D23 Expo 2013: Art & Animation (Part 3: Disney Animation)

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Mike

Part 1 of the Art & Animation presentation (Pixar) is here.

Part 2 of the Art & Animation presentation (Disneytoon Studios) is here.

The final segment of the Animation presentation covered upcoming releases from Disney Animation Studios.

Before beginning the Disney Animation Studios portion of the presentation, host John Lasseter took a few minutes to recognize 60-year Disney animator Burny Mattinson.   Burny started as an animator with Disney in 1953, and is still working today.   He’s the last active animator at Disney who worked directly with Walt Disney.    Burny was in the VIP section of the audience and apparently unaware that he would be honored; he received an enthusiastic ovation from the crowd when he joined John on stage.

We were then treated to something both new and old.   The Disney short Get a Horse was shown; I think this was the first time it was shown to an audience.   This is a very interesting mash up of a film — and I think the less you know about it going in, the more you’ll enjoy it.   It will be released as the short in front of Frozen later this year.

The first Disney Animation Studios feature we were told about is Big Hero 6.   Director Don Hall took the stage to introduce the film, based on a relatively obscure Marvel comic.   We were shown a trailer for the film, that introduces a brilliant young robotics student whose invention falls into the hands of super villains.   He then must assemble a team of would-be super heroes to save San Fransokyo (a visually interesting city that mixes features of San Francisco and Tokyo).   He is assisted by the robot Baymax, an inflatable robot intended to function as a nurse, but modified by Hiro extensively.

Zootopia was the next film presented; this feature is being announced for the first time at the D23 Expo.   Director Byron Howard (Tangled) and writer Jared Bush presented.   This is a buddy action comedy set in a world where humans never existed, so we get a view of how the world would be different if it was designed for, and run by, animals.    Cities aren’t divided up into ethnic neighborhoods, but rather into habitats, so you have a tundra area, a desert area, etc.   The film’s creators were trying to get the feel of some of the classic Disney films where you had animals in clothes such as Mr. Toad and Robin Hood.

Frozen is the next feature coming from Disney, releasing on November 27th of this year.   Director Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee took the stage to introduce us to the world and characters of Frozen.   Frozen stars Kristen Bell as Anna, Idina Menzel as Elsa, Jonathon Groff as as Kristoff, and Josh Gad as Olaf.   The story is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen.

Kristen and Josh joined the directors on stage to talk about the film and show a few clips.   The first is when Olaf (the snowman) first meets Anna and Kristoff.   The second clip shows Olaf singing a funny, if somewhat clueless, song about how much he looks forward to experiencing summer for the first time.    (Yes, he’s in for quite a disappointment).   Songs for Frozen were written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Book of Mormon).

To wrap up the presentation, and end the animation presentation, Idina Menzel (Elsa, or Elphaba in Wicked if you prefer) came on stage to perform Let it Go, from the film, while the audience was showered with confetti snow.    A powerful ending to the morning session and kickoff of the D23 Expo.

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D23 Expo 2013: Art & Imagination (Part 2: Disneytoon Studios)

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Mike

continuing the coverage of Disney’s upcoming animated features started in this post

Disneytoon Studios is the producer of mostly direct-to-video releases, usually sequels.   We were given a brief update of their upcoming animated features.

Disneytoon has been doing a series of Tinkerbell friends involving Tink and her fairy friends (not that there’s anything wrong with that).    We were shown preview information about the next two entries.

Legend of the Neverbeast is an action-adventure story, coming in Spring 2015.   We were given some story details but honestly, given that I’m not exactly the target demographic for these movies, I didn’t make any note of the details.

The second Tink film looked a little more interesting, simply because it begins to tie Tink’s story in to what we already know about the character.   (We, in this case, mean those of us that haven’t been following the Disneytoon films of Tink’s adventures in Pixie Hollow).   In The Pirate Fairy,  Tinkerbell leaves Pixie Hollow and encounters more of Neverland.   She meets Zarina (the titular Pirate Fairy, voiced by Christina Hendricks), and James, voiced by Tim Hiddleston.

Both Christina and Tim were on hand to talk about their characters.    James, a cabin boy on a pirate ship, turns out to be more than he appears … he is the character who will eventually become Captain Hook  (this story takes place in his two-handed days).

