Tag Archives: Lou Mongello

Dream Along With Emma!

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In this latest Dream Along With Emma interview I would like to introduce you to Sera, a Disney friend from Australia. I thought it would be nice to hear from someone else who daydreams Disney from many, many miles away……

So before we talk Disney tell us a little about Sera (background, age, family, job etc) – Well, I am 28, have lived in Australia my entire life. I currently live in a city called Adelaide, which is in the state of South Australia. Even though I was born in Canberra, in the A.C.T (Australian Capital Territory), I’ve lived in Adelaide for 19 of my 28 years, and the other 9 in Canberra. I currently live with my fiancé Adam, and our tuxedo cat, called Boris Yeltsin. I work as an Administration Assistant, but have always dreamed of becoming an animator (I did try and make my dream a reality, but alas, I didn’t get into the University course I needed). My favourite characters are Donald Duck, & Eeyore. The Lion King, the Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, & Toy Story 3 are my favourite films. I’ve just recently started collecting Vinylmation, and have a small collection of Disney handbags. As well as a decent size Disney Pyjama collection! (14 pairs & counting!)

How long have you been a Disney fan and what first got you hooked? As long as I can remember! One of my earliest memories is seeing The Little Mermaid at the cinema in 1990! (Even though it was released in November ’89, Australia didn’t get it until July ’90). My Dad used to take me to see all the Disney animations as child, plus I was given Disney story books. I guess I’ve always been surrounded by Disney (Which is never a bad thing!) I remember my Mum buying me a Disney magazine, which at the time I treated like my bible! It didn’t leave my sight! As a teenager I started listening to various Disney Soundtracks (Lion King, Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, Jungle Book, Tarzan, to name a few!), and that’s when my interest in the behind the scenes/making of the films started.  

What’s it like being a Disney fan in Australia? Does Disney have a big presence and following over there? It can be difficult and frustrating at times. Our Disney stores closed down about 8 years ago, and the shipping from the Disney Store.com is extremely pricey. Sometimes we get the release of the movies before the U.S, but most times we get them a few months later. Maybe I’m not looking in the right places, but I haven’t found many other Disney fans. The ones I have found are on the other side of the country to me! I know plenty of people who love the Disney animations, but not quite to my level.

Now we first got talking on the WDW Radio forums, my very first Australian friend! How did you first discover the Disney on-line community?  I was at the library in 2009, and stumbled upon ‘The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Walt Disney World’ 2008 edition by Doug Ingersoll. I was ecstatic. I must of read it half a dozen times before having to return it. After that, I just knew Walt Disney World is a place I HAD to go to! Anyway, the author mentions the WDW forums, and Lou Mongello. I ended up buying the 2010, and the 2012 editions, and finally joined the WDW Radio forums in May last year, after a year of listening to Lou’s show, and watching his videos on YouTube, I joined!

I know from our chats that you are yet to have that first magical Disney vacation. Which one of the Disney parks are you looking forward to visiting the most? WDW, without a doubt!

What are you most looking forward to when you take your first steps in a park? Seeing the Magic Kingdom for the first time, and realising that I have finally made it!! (I believe a tear or 7 will be shed)

Now I believe you’re getting married soon, does Disney feature in your wedding celebrations or is it going to be a case of ‘hidden Mickeys’? Yes, I am! A bit of both, really. We will have a Mickey Mouse cake, and wedding Mickey & Minnie cake topper. My nails will have a Minnie mouse theme, and the flower girl, and Bridesmaids will have a Mickey head silhouette hair piece, plus a few other touches. Once we are Husband and wife, we will be leaving the ceremony to ‘You’ve got a friend in me’.

And what about your future husband, is he a Disney fan too or have you had to educate him on the wonders of Walt? Adam enjoys the Pixar movies, but other than that he isn’t much of a Disney fan. I am adamant that once we get to WDW, that he will LOVE it, just as much as I do!! As for the educating, I find showing him YouTube videos of the AMAZING stuff that you can do at WDW/DL and DCL helps ;)

If you could have any Disney dream granted, no matter how big or small, what would it be? Fabulous question! I have always dreamed of voicing a main character in a Disney animation!

