Once Upon A Dream Come True: Disneyland and the Walt Disney Studios February 2008

[Sleepless Knight]

Having survived a tempermental internet connection and seeing a sneak preview of WALL-E at Pixar, I have at long last returned. The question is if any readers wish to continue on with me since you've likely found better things to do with your time than wait for me to update my trip report.

After our tour of Disneyland with Harrison Ellenshaw, our group tended to scatter somewhat. However as it was around 1:00pm we were definitely starting to get hungry. So part of our group decided that the best place to eat would be Cafe Orleans. So, after meandering our way over to New Orleans Square, we managed to snag seating at 2:00pm. When lunch arrived, I was quite starving on account of having eaten nothing all day and wandering around Disneyland. I do not recommend this course of action seeing as how I was quite famished. However, now seated, I decided to order a soup and the famous Monte Cristo. Unfortunately, I don't remember for sure which soup I got. I think it was the gumbo, but either way it was very good. The Monte Cristo was also excellent. Some of our table ordered some of the garlic fries as well and they were quite delicious. However, be forewarned that these garlic fries are very heavy on the garlic, which was fine with me, but others may not share my tastes. And since it is my birthday, the waiter brings me the famous Cafe Orleans dessert, one of the Mickey shaped beignets. Very good. Remember that if you're in Disneyland on your birthday, you often get all sorts of things from assorted cast members.

Happy and full, I decide to head back to the hotel to pick up my sweatshirt as the weather has started to get much cooler as the day has continued on. Fortunately staying at the Tropicana meant that the walk wasn't far, so not too much valuable park time was lost. This visit was unique in that I wouldn't be spending every waking minute of my time in southern California in Disneyland itself. I'm also not used to visiting during slow times, so the park closing at 8:00pm is unusual. So here I am at 3:00 in the afternoon and have yet to go on a single ride today. Definitely not a norm for me. As much as I love to soak up Disneyland's atmosphere, I like to soak it up on rides as well.

Well, it's time to remedy that. A few of us, myself, Doug, Alec, and Rick meet up near the Partners statue and decide to head over to Tomorrowland. On my birthday of all days I want to ride Star Tours. So we do. It's great as usual except my geek out moment of seeing R2-D2 and C-3PO is magnified since I never dreamed that I would see them “live” on my birthday. In case you can't tell, I'm still geeking out about spending my birthday in Disneyland. I have no idea how I'm going to top this.

From there we head over to Space Mountain. This is an interesting visit for Rick since he usually doesn't get to experience rides on account of his wife's health, but since she's shopping with friends, Rick gets to do some rides with us. As it nears our group's turn for Space Mountain, Alec and I realize something. It looks like we're going to be in the front row. I've never ridden Space Mountain from the first row before. I almost did a couple of years ago, but as tends to happen at Disneyland my sister and I struck up a conversation with the mother and daughter behind us. When my sister and I were assigned the front row, the mother and daughter were disappointed at having come so close. I decided to offer them the front row. They happily accepted and my sister and I had the second row.

The mother and daughter were very excited, and even more so when we all got off the ride. Since that time, I wondered what I had missed out on. That said, I never regretted the decision. And now having experienced the first row for myself, I'm even happier that my sister and I gave up our first row seats that day. The first row of Space Mountain is AWESOME! It was insanely fun(and as we all know Space is really fun anyways. So I was glad that day to give someone a wonderful experience. I'm firmly convinced that when we seek to do nice things for others, especially at Disneyland, that our kindness will return to us.

After sufficiently celebrating and reveling in the first row of Space Mountain, it's time for a little bit of a break and Buzz Lightyear works great for that, even if Alec absolutely destroyed me in the game. At this point, we managed to meet up with Marty and Linda while having to say goodbye to Rick, and it's off to do more rides. We hit Big Thunder and Pirates, which are fun as always. Now that I've spotted the real hidden Mickey on POTC, I ask people if they want to know where it was(it's not the cannonballs at the beginning).

The time for the parade is drawing nearer and since it's my birthday there are two Disney characters I really want to see. The Mouse and the Princess. Not wanting to deal with the insane crowds in ToonTown for the Fantasy Faire, that leaves the parade as the best place to do so. And I don't mind not getting my picture taken with the characters. I really just want to see them. So Alec and Doug agree to humor my crush on Sleeping Beauty(did you really think it would be any other princess?) and watch the parade me with me.

