Cherry Danish and a large quad shot latte in hand, and I’m in business. I head off the few 100 feet to the hotel convention center rooms to grab a spot in line. Anyone who is familiar with the Disney Parks knows about the queue – that’s the line, with the serpentine stanchions and chains, at the beginning of most rides. The larger D23 events are no different. In the main seating queue there were at least tape outlines of the queue on the floor, for the Diamond members, only the sign was present to indicate where the line started, and about a dozen other people. Half an hour earlier and I might have been 5th or 6th in line, but I’ll explain more in a minute why it doesn’t make a lot of difference. As I’m standing in line, I strike up a conversation with an attractive redhead names Regina, a very sweet young woman from New Jersey… and yes, my wife knows! :P As Regina and I talk, another Disney friend of my rolls up in a wheelchair, with an interesting story as to why she is in the chair. I met Diana at the Museum for the first time, and we’ve seen each other at several other Museum and D23 events. As we are talking she begins to introduce me to Regina, as they had ridden to the resort on the bus. I think Diana may somehow be connected to everyone. J About this time my friend Heather from the Museum shows up with her friend, she’d messaged me on Facebook, to save her a place in line. Heather and I have a little competition going on to see who can be first in line for Museum events, and I think to this point she still has the edge on me in wins. Okay, back to my line explanation. Unless you can manage to be first in line at any of these events, no matter where you might start out in the line, you going to find yourself further back. Spot saving is the normal, I was even saving a couple of spots, so even though I started out about 12th, by the time they opened the doors we were probably about 30 spots back. But, since we had reserved seating up front, I was too worried about where we were in line. Just before the doors opened, Diana left us to head up front. They were letting in, or in Disney parlance, loading wheelchairs and ECVs first. Regardless of our place in line Heather, being short and stealthy, managed to get us four seats, at this point Regina had be adopted into our group, in the second row center aisle. Only drawback, poor Heather got stuck behind a rather large person in an ECV and couldn’t see anything. I offered to change places with her, but she ask a D23 person who told her to just move her seat out into the aisle a little. All was good.
After a
Welcome from D23’s leader, Steven Clark, a little dance by some D23 fans and
volunteers, and a welcome message from John Lassiter, himself… just a bit of a
disappointment as the crowd was hoping for a live appearance, and treated to
one on video, the first program of the day – WALT AND THE FIRST GOLDEN AGE OF
DISNEY ANIMATION. Current Walt Disney
Archives Director, Becky Cline, hosted Disney Legend, and famed animation
layout artist - Burny Mattinson, film producer – Joe Hale, and documentary
director – Ted Thomas. Ted is also the
son of one of Walt’s “Nine Old Men” Frank Thomas. The first golden age of Disney animation
started, here’s a surprise, 75 years ago with Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs. The studio’s land and many of
the building today, are a direct result of the amazing success of Snow White. We all know that Walt was told that no
audience would sit through a ninety minute cartoon. Thankfully, like so many of his other
endeavors, Walt chose to ignore his critics, and the movie went on to earn
almost 8 million dollars in its first theatrical run, and has earned a $185
million domestically since. Over the
hour we heard wonderful and funny stories about working with Walt’s “Nine Old
Men.” For those who don’t know, Walt’s “Nine
Old Men” were a group of his original animators. They were Les Clark, Marc Davis, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Eric Larson, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang “Woolie”
Reitherman, Frank
Thomas, and Ollie
Johnson. From Snow White on, these
are the men that helped to bring Walt’s storytelling visions to the screen, and
who he looked to, to mentor his next generation of artists, animators, and
story men.
For our
next session – ROY E. DISNEY AND THE SECOND GOLDEN AGE OF DISNEY ANIMATION – Noted
Disney Historian, Tim O’Day hosted a panel composed of Roy E’s son and former
Imagineer Roy Patrick Disney Producer, Don Hahn, writers, directors, and
producers John Musker and Ron Clements, and Disney creative director Dave
Bossert. Anyone, who’s read the earliest
entries of my blog, knows that it was really Roy E. Disney who initially
inspired this blog. During the tumultuous
history of Disney in the 80s, animation at the Studio came close to being
lost. After a management change in 1984,
Roy volunteered to take on leadership of the animation group at Disney rather
than seeing it closed down. Had that
happened, there are, as of this coming November, 26 animated features which
Disney would not have brought to us, most notably among them, The Little
Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. As part of this little celebration for Roy’s
bringing of the second golden age to Disney’s animation group, Roy Pat was
presented with a Mouscar, a posthumous award for his father’s many
contributions to the company. You can
expect to hear more about Roy E. and the 80s and 90s as I return to my history
pieces in the future. But, suffice to
say, Roy E. Disney is a great figure in Disney History.
In the
first afternoon session we got a look INSIDE WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS
TODAY, where Disney Animator Darrin Butters gave us a look at some coming
attractions. Any of you who attended the
D23 Expo last summer knows about Wreck-It Ralph, coming to a theater near you
in November, the story of a video game bad guy, exploring his softer side. We were treated to a couple of first looks at
this movie, and I must say I am looking forward to it. We were also treated to most initial
development of a new Disney Animated Feature coming to the screen in 2013. Frozen, a story based on Hans Christian
Andersen’s tale of The
Snow Queen. First looks are good,
and I think the anticipation will built.
