There’s a little movie coming out soon, you might have heard about it. Toy Story 4 opens Friday, June 21 and there’s a way to catch some of the gang on the road and out in the wild. The Toy Story 4 RV Summer Road Trip Party is a one-day event that’s stopping in Alpharetta at Avalon from 3-7.
The Toy Story 4 RV will have a chance to meet Forky and get
a photo with him. This will be the only chance to meet Forky in-person, unless
you’re headed to a Walt Disney theme park. Bring the cameras, set the googly
eyes to roll and save this photo for those year-end cards that’ll be sent out
in December.
There will also be some carnival games including “There’s a Snake in My Boot” snake toss and “To Infinity and Beyond” rocket ring toss. Plus, it’s got that Toy Story 4 vibe that you’ve been feeling since the sequel was announced. Also, we’re giving away passes to the Atlanta sneak preview of Toy Story 4.
The Toy Story 4 RV Summer Road Trip Party is free. All you
have to do is go, be happy, channel your inner spork or Forky, snap a pic, play
some games and it’ll shake up the Summer Tuesday afternoon quite nicely. This
is one day only in Alpharetta at Avalon from 3-7.
There are a couple of things every year that our family
earmarks and looks forward to each season. For the boys and I MomoCon has been
on that list for the past four years. They’ve loved every minute of it but always
left with the same question, “When can mom come with us”? This year the
schedules aligned and mom was able to attend MomoCon with us.
It’s important to point out that she’s not really into comic books, anime, cosplay, roleplay or video games. She enjoyed going to MomoCon because of how much fun the kids have had in previous years. Our boys are 9 and 7, they’ve seen a couple movies in the MCU and don’t know too much about anime, other than dad used to live in Japan and has some copies of that magazine in his office.
What they and the parents that I spoke with enjoyed about MomoCon is the atmosphere. During the daytime it’s great for all ages, has cosplay that is out of this world, but still OK for those younger audiences. Granted, there were some creepy clowns that gave out kids the willies, but they were the exception and even those costumes weren’t graphic in nature.
There were many instances of families that cosplay together;
some as young as little geeklings who were being pushed around in a stroller or
carried by mom or dad. Our two boys stayed for five hours the first day and
four hours the second day and had a different, but equally fabulous experience
each time.
They love the game area. There is every board game in the world at MomoCon for you to check out and play while you’re there. We started to play a Super Mario themed version of Trouble before the boys got distracted by some costumes and wanted to walk around. A couple hours later we came back through the gaming area and played Jenga.
Right beside that area is the video game area. This year it
was broken up into classic arcade games and Asian video games. When it came to
playing the games they were all in about the classic games. However, with an
eye towards the future they spent more time watching the Japanese console games.
They were peppering me with questions about how to play them, but I kept
referring them to one of the multitudes of people who were lined up to dance,
pound drums or touch cubes as quickly as they could.
Our kids are also 100% down with Con protocol when it comes
to vendors. They should touch nothing, ask lots of questions if they’re
interested and compliment those who are cosplaying near the tables. The merch
was jammed with all manner of KPOP, Japanese manga, anime and statues that
pronounce their enthusiasm towards it.
And it was all 100% family friendly. We heard worse language
on the train to the event than we did at MomoCon. There are some night time
events that skew towards college ages and up, they’re certainly a bit more risqué,
but well past the bedtime of a 9 year old. Perhaps it’s something that they’ll
enjoy in 10 years when they’re in higher education.
MomoCon happens in Atlanta ever year over Memorial Day
Weekend. It’s the friendliest con for families that you’ll encounter because it
has the real cosplay that elementary and middle schools will recognize, without
the gore or sexuality that might populate other cons.
Toy Story 4 is easily one of the most anticipated films of 2019. Forky is just the character that’s needed right now. It’s true to the way that kids play. Any parent or child will attest to the fact that there is always one homemade toy that manages to work its way into the inner circle of the toy coven. The sneak preview of Toy Story 4 is happening Tuesday, June 18. If you want to win a pair of passes to this movie event and be one of the first ones (outside of Disney brass or Hollywood) to see it, here’s what you need to do.
How to enter: Leave a comment in the blog post letting us know what your favorite toy was growing up. We have 15 pairs of tickets to give away to this sneak preview.
This sneak preview of Toy Story 4 is in Atlanta on Tuesday, June 18 at Atlantic Station. We’ll email the winners with complete details so that you’ll be able to plan accordingly. This giveaway will end on June 14 at 9PM. Important: this giveaway is for passes to the sneak preview. You’ll need to arrive early in order to secure your seat as everybody and their brother wants to see Toy Story 4. This showing will be 100% full.