And to finish, here’s the quickfire round…

Favourite WDW park – I’m predicting MK or Epcot

Favourite WDW resort – I think it will either be POFQ, or POP Century for the fantastic photo oppotunities

Favourite Disney collectible – My precious moments ‘Magically Ever After’ figurine

Your top tip for being a Disney fan -  Don’t ever stop dreaming!!!

 

 

Sera and Adam’s wedding took place a couple of weeks after this interview so I would like to not only thank Sera for sharing her daydreams but to also wish her and Adam a wonderful life together, filled with lots of Disney magic! :)

 

That’s a first!

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As I put the final details in place for our forthcoming trip to the World I realise that this visit could yet again be full of magical first time Disney experiences.

It’s clear to see that by simply changing the time of year for our visit it has opened up a number of new experiences and events which I will see for the first time. By visiting Walt Disney World in October I will see Magic Kingdom decorated for Halloween and get to attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.

This also means that I will be visiting Epcot during the Food and Wine Festival; I’m looking forward to not only sampling some of the dishes on offer but seeing how World Showcase looks with the addition of the international marketplace booths.

Due to a special promotion I was able to include the Disney Dining Plan for free on my vacation booking which means I’ll be experiencing Disney dining on a whole new level. I’ll be visiting Signature restaurants for the first time and some of our advanced dining reservations will take us into resorts that we’ve never really had the chance to explore before.

After attending the Key To The Kingdom tour on our last visit I knew that I wanted to book at least one tour or special experience on this trip….well, I decided to fit three in! We will FINALLY get to Dine With An Imagineer, we will be taking a unique look at Animal Kingdom on the Wild By Design tour and last but by no means least we will be taking in the detail of Magic Kingdom during a park tour with Lou Mongello.

Something else which will make this trip so unique is the number of friends that we hope to be meeting up with during our two week vacation. A few years ago, before I started blogging and talking to fellow Disney fans across the social networks, I had no idea that I would make friends with so many people who lived close to or worked at my favourite vacation destination.

And lastly…now this could well make or break a vacation….we have unplanned days on our WDW daily schedule!!!! That’s right, I threw out the original daily plan which I had spent so long researching and planning! So the new schedule includes the booked tours, ADR’s and a couple of planned meet ups but that’s it! We are going to decide that morning or the night before which park we feel like going to each day….if we wake up and feel like stuffing our faces at the Food and Wine Festival we’ll head on over to Epcot, if we feel like spending a morning people watching in a busy Magic Kingdom then we’ll head on over there!!! For a mega planner like me this is pretty scary stuff but there’s a first time for everything!! :)

So what about you? Do you like to visit at the same time of year or stay at the same resort because you like to know every detail of your vacation? Do you make sure that you experience at least one new thing during each trip or do you throw caution to the wind and never plan your trips, hoping that magic and surprises come along to make memories that you’ll cherish forever???

 

 

 

 

Dream Along With Emma!

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I am so excited to share ‘Dream Along With Emma‘, a new series of posts featuring friends from the Disney community.

Over the coming months I’ll be asking Disney friends to share their thoughts on Walt Disney World; and how their work, hobbies or special interests can influence how they daydream about our favourite place.

And to launch this series I have an extra special interview with a very special guest. Last week I had the privilege of chatting to the great LOU MONGELLO from WDW Radio about how his work and his passion affects his own daydreaming Disney.

Click here to LISTEN to the very first ‘Dream Along With Emma‘ interview :)

 

A year of daydreams!

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During this week of celebration I wanted to look back at some of the posts which I have shared over the past 12 months.