Here's the great thing about the Parade of Dreams. It's almost two totally different parades. It is really a beautiful sight all lit up in the evening with the lights and everything, especially the Beauty and the Beast float with the recreation of the ballroom and the chandeliers. Unfortunately, my camera is not the best for night shots, so there aren't many pictures here and they certainly don't do the parade at night justice.

Tale As Old As Time

A word to those visiting Disneyland during the off season when the parade can be seen at night. Do so. Even if you've seen the parade before, it's really worth seeing it all lit up at night.

I'm guessing the Mad Hatter won't like me too much today.

No need to worry about new management and Tiki Birds at Disneyland

And so we watch the parade, and I always get excited for the final float. I mean it's got Walt Disney, Mickey Mouse, Princess Aurora, and Sleeping Beauty Castle all rolled into one.

Isn't she lovely?

She waved at me!

And to think that it all started with a mouse.

Now having seen my favorite two Disney characters, we decide to hit more rides so it's off to Indiana Jones. At which point Alec tells us about one of the more interesting aspects to Indy. If you want the bumpiest ride possible, hope for the third row. It's much wilder than the first two rows. Well, we get the third row and yes it is bumpy. It's all good though. Well, once we get off the ride, there's not enough time to do anymore rides, so Alec, Doug, and I decide to walk through Sleeping Beauty Castle for the first time all day. I love how When You Wish Upon A Star plays quietly as you walk through the castle. It's such a great Disney touch.

Now, as we are all collectors, and since my collection focuses on Sleeping Beauty, we all stop to admire the statue of Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora behind the castle. As we look at it, Doug starts to tell us about his Donald statue that's a replica of the one over by the Partners statue. I comment about how I would like to have this very statue of Phillip and Aurora in my house, which leads to a wild conversation which involves a description of me and Alec attempting to casually walk down Main Street USA while lugging this very heavy statue like nothing else is wrong. Now, please don't misunderstand me here. I would never even consider doing something like this. We just got a good laugh out of how silly and stupid we would look attempting to leave Disneyland lugging this incredibly heavy statue that has just been separated from it's base. And since on my last visit I had to make my way out of the park while carrying a big fig box, I know how interesting it can be to haul a very large box around Disneyland.

And with that, my day at Disneyland has come to an end. Tomorrow is going to be a non-Disneyland day as we're going to visit Collectors Editions and see all their brand new artwork.

 

[kaoden39]

I'm glad I saw you on one of the threads I visit. I had kind of lost you around the time you went to Disneyland on your last trip. Well this trip report is really enjoyable like the last one. Good luck on the Jedi Princess search.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Thanks for your kind words. Sometimes I feel like nobody's reading my reports(but then I see the numbers keep climbing, so I appreciate comments. It motivates me to keep writing them in the hopes that they may be of use (or at least entertaining) to someone else.

 

[wendylady36]

I love that statue of Aura and Phillip! I took a picture and made it into a mouse pad, it always made me smile.

Sounds like you had a great birthday! I love celebrating my special day at Disneyland.

Thanks for the update!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Me too. I meant to post a picture of it that I took in daylight, but I guess I'll just have to include it in a future update. The impressive thing about these statues is the detail on the characters and so forth.

 

[Disneygrl36]

I'm still here too.
Great update & it sure is fun to celebrate your Bday at Disney. I have been at WDW on one bday & on DCL on another. Never enough magic in life & being at Disney on your bday just adds that extra special touch of pixie dust.
Can't wait to hear more & especially about the studios.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

With my birthday behind me, the next day dawns early. Whereas my birthday was a day of Disneyland, today will be a day of fine art. Today, our group is headed up to Collectors Editions. For those of you who don't know, Collectors Editions is a fine art production company that handles the Disney Fine Art Account. If you've ever stepped inside the Disneyana store on Main Street, Off the Page in DCA, or have fond memories of the Disney Gallery, chances are very good that you've seen some of Collectors Editions artwork.

And now it's time for a crash course in fine art, so you the reader may pretend to impress your friends with your knowledge of fine art(or at the very least have an idea of what I'm talking about).

