Because of all of the Big Dig construction in Boston, our GPS directions did NOT match the directions found on the Garden's website. We decided to follow the directions on the website, which was a horrible idea because some of the vague directions "follow signs for North Station. Make a right at the next set of lights onto Nashua Street. Follow Nashua Street until the end and make a left at the lights. The TD Garden will be on your left." That's where it all went awry. There are TONS of signs for north station and TONS of lights. We also had no idea where Nashua street ended because there is no sign. So, we went back to the GPS and it took us the Goverment Center way, which was so much better. Thankfully, we were there about an hour early so we got a spot in a lot beside the Garden ($20) that holds only about 25 cars, if that many. The lot is right on causeway on a "fake" right immediately before the overpass of the The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge (beautiful view).
Our seats were about $15 each for the balcony (give or take a few dollars - a friend purchased them online for us). Our son should have been free because he is two, but it was worth it to get him his own seat because he definitely needed one. Even though we were above the lighting, we had a birds-eye view of the front/center of the stage. It was really perfect.
Because we arrived so early, my husband took our son to walk laps around the top floor. He enjoyed some Mickey Mouse ears and a hotdog and walked and walked and walked until three minutes before the show. I gave my daughter a bottle, changed her diaper, and prepared to sit her on my lap. Our son was tired enough to sit in absolute amazement. He especially LOVED the Halloween celebration that had Captain Hook and the Pumpkin King.
Our 11 month old daughter jumped up and down on my lap (twirling now and then) for the entire show. My arms were so sore that I had to pass her off to my husband for a little while. He took that opportunity to walk out of the show area during the princess portion "to avoid exposing her to images that reinforce gender stereotypes". The theme of the entire Valentine/princess portion was how will Minnie know when her prince loves her. I actually think that's a much better message than something like actual disney movies that sometimes imply (or actually say), "you are nothing until you find your prince". We of course didn't have this discussion until we were in the car on the way home with the kids sleeping in the back. He also noted that for girls who might be "a little rough around the edges" or "a little manly", it's horrible for them to think that they need to be thin and princesslike to find a prince. I pointed out that the men in the show were not chubby and unattractive either, so the princess segment was showing basically unattainable body characteristics of heroes for both sexes without prejudice.
There was a 10 or 15 minute intermission, which was a little too long for our kids. We got into the second half, and our son began to repeat over and over again, "I am hungry for a restaurant." We left right after buzz light year and his dancing toys did their thing. Unfortunately, we had no idea how to get down from the balcony area, so we TOOK THE STAIRS out to the exit. There were a few families who had the same idea (as in leaving early, not as in using the stairs), and we all happily exited and found our cars without a big crowd crunch.
The lot we parked in was great. There was an angry old man with an accent (possibly Italian) who yelled directions to ensure that we got out of the lot as fast as possible without hitting any other cars. At first, we thought he was abusive and scary, but it turns out he is a parking genius. After a quick U-turn on Causeway to get to 93S, we had no issues getting home. It turned into quite a relaxing day for us because the kids were so wiped out.
We recommend this for anyone with toddlers or older (we even saw some middle schoolers with tiaras on), but the baby might not have worked out if she wasn't so good with crowds and people. We meant to bring in the Bjorn, but we forgot it in the car. When we got home, our son asked to watch television in our bedroom so he could "relax". That's exactly what he did: no nap, just some Oswald and Wubbzy while he held his light up Mickey wand. A later show would have helped us get them right to bed, but the 11am show we went to had us home with the kids in slow motion mode by 2:30.
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