This week we get to list our favorite “live” theme park entertainment.
However, before we get to that task I do want to comment on last weeks blog. Both Wishes and Illuminations were the most popular of the fireworks while their were many different opinions on the parades. Both the Halloween and Christmas parades had lots of support so did a number of parades that have been retired. It was great to see so many different opinions.
Anyway, on to my list. Keep in mind as you read this list that I’m retired, visiting WDW without children, a Florida Annual Passholder and at times I only visit WDW to catch a show or two.
1) Storytime with Belle
2) Dapper Dan’s Barbershop Quartet
3) Ragtime Piano Player at Casey’s Corner
1) Voices of Liberty
2) Matsuriza, Taiko Drummers
3) British Invasion
1) American Idol Experience
2) Citizens of Hollywood
3) Beauty and The Beast Stage Show
1) Nemo The Musical
2) Festival of the Lion King
3) DiVine
OK, now that I have told you my top three, what’s yours? I’d love to know. Also, you can add whatever comments you want to help us appreciate your choices.
Speaking of comments, here’s some of my thoughts. Without question the Voices of Liberty are my number one in all of Walt Disney World. Every time I listen to them sing I get shivers down my spine. Also, it doesn’t surprise me to see them bring tears to the eyes of so many guests. They are truly wonderful! If anyone reading this have never seen them perform then please do yourself a favor and make sure you catch one of their performance on your next trip. You won’t be sorry! My choice of Matsuriza, Taiko Drummers as my second favorite in Epcot my raise a few eyebrows but I really do love watching them perform. It’s amazing how talented they are and I’m very impressed with their stamina and endurance. I do love both Nemo the Musical and Festival of The Lion King in Animal Kingdom. Both are fantastic shows that I never get tired of watching. Storytime with Belle is special because of how all the children enjoy this show. Every time I watch it I have a big smile on my face for hours afterwards. It’s a simple show, but it’s what Disney is to so many children. Very special.
And you could win an AllEars baseball cap. I will take all the names of those who post a comment (see below) with your list, within the next couple weeks and I will put them in a hat and randomly draw the name of the lucky winner. The only rules are that you must reside in the US, be 18 years old or older and you must provide your email address so I can contact you should you win.
All comments must be posted no later than Sunday, July 11, 2010 in order to be eligible to win the baseball cap. The winner of the AllEars baseball cap will be announced shortly thereafter.
To make things a bit easier for you can just copy and paste the following into the Post A Comment section below and add your information:
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Your comments:
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In the coming weeks I will blog on more “favorite” things to do in Walt Disney World. Also, let me know if you have any suggestions as to other things you would like to see “top lists” of. I’m open to any and all suggestions. So far readers have suggested I blog on Favorite Disney Hotels, Favorite Resort Food, Non-Theme Park Disney Thing To Do and Favorite Magical Moment. Great ideas! What do you think? Based on the number of comments, I think you all agree that these are fun to do.
And the winner is: the winner of the AllEars baseball cap for commenting on my Favorite Parades and Fireworks blog is Suzanne Sevier, from Maryland. Congratulations to Suzanne and “thank you” to everyone who took the time to share their Favorite Parades and Fireworks with me and all the AllEars readers!
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Finally, be one of the first people to hear when my newest blogs go live on AllEars.net by joining “DisneyMike’s World” Facebook group.
Well, that’s all for now. As my good friend says “see ya real soon”…DizneyMike
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Magic Kingdom
1)Dream Along With Mickey
2)Casey’s Corney ragtime piano player
3)Main Street Philharmonic (marching band)
Epcot
1)Voices of Liberty
2)Off Kilter
3)British Invasion
Hollywood Studios
1)Mulch, Sweat, and Shears
2)Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage
3)Citizens of Hollywood (especially the Hollywood Public Works)
Animal Kingdom
1)Festival of the Lion King
2)African Drummers
3)DiVine
Comments: This is one of my favorite WDW topics.
Magic Kingdom: I love the Dream Along With Mickey stage show. I’ve never cared for any of the other castle stage shows, but I love this one. Also, I always stop to see the ragtime piano player, especially if Jim is the one playing.
Epcot: Voices of Liberty– send chills down my spine every time I hear them. Off Kilter and the British Invasion are also a ton of fun.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Mulch, Sweat, and Shears may be my favorite performing group in all of WDW. Four For a Dollar would be on the list if they were still around.
Animal Kingdom: Festival of the Lion King is wonderful!
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Magic Kingdom
1)Castle Stage show
2)Storytime with Belle
3)
Epcot
1)voices of Liberty
2)Dragon Legend Acrobats
3)Living statues show (don’t know name – I think it was France or Italy during my 1995 visit)
Hollywood Studios
1)Beauty and the Beast
2)MS Musical 3
3)Mulch, Sweat, and Shears
Animal Kingdom
1)Festival of Lion King
2)Nemo
3)Flights of Wonder
Magic Kingdom
1) Main street electrical parade
2) Dapper Dan’s
3) Woody’s round up
Epcot
1) Voices of Liberty
2) Captain EO
3) Japanese Drummers
Hollywood Studios
1) Beauty & the Beast
2) citizens of Hollywood
3) the garage band later in the day ( can’t remember their name)
Animal Kingdom
1) Festival of the lion king
2) End of the day dance party with the characters
3) Nemo the musical
Your comments:
MK
The electrical parade just sends a tingle down my spine everytime I hear the synthized music and now my son is hooked to. I love the Dapper Dan’s because on so many occasions they have made something special for our family ( mom is 91). The little mini parade they were doing with the toy story characters really added something to Frontierland
Epcot
No one can top the voices of liberty they are fantastic, I never miss them, especially on special holidays. I loved Captain EO before and now they have made my year by bringing it back and letting me share with my son. FInally those Japanese drummers are just amazing .
Hollywood Studios
My all tim efav here is beauty and the beast I just find it so captivating I see something new no matter how many times I watch it
I love the citizens of Hollywood, the whole unscripted bits and interaction with the guests does it for me every time
Finally here the new garage type band that plays later i the day, are a welcome addition
AK
I have to give it to the festival of the lion king you just never tire of seeing it and depending on where you sit you get a different show!
The end of day dance party is good, it is a typical Disney ending but a lot of fun if you still have the energy to take part and somehow it encourages everyone to do something. FInally Nemo, this was my least favorite initially but it has steadily grown on my
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Magic Kingdom
1) Opening show
2) Dream Along with Mickey
3) Move it, shake it, celebrate it
Epcot
1) World Showcase Players
2) British Invasion
3) Serveur Amusant
Hollywood Studios
1) Citizens of Hollywood
2) Beauty & the Beast
3) Little Mermaid
Animal Kingdom
1) Festival of the Lion King
2) Opening show
3) Finding Nemo
Your comments:
My all time favorite are the WS players. No matter how many times I see the show, I still crack up laughing every time. (Grail, grail, grail, whopee!) Citizens of Hollywood are very funny too. I saw a trio of “workers” on my last trip, on a mission to save the trees from a terrible virus. The crowd watching (me included!) ended up soaked with water as they sprayed the trees. Opening show @ MK makes me feel like I am truly at Disney. And I think the opening show @ AK is simple, but very cute. “Let the Adventure begin!”
Magic Kingdom
1) I really don’t have any favorites; Sorry
2)
3)
Epcot
1) Voices of Liberty hands down, especially at Christmas
2) Acrobats in China
3) Matsuriza, Taiko Drummers
Hollywood Studios
1) Beauty & the Beast
2) Those wacky guys and girls that do the street improvs–always humorous!
3) Voyage of Little Mermaid
Animal Kingdom
1) Lion King
2)
3)
Your comments: Sorry, I didn’t fill in everything. Those I listed I really like, others not so much, not enough to vote for.
These are great; keep ’em comin’!
Magic Kingdom
1) Characters of Main Street
2) Dapper Dans
3) Band that walks through Frontierland
Epcot
1) Off Kilter
2) Serveur Amusant
3) JAMMitors
Hollywood Studios
1) Street performers
2) Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular
3) Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Animal Kingdom
1) Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade (and its Christmas counterpart)
2) Finding Nemo: The Musical
3) African drummers in Harambe
Your comments:
There are so many wonderful live performances. I still have not seen them all. I think it’s also worth pointing out that there is also wonderful live entertainment outside the parks at DTD and the Boardwalk.