Original: The very canvas used by the artist to paint. It will have all the brush strokes on it and so forth. The original can be purchased, but usually costs thousands of dollars to do so.

Giclee: A French term that apparently means sprayed on ink. The original painting will be scanned into a computer and then printed onto either a canvas or paper and then sold. A giclee is much more affordable than the original, but is usually smaller than the original.

Artists Proof: After the original is scanned, the artwork is then printed onto the canvas. The artist will come and examine the first few prints off the machine to verify that the colors match the original and that the canvas print looks the way it's supposed to. An artists proof should always have A/P written somewhere on the print.

In the last couple of years, I've really gotten into Disney fine art. It probably stems from two sources. First, I've always loved Disney animation since I was little, and second I've always collected something Disney. As I grew older however, I found that my tastes changed. I still loved collecting Disney, but I wanted something that felt more “grown up” if you will. Sketches, lithographs, and artwork became a great way to do that. My first fine art piece is Thomas Kinkade's wonderful Disneyland 50th Anniversary piece that I bought at Disneyland. Little did I know what it was leading to.

A couple of months later I went out to Cindy's store and she showed me a stunning piece of artwork from Sleeping Beauty. Titled The Royal Waltz it was commissioned by Disneyland for the 45th Anniversary of Sleeping Beauty. This one just happened to be an artists proof. Even better, the piece was painted by artist Ron Dias, whose first job in Hollywood was working on Disney's 1959 classic (yes, you guessed right) Sleeping Beauty. Ron even worked on the Aurora unit under the legendary Marc Davis. I figured that owning a painting by an artist who worked on Sleeping Beauty could be the closest I ever come to owning a cel from the film, and if so, I'm perfectly fine with that.

The Royal Waltz by Ron Dias

What's more, Cindy introduced me to Ron Dias and we became friends. So, from time to time I talk with Ron and he tells me more cool stories about working on Sleeping Beauty and for Disney. Ron has also illustrated many of the Little Golden Books, and did concept art for Tokyo Disney Sea, and The Little Mermaid TV show. For anyone who cares, more of Ron's work can be seen at http://www.rondias.com

Well, fine art has a way of becoming “addicting.” Soon I had added a painting by Mike Kupka called Sleeping Beauty. I had first seen it at WDW and longingly admired it, never dreaming that someday I would own it. Shortly after that, I added a beautiful painting by Imagineer Larry Nikolai called Aurora and Jim Salvati's Singing With The Birds. The in October, I added Once Upon A Dream by Peter and Harrison Ellenshaw.

Sleeping Beauty by Mike Kupka

So this is what it feels like to hold thousands of dollars in your hand. Singing With the Birds by Jim Salvati

I don't think I've ever held anything worth this much money in my entire life. Peter and Harrison Ellenshaw's Once Upon A Dream

One of the neat things about getting most of my artwork through Cindy is that I've been able to meet most of the artists who have painted my pieces and quite often learned about the creative process that went into the artwork. It has given me a much greater appreciation for their talent and added some very neat personal touches to my paintings. I remember my mother taking us along when she bought a Kinkade painting and have it embellished by one of Kinkade's assistants. Never did I dream in those days that I would someday have Disney paintings embellished by the artists themselves.

After a lengthy, but stress free drive through Los Angeles traffic, we arrive at Collectors Editions. They've invited us along to see the brand new artwork they've just unveiled to their dealers throughout the country. We are literally among the first in the general public to see the new artwork. As a special bonus, there are quite a few of the artists there today doing live demonstrations of their work and embellishing any of their paintings that we buy. Suffice it to say I'm very excited about this, especially because there are supposed to be 3 new Sleeping Beauty paintings that I've never seen before.

Our guide through the Collectors Editions facility is President/CEO Michael Young. He used to work for the Walt Disney Company and still has many connections with the company. In fact, it was Michael Young who took us out to dinner last November and proposed this once in a lifetime trip to us. Michael is a very nice man who spent much of the day with us, taking around the facility and answering any questions we had. He even told us that we could take picture of anything we wanted to except for the production facilities themselves. He allowed us to roam free in the Originals room where we could admire a huge variety of paintings by so many talented and diverse Disney artists, including some concept art by Ellenshaw for the Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disney Sea.

