Thirteen Fun Facts About The Haunted Mansion

Because it’s one of Disney’s most beloved attractions, it’s only (super) natural that

everyone has their favorite story about The Haunted Mansion.

Here are 13 fun facts:

1. The Haunted Mansion is the only attraction located in four different lands in four different Disney Parks: New Orleans Square at Disneyland; Liberty Square at Walt Disney World; Fantasyland at Tokyo Disneyland; and Frontierland at Disneyland Paris.

2. Eddie Murphy had been looking to do a ghostly comedy in the vein of Bob Hope and Abbott and Costello when he learned about Disney’s Haunted Mansion film and asked to see the script.

3. Imagineer and Disney Legend Claude Coats briefly developed a water ride version of The Haunted Mansion in which guests would float through the ruins of an old plantation house partially submerged in a Louisiana bayou.

4. A “live” Caretaker character was featured in almost every draft of the Haunted Mansion film script, but was ultimately cut in favor of a ghostly cameo appearance in the graveyard, complete with cowardly canine companion.

5. Imagineers produced the Audio-Animatronics® figures, props and set pieces for both the Disneyland and Walt Disney World versions of The Haunted Mansion at the same time, knowing that the Florida attraction would open less than two years after its Anaheim predecessor.

6. The Disneyland Haunted Mansion was largely inspired by the Shipley-Lydecker House in Baltimore, Maryland, pictured in Decorative Art of Victoria’s Era, a book found in the Walt Disney Imagineering Information Research Center in Glendale, California.

7. Legendary creature designer Rick Baker originally modeled the Haunted Mansion film’s singing busts after Marc Davis, Thurl Ravenscroft, Blaine Gibson, Paul Frees and even Walt Disney himself! Only the Frees and Ravenscroft busts made it into the film.

8. Paul Frees, voice of the Ghost Host, also provided voices for Ludwig Von Drake, Boris Badenov, the Pillsbury Doughboy and many of the Pirates of the Caribbean, including the infamous Auctioneer.

9. Early drafts of the Haunted Mansion film script were set in upstate New York, with a manor house inspired by the Walt Disney World attraction. Director Rob Minkoff and production John Myhre felt the movie should feature a mansion inspired by the Disneyland original, and moved the otherworldly action to New Orleans.

10. Imagineer Leota Toombs, Madame Leota’s face and namesake, rehearsed her incantations on the night of daughter and future Imagineer Kim Irvine’s school dance, prompting Kim’s surprised date to ask, “Wow, what’s up with your mom??”

11. An ill-fated bride was featured in almost every proposed version of the Disneyland Haunted Mansion, dating back to Imagineer Ken Anderson‘s very first creative treatment in 1957.

12. X Atencio’s tongue-in-cheek epitaph eulogizing “Master Gracey” — a nod to Imagineer and master of illusion Yale Gracey — has led both fans and Cast Members to consider him the true — if unofficial — lord of the manor. The Haunted Mansion movie crew decided to honor the tradition and dub the master of their house “Gracey,” too.

13. The Haunted Mansion‘s infamous “eye wallpaper,” long credited to Imagineer Marc Davis, was actually a collaboration between “Museum of the Weird” creator Rolly Crump and Claude Coats.

Cristela Premieres Tonight on ABC

Cristela Alonzo stars as a woman laughing her way to the new American dream in a family comedy loosely based on her life and stand-up routine. The series premiere of Cristela airs tonight, Friday, October 10 (8:30–9 p.m. ET/PT) on ABC.

. . . her mom Natalia worries that becoming a lawyer might not be in the cards for Cristela . . .

Cristela’s dream of becoming a lawyer is something her traditional Mexican-American family doesn’t quite understand. She’s entering her sixth year of law school after juggling home obligations and working multiple jobs to pay her way. Cristela lives in cramped quarters with her sister Daniela, her long-suffering brother-in-law Felix and their two young kids. The senior member of this extended family, all living under one roof in Dallas, is Cristela’s old school mom, Natalia. After six years of setbacks, her mom Natalia worries that becoming a lawyer might not be in the cards for her and doesn’t want Cristela to be hurt by a dream that might not come true.

