D23 Expo: The “All Lines, No Rides” Disney Experience! FINISHED at Last!

Wow! I am the first to get to post on your Expo adventures. I love to read your descriptions ...even if there were no photos, I can totally picture what was going on. Plus you are "wicked" funny (Boston term)

:cutie: Thanks for reading along!


Case in point. I really wanted to see Lasseter's morning presentation on Sunday. In order to do this, we HAD to miss the Muppets presentation that followed. We just can't be in two places at once and it left us kinda down. By the time we got out cameras and cell phones, we missed the Muppet line's closure.

Exactly! And we missed Lasseter's morning presentation because we knew it was the only way to get into the Muppet thing.

I sure hope D23 sends out those surveys they were collecting email addresses for....


I'm in for your TR!!! I'm glad that I can experience this vicariously through you because I don't think I have what it takes to wait in all those lines.

Totally! In fact, maybe next year I'll send a surrogate and do all my reporting from the comfort of my own home! :lmao:

Yet another AMAZING TR! :goodvibes

Can't wait for more! And what a cute restaurant!

It was cute! And definitely a find in an otherwise snoozy part of Orange County.

Boy, what an amazing and long day! I think that you should write a guide for those who will attend next year!

Hmmm... that's a good idea! of course, with luck, they will have fixed things by then and the experience will be different.

popcorn:: joining in popcorn::

Hi! :wave2:

Oh yum! That dessert made me want to jump up and make a sundae for myself!

Me too! :)

I am TOTALLY craving a sundae now! I want ice cream sooooo badly, right now! If she starts posting cakes, I'm doooomed!

So far no cake, but watch out for.... FUDGE!!!! :laughing:

Yay!!! One more thing I can say I lived vicariously through you!! :lmao: I wanted to go SO bad!! Thanks for letting us really know how it was there with the lines and everything though. That really let me know how it will be if I can talk hubby into going next year. That plan is going well so far!! :thumbsup2 Can't wait to read more!!

Yeah, I think if you know what to expect, it isn't so bad. Friday was much better than Thursday for us because we were prepared.

Subbing in!

I love the 70s vibe of the Hilton, makes me giggle a little bit:)
and is that a hidden mickey I see in the mosaic?:rotfl2:

OMG - I see it too! What does that say about us...?

DH2B and I do the EXACT same thing!!!! At home, we just hit mute or change the channel when a commercial comes on. But if we're in the theater and a trailer comes on for something we really want to see, we'll cover our ears, slump down, turn into face each other and (quietly) make jibberish sounds so we don't hear or see it. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: I think that may have just *officially* made us bigger nerds. :3dglasses

Whohoo! We're not alone! I mean, do you remember a time before movie trailers gave a way the entire plot? I do, kinda... The MPAA is always moaning about how nobody goes to the movies anymore and they think it's b/c of online piracy (which most of us wouldn't have a clue how to do). I say it's because the trailers give so much away, you don't even have to see the movie anymore.

Whenever people spend money on something, they always sugarcoat it as if to justify the cost to themselves.

That's what it is, isn't it? Add in the "Disney can do no wrong" ethic that is so prevalent among fans, and you never seem to get an accurate picture.

People complain about online pundits like Al Lutz at Mice Age or even the DIS's own Podcast Team, asking how they can call themselves Disney fans when they're constantly pointing out the flaws. But I think that's a healthy part of being a fan because we know Disney can do so much better and want to show that some of us won't accept lowered standards and raised prices.

....Gee, where'd that soapbox come from...? :rotfl:


Oh Carrie....

This review is so interesting, even with the transparent pictures that plague my work computer. :rotfl: I sincerely hope I get some free time to view your pics tonight, Your report is hysterical. I honestly feel like I am there with you! And dinner.....yum!

Seriously, you HAVE to find another job! :rotfl2:

I'm here too........
Love that you got to see the Imagineering legends even if it was through the guy in front of you had a big fat head.:lmao::rotfl: You got to see a lot of really cool people in one day. Those lines would have been frustrating though. I love that Patrick came to your rescue just as you were about to burst into tears.

Yeah, it was almost a movie moment! :goodvibes Fortunately I managed to keep it together for most of the rest of the Expo... :teeth:


Carrie loving the TR! I am so glad you are talking about all the good and bad things that happened. It feels like I am walking or running around with you.

Oh good! I don't mean to be Statler & Waldorf about the whole thing, but I do want to share what we really thought! :thumbsup2

I'm signing on for more. Now, I gotta go back and catch up with what I've missed so far.