While in the originals room, the moment of truth came. I would finally see Sleeping Beauty painting number one. Cindy told me about the existence of this painting a month or so earlier. She said it was supposed to be phenomenal, but there were some questions about movie accuracy. Some seemed to think that the sleeping princess was merely a beautiful blonde instead of the Princess Aurora. I figured I would probably get it as long as the dress was the right color (not pink). So, the moment of truth came and I saw the painting. And it was something else. Maleficent is in all her dragon glory, fighting a valiant and brave Prince Phillip riding atop Samson, sword in hand fighting for his beloved Aurora. This dramatic confrontation between good and evil is seen through a large window in the castle, where, while the fight rages on, the beautiful Princess Aurora sleeps peacefully. And that's where the painting catches, for Aurora is not in pink, nor blue, but yellow. And since she's not in blue, the painting is, in my mind at least, not movie accurate. Paintings are expensive, and I don't particularly want to spend that kind of money on an inaccurate painting. The piece itself is stunning, but I can very strict about movie accuracy. I even talk over my decision with some friends who understand where I'm coming from. So, no painting for me, right???

Well, there's something you have to understand about my love of the film Sleeping Beauty. I absolutely love the idea of Phillip fighting for the sweet, pure, and innocent Aurora. Phillip's just not going to show up at the end, kiss the girl, and make her dreams come true. Oh no, he's going to fight for her, protect her, and save her. Being the brave, valiant and courageous prince is the stuff my dreams are made of. And well, this painting just that. It now begins to haunt me. I can't stop thinking about it. So I head back to the originals room and look at it again. And I still can't get over the yellow dress. Strange, I know, but that's the way it is. And then I learn that John Rowe, the artist who painted it is at Collectors Editions today. And so as the painting continues to haunt me, I begin to wonder if not buying it is going to haunt me months from now. Since John Rowe is here, I have the opportunity to talk with him about the painting. Simply put, I need to know why I can't get this painting out of my mind.

So I head over to where Rowe is painting and I hear him telling some others about the painting. Turns out that it was very popular that day because people love dragons. I hear Rowe explain that he had his fourteen year old daughter pose as the model for Aurora. He then says two things that make my ears perk up. First off, he made Aurora older than his daughter, and he made her taller than his daughter. At this point, my Sleeping Beauty geek klaxon starts sounding. You see, the film itself references Aurora as being sixteen years old. Second of all, due to the vertical style of Eyvind Earle, Disney made all the characters taller including Aurora. If you see a poster with all the princesses on it, you'll notice that Aurora is the tallest. The height requirements to play Aurora in the theme parks are taller than the other princesses. Why, because Aurora is supposed to be tall. Suddenly, I'm not so worried about my earlier concerns of “movie accuracy.”

As the crowd lessens, I get to speak with Rowe one on one. He kindly proceeds to tell me the story of trying to depict Aurora in blue in her traditional Sleeping Beauty pose, but how viewed with the reds, yellows, and oranges of the fire, it began to look like a stained glass window. And then he offers the piece de resistance. In the midst of all hell breaking loose, with the fire and the dragon and her very destiny in grave danger, Princess Aurora sleeps peacefully. She is calm, serene, and happy, and this is precisely what Phillip is fighting for. He's fighting for peace, calm, and serenity. Life may have more moments of all hell breaking loose, but the moments of peace are what make life worth living and enduring well.

Having at last surrendered to buying this painting, I pose for a picture with the original. As Beauty Sleeps by John Rowe.

And at that moment I knew. Rowe had captured so beautifully and powerfully what Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty means to me. (As a side note here, I believe that Disney's version of the story is the first where the prince has to fight for the princess, instead of merely showing up at the end to awaken her with love's first kiss). Suddenly, I didn't care about the yellow dress. It didn't matter because the painting was movie accurate. Subsequent viewings of Sleeping Beauty have confirmed this for me, especially when I noticed the yellowish hue cast around the castle when the spinning wheels were burned(see I told you I'm a Sleeping Beauty geek/nerd).

Artist John Rowe personally embellishing my painting of As Beauty Sleeps.

Although the angle and lighting do not show the embellishments, the painting is absolutely stunning when framed. This is the frame Collectors Editions chose for the painting.

