That afternoon we headed to the park for our first time together in Disneyland. We approached the ticket booth to purchase the weeks worth of passes. I mentioned to the teller that I had spoken with a Disneyland rep on the phone and they said the ticket booth could honour the online ticket price for me as I had so much trouble trying to purchase them online. He took my Visa and my ID and stared at it for a moment. He told me he would be back in a second and took my ID into a back room with him. I was extremely confused, thinking maybe my face was printed on a poster labeled "do not allow in." He eventually brought the ID and handed over our passes.
We approached the gate, dodging strollers and scooters, and presented our tickets to enter. The gate troll looked at me and promptly asked me for ID. "What?" "Do you have your ID?" "Oh... I..." I fumbled about and pulled out my drivers license. A quick look and she gave it back to me with my pass, "Always show your ID when you enter the park for the first time," "Oh... I've never had to do that before..." And that was the beginning of the small, disturbing nuances at the park.
The convention center opened the next day at 10am for general admission. We woke up around 8 and laid out our costumes. I was overly excited, slipping on my stomach control underwear (not that it helped much) and shapely white dress. We walked out of our room, hand in hand, and started towards the convention center. We passed millions of confused park-goers and hotel patrons on the way, but nothing could dampen my spirits. Until we arrived.
A gigantic line snaked outside the convention center, winding through the garden, around fountains and palm trees. We strode through them, pretending to know where we were going. Ultimately we were trying to find the END of the line, but every time we thought we found it, we'd turn around and find it curve down a different way. This is partly due to the distractions.
Our costumes were a HUGE hit. Since everyone had lined up outside, guests kept stopping us to tell us how great our costumes were, or take a picture of us. At one point, when Kiwi and I stopped to discuss what we should do about the line with no end, a food vendor saw us and started one of those movie "slow claps." Guests in the line turned to look at us and most of them even joined in on the applause! I went beet red, did a little bow of thank you and laughed our way through one line and found the end of another.
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| Portraits we took of ourselves in costume |
It was clear that the D23 staff had no idea that there would be such a big turnout. And they certainly had no idea how to organize queues. With the master of queue lines built right across the street, you'd think they'd take a page (or staff member) out of Disneyland's book and create organized lines. Kiwi and I had managed to find the D23 member only line and weren't sure what to do about it. We decided to stick with the moving group and actually found ourselves inside within 5 minutes. All the wonderful guests that had stopped us to take pictures and other costumers (like the adorable Rapunzel and her pan) had been left in our dust unintentionally. We looked back to see them in the giant spiraling line, still waiting to enter. When we got to the front, we gingerly showed them our general admission passes and were let in with a smile. Even though we had dumb-lucked our way into the D23 members line, we were still admitted! It seemed like an extremely unfair procedure, considering all those other guests waiting in line could have been admitted with us as well. But that was not the only blunder of the Expo. I will elaborate on Day II.
We were quickly ushered to a pair of long tables where we were given a program book (very nice) and directed to a bucket of lanyards for our passes. I don't know who's idea that was, but almost every lanyard in the bucket was tangled into a ball of Griswald's Family Christmas Lights. I calmly moved a few strings and pulled one out for myself while the volunteer next to me struggled fiercely and gave one to Kiwi 30 seconds later.
The center was enormous. I had never been to an event so large. There were pavilions and booths everywhere and I immediately felt overwhelmed. We decided to head straight to the arena where the "Disney Legends" ceremony was supposed to be starting in an hour. Again, we were stopped numerous times for pictures and compliments. I was over the moon. I made our costumes in only a few hectic days, but they turned out better than I ever could have imagined. This makes me wonder what costuming adventures I could accomplish if I had more time.
I don't think too many patrons were allowed in behind us, because by the time we walked into the arena and sat down, the presentation had nearly started. We fumbled in the dark to fill in the seats tightly, but nobody came to sit beside us. Almost 50% of the top bowl wasn't filled, but nobody was coming in after us! There were enough people in line behind us to fill the rest of the empty seats three times over, but they weren't being let in! What was going on here?
The presentation started with a video of the new President of the Walt Disney company excusing himself from coming to the event because he was on vacation with his family. Let me just call bullsh*t right here.
I had no idea what to expect, but once it got started I was extremely impressed. The host of Dancing with the Stars and America's Funniest Home Videos came out on stage and got the ball rolling. We got to hear from some amazing Disney Princess voices, both singing and speaking, and even got to hear them perform a medley of songs from their movies. Paige O’Hara sang as Belle, Lea Salonga sang as Mulan, Anika Noni Rose sang as Tiana, and Jodi Benson sang as Ariel. It was pretty amazing to hear them speak and sing. If you closed your eyes, you could easily see their corresponding characters in your head. Thrilling!
The best part of the ceremony, day and the entire Expo (for me) came last.
Honouring Jim Henson.
After a sweet performance with two muppets by Jim Henson's son and wife, the room went black. The curtains onstage pulled apart and a platform with a piano rolled out on stage.
I knew who it was before the banjo even started. Kermit and Rowlf sang Rainbow Connection. Rowlf on the piano, and Kermit on his banjo. I couldn't believe my eyes, seeing Kermit the Frog in person, playing his banjo. By the end of the song there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
I, and other women around me, wiped the mascara away while descending the stairs to explore the rest of the expo. Honestly, there wasn't much to look at. They had some exhibits that were interesting like the Pirates of the Caribbean props, Disney animator tables, and the Treasures of the Disney Archives, which I will elaborate on in the next few posts.
Other than showing off our costumes, we weren't interested in sticking around for any of the events. After seeing David Arquette walk right past us as we ate our lunch on the floor, we took our leave and decided to have some fun at the park.
- Strawberry
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