the greatest show on earth comes to charm city

We had a chance to check out opening night of the Greatest Show on Earth this evening -- also known as Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus: Barnum 200.

We had bit more confidence taking a toddler to a show after our first experience at Disney Princesses on Ice, but we're always skeptical by the idea of keeping our bouncing munchkin in a stadium-style seat for more than 10 minutes.

Verdict? The circus is bug approved.

She loved it. And while she didn't stay seated for long stretches of time (preferred to stand and put the happy dance on auto repeat), she gasped, clapped and laughed with the best of 'em.

Ironically, the acts that took my breath away (i.e. the Cirque du Soleil-like trapeze artistry) didn't keep the Bug's attention long. She was more caught up in the lights, parade of elephants and the 'choo choo' that magically appeared with the Ring Master during the opening number.

The pre-show activities offered an opportunity to get up close and personal with the elephants, clowns, costumes and more. A ton of fun for the Bug, who also got to expend some pre-show energy. Made it a wee bit easier to stay near her seat during the event.

While there is something for everyone in the show, it would definitely be in your best interest to bring some snacks to entertain during the longer acts that might not be as 'ahh-some' for your kiddo. The food options at 1st Mariner are pretty much fried or sugar-coated. Not bad for a calorie splurge, but maybe not the best dinner option.

Our worst mistake of the night? Parking in the garage on West Baltimore Street that is catercorner to Starbucks. The "$10 event parking" sign drew us in - - but the garage is really unsafe for families. It's a one-lane, two-way, twisty-turvy, no pedestrian staircase scare adventure. Pat literally sweat through his clothes trying to get out of the garage, convinced some small child was going to come running out from behind a curve. Pay the extra $5 and park in a safer lot.

Thinking of going? GREAT! We highly recommend it. But be sure you buy your tix in advance and use the special discount we scored for (cool) progeny readers! Save $8 per ticket if you order in advance through Ticketmaster with code 8MOM. Buying tix day of? Save $4 per ticket if you order through Ticketmaster with coder 4MOM.

You can catch the Greatest Show on Earth at 1st Mariner Arena now through April 10th.

(cool) tip: Check out more pics from the show on our facebook page!

Disclaimer: We received media passes from Qorvis Communications in exchange for coverage of the show. But the opinions expressed in this post are 100% ours. It's part of our commitment to our readers: 100% honesty.

disney on ice: a night out with the princesses

When I told my mother I was taking my 19-month-old to see the Disney on Ice: Princess Wishes, she laughed. I'm pretty sure she thought I'd lost my mind.

Honestly, I questioned my own sanity. Let's do a sanity check, shall we?

• The show has a start time of 7:30 PM (um, yeah, that's toddler bedtime) -- hmmm. Playing with fire.
• Depending on where our tickets were, I could literally be trapped in one of those oh-so-comfortable plastic stadium-style seats with a melting down mini-me. PDT (public displays of tantrum) is not my idea of an enjoyable evening.
• Lights, cameras, sensory overload!
• $12 boxes of popcorn with princess-clad buckets and my kid can't eat that yet...

Despite these hesitations, I decided to be adventurous and jumped off the ice dancing princess cliff.

The Bug LOVED it.

We made a girls night out of it. My friend Bridget and I took the Bug and Bridget's almost-four-year-old Ellie to the show (thanks to Amanda at Parenting by Dummies who supplied the tix!). Dressed in their tutu finest, the girls donned crowns, danced in their seats, munched on jelly beans and oohed and ahhed over their favorite princesses.

Some highlights of the show? The Be Our Guest number with an ice rink full of skating silverware and a spectacular Under the Sea performance. My favorite part of the show was the seven dwarfs. They whole audience cheered loudly when those beloved characters hit the ice.

In the spirit of full disclosure, the Bug was a bit disappointed there weren't more songs with Belle (from Beauty and the Beast). Ellie, our resident princess expert, thought that the fireworks during the grand finale were way too scary. The fire-breathing dragon from the Sleeping Beauty? Apparently not scary at all.

We had a BLAST; however, we made some ice show rookie mistakes. Luckily, you get to learn from them:

• Do NOT by any means park in the 1st Mariner Arena garage lot. Park 2-3 blocks away. You will be snarled in a 45 minute gridlock trying to get out of the garage after the show. Young, tired, crashing from sugar high kids strapped into their carseats in a non-moving car WAYYY past bedtime is a recipe for disaster.
  
• Be prepared for marketing insanity and not so much variety in terms of concessions. Snow cones (which only come in a commemorative cup) are $12. Popcorn is $7 (not $12 as I was fearing). Pizza ran out before intermission. Never saw a juice option. When I went to nab drinks for our crew, my options were water, soda and beer.
  