One final note here about As Beauty Sleeps. Like I said I was not the only person to buy the painting that day. Many of the others bought it, usually because they love the dragon in the painting. When he embellished their paintings Rowe really toned down the colors around Maleficent, making her really pop from the painting. When I saw my painting, I realized what Rowe had done for me. After we talked for quite some time about the film and what it means to me, I realized that on my painting, he had not embellished Maleficent as much. Instead, he focused on the area around Phillip, making him the focal point of my painting. And on mine as you see Phillip, your eyes travel downward to Aurora, so you see what he's fighting for. And that's the inscription on the back of my painting. “Remember What You're Fighting For.”

Coming soon to a trip report near you: The Second Great Art Debate of the Day.

 

[Disneygrl36]

Wow what an incredible experience to be able to see all that Disney art & meet the artists too.
I am glad you got the painting & that it was embellished by the artist in a way that makes it even more meaningful to you.
Can't wait for more.

 

[kaoden39]

All of the art work is just amazing and what a great way to spend your birthday. I bookmarked your friends website and I plan on looking at it in a minute. I can hardly wait if I see something I want it isn't too far away. Yay! Have a wonderful day.

 

[KCmike]

Love the reports. Loved your painting as well.

 

[toocherie]

Wow! Can't wait to see more of the artwork! Great report-

 

[toocherie]

And since on my last visit I had to make my way out of the park while carrying a big fig box, I know how interesting it can be to haul a very large box around Disneyland.

LOL--when I read this I really thought you had a box of "figs" and was wondering--hmmmm. I love figs. Where are they--in one of the sweet shops? Then I went to your friend's website and realized you meant big "figurine"!

Also--please tell me where the Hidden Mickey is on POTC--I know of one--wondering if it's the same.

Do you know where the one is at Pinocchio?

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Thanks everyone. The artwork holds a special place in my collection, and yes there is more to come.

Note to self: from now on refer to the 1 1/2 to 2 feet tall resin recreations of Disney characters as big figures so as to not confuse people wondering how big the ODV cart selling 1 figs is.

The POTC hidden Mickey is on one of the armor plates near the end of the attraction. It can be spotted, but sometimes the light has to hit it just right to see the Mickey.

Remind me where the one on Pinocchio is.

 

[kaoden39]

Thanks everyone. The artwork holds a special place in my collection, and yes there is more to come.

Note to self: from now on refer to the 1 1/2 to 2 feet tall resin recreations of Disney characters as big figures so as to not confuse people wondering how big the ODV cart selling 1 figs is.

The POTC hidden Mickey is on one of the armor plates near the end of the attraction. It can be spotted, but sometimes the light has to hit it just right to see the Mickey.

Remind me where the one on Pinocchio is.

Ooh reminds self. I must look in September. Not for anything will I miss POTC.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Huzzah, huzzah, huzzah, it's time for another update. Note to readers: I knew of the phrase huzzah long before Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl made in famous. This is what happens when you spend the hours between midnight and 2:00am watching the brilliant Mystery Science Theater 3000.

All that debating in my mind and talking about the painting with John Rowe has made me very hungry(well that and the fact that I'd only had a small muffin or two to eat). Bless their hearts, Collectors Editions is providing both lunch and dinner for us. During lunch we got to speak with Harrison Ellenshaw's daughter, who's recently been doing some research on her grandfather's artistic legacy. Incredibly neat stuff, especially considering how much art Peter Ellenshaw did for the Walt Disney Company. I'm having a hard time remembering what I ate for lunch way back in February, so if you really wanted to know, I'm sorry. Suffice it to say it was very good and I was no longer hungry. Which of course means that I now have to confront the second great art debate. Remember how I told you there were three Sleeping Beauty paintings? Well, lucky for my wallet(but possibly unlucky for me) there was actually only As Beauty Sleeps. The other new piece was actually for Snow White. However, there is a semi-new piece that I've only seen on the internet before.

I've learned a valuable lesson about buying art over the internet. In short, try not to do it. It's not that you could get ripped off, but the bigger issue is actually one of appearance. In short, most pictures of fine art posted on the web do not begin to do justice to the actual piece once you see it. So today is also my first chance to see a piece titled Briar Rose by artist Trevor Carlton. For those who aren't familiar with Trevor Carlton's style, he's described it as pop nostalgia. He wants his work to look like it was discovered in a vintage movie theater closed long ago. In short, his style is very large and very fun and somewhat whimsical.