I know that when I discover a new Disney blog I tend to read the first couple of posts and the ‘About Me’ page; unfortunately when the blog has been running for a while you don’t always have time to go back and read some of the older entries.

So here’s my selection of posts which have been the most fun to write and share with you all. I hope that they still give you that few minutes of Disney filled daydreaming!

 

Expo Exposure – discussing the fun from the D23 Expo in Disneyland.

Sharing My Celebration – my favourite place outside of Walt Disney World.

Let It Snow! – sometimes getting to WDW can be an adventure.

A Letter to Walt – discussing the events of 2011 with our dear Walt.

Home Sweet Home! – making the ‘resort’ decision.

Orange Tuesday – welcoming back the Orange Bird.

I’ve Got The Key! – going behind the scenes at WDW.

 

See you tomorrow for more Daydreaming Disney!!!!

 

:) :) :)

 

 

 

The craze that I crave!

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“…but they all look the same…” “…aren’t they just plastic?…” “…they look cheap…” “…Mickey Mouse shouldn’t be that colour…”

I’ve heard or read all of the above statements used in reference to the subject I decided to cover in my blog post this week….know what they refer to? The Disney collectible craze that is Vinylmation. In preparation for my upcoming WDW trip I’ve been making room for new additions to my Vinylmation collection so I thought it would be nice to share a bit of daydreaming on the matter!!

For some reason people seem to either love or hate Vinylmations, I’m not entirely sure why but I guess if we all liked the same things Walt Disney World would be a very boring place!

Now I have known for many years that I love, love, LOVE to collect things and have been buying Japanese vinyl toys collectibles for the last ten years. When Disney first announced that they were bringing out their own vinyl collection in July 2008 it seemed to me to be a natural and obvious step for a company that is always looking to appeal to the current trends.

The official Disney description of Vinylmation is as follows… “Vinylmation™ is a fun and affordable collectible designer toy created by Disney Theme Park Merchandise. At its core,Vinylmation™ is about creative expression and the mysterious thrill of the chase.” For me personally that description is pretty much spot on and the Disney Vinylmation website provides a lot more official information and guidance.

I also love this WDW Radio show #218 where Lou interviews Disney artist Randy Noble and discusses the Vinylmation craze.

Why do I like Vinylmation? Because I see each one as an individual piece of artwork; and like art each one is actually signed by the designer. I don’t rush out and buy every piece from a series as I am very careful to only pick ones that appeal to me in an artistic or creative way. I also don’t trade outside of the parks or keep my collection in the boxes, I like to have them out on display so that I can see the 360 degree design. And yes, sometimes I get SUPER excited when I see details of a new design about to be released…just like with the recent Stars Wars series…I just love my Luke and Leia!!!

The photos featured on this blog post are of my own collection. I actually prefer the 9″ versions as I find the designs more creative; quite often the 9″ ones are also released in limited numbers. I’m also not as much of a fan of the new 3″ shape but appreciate that this was changed to allow the artists to create even more elaborate designs.

Do I have a favourite? To be honest it changes frequently! Like many of the Disney items I own each Vinylmation piece has a memory attached to it. One of my long-term favourites is the 9″ Cutester Like You ‘Gothy’….I was so surprised that Disney decided to choose a goth version to release….and then this year they released a completely unconnected series featuring a punk Stitch…well done Disney for appealing to us ‘alternatives’ ;)

Another favourite is the 3″ Statue of Liberty Minnie…purchased during my first trip to New York last year. We visited the Disney Store on the first day of our trip, to be told that they had sold out of these and would not be back in store until the week after we had returned home….however we popped back to the store a couple of days later and they had filled the shelves with lots of Liberty Minnies…good job we made that return visit!!

