Trip Report Disneyland and D23 Expo 2017 Completed

ajrwdwgirl · Aug 26, 2017

MinnieM123 said:
This is great!! There's so much I'd like to comment on with your recent photos and commentary, but it would take me all day! Suffice to say, I am really enjoying this TR!! More, please!!!

Just a quick comment --

I am so JEALOUS that you two caught the Animation Academy class!!! I have MISSED that so much from WDW--a BIG mistake for them to remove it. BIG mistake. I thought you and Brad did an excellent job drawing Minne--you know I'm partial to Minnie!

Thanks Minnie! We really like doing the animation Academy, although we never did it at WDW. There never seemed time for it there but now that it is done we wish it was still there.

riverside said:
I love the Cars Land photos. I stayed in the Cars section at AOA once & was really impressed with it but this area looks totally amazing!!

Carsland at DCA is really cool. It seems cliche, but it really does feel like you stepped into the movie there.

Figgy1 · Aug 26, 2017

MinnieM123 said:
This is priceless!!

If I ever get out there SM would be at the top of my list.

Songbird76 · Aug 26, 2017

ajrwdwgirl said:
Friday July 14: Day of the D23 Expo

This was our first D23 Expo so before going a read a ton of stuff online about other's experiences and what to do and bring. We made a decision before we left that we were not going to do any of the overnight lines and we were not going to attempt to do any of the big hall panels. So no Legends, Live Action, Animation, or Park and Resorts. Of the big panels we were the most interested in Parks and Resorts and we almost tried to get into that on Saturday. But anyway, we decided not to do those because....1. we did not want to overnight 2. we didn't want to wait once we got there in the morning and maybe still not get into the hall and 3. basically all that information would be available online seconds after the panels would be done (and it was Parks and Resorts even did a live stream of it).

Anyway we woke up around 4am and got ready to go. We had packed our back packs the night before with snacks, a floor pad, and other things we thought would be essential. We did not want to overpack because we did have to carry the backpack for the day. It doesn't take us long to get ready and soon we were on our way. It took us a little over 15 minutes to get to the Convention Center. It was a pleasant walk and as we got closer there were other people clearly heading to the convention center. Everything I had read online and on the official D23 material said that if we arrived at the Convention Center before 6 am we would be allowed into the waiting area inside.

Well we got to the convention center and went through the security area set up outside and saw there was a large crowd outside. Well, that was our line to get into and we soon found out that we were not going to be going inside the convention center because the media set up was going to start their live feeds and wanted a crowd behind them! What!?!?! That was not the deal! We were told that we would be the first group of people outside to enter the center once the convention opened, although originally we had been told that when the media took a break we would be let inside. I did not want to sit outside. I did not want to sit in the sun when it finally came up. I did not want to be far away from a bathroom! The Hilton was next door and people did go over there to use facilities but it seemed like a hassle to get out of line and go through security and walk past everyone. So we didn't go over there, luckily neither one of us ended up really having to go. It was very irritating since we were there well before 6am, but there was little we could do so we just ended up sitting down and waiting. This was not the best start.

This is the picture I took once we joined the group after going through security. The time on it was 5:16 am.
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The people around us talked a little but mostly people just slept, talked amongst themselves, or played on their phones. I had gotten a couple 25 cent books from our local library for the purpose of reading them in line. Once the sun rose enough to read I ended reading a whole book. We could see a little of the media stuff going on. Some people were walking up to get better views but we just stayed in our spot.
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John Lasseter giving interviews.
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The crowd behind us. It was fun to see people in their costumes and Disneybounding gear. Some people were very creative.
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Waiting, really not very patiently.
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There were some Disney vehicles set up outside. The girl in the Belle dress was actually part of a group that we followed to the convention center once we hit Katella Avenue. If we hadn't followed them we would have ended up going to the wrong side of the center. But I thought they looked like they knew where they were going, and they did so I was glad we followed them.
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Okay....It's finally our turn to be let in! Let the nerdiness begin!!!
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Ok I know I'm a huge nerd, but what book did you read in line?

Tuvalu · Aug 26, 2017

Your report is making me miss California Adventure real bad! (Oh, Disneyland too....but mostly CA.)
And it confirms I never want to attend a D23 convention. Nope. Not ever.

blreinsel · Aug 26, 2017

Finally all caught up! Thanks for the tag. :joyfull:

You always make the California parks look like so much fun... someday I'll experience them for myself! Can't wait to hear all about your days at D23!

ajrwdwgirl · Aug 27, 2017

blgauger said:
Finally all caught up! Thanks for the tag. You always make the California parks look like so much fun... someday I'll experience them for myself! Can't wait to hear all about your days at D23!

Now that you are a WDW local Disneyland can be your vacation spot!

Thanks for following!

blreinsel · Aug 27, 2017

ajrwdwgirl said:
Now that you are a WDW local Disneyland can be your vacation spot! Thanks for following!