Trevor Carlton applying his craft with the one and only Mickey Mouse

And thus we come to the second great art debate. The issue I'm grappling with here is do I really want to spend even more money on another piece of artwork? So the debate goes back and forth in my mind for a few minutes. At one point I head over to Trevor and just start talking with him to get a sense of who he is and how his style works. Very quickly I find that Trevor is a very nice guy and a lot of fun. He loves to paint to rock and roll music and puts on quite a show. On this day, he's working on a Mickey Mouse painting, so it's very fun to see his style and how he applies different materials and textures to “age” the painting. As I watch Trevor paint, I come to a realization. This is a unique opportunity. If I buy the painting today, it will be embellished by the artist and thus become a unique one of a kind painting.

Once again a picture of me holding thousands of dollars in my hands

So, I head off to find a Collectors Edition employee to see if I can get a giclee on canvas of Carlton's Briar Rose. When I do, the employee asks me if I want to come back into the “secret” location where all sorts of “secret” stuff is hidden. Well, the word secret just makes it sound cool, so I happily agree. It turns out a few others hear the word secret and they want to come to. So about five of us venture into the top secret room full of, drumroll please, shelves and shelves and shelves of unstretched artwork. But of course, this is somehow really fascinating, most likely because it's a top secret location. Maybe they're hiding the holy grail back there, but we just didn't see it. It gets even funnier when Linda Martin notices a very rare and nearly impossible to find Donald Duck painting. Her husband Marty collects Donald, so this could be huge. After checking with Mary Laskie, they learn that this painting is not damaged, so it is for sale. Happy day for Marty!!

Mary takes me over to the shelf where the Carlton paintings are and hands me a Briar Rose. The first thing I notice is the sheer size of this painting. It's something like 24x24. What makes this stand out for me is that all of my Sleeping Beauty fine art has so many elements to the painting that Aurora is but a part of it. In this painting, it's just Aurora. So it's really nice to have a huge painting of just Aurora. So once again, I'm sold. And this is where the fun begins. I go out again because I want to have my picture taken with Trevor and my painting. He won't be able to embellish it today, but that's okay. Anyways, I find Trevor and the wheels in his head start spinning.

You see, Trevor has yet to do any embellishments on this specific painting, so he's starting to come up with all sorts of ideas, at which point he describes himself as a mad scientist trying to figure out how he's going to to make this painting pop. Suffice it to say, this promises to be interesting and quite fun. The next challenge I face is coming up with something humorous and funny to say on the personalization, which will occupy my mind off and on for the next couple of hours.

Trevor Carlton cooking up some sort of mad scientist scheme for embellishing my painting

So, after watching more artists do some work, including Harrison Ellenshaw, the time comes to take a tour of the production facility of Collectors Editions. Now a few years ago on a family trip to Disneyland, we toured the facility where my parents motor home was built. My brother the RV nut found this tour incredibly fascinating. As for me, I was still thinking happy thoughts about my time spent in Disneyland. Well, seeing the production facility was fascinating for me. One great thing about Collectors Editions is the protective process. When Michael Young took us out for dinner back in November, he actually showed us what happened to a Collectors Edition giclee when you pour some water on it. Well, nothing. He accidentally showed us this on a piece done by another art company and learned that their pieces do not repel water. Remember that you get what you pay for.

So we see the production, where the original is scanned and then printed out for the artist to approve. Once it's passed the artists test, it's onto production where the appropriate colors are sprayed on to the canvas or paper in the right place. Somewhat technical stuff, but inasmuch as I have a few pieces of fine art, I find this incredibly interesting. I enjoy seeing the process behind creating these works of art that I enjoy so much.

Up next comes the hardest part of the day. If you guessed leaving Collectors Editions, you'd be wrong. But if you guessed paying for my artwork, you'd be right. Actually it worked out great since Cindy gave us a discount and Collectors was giving us the “pre-release” price, so all in all it was a happy day. Besides that as it turns out, I may have spent the least that day since I only bought two paintings. My Disneyana collection is focused on two characters, Mickey Mouse and Sleeping Beauty. Of course, there's so much Mickey stuff out there that I've decided to narrow that focus to Mickey in Star Wars, and I don't think I'll ever see fine art of Mickey in Star Wars.

