater started to fill up with other families, all with children ranging in ages from little newborns to about 5 years old. On the Stars and Strollers website it says a change table will be available, again this was not true. I know from friends that at other theaters a change table is provided near the entrance of the theater room with wipes and diapers in case you forgot these items. Sadly, not at the location we went to. There is, of course, one in the restroom, but the one we took Evie too was broken. Made changing her diaper before the movie started interesting.
We packed lots of Evie’s favourite snacks, yogurt melts, fruit and veggie melts, a squish pack of food, cereal puffs… all sorts of goodies. We also packed a couple of bottles. We wanted to make sure she had lots of food as she is in a growth spurt and is eating lots.
Once the movie started she was mesmerized by Frozen. We all loved the music, after all it is why we wanted to take her. The music is very much Broadway-style. The songs help tell and move the the story along. Evie was dancing in her seat every time a song started. There were several moments where she giggled along to what she was seeing. Seeing her so happy made me cry.
She did start to get squirmy with about 30 minutes left of the movie. We decided to take her out of the car seat. Unfortunately we had one second where neither of us had a hand on her and she fell down a level. Don’t worry, she was totally fine. A little surprised by what happened (so were we), but ok. Another little girl had also slipped between the same sort of railing on the other side of the theater earlier. Definitely not baby/child friendly. We ended up taking her down to the very front of the theater so that she had lots of room to move around. She happily played, crawled, and walked around. She then danced to the ending credits.
You do have to go in prepared to not get to really watch the movie yourself. You will be focused on your child most of the time, especially if you take one as young as Evie. We would have never taken Evie to a movie this young if it was not for the fact that we went with free passes (thanks to my sister’s soaked backside from the last movie we went to together) so we had nothing to lose if we ended up needing to leave. Without those free passes, we would have waited til she was 2+ years old for sure, maybe even until she was 5. Needless to say, it will probably be awhile til we all go to a movie again as a family. If you are a mom or dad going with a very young baby and you really want to see a movie but can’t get a babysitter, bring them in the infant car seat. Just be sure to sit somewhere where the car seat will fit on the ground. I saw several very young babies at Frozen, and their parents got to enjoy the movie because their baby slept through it. We would also sit in the very front right away if we were to do this over. That way we are already in an area where we could let our daughter play and not have to be worried about being a distraction because of moving down there like we did during the movie. It was nice that during Stars and Stroller the lights are not dimmed very much, so you can see what you are doing, or if you daughter has decided to try and spill all her snacks all over herself.
I would say that it was a pretty successful first time to the movies, minus the falling part. I would suggest that the name “Stars and Strollers” be changed, at least in our local theater since you cannot bring your stroller in, it is very misleading. We made a wonderful memory that we have as parents, sure Evie might not remember it, but it is special to us.
If you haven’t seen Frozen, go! It is a beautiful movie from the music to the art work. You are sure to enjoy it.