D23 Expo Day 2: Walt Disney Archives Stage

Hello, Everyone!

If you didn't get a chance to look back at Day 1 of the Expo, please head over to that blog post before you start this one.

Fantastical Fashions

One thing I feel doesn't get enough coverage at the Expo are the smaller displays.  Fashion appeared to play a greater part of that this year, with the "Fantastical Fashions" display near the Disney Dream Store, showing off dresses from various leading ladies in the Disney universe.

They never shrink to pull out this dress from 102 Dalmatians, and I can't blame them. I really wish they'd create a little video or display of its creation because that HAS to be a lot of work.

I swear, Giselle's dress kept photographing like this.  It's probably got to do with how they lit it, but WOW!

Walt, Kay and Marceline

The first panel on the Walt Disney Archives stage was interesting a esoteric, but truly worth the time. Kay Malins is a resident of Marceline with an interesting history with Walt himself, so here she presented the tales of his and Roy's visit to Marceline to christen the "Walt Disney Swimming Pool" in 1956.

The current Walt Disney World Ambassador introduces Kay Malins.  In the fall, the Walt Disney Hometown Museum will be bringing an exhibit to Disney Springs.

She is here to represent the Walt Disney Hometown Museum (as opposed to the Birthplace in Chicago, and the Family Museum in San Francisco), so it was terribly nice for Disney to make time for this little piece of Walt's life that still resonates in the town of Marceline so much.

Yesterday's Tomorrow

The second panel we attended on Saturday was a preview of producer Don Hahn's book "Yesterday's Tomorrow: Disney's Magical Mid-Century".  Now, this was right up my alley.  Partially, because I just adore Don Hahn.  He is a fabulous host with a quick and sharp wit.  But this subject is not only kind of (and thankfully) in vogue right now, but historically so important.  So much of modern Disney and what we THINK of Disney stems from their projects in this period of time, and to learn what influenced the artists then and how that inspiration is still relevant and radiates out into the rest of the world is fascinating.

I absolutely cannot wait for this book.

Shopping Part 2 (and 3?)

While I don't have pictures (because how is that interesting?) let me talk about shopping a little more.

Like I said yesterday, we got the StorePass on Saturday for the Disney Store, which worked out perfectly.  I was looking forward to getting the Mary Poppins Tsum Tsums, but here is a problem....you find out WHAT TsumTsums (BTW, here is a link to the Disney Store so you know what I'm talking about) were being offered at the store over the whole weekend, but not which group which days.  Friday, they had a DuckTales set, Saturday they had the Pixar shorts, and SUNDAY they had Mary Poppins.  We never get this information ahead of time, and I don't want EVERY TsumTsum ever...I would like a few here and there.  So, that, in my opinion, is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Overall, the Disney Store is the LONGEST wait, and unless you see something labelled as for the Expo only, calm your self down.

Mickey's of Glendale is kind of a different story, with its own issues.  Mickey's of Glendale is the Imagineering store, located on the Imagineering campus (in Glendale).  You can only get in the store is you are on the campus.  I have been there once, D23 has allowed members to come on several specific occasions. It's a big deal. So it's worth the wait.

The theme of the merchandise was "A Galaxy of Stories", so Star Wars. And they have general Imagineering themed merchandise.  That's always a great treat because some of their products are retro themed to when it was still WED Enterprises (more mid-century for me!).

The one thing I think is a problem, and this is overall a shopping problem....is pins.  Now, there are plenty of people who do collect pins, obsessively.  There are most people, like me, who don't collect but might get a cute one I like every so often.

Mickey's of Glendale has a separate line for pins. If you just want pins, you wait in that line. However, if you're buying other products then want a pin (I was trying to buy for a friend), you're going to have to get in line twice.  Really? Now, the other issue with the pin trading thing is that many people come to the Expo to buy pins for re-sale ALONE.  So, they get priority over people buying other products when I'm sure Disney knows full well why these pins are being bought.  How is that ok? And I just wanted one. ONE! At the Dream Store and the Disney Store, they had stock of their few pins behind the counter, why were these pin exempt from that?

If someone who trades pins or has more info on this would like to enlighten me, I encourage you to write a comment below.  In my opinion, the pin trading has just gotten out of hand while Disney tries to keep it profitable....


That's it for Day 2. Sorry it's not as eventful....But Day 3....the Imagineering Pavilion, which means the STAR WARS LAND MODEL! So, keep your eyes open!