Another favourite is actually a pair….the 9″ Disney Fantasy and the 3″ Disney Dream pieces, bought on the actual Disney Cruise Line ships for me by friends….the 3″ was even sent to me as a surprise :)

And then there’s my Passholder exclusive Orange Bird, and my Florida Project 9″, and my Mary Poppins penguin (with the stripes from Dick Van Dyke’s coat), and my Chicago exclusive which was another surprise from a friend………

I won’t bore you with going through my whole collection!! I know that others have more, I know that some have many more rare pieces…but to me it’s just like any other art collection….I buy what I love and love what I buy.

So are you a vinyl lover or hater? If you are a collector do you buy each one from a series or just the ones which catch your eye? Were you a pin collector that diversified into vinyls or will you never be able to love Vinylmations as much as you do your collection of pins?

 

 

Orange Tuesday!

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Now I know that there will be many posts on many blogs in the next few days covering the Orange Bird’s return to the Sunshine Tree Terrace at Magic Kingdom but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to take time out of my Walt Disney World planning schedule to write a few words of my own.

Firstly I cannot claim to have been a die-hard Orange Bird fan since the 70′s, I was not one of the many fans that longed to see him and his orange thought bubbles return to his home in Adventureland….in fact I wasn’t even aware of the Orange Bird until a couple of years ago when he started cropping up in conversations on Disney fan message boards.

But over the last couple of years….and this is why yesterday’s events had such a big impact on me…reading about other people’s love for that bird, hearing the history of his connection to Disney and seeing his lovely smiling face on websites, collectibles, t-shirts and even Imagineer doodles, gave me an affection for this cute little orange creature and made me wish A LOT that he was still bringing sunshine to Adventureland.

I commend Disney for yesterday’s event. They just sent a message out on Twitter that this little gathering was taking place for no apparent ‘special’ reason….but you can just tell when Disney have something up their sleeve. And this time it was something for the fans, they had listened and responded. Okay sure it’s about money-making; a stunt like this will bring those of us who are into Disney history and nostalgia flooding into the park to buy an oversized Orange Bird t-shirt or one of those wonderfully plastic Orange Bird sipper cups (please, please still be there for my next trip!) but I like to think that this decision was also a nod to those lifelong Disney fans like us who spend our days reading, writing and planning Disney :)

So, although I don’t remember the good old Orange Bird days I will remember the day that the Orange Bird returned to his perch at the Sunshine Tree and I’m proud to be a new fan of that lovely lil’ bird.

Here’s a link to Lou Mongello’s WDW Radio show from November 2011 reminiscing about the Orange Bird.

Here’s a link to the official coverage of the Orange Bird’s return on the Disney Parks Blog and here is the wonderful merchandise I hope to get my hands on!

So I’ll end this post with a singalong to the Sherman Brothers lyrics, make sure you check YouTube for the wonderful original tune….

“Little Orange Bird in the Sunshine Tree
Won’t you think of something sunny just for me?
Think funny thoughts or sunny words
That will make me happy, little Orange Bird…..”

 

 

A letter to Walt

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Dear Walt,

I decided to sit down and write you a letter as 2011 draws to a close. I wanted to let you know how Disney magic has filled my life this year, and how some very magical people have continued to keep your dream alive.

I’m not sure how you would feel about the world if you were still with us today but I think you would be amazed at how technology brings us closer together on a daily basis no matter where we happen to live. The internet and its ability to connect us all via podcasts, websites, blogs, Facebook and Twitter has become a big part of my daily life this past 12 months, so much so that I took that first tentative step and launched my blog in July 2011.

I think that my magical year actually started for me in December 2010. I had just returned home after two amazing weeks at Walt Disney World. During my visit Mark and I had recorded a podcast with Lou Mongello from WDW Radio at the UK Pavilion in Epcot. By the way Walt, I think you’d really like Lou, he reminds me of you. First and foremost he is a family man and he works tirelessly to achieve his dream, keeping the magic alive for so many others. Lou believes that anything is possible if you try hard enough, and just like you he is an inspiration to us all.