Tom treated us to an a capella rendition of The Bare Necessities.    A very un-Loki moment.

After the Tinkerbell series, we moved on to the Planes series of films.   The first film in this series released Friday (the same day as the presentation).    They are already at work on the second film in the series, Planes: Fire and Rescue, about a wildfire air attack team working out of Piston Peak National Park.    It features Dusty Crophopper, the character introduced in the first Planes film, working as part of a wildfire fighting unit.   Julie Bowen will voice Dipper.    We saw the first footage ever presented from this film, in rough form, and it definitely fits into the world introduced in the Cars films and now being continued with the Planes series.

That concluded the DisneyToon Studios portion of the Animation presentation.   Next up, Walt Disney Animation Studios.   That’s for another post.

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D23 Expo 2013: Art and Imagination (Part I: Pixar)

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Mike

The 2013 D23 Expo kicked off with a presentation of upcoming animated feature releases from the various Disney studios.

We were welcomed by Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company.   (Bob was here live this year; two years ago his introduction was taped).   He mentioned that since the last Expo, Disney has acquired LucasFilm, but that we wouldn’t be getting details of Star Wars Episode VII during the Expo.   He also said this Expo was the biggest yet.

Bob then turned the floor over to Bob Lasseter, who was the host for the remainder of the 3-hour presentation.   John is the Chief Creative Officer at Pixar, Disneytoon, and Walt Disney Animation Studios, as well as the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering (in other words, he has ALL the best jobs at Disney).

The presentation was divided by studios, so I’ll divide the blog posts accordingly.   First up:  Pixar.

We first heard about the success of Monsters University, currently in theaters.   John mentioned that one of the break-out characters from the film that really surprised them was the slug.   And then John was joined on stage by SNL alum Bil Hader, the voice of the slug.   They had a brief bit of banter before John announced the first D23 Exclusive of the day:  we were shown a new Monsters University short film, Party Central.   This was a really cute short film  that will be released theatrically in front of The Good Dinosaur.

And that lead us in to a discussion of The Good Dinosaur, Pixar’s next film.   The premise here is: what if the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs missed the Earth?   director Pete Sohn and producer Denise Ream came on stage to discuss the film.   The first clip shown was of the dinosaurs engaged in farming activities.   This was a very lovely, pastoral scene that was different in tone from the funnier scenes that followed.    The animation style (particularly the character design) is more cartoony, and less photo-realistic, than I had anticipated based on what I heard previously.

The voice cast includes John Lithgow, Frances McDormand, Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris, Judy Green, and Lucas Neff.    Bill and Lucas came out to talk a bit about the film, they both play siblings in the featured dino family.   We then saw another clip of the film, where Arlo (Luca’s character) meets a human for the first time.

The Good Dinosaur will be in theaters in 2014.

The next film presented was Inside Out.   (Announced at the 2011 Expo as The Untitled Pixar Film That Takes You Inside the Mind, but for some reason they chose not to stick with that title).    I can’t help but think of this as Cranium Command: The Movie — fans of that shuttered Epcot attraction will recognize the story line similarity.

The movie as about 11 year old Riley, a young girl whose family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco.   As she adjusts to her new surroundings, we see her emotions personified as characters in her head.   The voice cast features Lewis Black as Anger; Mindy Kaling as Disgust; Bill Hader as Fear, Amy Poehler as Joy, and Phyllis Smith as Sadness.

Phyllis Smith (The Office) and Bill “I’m not Dwight” Hader then came out to talk about the film.   Phyllis certainly nailed the Sadness role as she was in character throughout.

The film takes us various places inside the brain, from HeadQuarters (the command center) to Long Term Memory, Imagination Central, Abstract Thought, and Dream Production.   All these areas are connected by the Train of Thought.

We saw a story reel (essentially storyboards plus temp voice tracks) showing how a family dinner goes with the family — we get to see the inner emotions of the Mom and Dad as well as Riley, and the hilarious scene went over very well with the audience.   This looks like a gem.