• Patience, patience, patience. You will be in a mob of pint-sized princess dresses. They don't sit still. There isn't much foot space. You will be kicked in the head by the tot behind you. Despite your best efforts, your tyke will kick the kid or mother in front of you. Don't have a meltdown. You're all in it together.
• Make friends with your neighbor. You never know who might have string cheese in their purse that they're willing to trade popcorn for. (The giant sized popcorn was too much for Bridget and her kiddo; there was plenty to share!) NOTE: Not in a creepy, do-you-want-candy-little-girl way. Just moms all working together. String cheese was wrapped in it's original packaging and sealed.
  
• No need to work out the day you go to the show. You'll get to carry a 26 pound toddler up 5 flights of stairs afterward because the line for the garage elevator will wrap around the building.
  
• Wear sensible shoes.
  
• The show is a bit on the long side. We didn't get to our car until 9:35 PM. The second half of the show is great -- but we probably could have left at intermission and the girls would have been none the wiser. For older kids, this won't be a problem at all.
  
• Bring cash. Don't worry. The roaming popcorn guy CAN break a $100.
  

Bottom line? Your little princess (or prince -- there is a lot in this show for boys! Including a great bit with Genie from Aladdin) will love this! The show runs through Sunday, February 13th at 1st Mariner Arena and tickets can be purchased online.

(cool) tip: Check out the Economom's post on how to score discounted tix to the show.

Party with Spot at Adventure Theatre (free tix anyone?)

What do you get when you invite a crocodile, a hippopotamus, a monkey and a magician over to celebrate a dog's birthday? One heckuva party - - and a fabulous family friendly theater experience.

Spot's Birthday Party is making it's U.S. debut at Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo Park, just in time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of beloved favorite children's book, Where's Spot? by Eric Hill. It's a definite must-see.

Opening with a "Where's Spot?" musical bit that incorporates the actors flipping stage doors just like my toddler flips the book flaps won me over. The cast had me at "Is he behind the red door?"

Lila was a fan even sooner. Pretty much as soon as Spot's parents (the two "goggies") appeared on stage and welcomed everyone. The show does a magical job of making the audience feel as if they are party guests, not passive viewers. It's a rollicking hour-long performance where kids are encouraged to sing along (songs incorporate a lot of repetition), dance, help blow out birthday candles, guess what his presents are and play games right along with Spot and his friends. Even snag a goody bag as they leave the 'party.'

The theater space itself is intimate and tiered, so the audience is right in on the action and part of the performance. There really ISN'T a bad seat in the house (far as we could tell). Lila loved having Spot and his friends interact with her as they came on and off stage, or danced in the aisles. Even at a mere 15 months, she clapped and twisted along with all of the other kidlets in the room! Be sure your kids have their dancing shoes on. Not only will they want to groove to the songs, there is a strategically placed game of freeze dance that happens with the audience right around the 45 minute mark... I'm sure it was an artistic decsision and had nothing to do with potentially antsy audience members who need to stretch...

One of the best things about Adventure Theatre? It's designed for kids. No worries if your tot has a major meltdown because there isn't a single other person in the room that wouldn't understand. Good thing, too. Because people are probably going to see you hightail it for the lobby (there really isn't an obscure exit route). We would highly discourage you from bringing a stroller if you can avoid it.

The theater staff is especially attuned to the sensitivities of differently-abled children, and offer specially-designed performances for hearing impaired and those with autistic spectrum disorder. These performances typically omit the use of strobe lighting or loud noises and keep the house lights on, among other considerations. The ASL & Autism friendly performance for this show takes place on October 31st at 2:00 PM. Don't forget to dress up!

Guess what? We've got a family four pack of tickets to Spot's Birthday Party that we're giving away (a $60 value!)! You can use them for ANY performance of the show, which runs until November 2nd. Shows are held every Saturday and Sunday at 11am and 2pm, with a few 4:30 performances. Weekday shows are available on a varied schedule.

Want to win them? Just leave a comment with your name and email address on this post. Want a second chance to win? Like (cool) progeny on facebook - - and leave a SECOND comment telling us you're a FB follower! A third chance? Follow us on Twitter - - and leave a THIRD comment telling us you're a Twitter follower!

You have until 11:59 PM on Thursday, October 14 to enter! Good luck!


Disclaimer: Adventure Theater was kind enough to let us attend their show free of charge, and to donate a family four pack of tickets for a lucky (cool) progeny reader! Because they want to be sure to get the word out about their fantastic production (and of course, we want to help!), they also paid for one month of blog sponsorship. However, out of fairness to our readers, none of the above influenced our comments. We couldn't recommend any product or service to you - - our fabulous followers - - unless we can endorse whole-heartedly. The opinions in this post are entirely those of (cool) progeny.