Anyway back to that podcast. Lou released it as show no.202 for the week of December 26, 2010. It was so strange to hear our voices on the podcast but it reminded me of such a great day and I hoped that others would enjoy our discussions. And because of that show 2011 started with making many new friends via the WDW Radio forums and Facebook. It was a lovely way to start what would turn out to be a magical year.

I’ve met (either in person or virtually) so many great people this year because of Disney. And Walt I know you’d be pleased to hear that Disney fans are such a kind, warm, generous group of people. I’ve met people who moved to Florida to be closer to the magic, I’ve met people who are lucky enough to work as Imagineers keeping your dream alive and I’ve met people who share my passion whether they live ten minutes or 4000 miles from WDW.

As I mentioned earlier, this year saw me set up my own blog. I didn’t even know if I could write blog posts, let alone write things that others would want to read, but I knew that I had lots to say about you and your vision and that was enough to give me the courage to try. And at the end of 2011 I can say that not only have I managed to keep my blog going but I’ve also been a guest blogger for the WDW Radio website as well. And yet again I’ve met more wonderful people because of my writing.

One of the greatest things to happen this year was the UK meet in London for fans of WDW Radio. Some of us aren’t able to get over to the parks as often as we’d like so what better way to share the magic than to meet up and talk Disney! I arranged for Lou to join the meet via Skype and the group also toured Europe’s flagship Disney Store.

There were several park happenings this year too. Sadly Mickey’s Toontown closed but it’s making way for the Fantasyland expansion. Mickey moved into his new meet and greet area on Main Street and Star Tours had a technology update that continues to attract hundreds of guests every day. More attractions now have the interactive queues, plus there is a new resort being built for 2012. Magic Kingdom celebrated its 40th birthday and although I couldn’t be there in person I was able to join the party via the on-line WDW Radio 40 hour show.

Oh, and I also got my first Disney tattoo ;)

So that’s just a little bit of how my 2011 was filled with Disney magic, without even being at Walt Disney World. 2012 promises to be even better with my trip planned for October and so many exciting changes coming to WDW during the year.

Thank you for leaving us your legacy and allowing us even as adults to daydream of magical places and moments. I can’t wait to see what the new year has in store for my Disney friends and me :)

Your friend, Emma xx

A very special Disney day!

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We all spend time planning how our days at Walt Disney World will be filled. As the number of friends I have in the Disney community grows I know that my future visits will change and my trips will be a much more social affair.

After my last trip I decided to try to make contact with more Disney fans in the UK, many like me not able to get out to WDW as frequently as we would like, filling our time with daydreams of our favourite place and following Lou Mongello and his WDW Radio adventures.

So over the last six months it came about that I would organise a WDW Radio UK fan meet in London, for those followers of Lou Mongello who just couldn’t make it to each WDW Radio Meet of the Month.

So first, let me confess that I have NEVER attended a meet like this outside of WDW, let alone organised anything like this! And also, despite what I show on the outside, I am really shy and forever worrying about what others think of me. So the idea of being responsible for organising something that others would travel to attend and have expectations of the event, made me pretty scared!!

Seeing as I would be holding this meet as a ‘WDW Radio’ event I started off by asking Lou’s permission for it to go ahead. Once he had given me the okay I set about deciding on the location and date; starting a thread on the WDW Radio forums, posting details on Facebook and issuing regular Tweets to spread the word. I started to pick up little treats for goodie bags and a raffle, nothing fancy, just fun….well it was meant to be a small free event after all!!

As the day of the meet grew nearer I had made some good friends through the WDW Radio forum, started talking to others on Facebook and even made regular contact with a former work colleague. I knew of people’s travel arrangements for the day, an area in a restaurant had been reserved and The Disney Store had been contacted to arrange a guided tour of the reimagined store.

And my very own Disney day went a little something like this…..

5.30am – Alarm sounds waking me from a disturbed sleep…nerves or excitement, it’s difficult to tell.

7.40am – Arrive at the station ready to board our train to London. It feels like winter this morning, just look at that sun through the fog.

