Disneyland Resort has been celebrating la Navidad a lo grande with “Disney ¡Viva Navidad!” throughout the holiday season with beautiful shows, music, activities and food that celebrates nuestra cultura. The grand finale is an observance of Día de Reyes from Friday, Jan. 3 to Monday, Jan. 6.

We were there for a media event to capture some of this Three Kings Day magic, happening at Paradise Pier Gardens in Disney’s California Adventure Park, and got the chance to meet with Chef José Ruiz and learn how they prepare the delicious pozole that has been a guest favorite during ¡Viva Navidad!, among the delicious menu of Latin fare that includes mole, tortas al pastor, sopes, street style tacos, conchas and much more.

If you get a chance to visit Disney’s California Adventure Park, make sure you stop by the Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta in Paradise Pier to grab your bowl of some very delicious and authentic pozole!

For more videos, pictures and information on Disney’s ¡Viva Navidad! celebration, check out Disneyland.com/Holidays and  our full coverage below:

How to Celebrate Three Kings Day/Día de Reyes at Disneyland Resort

Disney’s ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party Celebrates Latino Culture and Language

Sneek Peek at Disney’s ¡Viva Navidad! Street Fiesta

La Navidad is Coming to Disneyland Resort: Disney ¡Viva Navidad! 

Disneyland’s Latino-Style ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party: 5 Reasons Why It’s a Must-See

I loved watching Enzo’s face as he watched Super Mickey Mouse and his friends, Wonder Minnie, Super Power Pup, Super Good , Dynamo Duck and Upsy Daisy,  fighting the villains (Megamort and Power-Pants Pete) who want to shrink everything. This movie was action packed, and Enzo’s eyes would open wide and he watched Mickey and the Gang fight the bad guys. “Mira mama!” “Oh no! Dónde está Mickey?”  (Look mama! Oh no! Where is Mickey?)

As with any Mickey Mouse Clubhouse adventure, Mickey and his friends work together and solve the problem, with a lot of surprises that will surely delight your little one… Enzo loved watching Mickey and his friends as superheroes with special powers.

If your child is obsessed with Mickey, as mine is, this is a great addition to your DVD collection.  This DVD provides an opportunity to learn new vocabulary about action packed, superhero business but also about important themes like teamwork and friendship.

In addition to the movie, this DVD also features three Clubhouse episodes, and they all have Spanish language tracks, which Spanglish mamas and babies will love!

The Giveaway!

We’re giving away one copy of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Super Adventure to one lucky winner. All you have to do is leave us a comment letting us know which Mickey Mouse Clubhouse character is your niños favorite. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

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I’ve been watching some of my favorite childhood movies lately–with and without my children–and have come to the sad realization that some of them have not withstood the test of time.  Mary Poppins, happily, is not one of them.  I popped it in the DVD player and felt some surprise that I had not already introduced my children to the movie.

I’d never watched the movie in Spanish before, though I remember my friends and I trying to say “supercalifragilísticoespialidoso” as fast as we could when I was little.  My boys and I watched it in Spanish and though I kept wanting to sing along in English, I was surprised at how much I liked the Spanish version of the songs and appreciated the creative lyrics, like “Al compás” for “Step in Time.”

I loved experiencing the Blu-Ray version on my huge TV–I definitely never watched it that way as a child.  That was a huge treat, as was watching my children finally get to experience “una de las películas favoritas de Mamá cuando era niña”.

The Giveaway!

We’re giving away one copy of Disney’s Mary Poppins 50th Anniversary Edition DVD to one lucky winner. All you have to do is leave us a comment telling us your favorite Marry Poppins song to sing along to. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

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We’re excited! Disney Interactive and Rosetta Stone have joined forces to promote the value of learning languages for our kids!

Together they have launched a new online original series, it’s a small world: the animated series inspired by the iconic Disney Parks attraction that’s always a must-do during our visits to the parks.  Premiering on Disney.com, Disney’s YouTube network and across Disney’s connected TV apps, the new series does a fabulous job at taking the multicultural and multilingual experience of the attraction online for our generation of kids.

Sponsored exclusively by Rosetta Stone and their new language learning apps for kids (our review here), the eight episode series introduces families to unique words and customs from around the world. Our kids will get to join a group of children from different countries across the globe to explore new lands in a digital narrative brought to life through animation inspired by Disney artist Mary Blair’s original designs for the popular theme park attraction.

Beautifully done, in short 4 minute webisodes, we wholeheartedly celebrate that the theme of it’s a small world: the animated series centers around introducing the concept of learning languages and cultures to understand each other better.