Also shown were a couple of new shorts.
First, Tangled Ever After, and cute little short based on… you guessed
it… Tangled, and the marriage of Rapunzel and Flynn… err… Eugene. Next, Paperman and this was the first public
showing of this new short. If I heard
correctly this new short will play with Wreck-It Ralph when it premiers in
November. I don’t think you’ll be
disappointed. Next up, was THE GREATEST
DISNEY ANIMATION YOU NEVER SAW, hosted by Don Hahn and Dave Bossert. For the next hour or so, we were shown
various animated clips and commercials for the Disney video vault. They were cute and enjoyable but nothing I
would think is that spectacular. Finally
for the last session before the dinner break – ANIMATING THE DISNEY PARKS, with
Becky Cline and Tim O’Day hosting famed Imagineer and SVP of Creative
Development, Tony Baxter; Imagineering
VP of Creative Development, Tom Morris; and former Imagineer and noted designer
Eddie Sotto. Simply put, I don’t think
many people know or appreciate how Walt Disney influenced Imagineers like Herb
Ryman, John Hench, Claude Coats, or Marc Davis, who went on to influence
Imagineers like Tony, Tom, or Eddie, who have gone on to influence current and
future Imagineers. Or, just what disciplines
the term imagineer encompasses; artist, engineer, architect, designer, builder,
and on and on, I’m sure I’ve missed many, sorry. Walt never really wanted the guests to see
the backstage, as he felt it would spoil the illusion. To this fan and guest, it only serves to
enhance the experience knowing the efforts and talents that go into creating
the magic.
On to the evening dinner break, but, before that… Those of us with the Diamond level ticket got
a special
meet and greet session. I bolded and
italicized special because it really wasn’t that special. Not that I don’t appreciate hanging out with
Disney luminaries, but the only people in the room that I hadn’t met before were
Dave Bossert, and Bill Rogers – the Voice
of Disneyland – which was cool! Yup, all
those special announcements you hear in the park, that’s Bill. He was at Destination D making all the
announcements for the event too. And,
like most all Disney people, he’s a really nice guy. But, Don Hahn, Steven Clark, and Dave Smith,
I’ve met before at other events. One
plus, I was able to get my copy of Dave’s new book – Disney Trivia from the
Vault – signed… Thanks Dave!
After dinner, it time for big event of the evening. For anyone who was at the last D23 Expo, you’ll remember probably the hardest event to get into. As soon as the audience for the preceding session entered the room, the queue began to fill for the next, which was not schedule to happen until about 8:00 PM, it was now about 3:00 PM. Before the hour was out, the queue was at capacity of the room. Dick Van Dyke and The Vantastix. Well, we had them there at Destination D to perform for us, and no 5 hours standing in a line to get in. So at 8:00 PM we enjoyed a barbershop medley of music from Dick Van Dyke, Mike Mendyke, Bryan Chadima, and Eric Bradley, and being in the front row… well actually second row, right behind Marge Champion and David Frankham… made the event that much more special. At 86, I don’t think Dick has missed a step, and even if he has, the guys he’s singing with are so good they cover it and no one really notices. As fun as the day was, this was one of the best hours of the day.
After dinner, it time for big event of the evening. For anyone who was at the last D23 Expo, you’ll remember probably the hardest event to get into. As soon as the audience for the preceding session entered the room, the queue began to fill for the next, which was not schedule to happen until about 8:00 PM, it was now about 3:00 PM. Before the hour was out, the queue was at capacity of the room. Dick Van Dyke and The Vantastix. Well, we had them there at Destination D to perform for us, and no 5 hours standing in a line to get in. So at 8:00 PM we enjoyed a barbershop medley of music from Dick Van Dyke, Mike Mendyke, Bryan Chadima, and Eric Bradley, and being in the front row… well actually second row, right behind Marge Champion and David Frankham… made the event that much more special. At 86, I don’t think Dick has missed a step, and even if he has, the guys he’s singing with are so good they cover it and no one really notices. As fun as the day was, this was one of the best hours of the day.
The final event of the day
was the screening of WALT & EL GRUPO – THE DIRECTORS CUT, with a prologue
by director Ted Thomas (you might remember him from earlier – Frank Thomas’
son) and producer Kuniko Okubo. Even
though I have seen this documentary at the Museum, and have the DVD in my
collection, I stay with a new friend who hadn’t seen it yet. Beside, the director’s cut has an additional
20 minutes in it, and I want to see if I could identify them… I couldn’t.
By now, it’s 11:30 PM and I
tired, so it’s off to bed, to get a good night’s sleep to prepared for another
busy day tomorrow.
Next, Destination D – Day 2.
Your comments or questions
are always welcome. If you have a
correction or something you think I should look at in my research, please feel
free to contact me at mr.grumpyguy@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment