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 fiancé 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?

More Comic Con stories!!

And just like that we were HUNGRY!! We had been up since before dawn and were crashing quickly! We had to work our way outside the building. It felt like a casino where you get so turned around, you have no clue which direction is what. On our way out the door I found a fabulous Sailor Moon! I was like "Work it Girl!!" (I didn't know she wore a watch???)

 

Thanks to modern technology we googled a Chipotle about a mile away and headed right for it! Downtown San Diego has some interesting buildings peppered with a few pan handlers. But on this day there were themed "cabbies". Can't go to this pop culture Mecca without running into Game of Thrones and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. 

We lucked out in that no one else was at Chipotle. But even though the place was quiet, we dashed back to the convention center. I really wanted to get a photo with John Barrowman. He's from the shows Torchwood and Doctor Who. And although it doesn't really matter, he's Gay! As it turns out, to get a photo and meet with him, one must pay $50!! I had no clue that would be the case. We were foolish to think it would be from the goodness of his heart. Eric agreed it was just too much to ask so we went on our way to the Disney Afternoon panel. 

Met a few villains along the way!

There were many adults that waited for the Disney Afternoon panel. So much of us grew up on the cartoons of Darkwing Duck, Gummi Bears, Rescue Rangers, and DuckTales. Eric was beside himself! I thought I was a fan of the line up...he was a bigger fan! It was unfortunate for us that the panel was so disorganized. They didn't really know what to talk about other than the origins of the series. I can say that section was cool, hearing about a secret meeting at Michael Eisner's house. They did show a pitch for Goof Troop, which was great. Oh! They had a DuckTales theme song, sing-along. That was a little much, but still fun. As I covered, most time was spent rambling.  

The whole time we sat there I regretted not paying the $50 to meet John Barrowman. I contemplated leaving and meeting Eric afterward, but I didn't want to get lost. (I'm a grown adult,but at Comic Con getting lost IS an option). 

After the panel ended we rushed back to the booth. The photo session was over and they had moved on to some obscure actor I hadn't heard of before. I was disappointed. I hadn't bought anything, so what else was I gonna spend that $50 on? Gas? Boring!!! 

As we decided to wander some more we saw him! There he was with his husband! 

And then I got really close to him, but he blinked!! Blinked!! Out of all the seconds in the world, he blinked during my photo!!

We then wanted to find "@ComicBookGirl19" from YouTube. Anyone else know of her? Our pal Rich introduced us to her channel on YouTube. She talks a lot about comics, general Sci-Fi, and Game of Thrones. At the booth she was hanging at, there was another "pay to meet me" vibe. I couldn't find any merchandise I liked. So I did what any sly, weirdo fan would do. Snapped a quick pic and got outta there! Check out her channel though! 

Eric bought a few comic books and I debated if I was gonna start the new Superman Unchained. I didn't end up buying the first few editions as I had two X-Men stories at home to read, Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past. We had a great time just checking the booths out. 

At Comic Con what do I buy?? A Disney print! Eric and I found Amy Mebberson, who I've mentioned on this blog before. She was also at WonderCon. Here's the print she had available called "Family Foes".

Mother Gothel looks rather creepy as she strokes a lock from Rapunzel's hair. 

Eric still wanted to look into the Funko booth, which I was just fine doing. The line was a lot shorter than earlier but the booth was very thinned out. Eric and I found a few items we liked. One pop vinyl, a zombie from Plants vs. Zombies is for my nephew. But, I'm keeping the "Animal" (Muppets) figure! There was even a claw machine where one can win pop vinyls. No luck!!

It was still just after 5 PM but the tiredness was creeping onto us. A few quick passes down a few aisles had us "pooped"!

We felt that we really needed more time. Another day would definitely give us a chance to see more. We saw about 50% of the showroom floor and saw .5% of panels. Now that we both are on the e-mail list, we will get an early registering slot for next year. I recommend this even to all interested in not just comics, but pop culture too. 

I hope you're all ready for D23 Expo stories because that's up next!

San Diego Comic Con 2013

Since we've been together, 11 years, Eric and I keep saying we'll attend Comic Con. We finally made it happen this year. Because we went to WonderCon, we were included in notifications for "resale" tickets to Comic Con. Luckily members canceled and we took their spots on July 21st. 

I was so nervous about parking. Once I saw that the prepaid parking had been sold out for months, I thought we'd shell out $30-$50 dollars to park. I had also read how congested the area can be. My pal Martin, who has worked the event, says it gets insane with jammed traffic. Martin suggested arriving by bus from his neighborhood, Hillcrest. 