The first webisode finds the children at the British Museum of Art and touches upon subjects like  how using the same word, like “football,” can mean different things in different languages and that some words can sound similar in different languages and can cause mix ups.  Oh, how we know about that! A topic near and dear to us parents raising bilingual kids!

To view the first three episodes of it’s a small world: the animated series visit disney.com/smallworld or watch the first episode below.

The Rosetta Stone – It’s a Small World presents on Disney Video

¡Cuéntanos! Did you like it? We’ve been working hard for years advocating with media, apps creators and toy companies to create more products for bilingual and multilingual children and that celebrate diversity. They DO want and need to hear from you, so please share in the comments section so they know we want more of these quality shows for our kids. ¡Gracias!

Walt Disney Animated Studios’ newest blockbuster princess movie, FROZEN, opens today in theatres everywhere, just in time for the Thanksgiving weekend!

We got the chance to see it a few weeks ago and all I can say is that it lives up to all the fabulousness you can already imagine and expect it is coming from the team that created “Tangled” and “Wreck-It Ralph.”

Inspired on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale The Snow Queen, Disney created a spectacular and epic animated musical that’s full of comedy, magical moments, and morals. Anna and Elsa are no ordinary princesses as their sisterhood and inner values are put to the test and they both find out that the best way to live is without fear and from the heart.

But what really matters is what my daughter Camila (6) thought of her now favorite movie of all times!

And as a special Thanksgiving treat, click here to download a folder full of “Frozen” coloring and activity sheets featuring Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff, Sven and Hans. Have fun!

Last night we were invited to the premiere of Disney’s first-ever celebration of La Navidad: ¡Viva Navidad!

Located in Paradise Gardens at Disney California Adventure Park, Disney’s ¡Viva Navidad! is a Latin-themed holiday street party that’s toda una fiesta con verdadero sabor navideño! From the music that includes Mexican mariachi and samba, to the folkloric dance, colorful pageantry and just overall festive environment that Disney got just right. Of course, the fun is led by The Three Caballeros with a very special appearance by Mickey and Minnie!

I can’t even explain to you how happy I felt when I saw it the first time. I felt I was definitely witnessing a beautiful homage to part of our Latin culture that exemplifies nuestro amor por la vida y las tradiciones. My daughter felt completely identified and was singing out loud to the tunes of “Feliz Navidad” and wouldn’t stop dancing. She even recognized that her Mexican doll looked like the dancers!

Here are two Instagram videos I shot with a sneak peek into the ¡Viva Navidad! street party that’s going on now until January 6 with around six daily performances. In a few days I will bring you an interview with one of the Latina’s behind the creation of  ¡Viva Navidad!, as well as video of the complete street party.

Oh, and there’s also lots of Mexican street food and desserts to enjoy at the Paradise Gardens, to the tunes of Latin bands. How about a Mickey concha?

Just in time for the Halloween season, Disney Gravity Falls, is now on DVD! “Six Strange Tales” is about Dipper and his twin sister, Mabel, who are sent to spend their summer vacation with their great uncle in Gravity Falls. Perfect for this time of year, the six episodes are full of riddling situations such as silly gnomes pretending to be zombies, Mable in search for her perfect vampire, and little old men creating scary “legends” just to gain the town’s attention. The annoying uncle, Grunkle Stan, who runs The Mystery Shack tourist shop, is the biggest mystery of all!

Although not happy with their parent’s summer plans for them, Dipper is always ready for a little adventure. He is quickly distracted by his lucky find of a puzzling and intriguing old journal full of the town’s secrets. Mabel’s company adds humor to every adventure they take together.

Diego was excited to follow along with the exclusive Mystery Book: Journal #3 included in the DVD. The set includes over two hours of the very funny problem-solving duo in action. AND Gravity Falls can be enjoyed  by many with its French and Spanish subtitle options too!

The Giveaway!

We’re giving away one copy of Gravity Falls to one lucky winner. All you have to do is leave us a comment letting us know who you’d like to share this DVD with. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

Ends October 31st 

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Can it be true? Can Disneyland Resort really be creating a special 8-week long celebration in “inspired by the warmth and joyous spirit of the Latino culture, filled with holiday traditions, jubilant dancing and exciting music”. ¡Así es!

We live so close to Disneyland Resort and are lucky enough to visit the parks many times per year and are always happy to see things like their Día de Muertos altars or Reyes Magos celebrations, but in some way it’s never quite enough. So you can imagine lo felices que estamos that Disney announced today “Disney ¡Viva Navidad!” from November 15, 2013 to January 6th, 2014 in Disney California Adventure Park.

