I know it’s a couple days late, but here’s some things I got to take part in on Day 2 of the D23 Expo 2013!
Broadcasts from Buena Vista Street
The morning of the second day of the Expo, I did not attend the live action movie presentation featuring Disney’s upcoming movies. I know. What’s wrong with me. Instead, I got to go see a live performance of voice performers recreate the radio program that is in Oswald’s on Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure. I’ve got to say I don’t regret the switch at all! In some ways, I think this was more of a treat than going to see previews of movies that I’ll see in not too long of a time anyway.
Tim Blaney, Fred Tattoshore, Candi Milo, Bob Joles, Philip Proctor, and Allen Lulu were all on hand to perform a portion of the radio and second story window acts playing everyday at Disney California Adventure. These six are not just random performers. They are very talented voice actors that have been heard on several cartoons, commercials, and movies all over! Tim Blaney, for example, is the voice and puppeteer for Johnny 5 from the classic movie, Short Circuit. Candi Milo is Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory. Philip Proctor is a veteran radio actor, and has been a voice actor in several Disney and Pixar films. Bob Joles is Sallah in the Indiana Jones Adventure queue. Fred Tattoshore is Hulk in the current Marvel cartoon series. Allen Lulu is a spokesman for several products and companies in commercials throughout the US.
To hear and see them perform was wonderful and amazing. Then, to find out all that this group has done was astonishing! They are the people that I’ve wanted to meet after seeing…or rather hearing…so many of their performances in media. They are great comic geniuses as well. I also got a chance to chat with them in the autograph line after the panel. We’ll also have the video up on the YouTube channel soon so all can enjoy this awesome group of acting.
Walt Disney Archives
This Expo Archives exhibit featured dresses from Harrad’s, artifacts from Oz movies and Mary Poppins, and props and costumes from Once Upon A Time. The dress lineup had beautiful outfits that I would imagine women would want to own and strut around in. Once Upon a Time had props such as Henry’s book and Emma’s baby blanket, and costumes from throughout the series.
The Oz area was a treat, as I am someone that has watched both Oz: The Great and Powerful and Return to Oz. The Oz: Great and Powerful costumes were great to see up close. But, the thing that caught me the most was the Return to Oz artifacts. Though the movie was frightening, I did imagine walking with the characters from the movie, like Tik Tok and Jack Pumpkinhead. It was great to see the actual costumes/puppets of these characters in real life! There was such detail, and they really were as tall as they seemed on the screen. Along with the Oz area were several sketches and models for development of Oz movies during Walt Disney’s time.
The Mary Poppins area was a real treat as well. My favorites were the matte paintings used for the intro to the movie. It was fascinating to see that there was a space left out for where Julie Andrews’ Mary Poppins would be inserted into a cloud for the sequence. The rest were beautiful paintings of a fictional London skyline, and all exactly as they looked in the movie. Yet, they do seem very realistic. Also around were the two racing carousel horses from the chalk drawing sequence. They were beautiful, and hardly aged. In addition were props, like the blocks from Spoonful of Sugar, and costumes worn by the cast.
Once Upon A Time Panel
Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz came and supplied previews of both Season 3 of Once Upon a Time, and info on the new series, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. Before they started discussing anything, a 20 minute pilot for Wonderland was shown to the public. In it were the stars that will be in the ongoing show: Sophie Lowe, Naveen Andrews, John Lithgow, Peter Gadiot, and Michael Socha. I did recognize many of it from previews released by ABC. This is an exciting, and a little different, show than OUAT. Kitsis and Horowitz said that London is a fictional version, where it’s still Victorian and other storybook characters would feel at home here, such as Charles Dickens characters. Could this be a hint for what’s to come? There was no indication, but it’s interesting to note. Wonderland will seem to cross paths with Agrabah. Both Cyrus and Jafar are from there. And the two writers/creators hinted at the Knave of Hearts may have a connection and interesting past. He’s not quite what his title seems, and they indicated a double storybook personality to him. Confirmed for the pilot in October from OUAT will be Grumpy and Cinderella.
Then, the team discussed what to expect from Season 3 of their hit show. They said that there will be two acts to the season. There will be 11 episodes right in a row, then a break, and the series will resume with another 11 straight through. The first half will focus on Neverland, and will resolve that arc by the end of the 11 episodes. The second half will be focused on Storybrooke again. Kitsis and Horowitz said that the first season was the main characters not knowing who they are, the second about remembering who they really are, and now this season is about becoming who they always have been.
The Neverland part will be about the 6 on Hook’s ship being all leader quality, and it’s hard to have all leaders trying to solve a conflict. There was one preview scene shown of Rumplestilskin/Mr. Gold in Neverland and addressing a Lost Boy about Peter Pan. It was seen that he has been to Neverland before and has a past with Pan. Also, that Pan is someone that Gold even fears, and there’s a possible foreshadowing with a threat to Gold’s life. At the end, the Lost Boy gives Gold a weaved doll, which sends him into weeping. The audience was told that there would be something about the scene we wouldn’t understand until more of the season pans out.
Other hints were that there could be some sparks between Hook and Emma, and that we’ll see more of Aurora, Philip, and Mulan dealing with Neal in the Enchanted Forest. Characters that they will bring out in this season is Ariel, Ursula, Peter Pan, and Prince Eric. Some fun comments the two made were things like they would love to bring Oz as a realm in the series. They would also like to have Sebastian Stan reprise the Mad Hatter/Jefferson, but there’s job conflict (he’s Winter Soldier for the new Captain America movie). They did confirm that Giancarlo Esposito would return for one episode, the second one, for the season as Sydney Glass/Magic Mirror. Overall, it was a fun panel as these two really enjoy flushing out this world and story as time goes on. They said how two years ago at the Expo they didn’t believe they would last past 6 episodes. At this panel there was not one seat left to hear them speak about the hit show.
Disney Songbook Concert
Besides the Broadcasts from Buena Vista Street, this concert was the other highlight to the Expo and day. The word “treat” does not even begin to describe seeing to legendary Disney performers together and doing the songs they wrote. Richard Sherman told stories of writing the songs and interacting with performers. He joked, and had a great time even with the audience. Jason Schwartzman and BJ Novak surprised Sherman, and the crowd, by coming on stage to sing Spoonful of Sugar. Alan Menken did a tremendous job putting together medleys of songs as he went through a timeline of films he worked on. After both did their sets individually, the two returned together to each do a song they wrote about the world. Menken went first with A Whole New World. Then, Sherman had Menken sing the countermelody to it’s a small world (after all). It was a beautiful end as the whole arena full of people joined in with them.
This was an amazing concert, as the crowd got to hear the songs we all knew, but in the way they were originally intended and written. Both songwriters were in great form to give everyone a taste of Disney history. I was able to see and can confirm that famous Disney people wanted to see them too, like John Lasseter, Marty Sklar, and Tony Baxter. I’m sure there were many others, which shows how great an event this was.
Check out the gallery below, and look over at Youtube.com/mrdaps for a video playlist with many of the panels and other things we covered at the Expo, including the concert!
And, until next time, have a marvelous day!