For our family The Secret Life of Pets was one of the most surprisingly fun times at the movies in recent memory. It took a simple premise, blew it into the absurd and still managed to bring it all together for an incredibly entertaining movie. The Secret Life of Pets 2 hits theaters on June 7, but if you live in Atlanta you can get a family 4-pack of tickets to the sneak preview on June 4. I know, summer, free movie and an all but guaranteed fun time for the family-count us in.
This is the tenth animated feature from Illumination. They have a signature brand of slight irreverence and subversive humor. Max has life changes because his owner has a baby now. Queue in a family trip to a farm,intolerant cows, hostile foxes; a veteran farm dog Rooster (Harrison Ford, making his animated-film debut) and you’ve got the makings for a fun, well-rounded time at the movies for ages 7 and up. Oh, of course Snowball is back, except this time he has a superhero complex.
This Atlanta sneak preview of The Secret Life of Pets 2 is Tuesday, June 4 at 7PM. To enter to win just RT this or leave a comment below. There are 8 four-packs of tickets to give away. Winners will have the complete details sent to them on Friday, May 31.
A con to a kid can be a fabulous and our kid’s favorite one is MomoCon. They’ve been attending MomoCon since they were 4 and 6 years old. As each year has passed they’ve been more eloquently able to say, “When is the next MomoCon?” True to previous years, MomoCon 2019 is right near the end of their school year. I’m not sure if they’re more excited about the end of school or going to MomoCon.
MomoCon is held in Atlanta and is utterly family friendly. There
is a massive amount of cosplay and unlike some other cons that you might have
attended; these costumes are mostly family friendly. You won’t see any creepy
clowns or costumes that don’t leave much to the imagination. Instead you’ll see
cosplay that’s inspired from manga, video games and some classic anime characters.
From its parent’s guide, “MomoCon is intended to be an all-ages event”. The art dealers and vendors on the floor don’t sell adult material and the panels that might have language you don’t want kids to hear will be clearly labeled with a warning. Of course, kids won’t even notice these things. I mention them to you because you might have hesitation about taking a kid to a con, much less a huge con that will attract tens of thousands of people on a given day.
For our kids it’s all about the games and MomoCon has over
180,000 sq ft of open gaming. That amount of video game space is among the
largest of any convention in the United States. When we go, it’s an area that
we could easily spend hours in that space alone. This includes classic video
games (hello Robotron!!!), pinball and the latest full size arcade games from
Japan. It’s worth noting that all of these games are also OK for the kids, our
boys, now 7 and 9 loved going from game to game and trying them out. Yes, all
of these games were free, no quarters needed, just a little patience for those
more popular games that might have a line.
We also enjoy the gaming area. There is a massive board game area where you can check out almost any board game you want to play. When we sat down I was unsure how to play the game that our boys had requested. I fumbled around for a moment when a MomoCon volunteer sat down beside us, set up the board game for us and played along so that we’d get the hang of it. There are also plenty of LARP events, D&D and other RPGS happening, plus any card game that people are collecting.
And those are just the games. For kids under 10 those things, plus simply walking around and enjoying the costumes will be their entertainment. If you’re a fan of things anime, nerdcore, cosplay, Japan, Disney, cartoons or more then there is a panel for you! These panels will vary as to when they are and younger audiences won’t have the patience to sit through them, but those middle school audiences who want a deeper dive into what interests them will love going to some of them. Obviously, that age will need to have an adult present with them, but those moms and dads can simply sit a couple rows back.
Factor in some cosplay, a photo shoot around every corner,
cool people everywhere and you’ve got an amazing time out with the family. This
is a con done right for the family. It does have some older elements, but they’re
scheduled late at night, so the kids will be home long before then.
Ages 9 and younger are free to MomoCon and prices increase on May 9, so get your badges before that happens. Entrance will vary from $35-$80, depending upon when you order your tickets, how many days you want to go and so forth. It happens May 23-26 in Atlanta at Georgia World Congress Center.
I love it when our kids get pumped about the same film that we are. I heard our 9 year-old laughing as he was watching a trailer on the tablet the other week. “Daddy, when does Missing Link come out”?, he said from the other room. Missing Link, rated PG, comes out on April 12 and it’s from Laika, a studio that can do no wrong in our book. The technical precision that started in Coraline is continuing with Missing Link and we’re giving away family four-packs of tickets to the sneak preview in Atlanta on Saturday, April 6.