Next:  Finding Dory.   Director Andrew Stanton and producer Lindsey Collins set up the film, which takes place about a year after Finding Nemo.   Dory’s homing instinct kicks in and she takes off to search for her original family; her new family then has to search for her.   Voice cast includes returning Albert Brooks (Marlin) and Ellen DeGeneres (Dory), plus Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy as Dory’s parents, Ty Burrell, and more voice cast to be announced later.    At this point Bill Hader came on stage dressed as a Sea Cucumber to beg to be cast in the movie … with 3 Pixar films in a row under his belt, if he could just get one more, he could become Pixar’s “Lucky Charm”.

Well, that comment just could not be allowed to stand.   At this point Pixar’s reigning lucky charm, John Ratzenberger, came onto stage accompanied by a full brass band that punctuated his every joke with a rim shot or appropriate flourish.    We saw a slideshow of all 14 of the characters John has voiced in Pixar films.    I don’t think Bill will be unseating John anytime soon.

John Lasseter then explained that Pixar has been thinking about TV specials even before they did the first Toy Story, but now have finally created their first.   Toy Story of Terror will debut this Halloween, and we were treated to the first 10 minutes of the special.

That concludes the Pixar portion of the animation presentation … the next post will pick up with the Disneytoon Studios project calendar.

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D23 Expo 2013: Broadway and Beyond

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Mike

A fun evening took place in Stage 23 last evening as Disney Theatrical Productions put on a special one-time showing, “Broadway and Beyond”, featuring musical selections from many current, previous, and even future Broadway productions.

The show opened with a selection of songs from Beauty and the Beast — appropriate since that show was Disney’s first foray onto the Broadway stage.   We first heard “Be Our Guest”, done by all five performers, then “Beauty and the Best” by Heidi and “If I Can’t Love Her” by Alton.

After this opening, Thomas Schumacher, President and Producer at Disney Theatrical Productions, came out to make introductory remarks.    He shared that there are currently 17 productions playing around the world under the Disney Theatrical Productions banner.   He introduced the 5-piece orchestra (can you be an orchestra with only 5 pieces?  I think yes if one of them is a violin) and the performers.    All of the performers remained onstage throughout the show — so whoever wasn’t currently performing was a back-up singer, or, frequently, just an enthusiastic spectator.    Clearly they all enjoyed each other’s performances and it was always fun to watch everyone, not just whoever was currently in the spotlight.

The performers were:

  • Heidi Blickenstaff.   Played Ursula in The Little Mermaid
  • Ashley Brown.  Originated the role of Mary Poppins in the stage version, previously played Belle in Beauty and the Beast.   Non-Disney roles include Laurey in Oklahoma and Maria in The Sound of Music.
  • Merle Dandridge.   Played Kala in Tarzan and Aida in Aida.   Also in Broadway productions of Rent, Spamalot, and Jesus Christ Superstar
  • Josh Strickland.   Originated the role of Tarzan.
  • Alton Fitzgerald White.   Mufasa in The Lion King.   Also in Broadway productions of The Color Purple, Ragtime, The Who’s Tommy, and Miss Saigon.

Photography wasn’t allowed during tonight’s performance, and words just can’t do it justice … so I’ll have to settle for providing the set list.   It was truly a fantastic evening.

And we had a few special guests in the audience — Alan Menken and Richard Sherman, both of whom will be performing tomorrow night, and between them responsible for well over half of the music we heard tonight.

The second featured musical was The Lion King.   We were treated to “Hakuna Mutata” (Alton and Josh), “Shadowland” (Merle), and “They Live in You” (Alton).    (By the way, if your only exposure to these stories is from the movies, many song titles will be unfamiliar as in the process of taking these stories to Broadway, the book and score are both expanded — usually with the original composer providing additional songs.

Next was a song from the German production Der Glockner Von Notre Dame.   This production will probably be reworked into an English-language version at some point, and the song performed by Josh, “Made of Stone”, was in English suggesting this may already be underway.

Next up were a few songs from Aida.  “Easy as Life” was performed by the original Aida, Merle, then Josh did a fun and funny interpretation of a spoiled, fashion-obsession princess in “My Strongest Suit”.

Tarzan was well represented with the original Tarzan (Josh) and Kala (Merle).   The two of them sang a duet of “You’ll be in my Heart”, and then Josh performed “For the First Time” with Ashley (performing Jane).

