Our D23 Expo report - lots of pics included! (others please share, too!)

[maberlyne]

So I'm going to try to do this in multiple posts, because I'm too afraid of losing a giant post I'll have spent 2 hours on . To give you some background, this was my and my bff's first trip to the expo (our other bff was supposed to come as well, but sadly couldn't ). We're hardcore Disney fans, so were verrrrrrry excited! We just had Friday tickets, as we wanted to visit the parks, as well.

First of all, the costumes. I had actually anticipated more people in get ups, but the ones we saw were well done. I would have taken more pics, but didn't want to go actually ask people to photograph them, lol Okay, so I tried to crop these all nicely, but apparently photobucket hates me and won't post the cropped pictures, so sorry. They seem to be posting large enough to see what I mention.

So these first two are also line pictures... we arrived about 8:30 to get in line since we had D23 tickets. Well, it took us like an hour to get inside, ahhhh. The line started roughly at the main entrance to the convention center, but looped all the way back towards Disneyland (Katella? Can't remember offhand) and did a couple of curves as well. Oh well! We had happy Disney people to people watch. Hopefully if I photographed anyone from these boards, you won't mind me posting

Here's Rapunzel - complete with frying pan and Pascal:

Woody:

These people were aweeeeesome! I was especially impressed by the guys! Now I must convince boyfriend he needs to dress up like a prince

(and a back view cuz you can see a couple more of them):

Then there was these girls, who were also very impressive. Unfortunately, I only have a fuzzy pic, so maybe someone else can come along and post a better pic. But here it is anyway:

Of course, there were many more costumes. There was a super cute Eve and WALL-E (the guy was wearing almost a raincoat like jacket, very clever, and even holding a little cooler ), a very good Cruella, quite a few Ariels, a Snow White, some Storm Troopers, and even a Haunted Mansion bride and shoot, what's the guys name... the guy with the scared dog. Anyway. So there's post #1

 

[maberlyne]

Now - the Legends ceremony. This was basically the whole reason we wanted to go on Friday, so we decided to hightail it for the line. Like I said, we got in about 9:30, and just went over to the Arena. We were in the back of the first section of corrals, and ultimately got a pretty good seat in the first section of elevated seats. The weird thing was, there were soooo many empty seats (up higher). They did seem to fill somewhat, as time went on, but I'm about 99% sure they did not fill all.

Also to note, I was all prepared to give up my camera and cell phone. Upon entering the queue, I asked where/when they were going to collect it. They said this was a non-camera-stealing event (okay, that wasn't what they said, but I can't remember the term). So I didn't really believe her, figured they would probably collect it before, but they didn't! So I got to take a bazillion pictures! And you get to see them! Also, I don't seem to remember them even making an announcement about not taking pics... there were people taking flash pics the whole way through (which I didn't, I would like to note. haha!)

Prior to ceremony start (I think they let us in maybe 20 min before?) they played trivia and pretty pictures on the big screens:

Ariel!! Our most anticipated person!

Pretty Mickey!

Please forgive me, but I already forgot who this was. Tom Skaggs? Ahh, Disney fail. Anyway, he did a little introduction, then I think he introduced another important person via video. then he introduced the emcee, Tom Bergeron (Dancing with the Stars, America's Funniest Home Videos):

I thought he was very amusing So, before every Legend came out, he gave an short bio of each. Happily for us, they did the princesses first Here's the first, Anika Noni Rose - Tiana!

It was super cute, each of their princes escorted them, then took them over the statue to take a pic with their statue.

Then Linda Larkin, the speaking voice of Jasmine:

Then came Lea Salonga - Mulan and the singing voice of Jasmine. She was funny, said thank you to Linda Larkin for not being able to sing She also said something about thank you to the director (or someone, lol), because they left a note for her at one of her Broadway performances saying she'd be the perfect Princess Jasmine... she said she had no idea what that meant, but went for it anyway

Then Belle! Yay! Paige O'Hara, who was also in Enchanted. If I remember right, she got a little emotional So cute! (As an aside, I think this was also when my friend started crying lol). It was really cool because you could really "hear" Belle in her voice

And lastly, Ariel!!! Jodi Benson!! Ahhh! So, because she is so super awesome, you get to see more pictures of her . Now, I am sad to admit this, but I did not know she was also the voice of Barbie (Toy Story)! So cool!

