My Trip to the 2011 D23 Expo - TR Complete!

[skiingfast]

 

[kikiq]

I mentioned your idea about taking a picture on the bed of all our loot and she said, " It's not big enough!"

There was a lot in that store and you would probably have to use the bed, the floor, the headboard, the desk...

Did you get the framed pin picture?

 

[franandaj]

Now I am even more curious about what could show in pictures as Fran buys the whole store.

Well here is what she bought in the Dream Store...this wasn't much damage, we each got the Expo T-shirt and a new "concept" shirt. She got a few pins and a watch.

I can't say she was as restrained at Mickey's of Glendale.

There was a lot in that store and you would probably have to use the bed, the floor, the headboard, the desk...

Did you get the framed pin picture?

Put it this way, here are the pins she bought at Mickey's. As far as the shirts go, I bought three, a "Carousel of Projects", a red "Property of Imagineering" and one for WDW Fantasyland with the Dwarves on it and the saying "Whistle While You Work".

The boxes are all Cars "Mystery Pins". There was a limit of 10 per person, and since there was two of us she could get 20!



I decided to rifle through the bags and I found no less than sixteen shirts/sweatshirts/polo shirts (besides the aforementioned of my own). She bought one each of every Cars shirt (they were all black and I refuse to wear black T-shirts in Southern California heat). She bought all the Star Tours Shirts and I'm not sure what else, but there were two leather/knit jackets. Here is the Cars one and she also got a Sorcerer Mickey one.

There were also a couple baseball caps in there, also black. (I bought my first baseball cap at the Smithsonian this year, it was white and lightweight, perfect in So Cal sun. The problem is, that it is already filthy dirty! )

Needless to say we dropped a bit of money there. Actually she spent twice a much at MoG than I spent on Special Events at F&W Tuesday! I don't need to feel guilty!

OK next post, on to the Legends Ceremony!

 

[usnuzuloose]

Did you give up the storage yet?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love the pins....where are you storing it all?

 

[franandaj]

So we headed over the Legends Ceremony after shopping and a little art browsing. It was hosted by Tom Bergeron of Dancing with the Stars.

The honorees that were first up were five princesses. Anika Noni Rose (aka Princess Tiana) was the first up. She did not even realize that the award was for her until she arrived at rehearsals. All the while she thought the award was for Tiana and she was accepting it on her behalf.

Next was Linda Larkin who provided the speaking voice for Princess Jasmine.

Paige O’hara (Belle) was next. She was truly appreciative of the fans, and was incredibly moved by the entire ceremony.

Lea Solanga was the singing voice and she also was the voice of Mulan. Lastly, Jodi Benson who provided both the singing and speaking voices for Ariel accepted her award.

What I found most intriguing/moving was that all these ladies seemed truly appreciative of the fans and they all gave thanks to the fans. However most sincere were Jodi Benson and Paige O’hara. I really felt they were genuine in their gratitude for the support of the fans.

Truthfully, I didn’t expect much out of this presentation. While I have seen all these animated features, the personalities behind the characters never really caught my interest. I didn’t know who they were coming into the ceremony, but the next segment really knocked it out of the park for me. Each of the princesses came out and sang from the feature films.

Paige O’hara sang a Medley from Beauty and the Beast including Belle, Beauty and the Beast and Be Our Guest. Next was Lea Solanga who Reflections from Mulan.

Then Anika Noni Rose sang “Almost There” from Princess and the Frog.

Then Jodi Benson sang Part of Your World.

If this wasn’t enough to have tears streaming down my face, the four of them came together to sing “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes.” If anyone had a dry eye in the house they had to be the Grinch! Now this is a rumor I heard the day after the ceremony, but evidently Paige O'Hara pushed for them to sing at the ceremony. It wasn't planned, and some of them weren't keen on it (without getting paid). However, the person I spoke with caught Paige as she was packing up from an autograph session Friday for her neice who is a HUGE fan. Somehow that "information" came out while they were chatting with her Friday evening.

That was certainly a hard act to follow, but the next honoree was Ray Watson former Disney Chairman of the Board. Just the fact that he could walk on the stage to accept the award was a pretty big deal. He did a lot for the company and it was nice that they could honor him while he was still alive.

