We were having fun exploring the vendor area but it was getting close to the time to head into the Pirates panel, but we decided to head down one more aisle before going to the Pirates panel. BEST DECISION EVER!!!
As soon as we turned the corner I saw a man talking to some people and I saw the man in the middle was Bob Gurr! I was so excited I actually tugged on Brad's arm and fan girled out and said, "Brad, Brad, that's Bob Gurr!!!" Soon, like 5 seconds later, the people he was talking to left and in a move that is unusual for me (I'm generally shy and introverted) we went over and said hello. He was very nice and chatted with us for a bit. I really don't remember much of the conversation, he is such a legend I was in awe. At the end of our conversation with him Brad shook his hand and Bob refused to shake my hand. He said that ladies get hugs instead! So a conversation with Bob Gurr, a picture with Bob Gurr, and a hug from Bob Gurr! This is the best day ever!!!
After we left Bob we walked a couple more feet to another booth and I was looking at a book and was standing next to a guy. This guy was talking to the vendor, and then I looked at the guy next to me and much to my surprise was another Disney Imagineer, Tom Nabbe. I had recently learned more about Tom Nabbe and his work with Disney especially his work at Walt Disney World so again I was thrilled. This time I didn't even tell Brad who it was before I started talking to Mr. Nabbe. I'm pretty sure I had a coherent conversation with him and he was kind enough to get his picture taken with me too. I love that his tie has Mickey's on it.
It was time to head to the Pirates panel now. By the time we got there there, which was really steps away, the doors were open and people were going in. We had our Stage Pass in our hand but no one collected them and once we walked in the room we saw it was an arena (three levels of seating, scoreboard on the wall, plenty of seats). So Stage Pass unneeded and time was wasted in line. But I was flying high after my Imagineer encounters and I thought that if we hadn't stood in that Stage Pass line we wouldn't have seen that parade and I might not have met the some Imagineers, it all worked out for the best.
Since we had never been to D23 before we really didn't know what to expect out of a panel, and with this Pirates panel we had no idea who was going to be presenting They did ask that people not take pictures or video. I ended up taking just a couple at the start, but for the meat of the presentation I just sat back and enjoyed the panel. I did notice people in the audiance taking pictures and video throughout the presentation, but generally being a rule follower I mostly refrained. I do see that the whole panel is up on YouTube, if you are interested it was a great panel and worth a watch.
The moderator of the panel, I'm blanking out on his name right now.
Soon we were introduced to the rest of the panel. Remember how I was worried about Brad swooning over Mark Hamill. Well I was already riding high after encounters with Bob Gurr and Tom Nabbe, but now....I was able so see Tony Baxter, Orlando Ferrante, and Marty Sklar! (Sorry for the blur, remember I was trying to follow the rules.)
Also on the panel was Kim Irvine (Imagineer & daughter of legendary Leota Toombs Thomas), Luc Mayrand (did stuff on DLP's Pirates) Nancy Seruto (worked on Shanghai's Pirates).
Like I said it was a very interesting panel and it was so cool to hear stories about the development of Pirates of the Caribbean from people how either worked personally on it or knew/worked with people how did. I also found it interesting to hear how the newer parks have taken the Pirates of the Caribbean in new directions. There was a point when the removal of the Redhead/Auction scene came up and some people booed. I like the scene and I am disappointed to see it removed but I can understand why it is but I was not among the people booing in the audience. What I liked though was Marty Sklar's response to the boos and how he pointed out that from day one of Disneyland Walt was always changing things and looking for ways to make things better, it was not meant to be stagnant, it helped me accept (not necessarily like) the change.
After the Pirates panel there were two interesting panels left for the day, both at the same time. One was called
Melodies in Walt’s Time: The Music of Disney Live-Action Films , and the other was Park Stars by the Walt Disney Archives. Brad really didn't care which one. So the choice was mine and I picked Park Stars. We headed up to the Walt Disney Archives Stage, and there was a session already going so we got in the standby line for Park Stars. There were a few people waiting we were probably the 20th people there and the wait was an hour, but that was fine I still needed time to digest what I had seen in the last couple of hours anyway. The wait was fine and we ended up chatting with people around us. Then it was time to head to the panel When they started having us standbyers enter they told us that the room was almost at capacity and most people who were in standby would not get in. Again we were thankful we had entered the stand by line early. And sure enough when we entered the room there weren't many spots left. The Archives stage was in a large room but only sat a couple hundred people. We should have gotten our stage pass for this!
The panel was fun though. It basically was a celebration of Parks characters and the Imagineers presenting had some funny stories and memories to share. The guy presenting was around my age and had a lot of WDW experiences as a kid, it was almost like he and I had travelled together as a kid. The presentation also had a lot of Epcot characters so that made me happy. Some of the characters were discussed were Dreamfinder, Orange Bird, Country Bears, but others like the "people" Spaceship Earth & Horizons, the Carousel of Progress family, and Figment. I especially enjoyed the video clips of Dreamfinder and Horizons. I didn't know what the photo policy was so I just took a picture of the screen when we entered and enjoyed the show.
The panel was supposed to start at 6pm and didn't end up starting until close to 6:20 pm. I got a little worried, I hoped they wouldn't cut it short (they didn't) but the panel was supposed to be an hour and we had a Steakhouse 55 reservation at the Disneyland Hotel at 7:20pm. Which if the panel got done at 7pm like it was supposed we would have plenty of time to walk to the Disneyland Hotel, check our bags, and change into a nice shirt for dinner. Well, I guess we wouldn't be making our reservation on time, but we would try to see if they would seat us anyway.
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