Hi! So far all you've missed is a whole lotta complaining... :lmao:
 
This is great Carrie! :thumbsup2 I've never been to a convention and had NO idea what the D23 could possibly be like. Frankly, I'm more than a little intimidated at this point! :eek:
 
Awesome TR LurkyLoo! Looks like a mighty nifty time. The description of the color coded hosts had me cracking up. I'm glad Patrick managed to rescue you from the despair of entrance denial and provide you with much needed, yet over priced sculptured confectioneries. Can't wait to read more!
 

This is great Carrie! :thumbsup2 I've never been to a convention and had NO idea what the D23 could possibly be like. Frankly, I'm more than a little intimidated at this point! :eek:

Oh dear - well, I don't mean to dissuade you.... think of it as being prepared! ;)

Awesome TR LurkyLoo! Looks like a mighty nifty time. The description of the color coded hosts had me cracking up. I'm glad Patrick managed to rescue you from the despair of entrance denial and provide you with much needed, yet over priced sculptured confectioneries. Can't wait to read more!

:cutie: Thanks for reading along! More despair to come... j/k!
 
I'm going to break Friday into parts so I can get something posted for you today! :thumbsup2

Friday, Part One: Dick Cook's Disney Studios Presentation


On our second day at the Expo, we were a little more prepared. Originally, I'd had no interest in seeing Dick Cook talk about snoozerific future flicks like "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "Old Dogs" at the Disney Studios presentation. But then one of Swazzle's puppeteers became the new voice of Kermit the Frog, and we found out that the entire Muppet crew would be making a surprise appearance at the presentation on a replica of the Mark Twain, so we had to go. DH got in line outside the convention center at 6:30am while I finished packing and checked us out of the Hilton. I left our cameras and cellphones with his uncle and joined DH in the queue area, where he was about 15 people from the front. He'd struck up a conversation with a kid who works as a Submarine ride op at Disneyland, and we exchanged secrets (we told him about the Muppet appearance, he told us that the new Star Tours film will have 25 beginnings, 25 middles, and 25 ends randomly chosen so that virtually no two rides will be the same - let's hope he's right!).

photo-41.jpg


Because we didn't have any electronics to check we ended up at the front of the queue to be wanded by the security guards, and as soon as that indignity was over, I was off into the arena like a shot. We got what amounted to front-row center seats in the 2nd row because the very first row was reserved for a gaggle of bored-looking girls who we suspect were F.O.M. (Friends of Miley). DH's brother, Sean, and SIL, Victoria, and pals Anita & Jeff joined us, and we entertained ourselves by imitating the Disney two-fingered point (plus, I invented what I like to call "The Disney Bird," a two-fingered gesture of another kind...). When we struck up a conversation with the people behind us, we discovered that one of them was in charge of merchandise for all the Disney parks. Immediately I went into nerd mode and asked if she could confirm the DIS Weddings & Honeymoons board rumor that the bride ears headband and groom ears top hat were being discontinued. She looked concerned and said she'd never heard anything about that, while the guy next to her went, "They're some of our most popular items!" Hooray! Myth debunked!

Once again, I have no pix to show you, but I'll steal some from the InterWebz.

So the presentation started with a fantastic montage of Disney (and its assorted subsidiaries') movie clips accompanied by a LIVE orchestra and LIVE singing. The singers even synched up with the actors singing on the screen - it was really impressive and stirring and got the whole crowd excited. Dick Cook came out and started talking about each of the upcoming projects and introducing their accompanying stars, sequenced in order of impressiveness. Oh, but first he showed us a bunch of trailers we coulda seen online. OK, so then he brought out John Travolta and Kelly Preston and their daughter (all of whom star in "Old Dogs" with Robin Williams), and they got the first and really the only warranted standing ovation of the day. (From then on, everyone who came out got a Standing O.)

Next up was Robert Zemeckis flogging his latest motion-capture atrocity, A Christmas Carol (sorry, but Jim Carrey is creepy enough on his own without being rendered in THE creepiest-looking kind of animation going). I love how in all the clips, Zemeckis says that modern animation has allowed them to finally present A Christmas Carol in the way Dickens originally intended - cuz obviously Dickens went to his grave wishing it were possible to show Scrooge sliding under and getting whacked in the face by a series of icicles hanging from the eaves... Patrick calls the look of the movie "Thomas Kinkade by way of Fangoria magazine," and I told him if anyone reading my trip report has actually heard of Fangoria magazine, he gets a prize.

After that they dragged Tim Burton on stage and he shuffled around and mumbled answers to Dick Cook's questions about Alice In Wonderland. My favorite part was when he said his motivation for making the movie was never having seen a film version of the book that he liked, adding "No offense!"