Here she is holding up her CM badge, she was saying how much it meant to her... love her even more! (This was a picture of the big screen, I cheated )

Okay, there is more to the princess part, but I'll end this post right here

 

[rowan1813]

Wow these look fantastic!!!! I hope others post pics as well. I went to Comic-Con this year instead of D23 , so I would love to hear about everyone's experiences.

 

[maberlyne]

Rowan - thank you!! I was so happy that I got such good pics (for my limited camera skills!). I hope others post, as well!

 

[maberlyne]

So after all the princesses were honored, they announced they were going to perform!!! Amazing!!! The pics aren't great from this, but I got a few anyway:

Paige O'Hara (Belle):

Lea Salonga (Mulan/ singing Jasmine):

Anika Noni Rose (Tiana):

Jodi Benson (Ariel)! Again, more pics of her

Then all the princesses together. If I remember right, I think they sang "When you wish upon a star" but I can't remember for sure!

 

[rowan1813]

Wow. I think I would have cried listening to these ladies sing, especially Paige O'Hara. I am going to have to see if anyone has posted videos on youtube. Your pics are great; def a lot better than anythink I could have ever done (you should see the incredibly blurry pics that I brought back from Comic-Con).

 

[maberlyne]

So, ya know, they did honor some other people I didn't take picture of everyone, but here's a few. Ahh, I'm having another brain fart, but I'm pretty sure this was Ray Watson, who was on Disney's board of directors, among other things:

Then "Zorro," Guy Williams. He had passed away already, so his family accepted for him. Note that's actually his sword that his son has

Then Regis! Who was quite amusing . He had an entourage of princesses to welcome him. He gave Tom Bergeron crap about, why was he last? (He wasn't, lol) then said all the princesses already sang the songs he was going to sing . They also had Kelly Ripa do a video tribute to him.

Then came Jim Henson (who had also already passed). Here was his daughter:

Then his son. He and another gal performed "I've Grown Accustomed to your Face," which was apparently one of the old routines Jim and his wife used to perform. It was cool, because they performed so that we could actually see the puppeteering. If you're interested, here's a video clip I found of it from YouTube:

http://youtu.be/wfieFzR9jag

His son did a really nice speech, talked about what it was like growing up with Jim Henson as a dad. Then after that, Kermit and Rowlf came out! They performed "Rainbow Connection," which was also very cool . After a bit, they put the words up for everyone to sing along. My pictures kinda suck, they were moving so much. But here's also another You Tube video:

http://youtu.be/XJD4eLytkUY

Phew! That's all I have from that! It actually ended up running over about a half hour, but was worth it So very cool!

Oh, but since I found videos, here's some links to the princesses performing. And I was incorrect, it was "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" they performed. Here's that first:

All princesses - http://youtu.be/Biy-eJ2uwwE

Belle - http://youtu.be/j0Ycl3dtPyg

Mulan/Jasmine - http://youtu.be/fREsDSnT_2A

Tiana - http://youtu.be/kvxxkU-AscA

Oh, and I just remembered something else she said. She said it wasn't until the day before she realized it was her being honored and not Tiana . They also mentioned she was the youngest Legend ever inducted.

Then Ariel - http://youtu.be/Cgsb87-X1Sc

 

[maberlyne]

Rowan, it was sooo cool! You may have found them already, but I found videos from YouTube from Inside the Magic and posted the links in the last post. They had awesome coverage!

 

[maberlyne]

After Legends, we went to shop and just check out the rest of the Expo. More highlights - seeing more famous people! At the very end of the night, Tony Baxter ("Senior Vice President of Creative Development for Walt Disney Imagineering and the Creative Executive for Disneyland") was walking around and I took a stalker pic of him taking a pic with the folks at the SF Disney museum booth. He seemed very nice, another couple had stopped him for a pic and he was gracious.

We saw on the schedule that Tinkerbell (Margaret Kerry) was doing a meet and greet, but arrived just too late and would have been in the standby line to see her. We *had* to do some shopping, so just took a random pic, lol.

