Follow My Coffee: Expo Weekend

Founded in 2009, Disney officially created a fan club for Disney fans of all ages. D23, named for the year Walt Disney came to Hollywood and founded his company, has different tiers of membership, ranging from basic free with few benefits to an expensive membership with exclusive perks and gifts. Every two years, starting in 2009, D23 holds the D23 Expo for guest to come and enjoy all things Disney (even for people without a membership at all). The Little One and I went in 2011 and had a blast so we set up with our experience for optimal fun at the 2015 Expo. I flew in from Seattle on August 12th (my birthday) and we drove out to Anaheim on the 13th. We got a hotel closer than the one we had and planned meals better for our budget. We brought along my sister’s boyfriend and her best friend to join us and they made it even more fun. The Expo is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and on Sunday, The Boss and her husband and daughter came down for the day. Also, just as prior years, there is a pop up Disney Store selling exclusive items. I got to see a lot of coworkers who volunteered to work there for the weekend (paid, of course). The Vice President of Stores, Jonathan Storey, and Bob Iger, CEO of the Disney Company, spent some time at the pop up store. I saw Jonathan Storey from outside of the shop but was too nervous to go talk to him. He’s one of my bosses but he’s kind of a hero of mine. I love the ideas he brought back to the Disney Stores when he came aboard.

At the D23 Expo, there is booths to purchase Disney items (some handmade), interact with new Disney technology such as previously unreleased Disney Infinity 3.0 game play and being the first to use the Star Wars Battlefront Pod, meet artists who partner with Disney to create wonderful Disney art, participate in sponsored events like the Target Store’s Star Wars photo op, and go through museum style exhibit put on by Disney. The reason my sister and I go (other than I get really cheap tickets being a Cast Member) is to go to the panels where they talk about all the new and exciting things to come to Disney. Those panels are usually riddled with celebrities. No one knows who for sure but everyone has their guesses. We were not disappointed. During the Expo weekend, large chunks of people who attended dressed in Disney themed costumes. Some are downright incredible, so everyone stops to take pictures. In 2011, I got a picture with Mr. Poppins, a man dressed as Mary Poppins. The husband and I returned from Seattle on my birthday, August 12th. The Expo started on the 14th. Leaving the husband home, my sister and our small gang, made way to our hotel which was walking distance to the convention center (on the 13^th) knowing we had an early morning ahead of us.

On the agenda for day one, Friday, we got up and went to go wait in line for the Disney Animation panel. They talk about the upcoming animated Disney and Pixar films and shows. We ended up waiting in the long line and in the heat for 3 hours before we got in but we made it. We heard people talking about a different entrance for people who showed up at midnight the night before. Though it sounded crazy, we knew that if we wanted to get into the Disney Live Action panel the next day, we would have to go that route. My coffee for the first day was a Starbucks mocha I picked up when we stopped at CVS for snacks on our walk over. It was nice and cold as we waited in the increasing heat for those few hours. Once in the panel (no camera or phones allowed), we got to watch clips for The Good Dinosaur, Finding Dory, and the new Star Wars Rebels show due to premiere on the Disney Channel (to name a few). When they started to talk about Finding Dory, Ellen DeGeneres came out and talked about how excited she was that her sequel is finally coming in 2016, of course, after 3 Toy Story movies already. She was hilarious and probably more excited about the movie coming out than anyone else around. The showed a preview announcing the newest upcoming Disney Princess, Moana. It is about a Hawaiian Princess who wishes to visit a fabled island and is joined a demi-god who is strong and tells stories through his tattoos. Being a Samoan God meant giving that character a great and powerful voice. Naturally they picked Dwayne Johnson, The Rock. He came on stage and elaborated more on the story and his role in the movie, but not without taking a huge selfie with the whole audience first and doing a chest pounding, audience participating, God-like chant before leaving the stage.

After the panel, we checked out the main floor, got dinner, and went back to the hotel for a nice swim in the pool before turning in, as we were going to get up in the middle of the night to start day two.

