As some of you probably know, the Playdate Premiere Party was going on over in New York. What started as an invite only event ended up opening up to a select few, with the clause that you needed someone under the age of 18 with you to get in. While some people decided to borrow their nieces and nephews for the day, others actually brought their kids!
Greg sent a massive writeup of what exactly happened at the party. Head on down past the break to read it all!
I thought Equestria Daily readers might appreciate a report from The Hub’s New York Playdate Premiere Party. My daughters and I attended the event from 10-12 Nov. 10 at Manhattan’s Gramercy Theatre for screenings of the first episodes of MLP:FiM Season 3 and the new series Littlest Petshop. The premiere party was a delayed by a week due to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
I’m not sure how widely the invitation to this free event was distributed – I learned of it from a NYC Brony list. Up to four people could attend per registrant; the only requirement was that at least one of the four be under 18. There was a nice turnout of families. The Hub also brought in two busloads of kids from Breezy Point, Queens, who have been living in shelters because of the hurricane, and announced it was making a donation to the Red Cross to support hurricane victims.
Waiting in line outside the theatre, we saw one group of college-age Bronies who were unable to get in because their younger “chaperones” didn’t show up. They went to another independently organized premiere party.
Although this was billed as an event for both series, the Ponies were clearly the stars. Pictures of the Mane Six adorned posters outside and cutouts in the theatre lobby. Huge cutie marks of background ponies hung on the theatre walls and season 1 songs played in a continuous loop on the big screen before the showing.
The party was well-organized and -attended, not overwhelmingly crowded like other promotional events I’ve attended with my kids. The kids were all able to participate in activities and parents didn’t have to pull their hair out.
Pre-screening activities included balloon animals, photo areas with Ponies and Littlest Petshop characters, a bean-bag toss with prizes for the kids, and the World’s Biggest Coloring Book featuring our beloved Ponies – more on that in a minute!
At 11am the screening began, hosted by Melissa Joan Hart (swoon). MJH’s series Sabrina is now being shown on The Hub. She talked about being an old-school MLP fan from her childhood, and how she and her three sons are fans of the show. She said her favorite pony is Twilight Sparkle, voiced by her friend Tara Strong. MJH also announced that a representative of The Guinness Book of World Records was on had to certify that the Pony coloring book was the biggest ever! The Guinness rep presented the official certificate on stage.
The first episode of Littlest Pet Shop was shown first. I thought it was well received. (My daughters, both skeptical beforehand, enjoyed it a lot.) Then came the moment everyone had waited for – the first episode of “Crystal Empire.” It was clearly many in the audience had seen the eight-minute promotional clip, since lots of kids and adults sang along with the “Failure/Success Song.” The animation and effects of the Crystal Empire and the arctic battle were breathtaking on the big screen.
We’d all hoped they might share the second episode at the screening, but to no avail. Luckily, from what I gathered, most folks already had it recorded and waiting at home, including us!
As we exited, the kids all received swag bags including Pony and Littlest Pet Shop toys, a small picture book of the “Friendship is Magic” series opener, pencils and lipbalm.
We had a great time and The Hub did a bang-up job on the event.