From their announcement:

“Disney ¡Viva Navidad!” is a merry celebration inspired by the warmth and joyous spirit of the Latino culture, filled with holiday traditions, jubilant dancing and exciting music. Based in and around the Paradise Garden area of Disney California Adventure, the special activities include crafts and face-painting for children, live Latino music, dance lessons, holiday foods, a “Disney ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party” and, of course, appearances by some popular Disney characters.

The grand finale of “Disney ¡Viva Navidad!” will be the special celebration of Three Kings Day (Día de los Reyes) Jan. 3 through 6, 2014 in Paradise Garden. We will for sure not miss that one!

To read the full announcement with more details on the Latino-centered celebrations, visit the Disneyland News blog.

What do you think about this announcement? Do you want to go to “Disney ¡Viva Navidad!”?

Although we love to say that we celebrate Hispanic Heritage every single day here on SpanglishBaby, we have to admit to loving Hispanic Heritage Month because the celebration just goes on overdrive. Case in point is Disney ¡Ajá! This oh-so-exciting and oh-so-awaited online destination by Disney gathers in one place a slew of online games, printables and full episodes of  many of our kid’s favorite shows in one place and all ¡en español!

Are you as excited as we are? Disney ¡Ajá! is definitely bookmarked on my browser now and I know it will become one of my girl’s favorite online destinations (along with her current obsession of Club Penguin in Spanish!).

I can bet you anything she’ll probably squeal when she sees the Teen Beach Movie game “Motociclistas Contra Surfistas.” Her favorite Teen Beach Movie song plays as soon as you click the game. ¡Le va fascinar!

There’s also games under “Juegos y Actividades” featuring Princesita Sofía, Planes, Jake, Jessie, La Suerte de Charlie, OZ, Phineas y Ferb, Doc McStuffins, Stan, El Perro Bloguero , Crash y Bernstein y Gravity Falls.

Oh, and how about karaoke in Spanish to sing-a-along to some Disney classics like Peter Pan, Cinderella, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Tangled? I’m sure I’ll be getting into this one with her too!

Of course, Mickey Mouse y sus amigos had to be part of the fun too. There’s a set of cute printable coloring sheets to choose from.

And now you don’t have to mess with SAP or search for Disney Junior, Disney Channel and Disney XD shows in Spanish on YouTube because you can find a great selection of them on the Disney ¡Ajá! video section.

Like this episode from Doc McStuffins!

Mala pata / La mona burbuja on Disney Video

Yo digo ¡Ajua! de la emoción!

How about you? Check out Disney ¡Ajá! and let us know what you and your kids love about it!

Disney Home Entertainment is at it again with their adorable team of superhero dogs. Disney’s Super Buddies is sure to be a hit with your small kids. Packed with adventure, these furry friends band together to fight crime and learn some valuable lessons along the way.

My three year old daughter is obsessed with animals, so this family film was perfect for her. Being her first exposure to the Buddies franchise, she was equally enthralled by their speaking abilities and out-of-this-world cuteness. With a fun mix of suspense and positive messaging, I enjoyed watching Super Buddies with her too. Each dog has a personality that is personified from their owner, five friends who are fighting an alien invasion that threatens to take over Earth. An ordinary day at Fernfield Farms turns extraordinary when the talking puppies discover mysterious rings that grant them each a unique super power. The rings each grant them super powers that help the pups save the day, but not before learning a valuable – “You don’t need super powers to be a super hero!”.

Super Buddies is released August 27 and is voiced by some veteran talents. The ‘Buddies’ voices include Cooper Roth Grader”)  who voices B-Dawg; Tenzing Trainor (TV’s “Stevie TV” ) who voices Buddha; Jeremy Shinder (TV’s “Louie,” “Newlyweeds”) who voices Budderball; Ty Panitz (“Because I Said So,” “How To Eat Fried Worms”) who voices Mudbud; and G. Hannelius (TV’s “Good Luck Charlie,” TV’s “Sonny With A Chance”) who voices Rosebud.

“Disney’s beloved and adorable ‘Buddies’ are back in a hilarious all-new movie for the whole family — ‘SUPER BUDDIES’ debuts August 27, 2013, on Bluray Combo Pack and DVD.  An action-packed canine adventure, ‘Super Buddies’ stars the world’s most adorable talking puppies – Rosebud, B-Dawg, Budderball, Buddha and Mudbud, as caped crusaders em’barking’ on their biggest adventure ever.”

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one copy of Disney’s Super Buddies to FIVE lucky winners! All you have to do is leave us a comment letting us know who you’d like to share this movie with. The, enter the Rafflecopter below.

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