 Another friend had mentioned the trolley. I looked into the trolley option and found a few Park & Ride locations with FREE parking. Phew!! We were set! After a 6:30 AM start to San Diego, we parked about 5 trolley stops from the convention. 

The trolley operates like any subway in NYC, so we had experience. It is $5 for a day pass plus $2 for the Trolley card. The trolley slowly filled up as we got closer to the Con. As this happened our excitement grew because the riders joining us had their event badges around their necks and free backpacks on. Here you can see the caped backpack I was given. 

Approaching the center was really overwhelming. Eric and I kept repeating that we had no clue where to go. As it turned out, we were funneled into a quickly moving, but extremely long queue. This was to pick up our badges. The queue wrapped all the way to the rear of the convention building near the loading dock. We then were herded to the top level so that we could finally grab our badges (ticket).  Attendees must where his badge around the neck at all times. 

Although Eric is a bigger collector than me, we both are fans of Funko's Pop Vinyls. They would have exclusive vinyls for this even. The queue was full to capacity when we checked. It pretty much sucked that we couldn't even wait for the line to get shorter. The guy minding the queue was an ass. He was pretty much yelling into the open space to keep walking and not clog the walkway. That reminded me a lot of Disneyland during shows and parades. The only option Eric and I had was to keep checking back.  

We did come across some set up themed to the series we watch, The Walking Dead. To check out their exhibit we had to get in a queue about 40 yards away. They then would take groups of ten to join the actual queue that existed alongside the exhibit. So confusing. 

Once we made it back across to the main queue, holding a shoulder of a stranger to avoid the breaking up out group, we saw zombies! It was a photo op and that made us pretty excited. The show had an arch take place in a prison for an entire season. This was the perfect setting. And, there was also an opportunity to pose with zombie heads belonging to The Governor of Woodberry. 

While still feeling overwhelmed, we pushed our way back to the Funko shop and found the queue was still closed. We then shuffled our feet back to the area near The Walking Dead set. Eric noticed the ABC booth. It was more of a pirate ship from the show Once Upon a Time 

After waiting almost 30 minutes we met a few people dressed as the show's main characters. They had some cool costumes. We all were given a Comic Con exclusive pin and we watched a lengthy trailer. Eric snagged a photo with Prince Charming from Storybrooke. We can see Captain Hook peering out from the his ship. 

I keep talking about the hugeness of this convention. Just look at the filled walkways! It's insane!

There's more to talk about, but I don't wanna tire all of your eyes. Please join Eric and I next time for the next installment of our SD Comic Con experience. Do we ever get inside that Funko booth? Do I finally get to meet John Barrowman of the show Doctor Who?.....find out soon. 

Anyone else go? What was your experience? Leave a comment below :-)

A Roaring '20s Birthday

When it comes to interiors, I always seem to gravitate toward modern or  "clean lines". It was an easy choice to feature the era filled with Art Deco at my birthday party. Of course the feel of flappers and booze would also permeate the party. This idea was also sparked from the recent release of The Great Gatsby. The lavish parties thrown by the hermit of a character gave me some strong inspiration. I could have stuck with the dark, underground feel of a 1920s Speakeasy, but I wanted a more lively feel. I immediately wanted to feature the colors of Silver, Black, with a touch of Gold. 

Eric contributed quite a bit to the party's look. Brainstorming began in mid June for our July 13th party date. It was decided early on that we had to have our guests dress the part. Although we'd provide a vintage backdrop, our friends would give it life. 

Eric and I gave hard thought to bring in unique details our guests wouldn't forget. I had hoped people would get the sense that others lived in this party setting, that they had time traveled. We looked online for vintage portraits to occupy our frames on the shelving and walls. I'll even give it away that these temporary photo frames were purchased at the Dollar Tree. 

The den was sectioned off from the main living space with a silvery curtain. I had hoped the curtain would do a great job at catching the light. It did just that. Within the den I strived for a lounge with darker lighting. Sticking to the times, the den had a different 1920s track playing. It was a small change from the main area 1920s music that people may not have consciously noticed. The details are key. Eric and our friend Ricky certainly enjoyed the lounge area. 

For beverages we stuck mostly to wines and vodka based concoctions. One of my birthday gifts was the ingredients to a favorite drink of mine, a Manhattan. 

Our friends really put thought into their outfits. I know some of them were nervous they wouldn't get the looks quite right, but everyone did a good job. I'm glad all had fun getting creative for their attire. 

We even made the restroom appear a flapper lived there. She left a mess as you all can see. (I ended up in the pic. I wasn't sly enough)

It was a roaring time! All seemed impressed with the party's look/decor. If we had a bigger place and budget, who knows what we would've done!!