Soundsational

Today was another big day at Disneyland: the debut of their newest parade, Soundsational.  I was really excited for a new parade since I've been missing Parade of Dreams ever since it was canceled. 

I was also hoping for soft openings of Star Tours and/or The Little Mermaid, there were none for Star Tours, but they had some for The Little Mermaid.  Unfortunately, they had technical problems and by the time we got there they were no longer running :(  I'll have to wait for the Annual Passholder preview next week to see it. 

I watched Soundsational twice, and for the most part, it was a really good parade.  However, it did not live up to Parade of Dreams or the parade I saw at Tokyo Disneyland.  The biggest aspect to me was costumes... they just weren't as elaborate as those from other parades.  The only one I really liked was Rapunzel, since she had a ton of hair and her costume was detailed. 

Here are some pictures of my favorite parts of the parade:

Dancers from the Aladdin section. I liked these costumes the most out of all the dancers. 

The Little Mermaid segment.  You can see the floats and dancers here, it was pretty vibrant and fun!

Ariel.  I didn't like the end of the fin since it looks really static.  I much preferred the other style that has been used before.  She also looks pretty unstable up there!

The princess float.  While I love the look of it, I found it rather boring that the princesses didn't really move.  I wish they would have danced, or done anything other than just sit and wave.  Rapunzel was the only one who moved, and it was kind of just swaying back and forth. 

Aurora.  I was really disappointed in her costume and the fact that she just sat there :/ 

Rapunzel.  Unfortunately you can't see too much of her costume here.

You can see a bit more here.  As you can see, she has her long hair, and it is draped over her arm and continues on the floor.  I really liked the wig, I kind of want to make a super long one like this!

Belle.  I did like how they made her kind of flowery inspired. 

The opening float, which features Mickey drumming. 

These are only a few parts of the parade, I encourage you to see it if you go to Disneyland! 

Of course now I want to make a new blinged out Rapunzel costume with a super long, ropelike wig like hers.  I'd probably add more rhinestones to it though, since I love adding rhinestones to things. 

Outfit shot.  Kind of boring today haha!
Dress, Locket: Forever 21
Rose Necklace: Renaissance Faire
Other: offbrand

All in all it was a fun day, though I'm pretty tired now! 

Star Tours Preview

Today I was lucky enough to attend the Star Tours Preview at Disneyland!  This was a special event and we were the first people to ride it who weren't cast members/cast member guests.  My friend won and was nice enough to take me since she knows I love Star Wars so much.

Since we were to ride as soon as the park opened, we needed to get there very early; I ended up getting up at 4 am to get ready and get down to my friend's house to carpool to the park.  We ended up arriving at around 6 am. 

They had a photo area set up.  I wore my Star Wars tank top with the bottom half of my TRON outfit and Leia style hair.  Kind of boring but it was early.
Everything is from Forever 21 lol

At 8 am we were let into the park.  Here's the Marquis for the new ride. 

Inside the queue.  You can see the StarSpeeder 1000 with R2D2 on top.

C3PO is on hand for the technical work.

They have a large screen that displays things like destinations, commercials about places you can go and the weather.  It was in the process of changing languages when I took this picture. 

Close up of R2D2

A sign tells you where to find different departments, like in an airport.

This droid scans baggage.  From above, you can see what's inside the suitcases. 

The new ride is in 3D, so you need to wear "flight glasses".

The ride was amazing.  One new aspect is that there are 54 different combos of where you can go and who you encounter.  We encountered Darth Vader, Admiral Ackbar, and traveled to Hoth and Coruscant.  I can't wait to see the other combos also!

Myself with the poster that is at the front of the park. 

Afterwards we went to DCA because we heard there might be a soft opening of The Little Mermaid.  Unfortunately that wasn't true, but I did take a few pictures of the outside.

Now I'm super tired, but it was worth it!  I'll definitely be back on opening day to ride again and again!

Wig Review: Gothic and Lolita Wigs/Cosplay Wig USA

I figured I would do another review for everyone. 

Gothic and Lolita Wigs/Cosplay Wig USA is a company that has two separate lines: one aimed at cosplay, and one aimed at lolita.  However, I'm pretty sure they all come from the same supplier and are the same fibre.  I have 2 wigs from them, one from the cosplay line and one from the lolita line. 

The first wig I bought was the Rangiku Matsumoto wig from their cosplay line.  I bought it because I liked the color (I bought it at a convention, so I didn't even know it was a cosplay wig until later). 

Here it is worn.

For the most part, I like this wig a lot.  It's a nice color and it's comfortable.  However, I have 2 issues with it:
-It sheds a lot.  I always brush out my wigs after wear, and I always have a lot of fibres that have come loose when I brush it.  I'm not sure if this has to do with the type of fibres or how they are wefted, but it does shed a lot.
-One of the things that is advertised on the website is that the wigs have "high temperature fibre".  In my experience, this means you can use up to 400 degree F on it, so I decided to straighten the wig using my flat iron.  I used it on a low setting, and it melted.  Fortunately, I started at the back and bottom, so it didn't affect the wig when worn.  But it did irritate me.  I later found out that you can only use 180 degrees F on their wigs.  Personally, I don't consider this to be "high temperature", so I felt a bit misled by this claim. 