8am – And we’re on our way, travelling first class for the special occasion.

11am – Arrive in London and make our way to Carnaby Street. I need to check out the area and make sure I know where our meeting place is.

11.45am – Despite still feeling nervous and excited I know I need to grab some food. We find a funky themed diner down a street just off Carnaby Street…all day breakfast, American and Mexican food…just what the day needs!

12.45pm – Just about to make our way to the meeting point when I receive a couple of text messages. People have already arrived, there’s no going back now!

1pm – I meet the group and we get shown to our reserved area in the restaurant. I make a little welcome speech and then pray that everyone will mingle. I hand out goodie bags, I walk round chatting to people whose faces I recognise from little profile photos, I feel like I know these people so well and yet we’re all strangers!

1.30pm – It’s time to log into Skype and connect with Lou in Orlando. It’s great for us all to say hello and I can tell that he’s blown away by the whole concept of people living many miles away from WDW being brought together by his website and arranging to meet.

2pm – After saying goodbye to Lou, handing out the raffle prizes and finishing our cakes and coffee, it was time to make our way down the street to The Disney Store. It was a nice walk with one of the group taking the lead, by this time everyone was chatting, exchanging various stories of WDW trips and memories.

2.30pm – After being greeted by a store manager we all pose for a group photo by The Lion King display and then receive Mickey and Minnie ears to wear. Then we are shown around the largest Disney Store in Europe and get to see why it’s their flagship store.

3.30pm – After looking around the store and taking many photos we were shown to The Disney Store Theatre. We were in luck as the cast member was able to give us an animation class and we learnt how to draw Simba! It was fun to see members of the group joining in with the class that’s usually run for the children visiting the store!

4pm – Our time at the store was coming to an end. I really wished that I had another hour just to wander back around the store to look at all the merchandise. The tour with the group had been a wonderful experience but I had to do at least a little bit of shopping! I made sure to grab a couple of Vinylmations before we had to say goodbye to everyone and make our way back to the train station.

6pm – Exhausted and smiling, on my way home. What a day it had been. I had met strangers who became friends. I had made people smile and brought a little Disney magic to their weekend. I had stepped out of my comfort zone and had a wonderful experience. Could I organise another one? Would I organise another one? You betcha!!

….And that is how a non ‘WDW’ day became a very special ‘Disney’ day :)

A little piece of the magic

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So, this weekend marked the 40th anniversary of Magic Kingdom. Instead of making it a year long celebration Disney decided to mark the event with banners, 40th anniversary buttons and park maps, a one-off Disney character parade and a presentation in front of Cinderella’s castle. Despite not being at WDW I was lucky enough to join in the celebrations via Lou Mongello and the WDW Radio 40 hour broadcast.

But this occasion got me thinking about previous celebrations held at WDW, some of which I’ve been lucky enough to be at the parks for and others where I haven’t been able to attend but I’ve been lucky enough to track down merchandise from the event. I really enjoy finding merchandise that is from a specific event because it is then easy to date and connects directly to that moment in time. As I’ve said before, it’s not about the value of the item, it’s the opportunity for me to own a little piece of the magic.

Here are some of the items in my collection, which all appeal to me for differing reasons.

Firstly, my newest item, a vinylmation ‘Celebrating 40 Years of Magic’. There seemed to be a lot of merchandise available on-line from The Disney Store for the 40th anniversary. Whilst the Dooney and Bourke ’40th’ bags were beautiful I couldn’t justify buying another one just yet so I settled for adding another vinylmation to my collection!