My thoughts exactly!

ajrwdwgirl · Aug 27, 2017

Once we got into the Convention Center our first destination was the Store Pass line. At the Expo there are three main stores, the Disney Store (this has a lot of the limited edition merchandise & dolls), the Dream Store (a lot of stuff that may or may not make it to the parks), and Mickey's of Glendale (the Imagineering store). MOG was the main place we wanted to shop, mostly so when we work Imagineering shirts we could pretend we are Imagineers. We found out later that the Imagineering Pin Store was separate this year and that little store only allowed 7 people in at a time so that line was always long. The Store Pass is a fast pass for the Store and only so many were out per day and only one per person per day. We ended up being like the 20th people in line for Store Pass and we got pass for Mickey's of Glendale at 11:30am. Perfect!

Then we headed over to the Disney Archive's Pirates Exhibit. This was something we both really wanted to see. It turned out to be the best time to see it because there was no line, soon after a line quickly built up. So we walked right in. The exhibit was really cool. Both of us wanted to go back again but the line was really long the rest of the Expo. I liked that the exhibit wasn't focused on just the Pirates attraction and movies, there was stuff from early Disney shorts, Muppet Treasure Island, and even the new Descendents movie.

This was a model (Black Pearl I believe) used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

An original pirate ship from Peter Pan in Disneyland.

Old Pirates animatronics.

ajrwdwgirl · Aug 27, 2017

Our next stop was the Star Wars model & exhibit. Brad is a major Star Wars fan so he was super eager to see the model of Star Wars land. The line wasn't too bad we ended up waiting about 15 minutes. And Brad was just like a little boy of Christmas. He told me to take lots of pictures, so I did. Here is a sampling of some of them.

dizfan917 · Aug 28, 2017

Tuvalu said:
Business with Northwestern Mutual. He flies out tomorrow afternoon.

I didn't run into him.

That would have been HILARIOUS! I hope he had a nice visit to the land of beer and cheese.

dizfan917 · Aug 28, 2017

No bf sightings at D23 yet. He also was disappointed about all the lines and the limited availability of things like being able to get into a shop to buy stuff... Hmmmmm. Did you run into Spider Man in a Donald Duck t-shirt or a gender bent Megora from HERCULES? He loves his costumes! :geek:

fractal · Aug 28, 2017

ajrwdwgirl said:
Once we got into the Convention Center our first destination was the Store Pass line. At the Expo there are three main stores, the Disney Store (this has a lot of the limited edition merchandise & dolls), the Dream Store (a lot of stuff that may or may not make it to the parks), and Mickey's of Glendale (the Imagineering store). MOG was the main place we wanted to shop, mostly so when we work Imagineering shirts we could pretend we are Imagineers. We found out later that the Imagineering Pin Store was separate this year and that little store only allowed 7 people in at a time so that line was always long. The Store Pass is a fast pass for the Store and only so many were out per day and only one per person per day. We ended up being like the 20th people in line for Store Pass and we got pass for Mickey's of Glendale at 11:30am. Perfect!

Then we headed over to the Disney Archive's Pirates Exhibit. This was something we both really wanted to see. It turned out to be the best time to see it because there was no line, soon after a line quickly built up. So we walked right in. The exhibit was really cool. Both of us wanted to go back again but the line was really long the rest of the Expo. I liked that the exhibit wasn't focused on just the Pirates attraction and movies, there was stuff from early Disney shorts, Muppet Treasure Island, and even the new Descendents movie.

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This was a model (Black Pearl I believe) used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
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An original pirate ship from Peter Pan in Disneyland.
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Old Pirates animatronics.
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Very cool!

ajrwdwgirl · Aug 28, 2017

dizfan917 said:
No bf sightings at D23 yet. He also was disappointed about all the lines and the limited availability of things like being able to get into a shop to buy stuff... Hmmmmm. Did you run into Spider Man in a Donald Duck t-shirt or a gender bent Megora from HERCULES? He loves his costumes!

I don't remember seeing anyone dressed in those costumes. Those sound like interesting ones and something I would remember though.

MinnieM123 · Aug 29, 2017

ajrwdwgirl said:
Then we headed over to the Disney Archive's Pirates Exhibit. This was something we both really wanted to see. It turned out to be the best time to see it because there was no line, soon after a line quickly built up. So we walked right in. The exhibit was really cool. Both of us wanted to go back again but the line was really long the rest of the Expo. I liked that the exhibit wasn't focused on just the Pirates attraction and movies, there was stuff from early Disney shorts, Muppet Treasure Island, and even the new Descendents movie.

The Pirates exhibit looked really interesting from your photos. Of course, my favorite was the dog!

Kidding aside, I love original items--the older animatronic figures, etc. So happy you two could take your time in there and enjoy everything, before the lines of people came along.

Figgy1 · Aug 29, 2017

MinnieM123 said:
The Pirates exhibit looked really interesting from your photos. Of course, my favorite was the dog! Kidding aside, I love original items--the older animatronic figures, etc. So happy you two could take your time in there and enjoy everything, before the lines of people came along.

