Daniel Tiger Live!

One of Allison's favorite shows is Daniel Tiger, a cartoon spin off of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. It's a great show on PBS and Allison loves to watch it while I make breakfast. I get mailings for the Johnson County Community College because I signed up for one of their contests once and I saw that there was a Daniel Tiger show coming to their theater. The show was only $6/person and it quickly sold out for both scheduled shows.

I met my friends April and Anne (and all the kids) at the campus theater at 8:45am. The doors opened at 9:15 for the 9:45 show. We were at the front of the line to get in so we were able to pick amazing seats. We had extra space in front of our chairs (for the kids to move around when they got restless) and being slightly higher than the main level gave us a perfect view of the show. I noticed during the show that many kids had to sit on their parents lap because they were sitting behind adults and couldn't see well.

I really don't live general seating tickets (which is why I always show up extra early) but I love to watch how bold and rude people can be. For example, the line to get it was about a hundred feet long and a few families walked up to the front and stood next to the ticket taker like they were so surprised that no one was standing in the second line! Then when we were in and waiting for the show and assuring the kids of "10 more minutes, 5 more minutes" we were told that we were waiting on a school bus of kids that was late to arrive and that the show would start 25 minutes late! Kids were so antsy and snacks and potty breaks had already been planned and everyone was grumpy. If I had of called the morning of and said that I would be late, I doubt they would have held the show for me! Because of the late start kids were checked out by half way through the hour long show. Allison nearly flipped her lid when the characters came out but after an hour of sitting in a dark theatre she was half bored, half tired.

The show was good except that two actors played multiple characters so not all the characters were on stage at the same time, and also, it was strange that the costumes were all different. Daniel Tiger was a full costume (like a Mickey Mouse at Disneyland) but then some character were full costumes but had the face cut out so they could talk), then some were just people in the characters clothes. It was very strange, but the show was great. They sang all the songs they do in the show and it was more than worth the $6 admission ticket. One thing that was so smart was that a week before the show, the college emailed a Daniel Tiger packet with games, coloring pages and activities to print at home and bring to keep kids busy while they waited for the show to start. It was a great idea and all the kids took a turn coloring.

After the show I took Allison out for a Happy Meal and then let her run around in the park before I took her home completely exhausted.