Hello Calcutta

The promised dream trip to Disneyland can wait. This weekend, take your kids to City Centre Salt Lake instead for a touch-and-feel experience of a fantasy world filled with toons, trademark Disney attractions and tons of fun things to do.

The inaugural edition of Telekids presents Disney Magic starts on Friday and runs through the weekend in the Kund area of the mall, culminating in Children’s Day on November 14. The organisers promise it will be an event to remember for the Disney fan, age no bar!

“We are excited to bring Disney Magic to our fans in Calcutta. Creating memorable experiences for kids and families is at the heart of everything we do at Disney,” said Avinash Pant, executive director of marketing at The Walt Disney Company (India).

“On this special Children’s Day weekend, we look forward to entertaining and engaging our fans with exciting and fun-filled activities,” he added.

For your little princess, there will be an opportunity for a fairytale makeover in the Disney Princess zone. If your child is a toon car fan, escort him to the makeshift 20feetx16feet “racetrack” to enjoy a free lap on a Lightning McQueen.

A maze has been created in the celebration arena to take kids on a zigzag tour of the Mickey Mouse clubhouse. All the other activities will take place on a stage appropriately named Mickey and decorated with six-foot cut-outs of the world’s most famous mouse along with friends Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy.

Each day’s schedule — from 2 in the afternoon till 8 in the evening — includes an hour dedicated to special fare.

“The workshop hour is meant to teach children how to make a Princess tiara or magic wand. Mickey and Friends hour will be about playing games and interactive storytelling. On each of the four days, 6 to 7pm will be time for the Disney Big Acts,” an event manager said.

The Big Act on Day One would be ventriloquist Satyajit Padhye and his puppet Bumpy, former finalists in the India’s Got Talent television show. On Saturday, the stage will be quizmaster Dyu D’Cunha’s for the Mickey Challenge, where parents can pair up with their kids to pit their DQ (Disney Quotient, silly!) against other teams.

Day III is reserved for the Disney Pixar Cars Grand Prix Championship, where the four kids with the best times in the qualifiers race each other in the finale.

The last Big Act will be Blue Fun Umbrella, a children’s activity group for storytelling and marrying theatrics with experiential learning.

The fun has already begun for Telekids readers with 100 VIP passes being distributed among lucky members of the Telekids Wiz Club. The passes come with a kit each containing a Telekids T-shirt, smiley ball, a photo coupon to take pictures with their favourite Disney characters and a pass to participate in the car game or get a Princess makeover.

“These 100 kids will be the queue-cutters. They can join the car race or don a Princess costume without having to line up,” an organiser said.

If that isn’t a reason to quickly join the Telekids Wiz Club and get a crack at a VIP pass for the next event, here’s the clincher. “Students who want to be members of the Telekids Wiz Club can fill forms on the spot and drop it in the designated box. One lucky applicant will win free tickets to Disneyland, Hong Kong, for two days accompanied by three family members,” the organiser said.

No kidding!