^^^This maybe it's a good thing I didn't go. The dog would look fabulous in my living room

ajrwdwgirl · Aug 29, 2017

MinnieM123 said:
The Pirates exhibit looked really interesting from your photos. Of course, my favorite was the dog! Kidding aside, I love original items--the older animatronic figures, etc. So happy you two could take your time in there and enjoy everything, before the lines of people came along.

figmentfan423 said:
^^^This maybe it's a good thing I didn't go. The dog would look fabulous in my living room

I wanted to take the dog home as well.

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 2, 2017

Sorry for the delay in my report, this teacher had to go back to work this week.

Here are some more looks at the Star Wars model and exhibit.

There were cutouts in the model that were the entrances, I thought that gave nice view point into the land.

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 2, 2017

After the Star Wars exhibit we wandered around the show floor and looked at some of the displays and did some photo ops. The show floor wasn't very crowded yet so we had minimal wait times so that was very nice.

Then it was time to use our store pass for Mickey's of Glendale. The line we were told was 2 hours at the time of our store pass so we were very happy to walk right in.

Some of the cool Imagineering merch. I had a good time shopping, I bought a lot of stuff and had a huge bag. But because I had saved my Disney Visa reward dollars and gift cards I had gotten as gifts I ended up paying $0.99. The prices in here were reasonable for Disney, no discounts were allowed because they said the prices already reflected the employee discount because it was the Imagineering store. So we got some tee-shirts for $18.

After shopping we made probably our two big mistakes of the Expo.

Mistake number one: we hadn't really read the booklet we had gotten and we missed that there was a bag check so we ended up lugging our bags around the rest of the day. The bag check was $2 a bag, but it would have been very worth it.

Mistake number two: Waiting in the Stage Pass in for over an hour. Stage Pass is like a fast pass for a panel (not the big hall panels though). We really wanted to attend the Pirates panel in the afternoon and since we didn't know the size of the rooms at all we thought a Stage Pass would be needed for where the Pirates panel was going to be. It was not in the end needed because the room it was held in was in the second biggest space. So when we were done shopping we got in line for Stage Pass and the line lasted about an hour and 10 minutes. We also got into line soon after the passes opened up for the afternoon sessions so the area was flooded with people. In the end that hour was a waste and that was disappointing. When we got home I listened to a podcast review of the Expo and one of the podcasters and they had been to the Expo before and made the same mistake we did that day, listening to them talk we were probably near each other in line. So hearing that they made the same mistake made me feel a little better.

Anyway, after obtaining our unneeded Stage Pass we needed to sit for awhile, we hadn't sat down since we had entered the building. We sat on the floor in this space, which turned out to be the line are for the room where the Pirates panel would be. This area never filled up for any of the panel in that spot, so that was a good indicator that Stage Pass wasn't needed for that space. And in the blurry picture the tables and booths were the vendors, like podcasters, people selling vintage Disney, and authors.

While we were taking a break these people walked by and let us take their picture. I think there pictures were pretty awesome. Right before we saw them we talked about going to get a pretzel too!

.

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 3, 2017

A couple more interesting costumes we saw that day. There were a lot of good costumes and Disneybounds, too many to take pictures of them all.

So after resting for a bit we decided to check out the vendor area. Soon after we stepped into the main area we heard some trumpeting music and noticed some big balloons coming down the main aisle. It was a parade.

Fun! We like parades! I saw Mickey and his friends and I was so excited about the characters I didn't really notice the kid holding the sign that said Mark Hamill. The parade ended up featuring two of the newly inducted Disney Legends, from the ceremony earlier today. It was Mark Hamill and Stan Lee. Those were the two legends that my husband would have wanted to see the ceremony for.

My husband is a MAJOR Star Wars fan and after Yoda his favorite Star Wars character is probably Luke. So he was thrilled, to say the least to see Mark Hamill so close. I was a little afraid that Brad was going to swoon and miss it! After spending so much time in that line for the Stage Pass we were a little peeved & tired and we needed a pick me up with a little Disney magic. This parade got us revved up again!

Hubby took this picture and was so excite about it. Hubs was like "he was looking right at me!" It must of been their force connection.

And then Stan Lee.

ajrwdwgirl · Sep 3, 2017

So after the parade we were re-energized and thinking that it was pretty great that we just happened to see the parade. What luck! How could it get better!?!?!
In the vendor area there was some fun stuff too look at including some more old Disney props thrown in. Like an original Space Mountain vehicle.

A photo op

There were some some podcasters, travel agencies with displays and authors that have written Disney themed books that had displays. Some of the books looked so interesting! And vendors of Disney memorabilia, including some vintage stuff. When I saw a lot of the vintage Disney stuff I was cursing the fact that we had only brought one suitcase each. There was a lot of stuff I wanted. I won't be making the one suitcase mistake in 2019! It was interesting to look at some of the vintage stuff because as a collector there were some things that I have at home, so I was particularly interested in how much they were selling some of that for.

An example of some of the vintage glasses. I have a few of these at home too. I probably should have gotten the orange bird glass.

Some Figment stuff. @figmentfan423 , I bet you would have been loving these.

A sea serpent from the Disneyland 20,000 Leagues attraction, and it still worked.

Trip Report Disneyland and D23 Expo 2017 Completed

ajrwdwgirl

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