Then, Cristela’s life begins to look up. Lawyer Trent Culpepper, who is unapologetically politically incorrect about Latinos and just about everyone else, offers her an internship at his prestigious firm. She’ll be working—unpaid—with Culpepper’s pampered daughter Maddie and good-natured fellow intern Josh.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Now Playing

Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day follows 11-year-old Alexander (Ed Oxenbould) as he experiences the most terrible and horrible day of his young life—and soon learns that he’s not alone when his mom (Jennifer Garner), dad (Steve Carell), brother (Dylan Minnette) and sister (Kerris Dorsey) all find themselves living through their own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Seven “Disney” Reasons Why You’re Going to Love Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which opens in theaters this Friday, brings to life Judith Viorst’s 23-page classic children’s book. “The book has a wonderful following,” the film’s director, Miguel Arteta, says. “It resonates with people because it makes it OK to admit that sometimes things aren’t going to go your way.”

Arteta and the filmmakers have expanded upon the book’s story so that it’s not just Alexander but his entire family who wind up living through their own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, filling the big-screen adaptation with comical misadventures for the entire cast, which includes Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey, and 13-year-old Ed Oxenbould as the title character. They’ve also filled the movie with a few surprises that Disney fans are sure to appreciate.

1. Disney Legend Dick Van Dyke—Mary Poppins‘ Bert!—appears in a hilarious cameo, playing himself. We don’t want to give too much away, but his role in the film involves a highly publicized celebrity reading of a book that contains a rather inappropriate typographical error. Jennifer Garner, Mr. Van Dyke’s co-star in the scene, told D23, “He improvised one of the funniest lines.”

2. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day‘s original score was created by Christophe Beck, who also composed the original scores for The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted, and a little film you might remember, called Frozen.

3. In the film, older sister Emily is about to star as Peter in her school’s production of Peter Pan. Disney fans will love that Emily’s school looked to the film, rather than the Broadway show, for inspiration, providing actress Kerris Dorsey the perfect opportunity to rehearse the song, “You Can Fly, You Can Fly, You Can Fly.”

4. The film’s executive producer, Philip Steuer, has a Disney resume that includes the titles titles Oz: The Great and Powerful, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Saving Mr. Banks.

5. Actress Jennifer Coolidge administers Anthony’s driving test in one of the film’s funniest sequences. Disney XD fans who listen closely will recognize her as the voice behind Lazy Susan on Gravity Falls and Ms. Lips on Fish Hooks.

6. Bella Thorne, who plays Anthony’s demanding girlfriend, Celia, is well known to Disney fans as the star of the hit Disney Channel series Shake It Up! She can also be seen in the music video for the end-credit song “Hurricane,” performed by The Vamps.

7. If you’re feeling a little “Lost” as to where you may have seen Dylan Minnette (who plays older brother Anthony) before, the actor had a recurring role on the hit ABC series as David Shephard, the son of the series’ hero, Jack Shephard.

According to the film’s cast members, the most important “Disney” reason why fans will love Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day is the way the movie makes you feel. “It feels like the kind of movie I grew up with, from age 1 until now. It really does feel like a classic, in a sense,” Dylan Minnette states emphatically. His co-star, Kerris Dorsey, concurs that, “You can go with your siblings, with your parents, with your friends, and there’s something in it for everyone. There aren’t a lot of movies like that.”

. . . it should make you feel that whatever happens, you’re all going through it together

Actress Jennifer Garner—herself a Disney veteran, having starred on the ABC series Alias and in the feature film The Odd Life of Timothy Green—agrees that this is a movie for Disney fans of all ages. “I do feel like this is a film that families can see, and I hope at the end of it that it should make you feel more like a family and remind you that whatever happens, you’re all going through it together.”