The next few honorees were awarded Posthumously. Bartin “Bo” Boyd who was in charge of merchandising for many years passed in April and his daughters had some heartwarming anecdotes about growing up as the daughters of the Disney merchandising lead merchandiser.

Next was Guy Williams who played Zorro in the 1950’s series, his family accepted the award on his behalf. Jack and Bonita Wrather who opened the Disneyland Hotel in the 1950’s were honored next and their family also accepted on their behalf.

The next recipient was Regis Philbin. He was quite alive to receive his award and cracked quite a few jokes, especially wondering why he was LAST!

However, he actually was not the last recipient and following Regis, the final award was given to Jim Henson. His family accepted on his behalf and then Kermit sang the “Rainbow Connection” to close out the session which ran 45 minutes over time.

After the Legends Ceremony, we went upstairs to the Premeire / Sorcerer’s Lounge where they supposedly had light refreshments and an exclusive atmosphere. Well they had a cheese plate a veggie plate, some coffee, sodas and waters. There was a line.

We decided that we appreciated the seclusion, but didn’t care to wait in line for free cheese! So we pulled out our own lunch and enjoyed that.

Fran had a turkey sandwich

I had Chinese Chicken Salad, some strawberries and we had some “skinny cow” desserts as well.

I could only eat about half the salad, so she finished it. What we didn’t realize was that our dinner was going to be just about everything that we didn’t eat for lunch!

More on that later! This Expo is really so Jam packed that I barely have time to use the restroom! While the lines are long, our Premiere passes have paid for themselves most definitely, I would have sprung for the Sorcerer if they weren't sold out by the time we bought them. We'll be back and make sure that we can buy the Premium passes next time! I have so much more to report, but so much sleep to catch up on! Catch you all when it can!

Thanks for reading so far!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Alison - thanks for sharing so far. For me, this is the closest I'm ever going to get to these legends or to a D23 event. Really appreciate all the detail and pictures that you're posting. It really is like "Almost There".


And LAST is never LEAST!

 

[franandaj]

Did you give up the storage yet?

Of course not! We still have all three storage lockers!

Love the pins....where are you storing it all?

I'm sure that these pins will go in boxes or bags next to all the other hundreds of pins that we found (still in their wrappers) that we already have. In fact they will probably remain in the bag and the the bag will be placed in a box, which will be placed away in a closet or bookcase. The T-shirts will probably go into a box that will be labeled with their size and put into storage.

Someday you'll see an announcement on the DIS "MAJOR Pin and 2X shirt sale, all New With Tags!"

 

[skiingfast]

With all this Disney apparel why are you wearing nice dresses and skirts in all of your pictures?

 

[skiingfast]

Someday you'll see an announcement on the DIS "MAJOR Pin and 2X shirt sale, all New With Tags!"

I saw this great idea on a TR by Zuietzig(that's a mangled screen name). Each visit they buy a new lanyard and collect pins for it along the way.

So you could do this a lanyard every visit or every few months and you already have the pins. Then you would just have to deal with storing the pins and lanyards somehow.

 

[franandaj]

Alison - thanks for sharing so far. For me, this is the closest I'm ever going to get to these legends or to a D23 event. Really appreciate all the detail and pictures that you're posting. It really is like "Almost There".


And LAST is never LEAST!

You never know! They have promised to do the D23 Expo every two years, so the next time would be 2013. It was in September once, you never know it could work out with the ultimate Real Life Game, next time, you never know!

 

[PrincessInOz]

With all this Disney apparel why are you wearing nice dresses and skirts in all of your pictures?

And doesn't she look GREAT??

 

[PrincessInOz]

You never know! They have promised to do the D23 Expo every two years, so the next time would be 2013. It was in September once, you never know it could work out with the ultimate Real Life Game, next time, you never know!

Wouldn't the timing just be fantastic if it did!!

 

[franandaj]

With all this Disney apparel why are you wearing nice dresses and skirts in all of your pictures?

Which pictures? Also I like wearing dresses, and since we have been doing lots of manual labor at home, vacation seems to be the only time that I can wear nice dresses and skirts! A girl goes through withdrawl sometimes!

I saw this great idea on a TR by Zuietzig(that's a mangled screen name). Each visit they buy a new lanyard and collect pins for it along the way.

So you could do this a lanyard every visit or every few months and you already have the pins. Then you would just have to deal with storing the pins and lanyards somehow.