Another musical where we had an original lead was Mary Poppins.   Ashley first performed “Practically Perfect in Every Way”, one of the songs added for the stage.   Then Alton and Ashley gave us “Jolly Holiday” and “Chim Chim Cheree”.   Then, perhaps the most moving moment of the evening, Ashley gave a goosebump-inducing version of “Feed the Birds”.    This received an enthusiastic standing ovation from the crowd and reportedly brought Richard Sherman to tears; it was Walt’s favorite song and after tonight I suspect it will be a favorite of quite a few more attendees.

Things then got more upbeat with selections from The Little Mermaid.   The entire ensemble performed “She’s in Love”.   Then Heidi gave a subtle, nuanced interpretation (not!) of “Poor, Unfortunate Souls”, and Ashley concluded the segment with “Part of Your World’.

From here we continued to Newsies.   “Carrying the Banner” was performed by the quintet, then Ashley sang “Watch What Happens” and was followed by Josh and “Santa Fe”.

We then got to hear a couple of selection from the rarely-performed King David.   Heidi gave us “Never Again”, Alton was joined by the others in “The Long Long Day’.

To wrap up the evening, we got to hear a new song from an under-development Aladdin musical.   Alton (as the Genie) and Josh (as Aladdin) performed the buddy song “Somebody’s Got Your Back”, supported by the other performers.

It was a very entertaining evening; D23 has really been on a roll with the evening performances since the Destination: D Animation event, and I hope they continue to provide these wonderful nightcaps at future events.

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D23 Expo: Sorcerer Swag

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Mike

Today we checked in for our “Sorcerer Day” at the D23 Expo and picked up our “swag bag”, the goodies provided by various divisions of the Disney company for the Sorcerer attendees.     I know this was one of the things I was very curious about coming in, and I imagine others may also be wondering what the contents were going to be in this year’s bag.

First of all, the bag itself is very interesting.   During the Expo (and I’m sure for some time leading up to it), the lamp posts all around the Disneyland Resort are decorated with banners promoting the Expo, as seen in this photo:

Banners outside the convention center

Banners outside the convention center

The banner design changes every year, so once this year’s expo is done, the banners are not usable.   So the Sorcerer bags from this year were made from the recycled banners from 2011 — a very clever idea, making each bag unique and collectible.   Here are the bags we got, but each one is different.

Bags made from recycled D23 Expo 2011 Banners

Bags made from recycled D23 Expo 2011 Banners

Now, as to what was in the bag … quite a bit of stuff!    Let’s just get to the pictures.

A lithograph of artwork used in promoting the 2013 Expo

A lithograph of artwork used in promoting the 2013 Expo

A pin .. the Halloween party flyer was apparently just used as something to stick the pin to. Two of the possible designs shown.

A pin .. the Halloween party flyer was apparently just used as something to stick the pin to. Two of the possible designs shown.

Keychains with different Vinylmation designs; two of the possibilities are shown.

Keychains with different Vinylmation designs; two of the possibilities are shown.

Spa goodies (body scrub and lotion)

Spa goodies (body scrub and lotion)

Another vinylmation, available in several colors -- we both got gold.

Another vinylmation, available in several colors — we both got gold.

Another pin, this one quite large and features D23 Expo promotional art again

Another pin, this one quite large and features D23 Expo promotional art again

The Disney Legends book

The Disney Legends book

A hardbound book of the program guide for the Disney Legends induction (to be held Saturday)

A hardbound book of the program guide for the Disney Legends induction (to be held Saturday)

A journal -- embossed D23 design on cover is hard to make out in this photo. I'll be taking notes in this all weekend.

A journal — embossed D23 design on cover is hard to make out in this photo. I’ll be taking notes in this all weekend.

A collectible figurine; we both got Scuttle so I'm not sure if everyone got the same or if there were other possibilities here.

A collectible figurine; we both got Scuttle so I’m not sure if everyone got the same or if there were other possibilities here.

A set of Disney Collector Cards. Not sure if these are unique to the Expo or are copies of already released cards.

A set of Disney Collector Cards. Not sure if these are unique to the Expo or are copies of already released cards.

A $15 gift card for the Disney Music store

A $15 gift card for the Disney Music store

Very nice - a decanter and tumbler with the Disney Legends logo etched on the decanter.

Very nice – a decanter and tumbler with the Disney Legends logo etched on the decanter.

