DISNEY EXPO D23 WAS A BIG HIT

B7. Miss. H2. Hit. C5. Miss. D23. Hit. You sank my battleship!


The D23 Disney Expo from a week and half ago didn’t have anything to do with Milton Bradley’s Battleship, but the show was a big hit for the first lady and myself. We wrapped our SoCal vacation around the "all-things" Disney con and attended the first two days of the four day show.

The show appealed to all types of Disney fans and for us we were there to check out all the goodies relating to the happiest place on earth, Disneyland. Plus, for an added bonus for me - Tron!


Hey kids, it’s a electrical turtle from Disney’s Electrical Parade!


This wall of attraction posters primarily from Disneyland and Disneyworld was a nice touch for folks to gawk at while waiting to enter the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts pavilion. After walking thru a giant television set guests had the opportunity to preview new attractions and learn all about Audio-Animatronics.


An old Audio-Animatronics control box.


It sure was swell to see the original Abe Lincoln Audio-Animatronic from Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln that premiered at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and eventually at Disneyland. Abe without his skin kind of resembles Mike Power the Atomic Man. That great 1970's bionic G.I. Joe action figure!



Cars Land looks like a nice place to visit! As long as the world doesn’t end it opens at California Adventure in the year 2012.


Probably the best panel we attended was the two hour panel An Afternoon with Imagineering Legends. On stage and sharing “back in the day” Disneyland stories were Marty Sklar, X Atencio, Alice Davis, Blaine Gibson, Bob Gurr and Don Iwerks.

You can catch parts of the panel on YouTube - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 and Part 8.


My chance meeting with X Atencio. Yo Ho Yo Ho - I was thrilled to meet this brilliant imagineer!


Hey kids, it’s M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!


It was cool to see up close the talented work of Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily in the form of their amazing recreation of the Hatbox Ghost from Haunted Mansion. It was part of the D23 Expo Live Auction.


Hey kids, it’s Herbie the Love Bug!

Walking thru the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives room was another highlight. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow photographs of the props that were inside the room. At least they had Herbie on display outside in the hallway and seeing the Love Bug was like seeing a real live movie star. Inside, I was kind of weak in the knees looking at the Nautillus sub from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Oh the detail work on that prop is just amazing! Like most fans I geeked out standing in front of Bruce Boxleitner’s Tron costume and Bill Campbell’s Rocketeer costume. The two props I was glad to see more than any of the others was Maximillian and V.I.N.C.E.N.T., the prop robots from The Black Hole. Both of these robots were displayed outside of a case where fans could stand just a couple of feet away. Max looks just as menacing as he did on the movie screen back in 1979. You can get a glimpse of Max and Vince in this ABC 7 video.


Van Eaton Galleries really didn’t hold back as they had some wonderful pieces of original Disney related art. I wish we could have afforded just one piece from their wall of Mary Blair originals.


Hey kids it’s a rare appearance by Donald Duck! It seems every time we visit Disneyland or Disneyworld we never run into Donald Duck. Needless to say we were happy to see him at D23!



As a big Tron fan I’m very excited about the upcoming Tron Legacy movie. I really enjoyed the Tron panel with Tron director Steve Lisberger and Tron Legacy producer Sean Bailey.


Hey kids, it’s a Lego Buzz Lightyear!



It was fun meeting and hanging out with so many cool folks from pros to regular Disney fans! Even tho we missed the past 22 expos we were tickled plaid that we attended D23!

Overall we had a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious time!