That would mean that we would have to take them out of the bag! Normally after these shopping trips, I'm lucky to find a location to put the bag of pins/shirts/paintings/DVDs/insert product type here. Basically getting them out of the car and finding a place that they don't block our walkways is a feat. To actually do something to organize them as I said, I will someday have quite the estate/garage/collector sale!

And doesn't she look GREAT??

Wouldn't the timing just be fantastic if it did!!

I would love that! You would have a great time! We would just have to be Sorcerer's otherwise based on this time it is a real pain!

From what I am hearing from those who don't have the special packages, the waits are more than insane. I think they might need to reconsider the next one and not plan on packing people in like they do in the parks. We are planning on getting in line 3 hours before the presentation that we want to see tomorrow. That's sad.

 

[skiingfast]

Pictures during trip reports, always nice sundresses.


You need a Disney room, or possible a Disney house to display all your loot.

 

[nunzia]

Which pictures? Also I like wearing dresses, and since we have been doing lots of manual labor at home, vacation seems to be the only time that I can wear nice dresses and skirts! A girl goes through withdrawl sometimes!



That would mean that we would have to take them out of the bag! Normally after these shopping trips, I'm lucky to find a location to put the bag of pins/shirts/paintings/DVDs/insert product type here. Basically getting them out of the car and finding a place that they don't block our walkways is a feat. To actually do something to organize them as I said, I will someday have quite the estate/garage/collector sale!







I would love that! You would have a great time! We would just have to be Sorcerer's otherwise based on this time it is a real pain!

From what I am hearing from those who don't have the special packages, the waits are more than insane. I think they might need to reconsider the next one and not plan on packing people in like they do in the parks. We are planning on getting in line 3 hours before the presentation that we want to see tomorrow. That's sad.

I agree..I think they will organize it all again next time and wouldn't doubt if different types of tier tickets were sold...just so crazy with big lines and such. My friend's daughter and husband came and went right from Studios (first 20 out of the door) to line up for Pixar, ended up in standby room and waited 2 1/2 hours and still did not get in. I want this to be a success but now it seems like too much success
PINS! I didn't know you guys were pin collectors.
I agree about Legends..I was going to leave early to see Prep and Landing but really, the show was very touching and I wanted to see Henson's family and glad I did. So many amazing people. Allison..they plussed the lounge a bit..they now have trail mix and energy bars to grab and go which helps.

 

[franandaj]

Pictures during trip reports, always nice sundresses.


You need a Disney room, or possible a Disney house to display all your loot.

That's our whole house! We need an add on to hold all our stuff.

I agree..I think they will organize it all again next time and wouldn't doubt if different types of tier tickets were sold...just so crazy with big lines and such. My friend's daughter and husband came and went right from Studios (first 20 out of the door) to line up for Pixar, ended up in standby room and waited 2 1/2 hours and still did not get in. I want this to be a success but now it seems like too much success
PINS! I didn't know you guys were pin collectors.
I agree about Legends..I was going to leave early to see Prep and Landing but really, the show was very touching and I wanted to see Henson's family and glad I did. So many amazing people. Allison..they plussed the lounge a bit..they now have trail mix and energy bars to grab and go which helps.

I wouldn't really call us pin collectors since once we buy them we don't do anything with them.

I spent a good deal of time in the lounge yesterday what with the lines and craziness.

 

[Hawleys]

Expo update, sweet!
The perfect way to start a lazy Sunday is by reading about your totally packed weekend.

You need to get Fran interested in eBay as her new hobby. You two have a fortune in Disney collectibles tucked away.

Anyway, thanks so much for the Disney Legends update. What a cool segment!

 

[franandaj]

Expo update, sweet!
The perfect way to start a lazy Sunday is by reading about your totally packed weekend.

You need to get Fran interested in eBay as her new hobby. You two have a fortune in Disney collectibles tucked away.

Anyway, thanks so much for the Disney Legends update. What a cool segment!

GET her interested in eBay! She's practically a Charter Member. How do you think we got half the collectibles!

She's even kept up on her bids via smartphone while we were in line this weekend.

Hopefully tonight I can wrap up Friday's activities. They didn't allow electronics in Saturday morning's presentation, but I took good notes.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Nice update.......I got to see on FB the videos of the 4 ladies songs......does choke you up a bit!! I love all the goodies......shopping would be a blast down there!!