Of course a few minutes later I would face a threat to my collecting focus (from a certain point of view). A forthcoming park exclusive painting. A park exclusive is pretty much like it sounds meaning that you can only get it in the park(akin to the Thomas Kinkade painting of Disneyland for the 50th Anniversary). This forthcoming painting is by Manny Hernandez and it's a beauty. It's titled The Happiest Street on Earth and features 106 Disney characters on Main Street USA with Sleeping Beauty Castle in the background. Manny was kind enough to show me quite a few of his character sketches for the painting and the work in progress original. He also showed me where a certain princess(you all get one guess and only one guess) is going to be in the painting since she hadn't been added yet.

Well since a few months have passed since I first saw The Happiest Street on Earth, more information has come out about it. It's going to be released on July 17, 2008 (an appropriate day to release a painting if I ever heard of one) exclusively at Walt Disney World!! (Ha, ha, ha, fool you). It's being released at Disneyland. On that day, those in the park can see a presentation with Manny and get their painting signed. Of course this is assuming they have any left by the release date. Disneyland, in a move that makes me very happy since there's no way I can be in Disneyland on the 17th, is making the painting available for purchase via Disneyland delivEARS. It became available yesterday, and yes, I bought it. I've convinced myself that because it features both a certain princess and the world's most famous mouse(and my oldest friend in the world, remember my mother put a Disney poster in my nursery before I was even born) at Disneyland. As an added bonus, it will be embellished by Manny himself even though Disney Gallery's website does not specifically say so. Manny came up to Cindy's store a couple of weeks ago and as we were talking about the painting, he told us that he would be doing some embellishment on every canvas edition of the painting. So knowledge can be a wonderful thing. Now I get to play the waiting game. While Homer Simpson would rather play Hungry Hungry Hippos, I have no choice. Disneyland told me the painting is being shipped in mid August, mere weeks before my next visit, but alas they can't hold it there for me so I have to pay for shipping. But courtesy of the premium annual pass, I did get a 10% discount. (And thus my premium AP has now officially already paid for itself over a deluxe).

The Happiest Street on Earth by Manny Hernandez

Please note that this painting comes from the official Disney Gallery website. To see how the other editions look and some of the character sketches, click me, click me! If you want information about the actual relase and info to contact Disneyland about, visit the Disney Gallery web page.

And thus ends our day at Collectors Editions. Michael Young then takes us all out to dinner to celebrate our visit. During dinner the wheels in my head turn and I finally come up with the appropriate personalization for my Briar Rose painting by Trevor Carlton. I'd like to think that it combines my sometimes off the wall sense of humor with my love and knowledge of the film Sleeping Beauty. “May you find the love of your life while she's wandering through the forest pretending to be a peasant girl.”

The finished version of Briar Rose by Trevor Carlton. Note the brush strokes by the bird. And though it's difficult to see, he also embellished her hair band, shawl, berries, and the black part of her skirt with some sort of sparkly glitter type paint. It looks really cool.

After dinner, we go our separate ways, ready to head back down to Anaheim to get ready for the big day. Yes, tomorrow my dream comes true. I will be visiting the Walt Disney Studios.

 

[lotsofboys]

What a great report......thanks for sharing!

 

[tofubeast]

Wow, such lovely art you were able to pick up! Your home is going to become a museum!

Looking forward to reading your next posting on the Studios! I hope you are busy writing it right now!!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Thanks. If all goes well, I'll start writing the Studios portion tonight.

 

[Daisybelle]

That was very educational! I've wondered what some of those terms meant but never got around to looking them up. I can see where art collecting would become addictive. How awesome to get the privilege to meet artists first hand and have them embellish your pieces. Very cool

 

[KCmike]

This was a great read. It is very interesting. Loved the paintings. Can't wait to hear about the studios. My wife noticed on a prior reply somewhere that I incorrectly stated your name on the boards and I apologize. I think I put SleepingBeautyJedi and of course it was SleepingJediBeauty. Sorry.

Again can't wait for the the studios. Do you have lots of pics from that?