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Magic Kingdom
1) Disney Dreams Come True Parade Performers
2) Jungle Cruise Captains
3) Tinkerbell’s Flight
Epcot
1) Voices of Liberty
2) The Holidays Around the world Performers
3) The Princesses at Akershus
Hollywood Studios
1) Great Movie Ride Guides
2) Beauty and the Beast
3) Indiana Jones Show
Animal Kingdom
1) Finding Nemo, the Musical
2) The Festival of the Lion King
3) The guides on the Kilimanjaro Safari
Your comments:
There is nothing better than the Voices of Liberty. No trip of ours is complete without hearing them almost every day. I cry at our first performance every visit. I think it’s too easy to overlook the hardworking cast members that “perform” at their attractions and I have particularly enjoyed a number of the “tour guides” on rides like the Jungle Cruise, Great Movie Ride, or Safari. A good performer there can really add so much to the experience. Also wanted to give special mention to all of the wonderful actors around the World Showcase during the holidays that share their stories with us. Two vacations ago was my first Disney Christmas and it was simply magical from top to bottom. We loved meeting La Befana in Italy and the Julenissen in Norway, among others. I recommend that anyone who has never been a part of WDW during the holidays do so. It’s life-changing.________________________
Magic Kingdom
1)Mickey’s Phillamagic
2)Dapper Dans
3)SpectroMagic
Epcot
1)Off Kilter
2)Mo’ Rockin
3)Living Statues in France
Hollywood Studios
1)Fantasmic
2)Sweat, Mulch and Shears
3)Street Residents
Animal Kingdom
1)Festival of the Lion King
2)African Dancers by Dawa Bar
3)Tarzan
Your comments:
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Over-all Off Kilter and Mulch, Sweat & Shears are my two Must See’s on every trip. I finally saw Mickey’s Phillamagic on our last trip – dragging hubby the whole way, since getting him to sit still for a show, etc is impossible. After getting inside and seeing Donald heading it up he is hooked. He is a HUGE Donald fan and was so surprised to see him.
Love seeing your top 3’s! Keep them coming!
Magic Kingdom
1) Castle lighting ceremony at Christmas
2) The pianist at Casey’s Corner
3)
Epcot
1) Voices of Liberty
2) Maturiza – Taiko Drummers
3) Mo-Rockin!
Hollywood Studios
1) Indiana Jones stunt show (does this count?)
2) Toy Story parade from many years ago…
3)
Animal Kingdom
1) DeVine
2) Tam Tam Congo
3) Wes Palm
Your comments:
I have not seen a lot of the live shows in the last few years, just have not had the chance. Often when I go these days, I go for the ambiance and scenery. IMO, there is nothing like the live performances at Epcot!!
Magic Kingdom
1) Opening show
2) Dream Along with Mickey
3) Main Street Performers
Epcot
1) Street Performers in Italy
2) Jammitors
3) Chair Act in France
Hollywood Studios
1) Lights! Motor! Action!
2) American Idol Experience
3) Beauty and the Beast stage show
Animal Kingdom
1) Festival of the Lion King
2) African drummers in Africa by the Dawa Bar/Tusker House
3) DiVine
Your comments: The MK opening show brings tears to my eyes everytime I see it, it’s perfectly Disney to me. Unfortunately I’ve never see VOL but after reading how much everyone raves about them here it’s a must do for me this time. Festival of the Lion King is my favorite stage show in WDW, amazing. Also if you’ve never taken the time to see the drummers perform outside the Dawa Bar, you should! My boyfriend and I were both picked to be a part of the show in December and it was so much fun!!
Magic Kingdom
1) Clang Clag Trolly
2) Rope Drop
3) taking a picture Cinderella’s wicked step mother and sisters…they are funny!
Epcot
1) Mo Rockin
2) Italy Street Performers
3) The lady who makes the candy in Japan (does that count?)
