Monday, September 16, 2013

Disney Junior Doc McStuffins Tour

I was super excited when social media was all a buzz about Disney Junior's Doc McStuffins tour last month. I made a mental note of the event date still unsure of our plans for the day. Sometime this week I decided I would definitely take Abigail. She absolutely loves Doc McStuffins, and it is a free event. Free events have their PROs and CONs. I knew we had to get their early to make sure our wait wasn't going to be too long. Due to some GPS complications, we arrived a bit after 9am but did find excellent metered parking next to Centennial Olympic Park. It was a bit awkward finding the end of the line but once we did, it moved fairly smoothly and we got our bracelets assigning us with an 11am appointment with The Doc Mobile. Our friends found us shortly after and visiting and chatting made the time pass quicker than we had expected.

While we waited in a Disney attraction style line, keeping everyone in their correct lines, we were greeted by numerous women doctors. These doctors are all members of The Artemis Medical Society which is "a group of women physicians of color joining together in common purpose to create and promote an environment in medicine where [they] can come together to support and learn from each other across all medical specialties." The Artemis Medical Society was actually chartered in June 2012, inspired by Disney Junior's release of Doc McStuffins in March of the same year. The twelve women who founded the organization "saw a reflection of themselves in the "Doc McStuffins" character". We were able to chat with a few doctors as we waited in line, meeting a couple OBGYNs, a few Pediatricians and a Family Practice Physician. The organization itself now has more than 3000 members, at least throughout the United States (but could probably be worldwide, I just did not find that information on their website). It was great these women took the time, out of their already busy schedules, to be available at this Doc Mobile tour. The children really enjoyed chatting with and asking questions as we waited, and it really helped pass the time. In addition to chatting, The Artemis Society also passed out paper stethoscopes to all the children.
Once it was finally our turn, strollers were parked "valet style" because there wouldn't be room to maneuver them through the different stations. First, the kids were introduced to the new Doc McStuffins App, which the kids were able to test out. It was a bit of a free for all, and some kids hogged the iPads while others were slightly shoved through the area. The next area was a fun sing and dance along with the Radio Disney group. They sang fun songs from Doc McStuffins and quizzed the kids about Doc McStuffins trivia. The third portion was large foam blocks where kids could build train track style, then roll a ball down but there wasn't actually enough room to really play with these. The kids were then fitted with lab coats and allowed to enter the Doc Mobile, which had lots of stations for the children to perform check-ups with the toys they brought. Abigail was hoping her bear, McArthur, could get his sweater repaired (the side seam of the sweater is ripped) but all the play in the Doc Mobile was pretend and not actual repairs, so he'll have to visit with one of Abigail's grandmothers for mending sometime in the future.

Once we were through the Doc Mobile, there was a water play station (that was lacking in water). Kids could get a bucket of water and dump it into a funnel, then the water would pour through different attached tubes. Honestly, I was a bit confused as no one explained what this was all about then Abigail was given a cute Doc water bottle, making me feel like our time at that station was over. Abigail and her friends found their way to kid size picnic tables where they each got a placemat and stickers to encourage healthy eating. At this point I was looking to see how we would get in line to meet Doc next, and I was told there was a completely separate line to meet Doc McStuffins "IF" we wanted.

Well of course my Disney loving, character obsessed child wanted to meet Doc! We proceeded to another line where we waited for about 20 minutes until being told we were in the 2pm section of the line, it was only 12:30. At this point I got a bit frustrated, we had waited (corralled) for two hours only to feel rushed through the Doc Mobile stations in 10-15 minutes and then we were expected to wait for another 2hrs. I guess, ideally, once you had your scheduled appointment time (color coded bracelet) visitors could have waited to meet Doc before their appointment, but that information was not at all shared with us. Abigail was invited to a 3pm birthday party, and celebrating a friend's birthday is/was more important than this chance to meet Doc. Hopefully, we'll get to meet her during our November trip to Walt Disney World.
Overall, Abigail and her friends enjoyed their morning but it left me a bit disappointed. If the Doc Mobile is coming to a city near you, I highly recommend arriving early, expect crowds and some waiting, and ask lots of questions so you know when and where the excitement is happening so you can wait as little as possible. For the complete DocMobile Tour details CLICK HERE. The DocMobile will be heading to Washington D.C, Los Angeles and Pheonix to finish out the tour.

QUESTIONS:
-Do you attend large free events like this?
-Did you visit the Doc Mobile or plan to when it comes to your city?

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