A personalized Sorcerer Guest name bade.

A personalized Sorcerer Guest name badge.

So, that’s how our day started.     Then most of the rest of the day’s activities were about providing us with a way to add to the haul … a preview opportunity in the Dream Store, a chance to shop at the pop-up Disney Store, and a chance to preview and bid on items in the Silent Auction.   I picked up a few additional items … I think the folks at the UPS store are going to get to know me very well before this trip ends.

Oh, and a few other items I didn’t get pictures of — a coupon for a massage at the Sorcerer Lounge.  I think that may be very welcome after hauling bags all of the place for several days.   And a couple of coupons for Mickey’s of Glendale, the Imagineering store .. one for a Sorcerer member exclusive pin, and the other 40% off on any item.   If they have the same jackets on sale that were available in 2011 I know what I’ll be using my 40% on.

Much more Expo news to come … it was a long day (and not a sedentary one, either, FitBit shows 24060 steps taken today).    Tomorrow the Expo proper kicks off with the Animation presentation in the morning; I’ll be cracking open that new D23 journal (as no cameras or recording devices of any type are permitted in the arena for this presentation).

Keep checking back … I’m not sure when I’ll transcribe and post notes made over the weekend so new posts can pop up any time.

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D23 Expo Preview: Panels and Performances

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Mike

Really tough choices in picking what to see and do at the D23 Expo.

To some degree, I’m being guided this year by what things blew me away in 2011.   So the Legends ceremony in 2011 was incredible, and as a result I’m planning to do Legends this year even though it’s got some tough competition in the timeslot.

This might change between now and show time, but as it stands now here are the things I plan to attend.

Saturday:

  • Art and Imagination:  A preview of upcoming Disney and Pixar animated features.
  • Undiscovered Disneyland:  stories, film, and photos from the construction and early years in the park.
  • Marty Sklar:  Dream It, Do It.    Walt’s right-hand man for theme parks, one of several presentations Marty will be involved in this week
  • The Art and Artistry of Aulani – Disney Vacation Club’s Hawaiian resort
  • Broadway and Beyond – live performances from cast members of Disney’s various Broadway productions

Saturday

  • Let the Adventures Begin:  A preview of upcoming Disney, Marvel, and LucasFilm live action features.
  • Once Upon a Time panel – a look at the ABC TV series
  • Disney Legends Ceremony – inducting this year’s newly named Legends
  • Crash Course in the Force:  Star Wars 101.   Curious to see if we’ll learn anything new about the upcoming features.
  • Richard Sherman and Alan Menken in concert — the Disney Songbook.

Sunday

  • Working With Walt — an incredible panel of Disney Legends featuring Marty Sklar, X Atencio, Alice Davis, and Bob Gurr
  • To Infinity and Beyond:  Disney Interactive.   Need to finally figure out what this Disney Infinity thing really is.
  • Leading a Legacy –  Disney Imagineering panel
  • Leave ’em Laughing – Disney Imagineering panel

I’m happy with those choices — but so many great-sounding presentations didn’t make it onto my final list, including

  • Behind the Scenes of Mary Poppins, with Dave Smith
  • Mayhem, Mischief, and Monkeys – the Mystic Manor attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland
  • Inside the Ice — a look at the upcoming Frozen animated feature
  • Voices of the Parks — the voices you hear throughout Disney theme parks share stories
  • The Art of the Good Dinosaur – a look at the upcoming Pixar feature
  • The DNA of Innovation – another Disney Imagineering presentation
  • Women of Pixar – the write-up on this doesn’t list the panelists, so not sure if they are primarily animators, executives, or a mix.
  • Craft of Creativity – another Disney Imagineering presentation

I hope to hear from others who are attending these sessions so I can get a recap of what I missed.

Panels and presentations are only a portion of what goes on at the Expo — there are also meet-and-greets, lots of shopping opportunities, artists, podcasters, and of course just meeting and hanging out with fellow fans.    More on all those things as the Expo gets underway, starting with the Sorcerer Preview day on Thursday August 8th.

See ya real soon!

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D23 Expo Preview: Sorcerer Activities

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Mike

The D23 Expo runs from Friday August 9th through Sunday August 11th, but for the guests that signed up for the Sorcerer package, the activities begin on Thursday August 8th.