The other wig that I own is the Classic Lolita Wavy Wig. 

Now, I love this wig.  I bought it after seeing my roommate's, and loving it.  It's comfortable, cute, and doesn't tangle.  I haven't had to do any restyling on it or anything after wearing it a few times.  I'm considering buying this wig in other colors as well, because I really love it.

It was listed as light brown on the website, when to me it looks blonde.  It looks slightly darker on the website, although I'd still call it blonde there.

As for customer service, I e-mailed them after the melting incident on the red wig, and I never got a response.  This is the only time that I've contacted them, so I can't say that they have very good customer service. 

Overall, the wigs are nice, but the customer service and such is somewhat lacking.  This wouldn't deter me from buying wigs from them in future, but only if I'm sure of what it looks like and it didn't need any styling. 

For the wigs, I would rate them 4/5.  As for customer service, I'd rate it 2.5/5.  They are very friendly and helpful in person at conventions, but they are not very good when it comes to online service and what they put on the website.

Wig Review: Arda Wigs

Today I'll be doing a product review of Arda Wigs, a wig company in the US.  They market themselves as a Cosplay wig company, but from what I've seen, their wigs would be great for regular wear/lolita as well.

I first heard about them at Anime Expo last year, where they had a booth.  However, I didn't need any cosplay wigs until I was looking for a wig for Rapunzel, at which time I started looking into cosplay wigs again.  However, at that time they did not carry a super long wig, so I ended up getting my wigs elsewhere.  But I was still itching to try out one of their wigs.

My chance came when I got a commission for a Chibi Usa wig.  I used their part wig (called Chibi haha!)

I also used 2 of their ponytail falls for the wig.

Let me just say that this wig had ALOT of hair.  When I cut the hair to stub the pigtails, I had a box full of hair.  The fibres were very nice and styled easily.  I ended up with the wig looking like this:

It is my first odango wig so I'm thrilled with how it turned out (ignore Dr. House creeping on the TV in the background haha!)

After such a good experience with this wig, I decided to order my new Rapunzel wig from them.  I ordered the Delilah, which is 60 inches long:

This wig also is super thick.  In fact, this wig by itself is almost, if not, as thick as the double wig I made for my first Rapunzel wig.  Another good aspect is that the fibres are heat resistant;  they mean it.  I used my straightener on a setting between 300-400 degrees F and there was no kinking or anything.  While this wig is a pain, any 5 foot long wig will be, and it's much less of a pain than the other 5 foot wigs I've used.  I'd take a picture, but the wig isn't styled yet.  It's definitely worth the price though.

My only real problem is that they have their own color chart, which makes it difficult to match wigs that I already own or know the coloring of.  However, this is more a personal thing than anything that they did.  On the other hand, it does provide for unique colors that are great for cosplay.

As for customer service, they are fabulous!  I e-mailed them about color and I got a prompt response that answered my question and included pictures to help me decide.  They also contacted me when one of the items I ordered was out of stock and asked what I would like to do (wait until it arrives to ship, or ship what is available now).  I have been very impressed with all interactions with them.  

I definitely recommend Arda for your cosplay wig needs.  They are my new go-to store.  I'd rate them a 5/5 in both product and customer service.

Renaissance Faire

Sorry for no post last week.  I was super busy with school and ended up getting sick -_-  However, I got all of my schoolwork done and I was able to go to the Renaissance Faire yesterday.

The Faire was located in Irwindale, CA.  I recommend going if you have a chance and are local.  It was my second time going and I had such a fun time!

I don't have any garb, and wasn't sure what to wear.  Several friends suggested Rapunzel, but I didn't want it to get dirty, and I wasn't sure how well I'd last wearing the wig for that long.  So after some thought, I decided to make a costume that I've been thinking of making for a while: Briar Rose.  I figured it fit in alright with the theme, and I could make it out of fabrics that could easily be washed.  So I got to work and made it in one day.  For a one day costume, I think it turned out pretty well.

Me in my costume.  I got a lot of good feedback, a lot of people said "Oh look, it's Sleeping Beauty!"  I was so excited that people recognized it!

Myself with one of the Knights.  They have a jousting area where 4 knights compete.  This was the Scottish Knight.

Myself and my friend with some pirates.  People have really awesome costumes!

This guy made his armour out of Coke cans haha!  I thought it was really creative and clever!

With some Vikings/Barbarians.  Just another example of how awesome some costumes are. 

My friend got most of the pictures because she has a really awesome camera, but this should give you an idea of what it's like.

In other news, I'm thinking of doing reviews of things.  But what kind of things would you like to see reviews of?  I was thinking eyelashes and wigs to start off since I wear them a lot?  Let me know what you think!