I found this Barbie on-line a few years back and bought it because her outfit was so cute, check out that mini Mickey ears hat!! You can often buy the special Barbies at the parks and resorts celebrating one event or another. This one is for the 25th anniversary of WDW, and yes, that’s the same year as THE birthday cake castle :)

And my favourite item is this one, as I feel like I earned this! The Year of a Million Dreams promotion started in October 2006 and ran across both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Along with special events in both parks special cast members were given the task of handing out ‘dreams’ to park guests; the prizes were amazing and included such things as being able to spend a night in the remodeled suite inside Cinderella Castle! Unfortunately I wasn’t scheduled to travel to WDW during this celebration but Disney were accepting postal entries for the dream giveaway and guests could send in as many entries as they wished for the duration of the promotion. And, unusually for Disney, they were accepting entries from international guests!!! So, I proceeded to send in an entry every week for the first six months of the promotion, not expecting to receive anything, but if you don’t try etc etc…. And to my amazement one day a large Disney box arrived (always a good sign!) and in it was my very own pair of Dream Mouse Ears! There were only 250,000 of them made you know!!!

So these things might not be hard to find, or valuable to others, but they are things that I have around the house and help me with my daydreaming of Disney. And that’s how I get my very own little piece of the magic :)

Expo exposure

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Well unless you’ve been living in a cave these past few months (without your iPhone) then you’ll know that the second D23 Expo took place in the Disneyland Resort last weekend. Now to music fans, comic book geeks, film nerds etc etc, conventions aren’t a new concept. Disney fan conventions aren’t a new concept either but up until 2009 those conventions had always been organised by the fans for the fans. The birth of D23 changed all that and the rest as ‘they’ say is history!

This post isn’t about reporting all the goings on from this past weekend, but more of an opportunity for me to say thank you to the people who attended and shared as much as they could with my Disney friends and I who were unable to be there. And this is where living in the UK makes it even more frustrating for me. It would have taken a lot of planning for me to be at this event and it would have probably cost me the price of a ‘real’ holiday travelling from the UK to California. I would have had to sacrifice leave days and paid for various expenses. Fine if this is going to be your annual holiday, but a little too much of a stretch for a ‘fan event’. And because of this the internet became my Expo exposure.

As the days progressed last week I started to read more and more tweets from the ‘Disney’ people I follow, each finishing work, packing, travelling to airports, and eventually arriving in California. It felt like everyone was there apart from me. I expressed this on my Twitter feed and had other friends who could also not attend rally round and let me know I wasn’t alone. We all knew that from Friday until Sunday our Disney friends in Anaheim would bring us as much of the D23 Expo as they possibly could.

Using my world clock I found out that the UK is 8 hours ahead of Anaheim, therefore I knew that the Expo wouldn’t be kicking off until 4 or 5pm each day. This meant that I could lead a ‘normal’ life during the day and then be attached to the internet from 4pm onwards! And boy was I attached!

The ability to obtain news, photos, video, and blog posts covering the Expo events was immense. Lou Mongello was broadcasting live each day which meant we were there ‘in the box’. We could watch discussions while they were happening, wander the Collectors Forum, take a look at the Carousel of Projects, and interact with Lou’s interviews of various Disney dignitaries, including the Disney Geek Jeffrey Epstein.

In addition to the live feed, I was attached to Twitter and struggling to keep up with the tweets from attendees! Sometimes it even felt like I was getting more information about the various presentations than the people who were there in person…and I didn’t have to stand in any of those LONG queues!

I must confess that I didn’t sit up all night watching and reading the coverage like some people I know ;) but that may have mainly been because of technical issues rather than me being sensible! All I know is that because of the effort that everyone put into sharing their Expo experience those of us who were not able to attend didn’t feel like we missed out.

Of course I would have preferred to attend in person if I could have done. Of course I would have loved to hear Dick Van Dyke performing live with the Vantastix. Of course I would have loved to have shaken John Lasseter’s hand (if I hadn’t dissolved into a nervous geeky mess), of course I would have loved to have seen some of the awesome costumes that fans had taken the trouble to make, and of course I would have loved a bit (okay, a lot) of Disney shopping. But because of my Disney friends I had the next best thing, and I had a blast. THANK YOU for the Expo exposure :)