Hollywood Studios
1) Citizens of Hollywood
2) Little Mermaid
3) Beauty and the Beast
Animal Kingdom
1) Nemo the Musical
2) Lion King
3)
Your comments:
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We have to catch Mo’Rockin every time because our kids LOVE to dance with the belly dancer. She was actually really sweet to talk to after the show. She wanted to know how old our daughter was because she was able to follow the moves (she was 2 and a half at the time)
Magic Kingdom
1)Opening Show
2)Dapper Dans
3)Captain Jack’s Pirate Tutorial
Epcot
1)British Invasion
2)Jammitors
3)Voices of Liberty
Hollywood Studios
1)Citizens of Hollywood
2)Fantasmic
3)Beauty & The Beast Live On Stage
Animal Kingdom
1)DaVine
2)Finding Nemo The Musical
3)Festival of the Lion King
Your comments:
As always the live performing shows are awesome! Its so hard to just pick your top three for each park. These shows really make “The World” even more magical!
Magic Kingdom
1) Storytime with Belle
2) Dapper Dan’s Barbershop Quartet
3) Ragtime Piano Player at Casey’s Corner
Epcot
1) Off Kilter
2) Voices of Liberty
3) British Invasion
Hollywood Studios
1) Beauty and The Beast Stage Show
2) Citizens of Hollywood
3) The Little Mermaid
Animal Kingdom
1) Nemo The Musical
2) Festival of the Lion King
3) Steel Drum Band
Your comments:
I absolutely love Storytime with Belle. You are so close and are having a special moment with Belle! My husband and I make sure we see atleast 2 Off Kilter performances every time we go to EPCOT. It is truly special. Be sure to take a picture of the guys performing-they really hamm it up for the pictures. I cry every single time I see The Voices of Liberty.
Magic Kingdom
1) Dapper Dan’s Barbershop Quartet
2) Main Street performers
3) Rope Drop Show
Epcot
1) Off Kilter
2) Voices of Liberty
3) British Invasion
Hollywood Studios
1) Beauty and the Beast
2) Voyage of the Little Mermaid
3) American Idol
Animal Kingdom
1) Festival of the Lion King
2) Nemo the Musical
3) Steel drum band players
Your comments: This is what is so great about WDW. There are so many different choices of entertainment.
Magic Kingdom
1)Welcome/Opening Show
2)Captain Jack’s Pirate Tutorial
3)Storytime with Belle
Epcot
1) OffKilter
2) The British Invasion
3) Voices of Liberty
Hollywood Studios
1)Fantasmic!
2)Beauty and the Best stage show
3)Jedi Training Academy
Animal Kingdom
1)The Festival of the Lion King
2)DeVine
3)Flights of Wonder
Your comments:
My overall favorite would have to be the Festival of the Lion King…the energy that the performers bring to each performance is continually astounding. I was moved to tears one trip when they went out of their way to include a small child in a wheelchair in the sing-a-long/hand jive portion of the show. Hats off to everyone involved!
Magic Kingdom
1)Rope Drop Show
2)Storytime with Belle
3)Main Street performers
Epcot
1)Rope Drop Show
2)Italian street performers
3)Voices of Liberty
Hollywood Studios
1)Streetmosphere
2)Beauty and the Beast
3)Little Mermaid (does this count?!)
Animal Kingdom
1)Opening Show
2)Festival of the Lion King
3)Steel drum band players
Your comments:
Top 3 Overall – Beauty and the Beast, Festival of the Lion King, Voices of Liberty 🙂
Magic Kingdom
1)Rope Drop Show
2)PUSH
3)Dapper Dans (Especially when they ride the Main Street Vehicles
Epcot
1)Dragon Legend Acrobats
2)Voices of Liberty
3)Fife and Drum Corp
Hollywood Studios
1)Beauty and the Beast
2)Voyage of the Little Mermaid
3)Playhouse Disney
Animal Kingdom
1)Festival of the Lion King
2)Nemo the Musical
3)DiVine
Your comments:
The show at rope drop in the Magic Kingdom makes me cry everytime. MK is always the first park we visit and when I see the show it’s like, “We are finally here!”
