After completing the Walt Disney Studios Panel (AKA the Marvel/Avengers Panel) I waited in the Arena foyer while everyone was retrieving their camera and video recorders. I was hoping that a celebrity or two would make their way out to the area and I could get an autograph or phone picture with them. No luck. It was near 2pm when I decided I wanted to check out the Archives. Yeah, Right! That line went from the entrance all the way down to stage 28, snaked back to the entrance and snaked again down along the railing. That wasn't gonna happen for me, but the Archives store line was about 40 people deep. I'm doing that!
I get into the Archives store in about 20-30 minutes time and its a small store but has a lot of great things for the collector in me. I had to limit my spending after dropping a lot of money on day 1 so I limited myself to the little mermaid items (pin and shot glass) and an archives shirt. Wanted the entire 9 piece Donald Duck pin set, along with many other things but just couldn't do it. In the archives store there is an open door that gives a peek into the archives and I saw a lot of Mickey Mouse memorabilia there. There is also a separate room that has 101 dalmatians items. I must get into the Archives tomorrow.
After the store I want to grab a quick bite but it is past 3pm and I want to see Lion King 3D. Anticipating the pattern that has been the Arena queue, I assumed I should be in that line about 2.5 hours before the event starts. I get in line and meet some friends. We do the "one person can step out of line for a moment to see the floor" dance until the movie starts. I ask for my moment at 4:00pm so I can meet Larry Nikolai and have him sign my Ariel litho, along with asking him questions about the new Little Mermaid ride. While in the line, which is quite short, I notice Larry taking his time with each person. Such a different feeling from Comic con where it is come and go. I also happen to have the friends of Larry's son behind me. They were telling me about when they learned that their friend was Larry's son and then how it makes so much more sense that the home is filled with Little Mermaid paraphernalia. Anywho, meeting Larry was great. Learned a lot and headed back to the Lion King 3D line.
Time seems to fly by and we are all let in to the Arena. We are given these headbands that promote the Lion King Blu-Ray release, I'm sure somebody will put it up on Ebay soon, but they look neat and were fun to wear while watching the movie. As always Disney would do, there is a presentation before the movie by Bob Hahn and I believe Robert Minkoff and Roger Allers, along with the 3D tech guy at Disney. They described the 3D making process and the crowd was entertained with Hahn on the water cooler jug with Allers and Minkoff singing as Timon and Pumbaa the song that was originally in the place of Hakuna Matata, then sung the original lyrics of the Hula distraction scene. Then, CUE The movie.
It looked great and was just a pleasure to watch again. I thought about attending the auction but was more hungry than anything and called the end of D23 Expo day 2. I was able to grab more of the headband giveaways for my nieces and nephews before leaving the arena, headed to Bubba Gump for a good meal, then hit the hay.
No comments:
Post a Comment