Looks like Zemeckis and Burton both got the sport-coat memo!
D23BurtonZemekis.jpg



Next up was Nicolas Cage sporting quite a coiffure and spouting what sounded like a memorized speech about loving the magic of Disney, or something. Whatever happened to the Raising Arizona-era Nick Cage we knew and loved? He seemed so real and relatable back then...

Nick Cage before... (at Disneyland on 9/9/09 - actually, he looks quite like his character in Raising Arizona here!)
NicCage.jpg




...and after, with John Travolta!
D23CageTravolta.jpg




After that was Jerry Bruckheimer, who, in addition to turning Nick Cage into an action star, has done a few movies here and there for Disney... He talked up Prince of Persia while those of us in the second row thought to ourselves "C'mon, c'mon - get to the Muppets!!!"

And then...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVCSFGvMdxA


The instant the curtain drew back on the front of the Mark Twain with Fozzie, Gonzo and Pepe, the crowd went wild (you can't hear it on that video clip, but trust me!). Then, when the boat turned and you saw the rest of the characters, there was another huge reaction. This got louder when Piggy started singing, and by the time Kermit appeared, the audience was practically foaming at the mouth (or maybe it was just the six of us...)


MuppetsShowboat.jpg



You also don't get to hear much of Kermit's new voice in the video, but let me tell you, he sounds SO much more like Jim Henson than the fellow who's been doing it since Henson died. In fact, some of the fanboys on the various Muppet discussion boards actually think they played a recording of Jim Henson for the D23 Expo appearance! Plus, the way he manipulates the puppet shows subtleties that Henson used to do (like the way Kermit looks down at his banjo while plucking it). This guy was *born* to play Kermit. When he was a kid, his teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, and he said "Ernie!" When his teacher told him that he couldn't be Ernie, but he could be a puppeteer, he made up his mind to do it, and now all his hard work has paid off.

Later we spoke with one of the other puppeteers who worked the show and heard that, while the puppeteers had been strictly instructed not to bother the stars backstage (what..? Like they haven't worked with tons of stars before?!), it was the stars, including Miley Cyrus and Johnny Depp, who kept coming up to the puppets and puppeteers!

After the Muppets sailed backstage, we were treated to a surprise live set by Miley Cyrus, including complimentary laser eye surgery courtesy of her stage lights! Unfortunately, the 3D glasses they'd given us for the trailers weren't much protection against the rows of swiveling klieg lights beaming out from behind Miley and straight into our brains. I have to say I never thought I'd have second-row seats at a Hannah Montana concert - I'll be the envy of the Sunday school kids when I tell this story!

Miley appeared to have come directly from Flivver McGee's Olde-Tyme Gibson Girl Pole-Dancing Revue, sporting a white romper that looked like the underwear they used to wear beneath corsets.


Hopefully Kelly Preston gave Miley Cyrus some fashion tips before releasing her back into the wild
90506607_EC022_thumb.jpg



Then, just when we thought things were winding down, smoke began curling around the stage, and the curtain rose to reveal...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM6Batk62cA

And the crowd went wild! (I read there was even fainting...) We leapt to our feet and screamed our heads off as Captain Jack Sparrow appeared not 20 feet from us.

jacksparrow3.jpg


As Dick Cook tried to "interview" him, Captain Jack kept asking where the frog had gone - highlarious! The whole thing was very exciting - much more exciting than if Johnny Depp had just walked out on the stage in a suit and chatted about the next Pirates movie. I could barely even understand what he said, besides the frog thing, but who cares? It was Captain Jack Sparrow! All too soon, the presentation was over, and we ducked out the back of the arena to avoid the electronics check.

Up Next: The Rest of Friday!
 
The MPAA is always moaning about how nobody goes to the movies anymore and they think it's b/c of online piracy (which most of us wouldn't have a clue how to do). I say it's because the trailers give so much away, you don't even have to see the movie anymore.

That and the great movie to bad movie ratio is about 1 to 100 :rolleyes1 I need more than Megan Fox rolling around half naked (although my bf surely doesn't) and remakes of every show/movie I watched growing up to make me want to drop an Andrew Jackson (or Thomas Jefferson? Who is on a ten dollar bill? :rotfl2:).

And you're right about online piracy. I could barely figure out how to make online ADR's for WDW.

Edited to Add: Great update! What an AMAZING experience!! I mean the great Miley just feet in front of you?! ;) I'm surprised her Dad wasn't out there trying to get a piece of the action.

I would've been one of the ones that fainted. I don't find Johnny Depp particularly attractive but as Capt. Jack Sparrow :faint:!!

