Now you don’t have to wait long for Part 2 of the expo, so here it is!
Once the presentation had ended, and the 4,000 people had filed out of the arena, we were given a Maleficent horns headband, and a saving Mr. Banks poster. Melodie, Sarah, and I were even able to snag some extras! 🙂 We went and grabbed a quick bite to eat before I got in line for the Alan Menken and Richard Sherman concert. I was in line at 2pm, and there were already a few hundred people ahead of me. The concert was my biggest priority for the weekend, so I wanted to make sure I was there early enough to get a good seat! Melodie and Sarah came and joined me in line later after exploring the show floor (They were only there Saturday). We had a lot of fun chatting and playing card games, which made the time go by fast. 6:30 finally rolled around, and the magical, musical evening began with both Alan and Richard coming out to the stage to greet the audience. Tim O’Day hosted the evening, and helped guide Richard through the songs and stories he wrote with Disney. Richard has some wonderful stories, especially because many of them were personal accounts with Walt. Richard played a number of his songs, and even asked for audience participation on a few of them. It’s fun, because I can say I sang with Richard Sherman!
Once Richard finished, Alan came out to perform. Now, the concert was supposed to be an hour and a half, but Richard’s performance was around an hour, and Alan had A LOT of songs to play. I’ve grown up with Alan’s music since I was a baby, so to be able to see him perform again (I saw him last year at Destination D), was beyond amazing! It felt like he covered just about every Disney song of his, which was great! The concert went an hour long and I don’t think anyone complained about it. After Alan’s encore, the two of them came back out to do one more encore each, both of which had something to do with the world. Alan played “A Whole New World,” while Richard leaned on the piano, wiping tears from his eyes. When Alan finished, they switched spots, and Richard then played “it’s a small world,” while Alan and the audience sang along. That alone made the entire weekend for me, because that was a once in a lifetime experience! That day, I was up for almost 20 hours, going on less than 5 hours of sleep, but it was all entirely worth it!
Thankfully, Sunday wasn’t an early day, as I got to the Convention Center around noon. I got to hang out with Mr. Daps himself for most of the day. We actually got to do a lot on Sunday, because most of the crowds had subsided. We got more accomplished in a shorter day, then I had gotten done when I was there from open to close. We had little waits for Journey into Imagineering, the Dream Store, and the Agents of Shield Preview. Side note: Agents of Shield is going to be an awesome series! Another part that I loved about the expo was seeing people you knew just about everywhere you turned. The last thing we did on Sunday was the Jack Wrather Disneyland Hotel presentation. That presentation was done by Don Ballard, a friend of my family. He had some great history and photos of the Wrathers, filming of the Lone Ranger Series, the opening of the Disneyland Hotel, AND color footage of opening day at Disneyland! It was a great presentation that we thoroughly enjoyed!
Overall, the expo was fun, even though the waiting and lines got to be a little outrageous! I loved seeing and meeting new people, and enjoying sneak peeks and glimpses of Disney past.
Thanks again D23 and friends!
Until next time,
Caitlyn
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram: @caitlynnoel