Disney Films That Started Out As Children’s Books

From as far back as the Laugh-O-Gram films that Walt Disney made in Kansas City, Disney has long looked to children’s stories and fairy tales for inspiration to entertain its audiences. Sometimes these stories stay true to their original telling and other times Disney reinvents characters and plotlines to create new twists. Disney storytellers have added new heroes, alternate endings, and they have even made the villain a good guy, as is the case of Frozen‘s Elsa in Disney’s take on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen. Anything is up for changing and everything can be rewritten.

Disney storytellers have added new heroes, and they have even made the villain a good guy . . .

As a tribute to the books that inspired some of our favorite Disney films, we pulled together a few facts about how Disney artists were inspired by the originals.

The Little Mermaid
The first Disney animated feature based on a classic fairy tale in three decades (since Sleeping Beauty) turned to the famous story by Hans Christian Andersen. Disney artists had considered an animated film of The Little Mermaid in the late 1930s, and illustrator Kay Nielsen prepared a number of striking story sketches in pastels and watercolors. For The Little Mermaid, the artists received inspiration from the Nielsen story sketches that were brought out of the Walt Disney Archives for them to study, and they gave Kay Nielsen a “visual development” credit on the film.

Frozen
With another of Hans Christian Andersen’s works, The Snow Queen, the idea was to capture the sentiment and themes of the original story, but allow the filmmakers the creative freedom to be inspired to tell their own story. Frozen embraces core elements from Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, a tale first published in 1845 that has sparked the interest of Disney filmmakers dating back to Walt Disney himself. A story of the struggle between good and evil, Andersen’s The Snow Queen depicts a shattered mirror that causes a young boy, Kai, to view the world in a negative way. But the Frozen story team was stumped by the Snow Queen herself. According to Jennifer Lee, who first joined the team as a writer and was later tapped to direct with Chris Buck, Andersen’s version of the title character was somewhat mysterious. “She’s more symbolic in nature in the original story,” says Lee. “We knew that she’d need her own voice in Frozen.” And she certainly got one!

Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
The Studio’s first animated treatment of the famous children books written by A.A. Milne was Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Winnie the Pooh and his friends, Christopher Robin, Eeyore the donkey, Owl, Kanga, and baby Roo, as well as Rabbit and Gopher, encounter a swarm of bees and a fabulous honey tree. Little modification was done on the original stories of the most famous teddy bear in the world. The most noticeable change was the introduction of a new character—Gopher.

Alice in Wonderland
Disney created the animated version of Lewis Carroll’s famous story of Alice and her adventures after falling down a rabbit hole. The animated feature had been on Walt Disney’s mind since 1933, when he considered a live-action version starring Mary Pickford. He shelved the project after Paramount made a version, but later had artist David Hall, a Hollywood artist and designer, create some concepts for an all-animated film. World War II intervened, and it was not until the late 1940s that work began again in earnest. One of Walt’s big problems with this film was that here he was dealing with a highly regarded classic, and what was charming and appropriately bizarre in book form seemed oddly out of place on the motion picture screen. Walt’s feeling, expressed in later years, was that Alice had no “heart.”

Peter Pan
Walt Disney planned as early as 1935 to make this film, arranging in 1939 with the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London (who had the rights to the play bequeathed by author James M. Barrie) for permission, but it was not until 1949 that production actually began.

Oliver & Company
The Oliver Twist story animated with a twist—the setting is New York and Oliver is a kitten and Fagin the human master of a pack of pickpocket dogs. In addition to the feline and canine cast, many different songwriters contributed to the production, including Howard Ashman and Barry Mann (“Once Upon a Time in New York City”), Dan Hartman and Charlie Midnight (“Why Should I Worry?”), Barry Manilow, Jack Feldman, and Bruce Sussman (“Perfect Isn’t Easy”), and Dean Pitchford and Tom Snow (“Streets of Gold”).

