This week I'm concentrating on the two biggest upcoming Disney
events, the D23 Expo and the Walt Disney Family Museum.
In the interest of planning, in order for you to get the most out of your D23
Expo experience, the D23 folks have released a downloadable PDF with the all
expo's scheduled events and various experiences. It's got maps, it's got times,
it's got people!
I know you want to download this because not only can you plot out the whos,
the whats, and the wheres of your D23 Expo experience, you can also plot out
your plans to drop by the MiceAge/MiceChat booth and say hi to your favorite
MiceAge, MiceChat, Yesterland, and Gay Days Anaheim personalities. We'll all be
there in the Collectors Forum, which is located on the ground floor of the Expo,
booth C209.
See? I told you that you needed this thing and I was right, wasn't I?
Download it at this link.
Now -- speaking of the D23 Expo, those of you attending have the opportunity
to see the latest Disney Legends ceremony. Which, having seen one of these, I
can tell you, is a pretty exciting thing to behold ... and special too, because
they are not usually open to the public.
The first Disney Legend was given out in 1987 to actor Fred MacMurray.
Remember him from The Shaggy Dog, The Absent-Minded Professor,
The Happiest Millionaire? In all total, 237 Disney Legends have been named,
including this year's honorees. Some of the past recipients of this award have
been Tim Allen, Julie Andrews, Howard Ashman, Annette Funicello, Peter Jennings,
Angela Lansbury, Steve Martin, Alan Menken, Hayley Mills, Fess Parker, Sir Tim
Rice, Dick Van Dyke and Barbara Walters.
The Awards are a 22-year tradition with the Disney Company and the ceremony,
which will be hosted by ABC's Tom Bergeron, will take place at 11 a.m. on
Thursday, Sept. 10, in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena. Each honoree will be
presented with a two-foot-tall bronze Disney Legends sculpture and in addition
to that, they also get to make a set of hand prints, Grauman's Chinese
Theatre-style, which are then bronzed and displayed in the Disney Legends Plaza
at the Company's Burbank headquarters.
The 2009 Disney Legends Award honorees are:
TONY ANSELMO - a Disney animator who, since 1985, has provided the
voice of Donald Duck, and BILL FARMER - the voice of Goofy, Pluto and
Horace Horsecollar for many Disney productions.
HARRY ARCHINAL - the former president of Buena Vista
International, and the late LEOTA TOOMBS THOMAS from Imagineering who
became world-famous as the Haunted Mansion's disembodied Madame Leota.
DON IWERKS - the son of Walt Disney's longtime friend and animator Ub
Iwerks. Don created film systems that were used in movies like Mary
Poppins and park attractions such as "CircleVision 360" and "Star
Tours."
BEATRICE ARTHUR - the late Tony Award-winning stage actress, also
known for TV shows such as The Golden Girls and Maude; the
late ESTELLE GETTY who was, in fact, younger than
Arthur but portrayed her mother in The Golden Girls. RUE
McCLANAHAN who not only did The Golden Girls, with Arthur but
also Maude, as well as co-starred in Mama's Family, and
BETTY WHITE - also in The Golden Girls The Mary Tyler Moore
Show, and The Practice among many others.
ROBIN WILLIAMS - who for Disney was the voice of Genie in
Aladdin and starred in Good Morning, Vietnam, and Dead Poets
Society.
For a complete list of all the Disney Legends honorees (not all famous names
but certainly all worthy of such an award),
visit this link to learn their stories and what they did for the Walt
Disney Company.
Now, on to The Walt Disney Family Museum's Gallery Number 8.
Gallery 8 artist rendering
With the museum's October 1st opening day less than a month away now, we're
winding down on our previews of the various galleries you'll get to see when you
visit. You are planning your visits aren't you, Dear Readers? I know I am.
From the press release:
Gallery 8 - Walt and the Natural World:
Walt--who had a love of
nature since his youth in Marceline--also ventured into live-action
documentaries during the '40s and early '50s. The first of these was a
nature documentary, Seal Island, a 27-minute account of the seasonal habits
of seals that won the 1949 Academy Awardª for best two-reel documentary.
Later documentaries in the series, "True-Life Adventures" continued to focus
on nature, while "People and Places" highlighted peoples and destinations
around the world.
I remember well watching the True-Life Adventures while in grade
school and when I think back to those times now, I realize that the teachers
probably loved those films as much as we kiddies did. We got to avoid schoolwork
and see exciting films about animals and their lives, and the teachers? They got
a break from the probably rowdy kiddies (I'm remembering we were all perfectly
behaved little kiddies but you know that memory just isn't so). Exhibits in
gallery 8 will include some of the specialized equipment used in the production
of the "True-Life Adventures" series so it should be a very interesting gallery,
indeed.
If you're planning a trip up to San Francisco to see the museum, The
Walt Disney Family Museum's website is up so you can take a look
for all the pertinent information including ticketing info, prices, how to get
there, etc.
and -- you can now order your tickets for a visit:
http://www.waltdisney.org You can also follow the Walt Disney Family Museum on
Facebook and
Twitter for the latest
scoop, and of course discuss it all to your heart's content at
MiceChat's forum
for it.
And that should do it for this week's...