The Dragon Legend Acrobats are awesome! Every time they throw a bowl in the air to catch my 3 year old says, “Whoa!” I just recently saw a show in doors due to rain and was delighted to learn it was completely different then their outside show. Yipee, more crazy acrobatics and insane flexibility!
I included Playhouse Disney because it keeps my kids entertained while I take a snooze. It’s cool and dark and the benches in the back corner are very comfy!
DiVine is really fun to watch. It’s even more fun to watch the people around her when they first notice she is not normal vine.
Thanks for letting me share!
Stef
Magic Kingdom
1) PUSH
2) Good Morning show
3) Casey’s Corner pianist
Epcot
1) Miyuki
2) Dragon Legend Acrobats
3) Off Kilter
Hollywood Studios
1) Beauty and the Beast show
2) High School Musical 3
3) Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Animal Kingdom
1) Finding Nemo the Musical
2) Festival of the Lion King
3) Tropicals steel drum band
Your comments: My all-time favorite live entertainment in all of Disney World was Four for a Dollar – I so wish they would bring them back!! A few suggestions for future blogs – favorite character meet and greets, favorite thing to photograph, favorite snacks, and favorite places to shop. Thanks again for the baseball cap, and the great blogs!
Magic Kingdom
(currently playing – not seasonal)
1) Dream Along With Mickey (though I prefered watching shows in the old Galaxy theater)
2) Cptn Jack’s Pirate Tutorial
3) Frontierland Hoedown
Epcot
(For year round options — at Christmas the shows / storytellers rank first, and concerts at the American Gardens Theater are worth a trip by themselves. Also didn’t count the fountain displays – though it is part of the magic.)
1) Chair Act in France – Server Amusant (sp?) (Speaking of chair acts remember the great one that was done in the pre-show to Fantasmic? or at Epcot the “chair” by the players at Wonders of Life — male nurse Danny was great (in both))
2) British Invasion
3) What’s Your Problem? (or maybe Dragon Legend Acrobats – a toss up)
Hollywood Studios
(again not counting the seasonal Osbourne Lights – which is wonderful!)
1) Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
2) Fantasmic (though the entry / wait makes it only a once a trip show)
3) American Idol (back when Four for A Dollar was included as a pre-show Beauty and the Beast definitely would have beat this out – it is still close / a toss up for third)
Animal Kingdom
1) Finding Nemo: The Musical
2) Festival of the Lion King
3) Flights of Wonder
My comments: [ As if I hadn’t written them above, too — oops 🙂 ] We love this aspect of WDW! There is so much it is hard to select just three for each of the parks.
Epcot and the Studios both have great shows / live entertainment – so many to choose from! Animal Kingdom only has three or four we enjoy — but the shows are excellent. Surprisingly, for Magic Kingdom, I found myself considering primarily old shows or semi-live things, such as the Laugh Floor. The choices just aren’t as strong now for us. (At MK – I miss the old Galaxy theater as watching shows in a seated area / theater is more comfortable. Castle shows are awkward to watch as either you sit with your neck craned, or stand — in both cases your view gets blocked by others . . ..) Still, I went with current options to keep the lists the same.
Magic Kingdom
1)Opening Show
2)Dapper Dans
3)Main Street Performers
Epcot
1)Voices of Liberty
2)Off Kilter
3)World Showcase Players
Hollywood Studios
1)Hunchback of Notre Dame
2)Streetmosphere Actors
3)Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Animal Kingdom
1)Festival of the Lion King
2)Tarzan Rocks
3)Steel drum band
Your comments:Our favorite show was Hunchback of Notre Dame. It was fabulous and we really miss it!!!!
Magic Kingdom
1)Opening Show
2)Dream Along with Mickey
3)Main Street Saxophone Quartet
Epcot
1)Dragon Legend Acrobats
2)British Invasion
3)Jammitors
Hollywood Studios
1)Citizens of Hollywood
2)Beauty and the Beast
3)High School Musical 3 Show
Animal Kingdom
1)Finding Nemo
2)Festival of the Lion King
3)Tropicals Steels Drum Band
Your comments:
At Magic Kingdom, I was very happy to have caught the opening show. It is a great start to the day at Magic Kingdom. I continually find myself singing the song! Dream Along with Mickey is also very cute.