Mary Poppins
Walt Disney began his quest to get the rights to P.L. Travers’ book Mary Poppins in the early 1940s. For additional information on the subject, may we direct you to the 2013 feature film Saving Mr. Banks. Although it took nearly 20 years to obtain the rights, when Mary Poppins was finally made, it won five awards out of its 13 Academy Award® nominations. P. L. Travers, author of the popular books on which the film is based, continued writing new adventures for Mary Poppins long after the film, and in the late 1980s worked with a Disney screenwriter on a film sequel that never materialized.

Treasure Island
Treasure Island was the first Disney live-action film without any animation. It was based on the book published in 1881 by British author Robert Louis Stevenson. Coincidentally, the Disney Company had “blocked funds” in England after the war, money that Disney films had earned in the country, which could not be exported due to currency regulations. Walt Disney decided that he could use the money to make some films in England, but since he could not find trained animators there to produce his usual fare, he decided to turn to live action instead. Over the next few years, four live-action films would be made in England.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Based on the 1972 children’s classic book by Judith Viorst, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day has more than two million copies in print. The book has a wonderful following,” says Miguel Arteta, who directed the big-screen adaptation. “So many people grew up with it in the ’70s, remember it fondly, and now, as parents, are reading it to their kids. It resonates with people because it makes it okay to admit that sometimes things aren’t going to go your way.” Filmmakers knew Alexander’s day would have to get much worse than the original 32-page picture book. The idea for the film adaptation was to use the story in the book as the first act of the movie. The second two acts of the film had to be a completely original storyline set during a second day that is even worse than Alexander’s first terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Alfred Angelo Unveils its 2015 Disney Fairy Tale Weddings Bridal Collection

Alfred Angelo, America’s oldest and foremost bridal company, introduced its 2015 Disney Fairy Tale Weddings bridal collection. The latest line includes dresses inspired by eight of the Disney Princess characters and a bridal gown inspired by Elsa from Disney’s Frozen.

. . . a new dimension of design; the magnificence of color . . .

In 2015, Alfred Angelo is bringing the bridal collection to life with a new dimension of design; the magnificence of color. Each gown will be available in ivory and a signature color inspired by each iconic character.

The 2015 Disney Fairy Tale Weddings bridal collection by Alfred Angelo includes dresses inspired by:

Ariel—An independent spirit, Ariel inspires a gown that offers a splash of the unexpected for the unconventional bride who loves adventure. The flared gown has been crystal-beaded throughout to sparkle like treasures from the deep, while the dramatic skirt has been layered with glitter net to shimmer like sunlight on the waves.

Aurora—Romantic and graceful, Aurora exemplifies elegance and warmth. Classic princess details abound in this feminine, romantic gown that is highlighted with crystal-beaded lace and diaphanous draped tulle accented with the princess’ signature bloom, the rose.

Belle—Belle is as smart as she is beautiful, and represents the independent, sophisticated woman. With its layers of draped gossamer tulle, soft beaded flowers and a fully crystal-beaded bodice that illuminates with the lights of a thousand ballroom candles, this gown is the quintessential fairy-tale princess.

Cinderella—Elegant and kind, Cinderella is gracious, poised, and charming. Glistening like the light off of a delicate glass slipper, the hand-beaded yoke is as timeless and sophisticated as the princess herself. Clean lines and the classic ball gown silhouette exude a bride who is independent and empowered, all while embracing tradition.

Jasmine—Bold, adventurous and daring, Jasmine is a sultry beauty with a bohemian spirit. This modern jumpsuit with a detachable train, sheer back yoke and crystal beading that sparkles like stars in an Arabian night, this gown is for a bride who is daring and self-assured.

Rapunzel—Passionate and courageous, Rapunzel exemplifies a unique artistic vision. Covered in handmade wildflowers, this romantic cage-style gown evokes a sense of optimism and joy in its easy, graceful movement. The flowers have been beaded to sparkle like lanterns in the sky for a touch of offbeat whimsical charm.