D23 has now announced the activities for Sorcerer Guests during the 4-day Expo event.   Here’s a look at the Sorcerer activities (look for an upcoming post on the main Expo schedule activities I’m planning to attend).

Thursday gives us a chance to shop at some of the Expo stores before the show officially opens.  Since some of the merchandise is in limited quantities and will sell out, this is a real advantage for collectors of some of the scarcer items.   Since I think my souvenir shopping is going to be mostly of the T-Shirt variety, I may not be taking maximum advantage of this.   (Then again, once I get there and see the merchandise I may find myself unable to resist).

Shopping opportunities:

  • D23 Expo Dream Store (10 am to 6:30 pm)
  • Dream Store Silent Auction Preview (10 am to 6:30 pm)
  • Disney Store (2pm to 5:30 pm)

Other Thursday activities:

  • Access to exclusive Sorcerer Lounge (9 am to 6 pm)
  • Exclusive Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives Tours (10 am to 6:00 pm)
  • Private Show Floor Tours (10 am to 6:30 pm)
  • Dessert Reception and Fireworks viewing (8:45 pm to 10 pm)

During the main expo days, there are also a few Sorcerer events

  • Access to exclusive Sorcerer Lounge each day during Expo hours
  • Exclusive Walt Disney Imagineering reception, Friday 5pm – 6pm
  • Farewell reception, Sunday 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

The special Sorcerer exclusives are a nice bonus, but the real benefit to the Sorcerer package is reserved seating for any of the panels and presentations … I’ve been making the tough schedule choices over the past couple of days and will share the choices I’ve made for my Expo experience in my next post.

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Expo Anticipation

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Mike

This year I’ll be attending my second D23 Expo … for the first expo in 2009, there wasn’t a whole lot of information released ahead of time, and I decided to take a pass.    When I saw updates from the Expo as it was happening, I realized I’d made a bad call … there was some amazing stuff going on, and I was missing out!

So for the 2011 Expo I was there for all 3 days.  I absolutely loved what I saw — but what I saw was only a small fraction of what I wanted to see.    Unlike most of the other D23 events, where a ticket guarantees you a seat at every presentation, an Expo ticket only grants you the right to stand in line to get into the presentations.   Many of the most popular presentations filled up well ahead of their starting time, so anyone showing up a few minutes before a presentation was not going to find a seat.    So, if you wanted to see a 2 pm presentation, you pretty much had to forgo any presentations at 1 pm and start lining up between noon and 1 pm for the 2 o’clock.   For the main arena presentations, typically held first thing in the morning, lining up outside the convention center 2 hours ahead of doors opening was pretty much the minimum … for a while on Saturday we actually believed we were going to be the very last people admitted to the Studios presentation (they cut off the line behind us, but later let through about 100 more people).

So, this year I wanted to maximize my chances to see as much as I could … which means Sorcerer.   A very limited number of Sorcerer tickets are sold, and each ticket guarantees a seat at any presentation (it appears we will be asked to register for the presentations we plan to attend just before the expo, so that they’ll have an exact count of how many seats to set aside in each presentation).     It’s a pricey indulgence, but for a once-every-two-years event, with a lot of content that will never be repeated anywhere at any price, I thought it would be worth it.   I hope they prove me right.

So I’m watching the schedule as it fills in on the web site (D23 doesn’t announce everything at once, but trickles out the content in the weeks leading up to the Expo).    Already I see some tough choices … Friday morning at 10 am is the Animation presentation, with John Lassiter, covering all the upcoming Disney and Pixar animated features.    I have to be there for that … but that means I’ll miss Dave Smith (Disney Archivist Emeritus) discussing the making of Mary Poppins, and the Imagineers discussing the Mystic Manor attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland.     If only I had a few clones to send to those other presentations!

Things got a little more real this week when the Expo credentials arrived … it’s very exciting to have my tickets in hand, but seriously … couldn’t they have run this through a spell checker and found the correct spelling of Sorcerer?

IMG_3614

I think the things I’m looking forward to most at this point are the evening concerts .. Friday night we get “Broadway and Beyond”, featuring current and previous cast members of Disney Theatrical Group’s Broadway productions.    Then on Saturday, Alan Menken and Richard Sherman take the stage together for the first time … I saw Menken perform at the Destination D: 75 Years of Disney Feature Animation event and it was a highlight.    I’m sure this will be an equally memorable evening.

