On Friday, we drove up to Anaheim for the D23 Expo. This was the first time that I've brought all the kids. Only Gavin has gone with me before. And it was MIND BLOWING!!!! First of all, we got very, very lucky. When we descended on the Convention Center, the lines were wrapped all over the place! No one seemed to know what the lines were for and where to go. I went with my gut and just headed to the front entrance. I needed to pick up the boys' tickets at Will Call. I walked right up to the "Purchase Tickets" window. No one was there. I asked if I could get my tickets there and they said yes. So, we got the tickets and got right in line for Hall D23 for the first panel of the day, The Disney Legends Ceremony. We found out later that people waited for hours to get in because of all the line confusion. Many missed the first panels of the day. I'm glad I followed my instincts!
The Disney Legend Award is the most prestigious award that the Walt Disney Company gives out. We knew that, among others, George Lucas and Danny Elfman were being honored. But we had no idea just how awesome this whole panel was going to be!
Chairman and CEO, Bob Iger MC'ed the event...
There were animators, imagineers, ambassadors, broadcasters and celebrities that received awards. All of their speeches were so humble and heart-felt. In between inductions, we were treated with free concerts, like this one, Richard Sherman playing piano while, Laura Kelly (Mary Poppins-Broadway) sang the new song that plays during the new fireworks show at Disneyland.
Dancing with the Stars came out and danced to "Once Upon a Dream" with scenes from "Sleeping Beauty" flashing in the background.
I took this one for mom. Susan Lucci became a Disney Legend-
Ne-Yo did an awesome rendition of "You've Never Had a Friend like Me", to honor the late Robin Williams.
James Monroe Iglehart (Aladdin-Broadway) came out and sang the "Oogie Boogie" song right before Danny Elfman was honored-
Danny Elman-
They closed the show with George Lucas!!!
We thought it was over. But being Disney, they surprised us with one more honoree...
JOHNNY DEPP!!!
The crowd went wild!!!
After we had our minds blown in the Legends panel, we headed right back downstairs to get in line for the afternoon Animation panel from Pixar and Walt Disney Animation. We made a new friend in line and enjoyed chatting with him and eating our lunch.
They took away our phones/cameras, so I do not have any footage of the Animation Panel. But it was FREAKING AMAZING!!! OMGOSH! Our minds were blown multiple times. Highlights for me: Moana - Seeing Dwayne the Rock Johnson come out and a live Polynesian concert and performance. Zootopia - seeing Jennifer Goodwin. The Good Dinosaur - it looks beautiful and the footage made me cry. Finding Dory - Seeing Ellen Degeneres & the cast. Toy Story 4 - John Lassetter dedicating the movie to his wife Nancy - it will be a love story. And the finale of Green Army Men scaling down into the audience from the rafters, dancing, shooting prizes into the crowd, characters dancing on the stage and confetti exploding all around us!
We had an hour to play in the Exhibit Hall, so we spent most of it at the Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm booths...
Done by 7:00! What a day! We had so much fun and couldn't believe all the magical things we witnessed! We had to get one last pic with the Buzz Lightyear Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon.
Day 2: Just me and my Angel!
Saturday, Cali and I got up and out the door by 4 AM! Yep, we are insane! But we wanted to make sure we got into the Walt Disney Studios Live Action/Marvel/Lucasfilm panel. And its a good thing we left so early. We got to the Convention Ctr by 5:00 and were in line with our wrist bands by 5:15. The lines were closed off by 6! We spent the next 4 1/2 hours, resting, eating, reading and hanging out with 7000+ of our friends.
I even played with Cali's hair - Princess Leia buns!
We got into the hall and had OK seats in Section C. But we didn't care! We were just happy to be there. They took our phones and cameras again...and then BOOM! Our minds were blown multiple times again as we sat through the Live Action panel! Marvel kicked it off with a sneak peek at Dr. Strange. We got to see storyboarding and concept art and got a video taped message from Steven Strange himself, Benedict Cumberbatch!!! Cali cried. We then got a long trailer and sneak peek at the new Captain America-Civil War. And Captain America, Chris Evans was there to get us even more excited!!! Next up was Walt Disney Studios. It was so much good stuff!!! Highlights: Jungle Book - Jon Favreau Directing and voicing Baloo, along with Lupita Nyongo as the Wolf Mama and Ben Kingsley as Bagheera...they were all there. Pete's Dragon - Bryce Dallas Howard was there to hype it and it looks beautiful...i cried at the footage. Beauty and the Beast - We got to see a video taped message from Belle, Emma Watson and then got a song from Gaston, Luke Evans and Lepheiu, Josh Gad...along with a trailer. Cali cried! Alice through the Looking Glass - All the cast is returning and Alice was there to introduce the trailer. Pirates of the Carribean, Dead Men tell no Tales-Johnny Depp came out in full Jack Sparrow! It was awesome! The place went crazy! Finally, Lucasfilm ended the show. JJ Abrams came out with the new cast AND HARRISON FORD!!! I jumped up and down, yelling and screaming and crying!!! GOOSEBUMPS! I was so happy! They talked a little about Episode 7, but no new footage or trailer. Then Bob Iger came out and introduced the driectors of the next slot of Star Wars Movies. Rogue One in 2016, Episode 8 in 2017, Han Solo Original Story in 2018 & Episode 9 in 2019! And we got first looks at the cast of Rogue One. We thought that was it. But this is Disney and they like surprises. Bob Iger left the stage and then this appeared on the screens-
It was up on the screens for just a second and then it went away. That's when Bob Iger returned to the stage to announce a whole new theme park coming to Disneyland and Disneyworld. A Star Wars Theme Park!!!! We all lost our minds! Starting in 2017, Disneyland will begin construction on a 14+ acre park with a complete immersion into the Star Wars Universe. I can not wait! That was it and we were so happy we got up so early to be there to witness it all. As we were walking out of Hall D23, a security guard touched my arm and said "excuse me". I moved and he walked past me with JJ Abrams!!! He brushed against my arm! SQUEEEEEE!!!! Then we all got free posters of some of the movies we just got teased with-
We were exhausted and it was only 1. We did walk through all of the Exhibit Hall and checked out some fun exhibits and costumes...
And, of course, we stopped by and chatted with Ashley for a few minutes. She is the best!
It was seriously a magical weekend! I can't believe all that we heard and saw. I didn't even get it all on here! I had a blast with my kids. It was a great ending to an even greater summer!
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