Snow White—Full of gentle grace and compassion, Snow White’s inner beauty makes her “the fairest of them all.” The crystal-beaded waistline, handmade rose and cathedral train make this gown the perfect choice for celebrating a day of “happily ever after.”

Tiana—Ambitious, confident, and determined, Tiana is the sophisticated bride who likes a touch of jazzy fun. This strapless gown sparkles with the glitter and excitement of New Orleans and is adorned throughout with delicate embroidery and crystal beading that is reminiscent of the princess’ signature flower, the lily.

This season Alfred Angelo will also debut the highly anticipated gown inspired by Elsa from Disney’s Frozen. Reminiscent of Elsa’s “Snow Queen” dress, the ice-blue softly flared sheath gown has been dramatically beaded to glisten like sunlight on fresh fallen snow. The sweetheart neckline and dramatic Watteau train capture the essence of this bold and elegant character.

The 2015 Disney Fairy Tale Weddings bridal collection by Alfred Angelo will be available in January 2015 at Alfred Angelo stores in the U.S. and specialty retailers worldwide.

Disney Legend Dick Van Dyke Guest Stars in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Disney Legend Dick Van Dyke guest stars as Goofy’s pirate grandpappy, Captain Goof–Beard, in a special music–filled episode of Disney Junior’s Emmy Award^®‎–nominated animated series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse premiering Friday, October 10 (9 a.m. ET/PT) on Disney Channel. The episode, titled “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Pirate Adventure,” features six new original songs performed by Van Dyke’s character alongside Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Daisy and Pluto.

Peg Leg Pete delivers a note from Goofy’s long–lost Grandpappy, Captain Goof–Beard . . .

In the special, Mickey and pals are enjoying a day at the beach when Peg Leg Pete delivers a note from Goofy’s long–lost Grandpappy, Captain Goof–Beard, asking for the gang’s help in ensuring that Harmony–Chord Island, the musical isle where Goof–Beard lives, doesn’t go completely out of tune and sink.

D23-EXCLUSIVE: Alexander’s Jennifer Garner Talks About Singing with Dick Van Dyke, Filming On The Disney Lot, and More!

Jennifer sat down with D23 to talk about Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which opens in theaters this Friday. We were in good company as Jennifer is a huge Disney fan and has so many stories about working on the Disney Studio lot. She told us about her favorite Disney characters, songs, and what Disney things turn her “very bad day” around. In true Disney-fan fashion, we couldn’t wait to ask her what it was like working with Disney Legend Dick Van Dyke, who makes a cameo in the movie.

D23: Is it safe to assume that working with Disney Legend Dick Van Dyke only added to the feeling that you were making a Disney movie?
A: Totally and completely, because Mary Poppins plays on a continuous loop in my house. He sang “Chim Chim Cher-ee” with me between takes and I was so excited. It was such a thrill to be with him, and he was so gracious and so sweet about asking me about my kids and what we like to watch. He was witty and funny and fast on his feet and, you know, he improvised one of the funniest lines in the scene! He was exactly what I wanted him to be.

Dick Van Dyke reads a book . . . and it makes for one of the funniest bits and best cameos in the movie . . .

In the film, Dick Van Dyke reads a book that Kelly Cooper’s (Jennifer Garner) company is publishing—mistake and all—and it makes for one of the funniest bits and best cameos in the movie. Like Mr. Van Dyke, Jennifer Garner already has quite a few Disney projects under her belt. On the hit ABC TV series Alias, she played a grad student-turned-secret agent Sydney Bristow. And in The Odd Life of Timothy Green, she plays a character that unexpectedly finds herself becoming the mother of an extraordinary child.

So with her previous Disney roles you can say Jennifer Garner has faced more than a little on-screen adversity as an actress. But Jennifer lives through a bad day of truly epic proportions as super mom Kelly Cooper in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, the feature film adaptation of Judith Viorst’s classic, award-winning children’s book. The film also stars Steve Carell as her husband, Ben, Dylan Minnette as older son Anthony, Kerris Dorsey as daughter Emily, twins Zoey and Elise Vargas as baby Trevor, and Ed Oxenbould makes his big-screen debut as the title character, Alexander.