Sir Lionel Frost (left) voiced by Hugh Jackman and Mr. Link (right) voiced by Zach Galifianakis in director Chris Butler’s MISSING LINK, a Laika Studios Production and Annapurna Pictures release. Credit : Laika Studios / Annapurna Pictures
I’m a fan of stop-animation. I admire the precision and
passion that go into each movement, as well as, the uniqueness that it displays
on film. Granted some standard animated films get close to that feeling, but
something is just not quite the same. I’ll also submit that a bad script can’t
overcome the beauty of the how it’s created.
To that end Missing Link look s like it’s set up Laika for a solid,
entertaining film.
The trailer has some nice physical gags to entertain younger viewers and the dialogue appears to be sharply written with just enough dry humor to touch older audiences. Of course, all of this is mute until audiences can see the film and render a verdict for themselves. The sneak preview of Missing Link in Atlanta is Saturday, April 6. It’s in the morning and we’ll let winners know exactly when and where the showing will be. Hint: It’ll be around midtown…., so it’s centrally located to wherever you are around the ATL.
To enter, just leave a comment in this post or RT the tweet. We’ve got a handful of 4-packs to give away.
For the past two weekends we’ve been attending events put on by Atlanta Science Festival. We learned about this event when the boys and I went to Dragon Con last year and each event that we’ve been to has been incrementally better-with each event being great fun. Atlanta Science Festival ends on March 23 with Exploration Expo. As part of Exploration Expo, Google’s Digital Village is happening to allow kids a hands-on coding workshop.
Exploration Expo is Saturday, March 23 from 11-4 at Piedmont
Park. It features hundreds of STEM-focused activities, all which are family
friendly. There will be interactive booths from local organizations,
universities, clubs, companies and more. You’ll see a 3D printer, touch a
python (the animal, not the computer….) and do most anything to help minds of
all ages question, grow and appreciate science.
Our 9 year-old has loved all of the events that he’s been to this year. After the first event, appropriately called Mathapalooza, he asked, “Daddy, can I skip school tomorrow to do more with the science festival”? Alas the answer to that question was no, but I’m certain that he’ll have a blast at Exploration Expo and Google’s Digital Village.
You do need to RSVP to attend Google’s Digital Village, but like almost all of the events at Atlanta Science Festival, it’s free! So, RSVP quickly because admittance is limited to 30 people per session and there are only three sessions that day, at 11, 12:30 and 3:00 p.m. Parents and guardians do need to be present. Google’s Digital Village is recommended for middle school students. However, if you have a computer curious or even savvy, middle to upper elementary school student it’s worth checking out.
Also at the workshop is Google’s gravity-powered race car. A
gravity powered race car, as Marty McFly would say, “That’s heavy”, closely
followed by Doc Brown questioning the problem with Earth’s gravitational pull
in the future.
For our family one thing that indicates the final days of
winter is Monster Jam. It’s not set in stone, but for the past couple of years
Monster Jam has been in Atlanta in late February. And since our children are
nine and seven-and can only remember a couple of years back, they associate
Monster Jam with that, as well as giant trucks smashing stuff, doing flips,
endoes, wheelies, pogoing, dropping the hammer and more. Monster Jam has become
one of our go-to family friendly events that we look forward to every year.
This year Monster Jam is coming to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on February 23 and 24th.
We’re giving away a family 4- pack of tickets to Monster Jam for opening night
in Atlanta on February 23. To enter just RT this or leave a comment on this
post. This giveaway ends on February 6.
Is Monster Jam a family friendly experience? Yes. It’s loud
(wear ear protection-or come early enough to where you can purchase some at the
stadium), so come prepared. Be sure to come early so that the kids can enjoy
the benefits of the Pit Pass. That’s when you can walk the course, get close to
the monster trucks, meet the drivers, do some crafts or purchase any number of
cool Monster Jam toys. There is absolutely nothing to worry about for kids
(content wise) at a Monster Jam event.
This is 100% adrenaline and you don’t need to know anything
about how the sport works. Essentially, a Monster Jam event is divided into two
portions. The first half is a race where two trucks to head to head in a timed
event. The second half is where the winners of that first heat move on to free
style action. Monster Jam never disappoints us and I can guarantee that it’ll
be one of the family highlights in 2019.
This Monster Jam giveaway is for 4-tickets to the Atlanta show, February 23 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The winner will be chosen at 10:00 PM on 2/6. To enter just leave a comment in the post or RT the tweet:
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