Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Anaheim's 3rd Temporary Disney Park...D23 Expo

There's been two Disney Parks in California's Orange County for a while. But since 2009, every two years, the Walt Disney Company adds a "third gate" to the roster. The Disney fans and the curious visitors come in great numbers to the D23 Expo. 

It's Donald and Mickey!


My fiancĂ© and friends looked forward to this event for months! As the dates became closer and the event schedules were posted, a little anxiety overcame us. How would we see these interesting panels (Q&A's) and all the pavilions? The morning of Day 1 had three popular presentations happening at once. Leaving our house at 6 AM, our group decided to get in line for the arena. In there the Disney Animation Studios presentation would take place. 


After being pointed in many different directions, we finally found the end of the arena's queue. Getting in line for this meant although the showroom floor opened before the presentation, we weren't allowed to take turns and wander. The issue we had with that was the staff also wouldn't grant us "StagePass" for future panels. StagePass was thought up as a type of FastPass for the Expo. One can pick up a pass at certain times, then show up to a panel 15 minutes before it begins. Good idea, but we'd have to wait until later to take advantage of it. 

As expected, the staff at the arena had us all power down and seal up our iPhones and cameras (lack of photos). Disney didn't want any leaks or photos going out. Since this event was two weeks ago, I'm sure the "play by play" has been written many times. 

I had the most annoying person sitting in front of me. I've never seen the film Cape Fear, but I am a fan of The Simpsons "Cape Feare" with Sideshow Bob as the villain. This man was laughing, in the theater, just like him. As he sat in front of me, he'd laugh and toss his head so far back that it was basically in my crotch. I'd say his laugh even sounded extremely fake. The people that took notice of his obnoxiousness were just as annoyed. I tell ya, like Ricky (dressed as Paperman on this day) and Eric say, "Everything can be referenced back to The Simpsons!"



The highlight of the Animation Studios presentation was Idina Menzel's performance of the song "Let It Go". We had sat there almost four hours, but this rejuvenated us. There was dramatic lighting and it even snowed. I know there are a few short YouTube clips out there of her singing. This performance definitely caught my interest and now I'm actually looking forward to the film. 

During the load out of the arena we reconnected with humanity via our phones. Goodness gracious it was after 1 PM!! No wonder our stomachs were growling! 

Since lunch was just your basic American fast food eatery, we'll just bypass all that. Lets jump to stuff with photos, now that we can take them!




Our friends Miley and Greg (dressed as Goofy) were only there for one day. We wanted them to see as much as possible, so we visited the Imagineering Pavilion. They really out did themselves this year. I'm sure most of you read the details elsewhere, so throughout these D23 posts, I'll cover our specific highlights. 



I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but the background music here was great. The Spaceship Earth score was used as well as other WDW music. The Imagineers even threw in De La Terre a la Lune :Space Mountain from Disneyland Paris. 

The grandiose music set a fine tone for the 60 year tribute to Imagineering. There was an excitement as people shuffled from each exhibit to the other. The pavilion had the exhibits set on the outer area and one could cross to make his way around to them. Although it was fun, it was a little cramped. But, I'm glad it was clogged with models such as this....A concept model for Spaceship Earth. To name a few, the Ice Age area is visible as well as Ancient Rome. 


Our group was also excited to see another WDW model of The Land. This is a model of the pavilion that never came to fruition. Even though it didn't end up this way, with a hot air balloon attraction, I feel it's still successful. As a fan of Disney history, I had only seen drawings of this in books. It was amazing and surprising to finally see this!


It was here one could find the Adventure Trading Company booth. Visitors could go on small adventures within the Expo to receive a prize called a Juju (they became popular). Our friend Joey was running the activity, but we didn't find him this day. We'd find him another day. 


Time was going quickly, on account of us all having fun! Another important exhibit at the Expo was the Archives. As we made our way toward the second floor, we came across a few cosplay participants. 

Hey it's the Gibson Girl!!


"Dig a little Deeper!"

The queue for the Archives was quite lengthy, but why wouldn't it be? Inside there were costumes from Once Upon a Time, Mary Poppins, Return to Oz, and Oz the Great and Powerful. We also came across rare props not seen by the public. 

Loving this film, Return to Oz, since its theatrical release, had me so excited to see Tik Tok! Here's Eric, as Mickey Mouse, having a little fun. 

It's a shame "Red" won't be on the show Once Upon a Time anymore. She had a cool storyline. 

Mrs. Banks' "Votes for Women" dress and sash. 

Boy were our legs hurting by now! We tried to make it into Disney's Broadway performance, but we were denied! The theater in use was to capacity. We walked around a bit more before heading out for the day. 

Miley posing with Olaf, from Frozen. 

Duffy!! And...an iced mocha!!

I'll close the day out with our photo with Izma! I feel there was so much more we did, this post is already long! There are two more days to recount, so be on the lookout! 



Did anyone reading this go? What were your dislikes or likes from the event?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I want to attend!

Unknown said...

You'll just need to attend the next D23! Maybe do Florida too?