D23: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is an undeniable classic—but a short one at only 32 pages. What were you expecting when you learned it was being made into a feature-length film?
A: I was so thrilled by the adaptation, that they took this idea—because it’s an idea—and they used enough specifics from the book to have a connection. But they just blew the idea out of the water and made it contemporary and so relatable. I was thrilled when I read the script.

D23: You and your co-star Steve Carell are both parents in real life. What was it like working with the three teenage actors who play your children?
A: They are so poised and so fantastic. In every way, we were equals on set. They would toss out improvisations, or if we threw something at them they would catch it and throw it right back—they never missed a beat in any way. They’re sharp, they’re mature, but at the same time, they are kids so they’re silly. Ed was always doing magic tricks, Kerris is always singing, and Dylan is really invested in getting his band up and going. And we just genuinely enjoyed our time with them.

D23: Were you aware of Bella Thorne [who plays Anthony’s girlfriend, Celia], from Shake It Up?
A: Of course! Oh my gosh, that was my kids’ happiest day, when I was going to work with Bella.

D23: You spent a lot of time at The Walt Disney Studios filming [the ABC TV series] Alias. It must be like a homecoming when you return to the lot.
A: I get teary when I go back. I was just on the lot the other day for a meeting and the security guards all stop and hug me, and I get out of the car at the gate to give them all hugs to say hello. I know that lot like the back of my hand—it was my second home for so many years. But I don’t know the parts that most people see; I know the boiler rooms and I know the hallways under the buildings and the elevator shafts, and the loading docks and the places where you take the garbage out. But yes, I feel right at home whenever I’m on the Disney lot.

D23: It’s amazing how they continually remade the lot to look like so many different places.
A: We had to. It was such an ambitious show. I think we had eight days to shoot an episode and we spent five on location. But during those three days we had to come up with stuff to shoot right there on the lot.

D23: Do you have a first Disney memory?
A: I remember going to Walt Disney World when I was little. I remember that my little sister met Minnie Mouse, and my parents bought her a Minnie Mouse doll and my mom made her a matching dress. And she carried that mouse around and wore that dress and was so proud of it. I really remember being so happy for her when she had that moment with Minnie.

D23: Now who is your favorite Disney character?
A: I would have to say that I like how grumpy Donald is. I like Goofy. And I like the girliness of Minnie and Daisy. But my absolute favorite Disney character would have to be Robin Williams’ character in Aladdin, the Genie.

D23: Let’s say that your family is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day of your own. What Disney things might turn that day around?
A: If I’m in the car and one of my kids is having a horrible time, especially the little one, I’ll turn on the Disney Princess radio station on iTunes. So we’ll go right to “Let It Go,” or as he calls it, “Snow Blows White on a Mountain Tonight.” Or I’ll dress them up—we like to dress up. We have Mickey and Minnie and a lot of other Disney costumes.

D23: Do you have a favorite Disney song?
A: “When You Wish Upon a Star.” “Kiss the Girl.” That one from Mulan that goes, “Ha!” And the one from Cinderella [sings], “So this is love… so this is love…”

D23: You’ve starred in The Odd Life of Timothy Green for Disney, and now you’ve made this film. Does being a parent influence your choice of film projects?
A: For sure. It does for Ben [Affleck, her husband], too. The second we had a boy he signed on to do Batman. So yes, you want your kids to feel a connection to what you do because it costs them for us to leave and do a movie. Compared to other jobs, obviously, it’s easy. But it means, from a little kid’s perspective, that your parents are leaving town or they’re missing bedtime for months in a row, or things like that. So it’s great when you feel like the light at the end of the tunnel is something that they can appreciate and see.