Oh, and I have no idea what Fangoria magazine is. I could cheat and google but that would mean I would have to not be lazy. And I was already too lazy to google who was on the ten dollar bill.
 
/
Hi!
It's me!
I know, I know, I'm suppossed to be working and also preparing for my trip, but I had to read what you had written so far! Excellent job! I don't know if I could handle the expo, so I'm glad you're telling us all the good along with the bad...

Anyway, 2 things:

1. I have heard of Fangoria magazine. (but you probably knew that already I bet!)
2. I miss the Nicholas Cage circa Valley Girl days...he was awesome in that movie (yes, I'm serious). It actually was a very realistic 80's film and I believe it was pre-John Hughes movies...

Ok, back to work for me!

At least now I'm subbed so I won't miss a thing in this TR! ;)
 
2. I miss the Nicholas Cage circa Valley Girl days...he was awesome in that movie (yes, I'm serious). It actually was a very realistic 80's film and I believe it was pre-John Hughes movies...

This was on the other night at like 2 a.m. (I couldn't sleep) and it was actually the first time I've ever seen it! I agree, I thought it was a pretty good movie (that may discredit everything I just said about my 1 to 100 ratio :rotfl:) and loved Nic Cage in it.
 
Not only have I heard of Fangoria! mag, but I attended their convention.

It was ugly. But fun.




As to our dear JD and Captain Jack Sparrow, let's just say that if I was there, I probably would have fainted too.
 
:


Seriously, you HAVE to find another job! :rotfl2:

:lmao::rotfl::lmao:

Yeah .....I can just see that interview now.

Interviewer: "Do you have any final questions?"

Me: "Uhmm....yes, just one. Does your internet network support photobucket pictures?" (because I need my daily dose of the DIS)

Nice pics, by the way~
 
. Patrick calls the look of the movie "Thomas Kinkade by way of Fangoria magazine," and I told him if anyone reading my trip report has actually heard of Fangoria magazine, he gets a prize.

[/b]

I haven't finished this day yet...but Patrick gets a prize..DH and I are long time readers of Fangoria! :thumbsup2
 
Oooh. So cool that you got to see Captian Jack and Kermit in the same venue :) Maybe they'll collaborate on something in the future:rotfl2:
Sounds like a neat day so far, can't wait to hear more!
 
Carrie, I have to confess, I've avoided your trip report until now because I just recently stopped being so pissed that Will and I missed the expo! :headache:

Seriously, we were so mad. I mean, "called people up and posted it all over the internet just to rant at someone" mad. When I saw that Jack had showed up?? In costume?? Talking about rum?!?! It was over. (I called Will just to whine, and when I mentioned rum, he was like, "WHAT?? We missed that??").

Phew. Anyway. We're ok now.

However... until this point, I had no idea that Robin Williams and Nicholas Cage were there too. Plus Tim Burton (that one I knew).

Next year - we're going! And you know what? We're going to DL on the day they premiere Pirates 4, too. You should come! It'll be madness! (So therefore a fun trip report, no? ;)).

Anyway, I looooove your trippies, and I'm done hogging the reply box now! :goodvibes
 
Carrie,

You better pay up, I've heard of Fangoria magazine also. My DH loves all things gory and weird.

I am loving this D23 report. Thanks so much for doing it.

Seeing Captain Jack would have made every 2 hr line worth the wait.
 
Oooh. So cool that you got to see Captian Jack and Kermit in the same venue :) Maybe they'll collaborate on something in the future:rotfl2:
Sounds like a neat day so far, can't wait to hear more!

Muppets of the Caribbean :thumbsup2

Great report, I was really enjoying following your blog. So it looks like it's not worth planning a last minute trip to CA for something like this? It's such a shame they couldn't have scheduled things better.
So overall are you glad you went? Sounds like a bit of a kerfuffle getting into the venues if you had a phone/camera (who doesn't these days :confused3).
Which was the best presentaion/event you did? Were there any you were really torn by (on at the same time) I know I would have kicked myself if I had missed the Muppets et al.
 
Patrick calls the look of the movie "Thomas Kinkade by way of Fangoria magazine," and I told him if anyone reading my trip report has actually heard of Fangoria magazine, he gets a prize.
:rotfl2: Okay, I've never heard of Fangoria, but Googled it after reading this yesterday. Then, lo and behold, a trailer came on TV for the stupid movie... I think Patrick's spot-on with that one!
 
Loved the Muppets aboard the Mark Twain!!!! And the back story that you know the guy who does Kermit now....I bet he is over the moon to get to play such a character.

Johnny Depp's entrance was wonder-ball!!!! He is so great as Captain Jack & that was a great surprise.:worship:
 

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