DAPs Magic Disney News – PRESS RELEASE
Recently, D23 – the official Disney fan club, invited several members of the online media up to the Walt Disney Studios to look at the events coming to D23 members in 2012. Things got started off with a look around the lobby of the Frank G. Wells building. You can read about my favorite part of that experience here.
After perusing the lobby of the Frank G. Wells building for awhile, we were invited into explore the Disney archives. This alone was an incredible opportunity that we were all very excited about. Our smiles got even bigger when we were told to be free and take as many pictures as we wanted. Here are a few of my favorites:
Display in front of The Walt Disney Archives
The Wardrobe from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Just a few awards that The Walt Disney Company has earned and displays.
This bird and later talking/singing birds would come along.
No broomsticks but this is still pretty amazing.
After we were allowed to explore for awhile, the head of D23 Steven Clark moved things forward and explained a bit about the archives. All of this led up to an introduction of the director of the Walt Disney Archives, Becky Cline. Within minutes Becky Cline had brought forward a stack of, what looked like, really old books. Everybody’s eyes were glued to her hands as she began to pull things out. We were watching history be unveiled and were within feet (some people inches) of pieces of work, some of it Walt Disney himself had touched and worked on.
Becky Cline shows off an original cell from Steamboat Willie
Steamboat Willie Original Cell
Look closely, can you tell what it is?
Steamboat Willie
The very first soundtrack ever, Snow White.
A much closer look at Snow White that has never been seen before publicly.
An unused scene from Dumbo.
More unused scenes from Dumbo.
The original Mickey Mouse Theme Song from the ORIGINAL Mickey Mouse Club.
After sharing all these amazing treasures, Becky Cline pulled out an Academy Award “Oscar.” This award was from White Wilderness which won Best Documentary Feature of 1958. After talking briefly about it she concluded her presentation and offered the statue to take pictures with before we moved on to the next portion of the presentation in a theater down the hall. This offer was jumped on by eeral of the people in attendance, including me.
This was a wonderful experience and if this had been all we were treated to at this event, I would have been more than satisfied! However, this wasn’t all that the good people at D23 had in store for us. You’ll have to check back here to see what was next in my next article! One last thing. There are a lot of really fun pictures here that I took, and one that I didn’t. My favorite picture that I took of the day however was on another camera. The picture has a wonderful story behind it and has one of my good friends Lisa (Babes in Disneyland) in it. To see the picture, click here and work your way through this wonderful post til you find the LAST picture.