D23: This movie feels like such a modern incarnation of the classic Disney films everyone grows up watching with their families. Has that been your experience, too?
A: It’s so fun to sit and watch. I sat and watched it with my kids and they loved it so much and they each related to one of the kids specifically. I didn’t see a lot of films as a kid but when we did, it was such an event and it makes you feel like a family to go out and do something together. And especially this film, which is so much about, you know, “Turn to the people to your left, and turn to the people to your right, and give them a squeeze because you’re in it together.” I love that.

Very Bad Day Makes For a Very Good Night at the Alexander Hollywood Premiere

In Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, 11-year-old Alexander and his family find themselves living through a bad day of truly epic proportions. D23 was on the red carpet for the film’s World Premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on October 6, where the movie’s entire cast came out for what turned out to be a very good evening, indeed!

photo of actress Jennifer Garner multi-tasks on the red carpet, signing autographs and posing for photographers. — Actress Jennifer Garner, who plays the film’s super mom, Kelly Cooper, multi-tasks on the red carpet, signing autographs and posing for photographers.

photo of actor Ed Oxenbould at media wall pointing to his own image — Actor Ed Oxenbould plays the title character, Alexander—and makes a solid fashion statement with his sneakers-and-tie pairing.

photo of actors Kerris Dorsey and Steve Carell walking the red carpet at the World Premiere — Actors Kerris Dorsey and Steve Carell, who play Emily and Ben Cooper in the film, reunite for father-daughter photo at the World Premiere.

photo of actors Jennifer Coolidge and Dylan Minnette posing on the red carpet — Jennifer Coolidge (L) and Dylan Minnette (R) are happy to meet on solid ground, though their DMV-test sequence provides one of Alexander’s funniest scenes.

photo of three Thunder from Down Under dancers David F. Harris, Alex Biffin and Dylan Yeandle posing on the red carpet — “Thunder from Down Under” dancers David F. Harris, Alex Biffin and Dylan Yeandle shake things up on the red carpet.

group photo of Actors Steve Carell, Dylan Minnette, Ed Oxenbould, Kerris Dorsey and Jennifer Garner posing together on the red carpet — (L-R) Actors Steve Carell, Dylan Minnette, Ed Oxenbould, Kerris Dorsey and Jennifer Garner are one big, happy family as they rally together at the end of the red carpet before the premiere screening begins.

photo of actress Jennifer Garner posing for media on the red carpet of Hollywood Boulevard — The skies over Hollywood—and Jennifer Garner—are aglow as the film’s “magic hour” approaches.

photo of entry sign for Dave & Buster's in Hollywood — Let the games begin at the after party, held at Dave & Buster’s in Hollywood following the screening.

photo of actress Kerris Dorsey with string of tickets — Kerris Dorsey is a triple threat—winning on screen, at the arcade, and in her choice in fashions for the evening.

photo of actors Ed Oxenbould, Sidney Fullmer, and Lincoln Melcher posing amid game arcade — Ed Oxenbould (L) and Lincoln Melcher (R) put aside their on-screen rivalry (And from the looks of it, their videogame rivalry, too!) to take a picture with their co-star, Sidney Fullmer (C), at the after party.

photo of actor Dylan Minnette playing driving game at arcade — Dylan Minnette plays it much safer behind the wheel than his character, Anthony does in the film.

photo of actors Steve Carell and David Koechner posing — Actors David Koechner (right) and Steve Carell (left) are having a very good day at the film’s after party.

night photo of El Capitan Theatre with marquee for movie Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day — Don’t miss seeing Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, opening in theaters this Friday, October 10!

Anna & Elsa’s Boutique Now Open in Downtown Disney District at Disneyland Resort

The newly transformed Anna & Elsa’s Boutique is now open in the Downtown Disney District at the Disneyland Resort.

Guests, ages 3–15, can show their Disney Side with transformations inspired by favorite Frozen characters. Crystalizers (stylists) will help all visitors look their Arendelle best, from hair and makeup to wardrobe options that will generate plenty of warm hugs.

For more on this story, visit the Disney Parks Blog.