If you’re at the Expo this year, look for me and say hi … and comment below with what you’re most looking forward to at this year’s Expo.

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The D23 Expo apps for iPhone and Android are available for download today from the respective app stores.

Check the schedule and presenters, adding interesting presentations to your calendar.  Check out the vendors in the Collector’s Forum and other shopping opportunities (Dream Store, Mickey’s of Glendale, and more).   Maps of the facilities, FAQ, trivia, even a scavenger hunt.

iPhone:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/d23-expo/id658929476?mt=8

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.disney.d23_goo

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Mike | Leave a comment

I love it when a plan comes together

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Mike

Sometimes the stars align just so, and something magical happens.    This may just be one of those times in my life.

Almost a year ago, tickets went on sale for the 2013 D23 Expo.   Since I’m planning on writing a lot more about the Expo over the next 3 weeks, I won’t go into anything about it here, other than to say buying the tickets put a stake in the ground as far as my schedule … I knew exactly where I was going to be on August 9-11 of 2013.

I bought those Expo tickets while I was training for my first ever runDisney race, and my first run over 5K – the Tower of Terror 10 miler, in late September of 2012.   That race led me to try another — the WDW Half Marathon in January 2013 — and that in turn led me to sign up for back-to-back races over the upcoming Labor Day weekend — the inaugural Disneyland 10K on August 31st, followed by the Disneyland Half Marathon on September 1st.   (The two races together comprise the Dumbo Double Dare challenge, and doing the Disneyland Half during the same calendar year as the WDW Half earns me the Coast-to-Coast Challenge medal, so I’ll be sporting some serious bling come Labor Day.    I hope I can stand up!

That’s another topic for future posts, but once again, I’ve got a firm schedule commitment, again in Anaheim, this time for Labor Day weekend.

Now, at the same time I’m making all these plans for Anaheim, I’m also thinking about a cross-country move — to get closer to family and friends, primarily.   It’s an idea I’ve been kicking around for several years, but with real estate in the tank recently it wasn’t feasible to sell my house for enough to make it worthwhile.    But recent recoveries in the market changed the equation … I talked to my Realtor and we decided to give it a shot.   The house went on the market, and 8 days later it was under contract.    The market was stronger than I realized.

I followed this up with a trip to Atlanta, I called it a house hunting trip but honestly I would have been satisfied just to eliminate a few areas from consideration and narrow the focus somewhat.   Finding neighborhoods, and not necessarily “the” house, was my goal.    But again, things went better than expected, and by the end of last week I was under contract on a house there.

Now is when the timing falls into place beautifully.   I need to be out of my house here in early August, but the house I just purchased is under construction and will not be ready until mid-September.     So I’m homeless for most of the month of August.     But, I do have a few prior commitments in Anaheim … so you can probably see where this is going.

Early in August, the movers will come in, pack up my house, and roll away.    I’ll board a flight for Anaheim and enjoy the D23 Expo.   And then …. I’ll stay.    My job affords me the luxury of working from anywhere I can get an internet connection, so it’s not (exactly) an extended vacation.    I’m hoping to find a nice coffee shop or similar location to use as my office for nearly four weeks, while every evening is a chance to enjoy the Disneyland Resort at a leisurely pace I’ve never experienced.   I’ll need to keep up my training … a lap around the resort perimeter is just about the length of my daily runs, anyway, so that shouldn’t present much of a problem.   After the Dumbo Double Dare on Labor Day weekend, I’ll fly to Atlanta, where I’ll stay with family for the last couple of weeks before moving in to my new home.

I’m really looking forward to living — however briefly — in Anaheim.    The Expo should be amazing, I’m hoping just to finish the races upright, and the time in between should be a great chance to get to know every little nook and cranny of the Disneyland resort.

So, Disneyland friends — any suggestions?    Where’s a great place to set up with a laptop and get work done while still being part of the magic?   What are the places to see and things to do when you’ve got more than just a couple of days to run through the parks?    Anything else you’d recommend for a short-term Anaheim area resident to make sure not to miss?

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