For day two, the Little One and her boyfriend, took off half an hour ahead of us to hold our place in line. This time, we were not outside, but in a basement style room in an air conditioned building. We brought a blanket to sit on and at 2am, we started the wait for the 1030am Live Action panel. The problem with Expos and Cons like this is you end up needed to wait for what you really want to see, so you miss other panels. You have to plan what is priority and choose wisely. We chose this panel over the Disney Legends panel and missed Johnny Depp and George Lucas being inducted as Disney Legends. It was ok because we knew the Live Action panel would be more fun and tell us about all kinds of amazing new movies that were slated to come out. As we waited in the basement, a guy on an inflatable mattress started snoring across from us, people were playing cards, and after 6am, they opened a small walk up restaurant selling burgers and pretzels. The best friend and I were bored so we decided to go wait in line to get coffee and snacks. The line ended up being an hour wait. They were showing cartoons and previews on the TVs above our heads so we had a little entertainment but the Little One ended up curling up in the blankets like a burrito and falling asleep while we were in that line. The coffee was hot but mostly bland. It didn’t really go with the Mickey shaped pretzel I ordered but oatmeal wasn’t exactly being served at the time. Once inside for the panel, we started discussing which celebrities we thought would make an appearance and which movies they would show us. Some of the movies they talked about were the new live action Beauty and the Beast, Captain America; Civil War, Dr. Strange, The Jungle Book, the next Pirates of the Caribbean, The Finest Hours, and of course what we came for, Star Wars; The Force Awakens. For Beauty and the Beast, they were recording over the pond but they played a previously recorded message from Josh Gad. Captain America, himself, came out to talk about his movie. Boy Howdy! Chris Evans sweater was bulging with muscles. Dr. Strange, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, also gave a recorded message, as he was also working in the UK. For the newest in the Pirates movie coming out, Captain Jack Sparrow joined us. Johnny Depp, but in his pirate attire and asking if the audience wanted some of the grapes he was eating, then throwing grapes to people in the audience. He got a pretty big standing ovation but it was quickly forgotten as Star Wars was the next movie to talk about. All the characters from the new movie come on stage to talk about what it was like to be in such an iconic franchise and to become the new faces of Star Wars. All the new faces, Rey, Finn, Captain Phasma, were all in awe, as was the audience, when a familiar face from long ago came on stage. Han Solo! Harrison Ford came out and the whole panel room went nuts! As it was, no new information was leaked but as Harrison Ford talked, he grinned from ear to ear because he knew all the secrets. We all would have to wait four more excruciatingly long months for the movie’s debut. At the end of the panel, we were rewarded for attending with D23 Expo exclusive The Force Awakens and Jungle Book movie posters. We immediately saw postings for those items on eBay. We went to a grilled cheese truck for lunch and a woman dressed as Dr. Krunklehorn from Meet the Robinsons (such an underrated movie) was handing out Caffeine Patches, just like in the movie. I think she was more excited that I got her reference than I was of getting the sticker.

The last day of the Expo was met with more of a relaxed approach. We checked out of our hotel and went to go wait in the same basement room as the day before. It was only for 2 hours this time so we could get into the Disney Interactive panel. There, they talked about Star Wars: Battlefront, the holiday release of the Darth Vader Playstation 4, Kingdom Hearts 3 featuring Big Hero 6 and Disneyland ride features, and the much anticipated (mostly by the Little One) Disney Infinity 3.0 with Star Wars now included in the Infinity universe. The gifts at the end of that panel were an early release Mickey Mouse Infinity figurine and a D23 exclusive Kingdom Hearts costume for said Mickey figure.
After the panel we got to create mini Coca-Cola cans with our names on them (limited nicknames were allowed but I was able to make one with my new married name on it and the word Love). We walked through an exhibit for the Shanghai Disneyland resort that is being built and set to open in June 2016. My eyes were instantly drawn to the tea house they are planning with a view of the castle. Throughout the Expo floor, there was a touch of history. An original People Mover car and an original Sky Bucket from Disneyland was present and available for pictures. Before ending the day we grabbed a coffee from one of the convention center food stalls and sent out mail. The US Post Office partnered up with the Expo and for each of the three days had a special cancel stamp to commemorate the event. Of course I got all three. When we felt we did and saw everything we wanted, we went to get dinner at the resort hotels or Downtown Disney. Lots of places were crowded due to the summer busy season and the fact that all the other Expo attendees had the same idea as us. We ended up at the Storytellers Cafe in the Grand Californian Hotel. The kids surprised me by telling the waiter it was my birthday so they brought me a cupcake and an autographed picture of the first Disney Princess, Snow White.

The 3 days of coffee were uneventful. A cold mocha and two hot regular cups of coffee. But they served their purpose over this long weekend of celebrity cameos, blistering outdoor heat, long waits, and everything Disney. Weekend long conventions usually need a vacation after. Good thing the D23 Expo is around every other year.