Disney's Beauty & The Beast Activity Center

by Disney

Product Features

• Get everything ready for the party - Choose the music, the dances, the decoration, and Belle's dress
• Set the tea time table, and get help Ms. Potts get everything arranged
• Solve the mysteries of the castle using Cogsworth's Clue Book to find hidden areas and activities
• You can make your own artwork and invitations at Belle's Writing Desk
• Then party the night away with Beauty And The Beast!

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004U5R4
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 1.6 inches ; 1 pounds
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: October 10, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,649 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

If your child enjoys tea parties, castles, and princess prettiness, Disney's Beauty and the Beast Activity Center will enrapture her. And like its protagonist, Belle, this program has the right balance of beauty and brains.

A gorgeous opening leads to the foyer of the Beast's castle where Belle and Cogsworth, the worrywart clock, and Lumiere, the candle with the Maurice Chevalier accent, are preparing a surprise party for the Beast. Visitors must help the castle's denizens prepare for the party in four different areas. Mrs. Pott's Teatime Table is in the kitchen, where guests must help set the table for three different meals; a rotating table gives this mundane-sounding task a fun spin. It takes good timing and hand-eye coordination to drop scoops of ice cream from high up on the shelf to the dishes spinning dizzily below.

In the ballroom, visitors can pick music, decorations, and a gown for Belle, as well as choreograph dance steps in an activity that teaches sequencing and programming skills. Cogsworth's Library Mystery is another smart activity; players must use descriptive clues to eliminate books, then decide which of the remaining tomes hides part of a key that's necessary to unlock the Beast's lair. Belle's Writing Desk is a non-structured activity in which kids can create stained-glass windows, cards, party invitations, and other masterpieces. The Teatime Table and the Library Mystery have three levels of difficulty, all of which must be mastered in order to adequately prepare for the big payoff--the surprise party for the Beast.

Interestingly, the Beast doesn't make an appearance until it's time for the party. He sleeps in the West Wing, and the castle gang gives explicit instructions not to disturb him. Clicking on his door earns a gentle reprimand as you hear him snore in the background. This patriarchal bit of ominousness may be irksome to parents who seek to teach kids non-stereotypical gender roles.

The lavish graphics slow progress somewhat, and it wouldn't have hurt Disney to include a few more activities; maybe they should have made the Beast get off his couch and go get something nice for Belle. (Ages 5 and older) --Anne Erickson

Product Description

Join all your favorite characters from the popular Disney film, "Beauty And The Beast", when you plan to throw Beast a big surprise party!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Trouble running on Windows XP, June 3, 2002

By 

"jakeryan1985" (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Disney's Beauty & The Beast Activity Center (CD-ROM)

I honestly liked this product; decent games, very nice graphics, and most importantly my 2 year old loved it.

However, I could not get the sound to function properly; when it works at all it is choppy, cuts off words, and sometimes even sounds like a broken record. I thought of keeping the software but it the sound is just too annoying and you need it to play the games.

I believe the problem is that I'm running Windows XP, and since this Disney software is a few years old it does not run properly on XP. There's actually a disclaimer in the instructions saying they cannot guarantee compatibility on Windows 2000 (XP is based on Win 2000.) The manual mentions to update all drivers on your computer, all mine are brand new for XP.

For what it's worth, after exhausting the manual and the included product troubleshooting, I found a pretty good troubleshooting page on Disney's website at: http://asp.interactive.go.com/support/disney/index.asp

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Beauty or a Beast?, January 6, 2001

By 

C. Crabb "eclectic eccentric" (Southwest, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Disney's Beauty & The Beast Activity Center (CD-ROM)

This is not one of the better Disney programs. It's charming at first, but gets old quite fast. There doesn't seem to be that many different things to do on it. It is fun, however, to make up a dance,arrange the music and hallway, and play the food game, but one can only do that so many times. You also rarely get to see the beast. I recommend this to those with a short attention span.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Has Wonderful Potential, January 24, 2003

By 

Kathryn A. Closson "billandkathy2000" (Killeen, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Disney's Beauty & The Beast Activity Center (CD-ROM)

I have bought this game 3 different times. It would be wonderful, if it would work properly with XP. I originally thought the CD rom itself was damaged somehow, I really wish that had been the problem. DISNEY you need to spend the money and fix the game. I truly believe it would be worth your while. Until then, I would not buy this game. The sound is choppy and the picture is jerky. The sound is critical to playing the game. I was able to play through the entire game once on Windows 98. It was great, my daughter loved it and so did I. It is is shame they don't keep up with the times.