I really wanted to see Dave Avanzino, who was at the Dream Store. I'm a huge fan of his work, and he was promoting his new custom name designs. He was so very nice, and showed us pics of his new open edition designs, the DL Railroad (coming out in Nov, I believe he said) and the Little Mermaid (!! coming out next year). Well, I decided I did need to order my name all custom from him. He was only taking 30 orders, at the time we saw him on Friday he had only taken 10. I just saw today on Facebook that he took 31 plus 20 waitlist! So I'm so glad I did it! I can expect it in Nov, yay! So here's my pic with him - you can't really see it, but what I'm holding is the letters I picked that he sketched out to make sure they'd work well.

Then my friend picked up a present for her husband and had it signed by Robert Olszewski, the miniaturist. He was very nice, as well. He was signing his newer pieces and had a preview of other items to come out next year, I believe.

So then, after all that, we were wandering through all the amazing Disney booths. We were just spacing out, looking at everything, and I happened to look beside me and notice Margaret Kerry (Tinkerbell)! She was just sitting at a booth talking to people! Well, she was actually signing pictures for $20 each... but taking pictures for free! So we got to talk a short bit with her and take a pic. She was so cute! I guess she's 82, and was still all happy and full of energy! She announced she had an idea for a new company, she was going to start an insurance company for thumbs - then she mimed people texting, lol! So here we are with her -

Then across from her was no other than Bill Farmer, the (most recent, since 1986) voice of Goofy! He was also taking just pay for autographs, and I don't think free pictures, so we just did a stalker pic again

Okay, those are all our brushes with fame at the Expo

 

[maberlyne]

After that, we just wandered more to make sure we didn't miss anything. We were all tired by then (lol) and almost just left. But we went past the Disney Parks and Resorts Pavillion, the Carousel of Projects, and decided to go in. I'm so glad we did! In addition to there being all sorts of cool stuff, it led to Mickey's of Glendale, the imagineering store I had wanted to see but forgot about, lol.

There was a little video when we walked in, kinda like a circle vision type of thing, then it opened to the rest of the displays. We were greeted by a mock up of the new Fantasy cruise ship, awww -

Then came the display about the new WDW Fantasyland... some idea sketches (I know that's not the right word, lol) up on the wall, then a mini display of the land. We got a really good presentation by one of the CMs. I remember him saying they're going to pick up and move Dumbo, then add another Dumbo next to it.

My friend posing by the Ariel

The ride vehicle for the Dwarf Mine Train ride... I guess it's going to kinda rock back and forth in addition to moving forward

Some Carsland stuff

And more cruise things -

Fortunately, we just made it in to Mickey's of Glendale before they closed. Phew!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

How fantastic! Thanks for sharing

 

[maberlyne]

Then here's just some random expo stuff as we were walking around.

The pretty front of the convention center - they also had Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen out front.

Some of the auction lots -

More pretty Ariel things

The OPI booth, where they were giving free manicures!! Promoting their new line of Villians polish, I think it was.

They were also doing little princess themed face decals.

Lightning made entirely of Legos

I believe this was at the Disney Cakes booth. Earlier in the day, we saw a huge display of cupcakes, which they must have given away. We also saw people descend on free pens there like rabid beasts... they didn't even say Disney on them, lol. But I think they were doing demonstrations, like cake decorating, as well.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Thanks for posting all those pics! How fun! I'd love to go some year but DH and I are both teachers and we can't miss school after only one week. I think I'd enjoy those exhibits the most. So cool to walk around and see all those people! And the shopping!

 

[rowan1813]

Thank you for all of these pictures!!!! Okay I have to say first that if I wasn't weeping by the time the ladies finished singing, I would have been during the Jim Henson tribute. To have Rowlf and Kermit sing together must have been wonderful to watch.

I can't believe the auction lots. It would be cool to say you have that, but seriously, where would you put it? (If you have ever seen the episode of Big Bang Theory with the time machine, you know what I'm talking about). That's cool that OPI was giving out free manicures. I'm going to have to search for the villians line at my local Sephora. Are they sold anywhere else?
And Lightening McQueen out of Legos!!!! I wonder how long that took them to put together.

Thanks again maberlyne for posting these!

 

[rowan1813]

sorry double post!

 

[Caseystigger]

Thanks for sharing these amazing pictures!! What an awesome experience.

 

[maberlyne]

Thank you guys for looking! We had so much fun and were so happy!