Epcot is great to find live entertainment. I was so amazed by the acrobats! They possess such skill and stamina to do what they do. The British Invasion was fantastic, a great way to cool off and relax on hot afternoons. We had not planned on seeing the Jammitors, but were drawn in and thought they were very talented. We loved the interactiveness!
Citizens of Hollywood was one of the highlights of our days at the Studios. I had an encounter with Honey Darling and her husband during which he called me “Poptart” because I was eating one! Paige Turner also opened the park one day, and we saw her and another starlet composing a birthday song. Beauty and the Beast is always amazing, if a little disjointed. High School Musical 3 is nowhere near as good as the movie, but provides a good, high energy diversion.
I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed the performances at Animal Kingdom. Finding Nemo gets very mixed reviews, but I loved it! The songs were so catchy, and it didn’t feel as drawn out as the movie does to me. FotLK always gets excellent reviews and I now see why. Simply awesome, especially the tumble monkeys. We encountered the Tropicals by chance. We were sitting on a bench near the Nemo exit eating lunch when they began playing and we really enjoyed them.
Magic Kingdom
1)Dapper Dans
2) Opening Show
3)Casey’s Corner Piano Player
Epcot
1) Drummers in Japan
2) Acrobats in China
3)World Showcase Players
Hollywood Studios
1) Streetmosphere Actors
2) Beauty and and the Beast
3)?
Animal Kingdom
1) Festival of the Lion King
2) Finding Nemo the Musical
3)Doctors at Planet Watch
Your comments:I love all the live acts at WDW!
Magic Kingdom
1) Main Street Philharmagic
2) PUSH
3) Story time with Belle
Epcot
1) Jammitors
2) China Acrobats
3) British Invasion
Hollywood Studios
1) Beauty and the Beast
2) Voyage of the Little Mermaid
3) Jedi Training Academy
Animal Kingdom
1) Finding Nemo the Musical
2) Festival of the Lion King
3) Pocahontas and her Forest Friends
Your comments: Not much to say except Epcot is the clear winner for live entertainment with Magic Kingdom in second. Animal Kingdom has the best shows, which aren’t the same as the less attraction-like entertainment.
Magic Kingdom
1) Dapper Dan’s
2) Main Street Performers
3) Dream Along With Mickey
Epcot
1) Voices of Liberty
2) Jam-itors
3) Showcase Players
Hollywood Studios
1) Mulch Sweat and Sheers
2) All Streetmosphere
3) American Idol
Animal Kingdom
1) Tarzan Rocks ( I know its gone…but not forgotten)
2) Nemo
3)
Your comments:
Without a doubt VOL are the best thing on Disney property. Combining their performance with AA is one of my favorite things to do. Always leaves me teary. I will always miss Tarzan Rocks. It was so much better than either Nemo of Festival of LK. Mulch Sweat and Sheers are just a boat load of fun. I think the Jam-itors are really underrated. Anyone else find it weird that Epcot has the best (and most) performers when the park that is supposed to be about performing (Studios) has so little?
Magic Kingdom
1) Dream Along with Mickey stage show
2) Magic Kingdom Opening Show
3) Main Street performers
Epcot
1) U.K. and Italy – World Showcase Players
2) France – Serveur Amusant
3) Canada – Off Kilter
Hollywood Studios
1) Beauty and the Beast stage show
2) Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
3) Citizens of Hollywood
Animal Kingdom
1) Festival of the Lion King
2) Flights of Wonder
3) DiVine
Your comments:
I absolutely love the Dream along with Mickey stage show especially their outfits (we have all the stuffed characters at home!). I also love the Opening show even though I haven’t seen it that often because we don’t usually arrive that early.
I had the hardest time narrowing choices down in Epcot because there is so much live entertainment there – I would have to also mention the Holidays from around the world storytellers at Christmas time because I love to see them.
I still remember the awe I felt when I first saw DiVine and realized there was a woman in there!