Ep. 730: D23 recap part 2 with special guests, and the top 23 moments from D23
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You're listening to Mousetalgia for the week of August 25, 2024. ♪♪♪ Hang on to them hats and glasses, because this here is the wildest podcast in the wilderness. This is Mousetalgia. Carpe Kingdom, seize the magic. ♪♪♪

Welcome to Nostalgia, your podcast about Disneyland. Let's see, well this week it's everything about D23, the ultimate Disney fan event, which was held a couple weeks ago down in Anaheim, and just living the Disney life. My name is Jeff, and I am your host for this week, and we have all kinds of great stuff for you this episode. We're going to talk everything D23 this week. Richard and Sarah from Skywalking Through Neverland, they're going to join us and talk about

Their experience at D23 a couple weeks ago to compare notes. We're going to talk to Brie Bertolaccini from the Walt Disney Family Museum who presented a panel at D23 all about a new book that's coming out. And I'm just going to share a little bit more about my experience at the expo. Had a great time. Lots of super cool stuff to discuss with you. But before we start...

I want to, of course, as always, thank our sponsor, MEI Mouse Fan Travel. They are a fee-free Disney travel agency. So any questions you have or anything you would want to know about taking a Disney vacation, they can help you with that. They can answer it for you. And they can give you a no-obligation quote for your trip. So I have used MEI Mouse Fan Travel, as has the rest of the Mousetalgia crew. They really know what they're talking about. So meimousefantravel.com.

Go there, get yourself a no-obligation quote. All right. Well, you know, I'm going to keep my charcuterie short this week. The Mousetalgia Charcuterie. In fact, I was going to skip it altogether, but just today Kristen texted me just as I was about to record the show and she said, what do we feel about Donald Duck eating hot wings? And I was like,

And I hadn't heard about this, right? So I said, I don't know what you're talking about. And she said, Donald Duck is a guest star this week on Hot Ones, which is, of course, a popular talk show in which the guests have to answer questions while they're eating hotter and hotter and hotter wings, right? So Donald Duck eating wings seems to be... I just, I don't know if I feel...

This was well thought out. I mean, I guess it's funny to a certain degree, maybe to the only degree that matters. You know, I mean, maybe the people that listen to Hot Ones would appreciate having a bird on the show answering questions while eating bird, which is weird. Although so they they specify that Donald Duck's wings will be cauliflower. Right. So Donald Duck is not actually eating bird.

bird. He's eating simulated bird. But does that make it better? Does does that really make it better? So, you know, I don't really have much to say other than to present this news to you and let you make your own decisions and alert you to the fact that Donald Duck is on Hot Ones. But if you want to learn more about this, you know, it's the first we feed. First, we feast is the Instagram account that features Hot Ones. Right. So first, we feast.com.

has already had Donald explaining some things to them about his, his history, right? His first job in movies was the wise little hen in 1934 and things just went uphill from there. Right. So he became popular. He even claimed he was so popular in his early days that he got bigger roles than other quote unquote, so-called celebrities. So a little shade from Donald duck there. Um,

And of course, you know, imagine he's tossing it Mickey's way. I mean, who else would he be? Who else would he be talking about? And as a collector, I have to tell you, there's this period of history where the Donald Duck memorabilia and the Mickey Mouse memorabilia, there's some competition there about who really was more popular at that time. So he may have had a fair argument there, right?

So Donald did appear on Hot Ones on August 23rd. I mean, I'm going to let you go look for that yourself. I'm not going to give you spoilers. But Disney did. Obviously, this is a collab with Disney. And it is Donald Duck's 90th birthday this year, right? So we are celebrating Donald's 90th.

And this is part of the celebration. So, you know, it is an interesting move from Disney's marketing to put Donald Duck on a show in which contestants or the interviewees eat bird. So, cauliflower notwithstanding. So, I mean, is it better if humans...

you know, eat simulated hands and feet. I just, I don't know. It's weird to me. And it was weird to Kristen. So maybe it's weird to you or maybe you think it's cool. I don't know. You can let us know, but just thought I would point that out. And I've said enough about that. Let's move on and start talking about D23. Here you leave today to hear a podcast from the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy. Nostalgia. Carpe the Magic.

All right, we are going to jump into the D23 conversation by talking first with Skywalking Through Neverland. So Skywalking Through Neverland, of course, the fabulous, famous podcast featuring the ever-bullion Richard and Sarah. I think you're going to love hearing what they have to say about the event. We had some similar experiences and we had some very different experiences. So without any further ado, let's hear from Skywalking Through Neverland.

Well, up next, we have very special guests finally returning to the show. I'm sorry. I am sorry it's been so long. You might have heard Moustalgia had some stuff going, my hiatus for a little bit. But we're back and happy to have Skywalking Through Neverland, Sarah and Richard, back on the show. You guys, thank you so much for joining me today. It has been three years, two weeks, eight days, and 15 minutes, Jeff.

What is up with this? We've been waiting by the computer all this time, and finally we got the invite. And meanwhile, we're catching up to you in episodes. I know you are. It's kind of awesome, right? You guys have been kind of amazing podcast story.

If for some reason I can't even imagine that any of my listeners out there aren't also following and subscribing to Skywalking Through Neverland. But if you are not, be a subscriber to Skywalking Through Neverland. Like the most amazing content you guys produce. It's just it's phenomenal and astounding. And your work ethic and your scheduling. Like I can't I mean, Moustacha, we did have a thing go on for a while. Like we did. Like I get the work ethic part of it. But man alive, you guys are doing amazing stuff. So congratulations and thanks for joining me.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yeah. What were the conventions, the podcasting and the YouTube and the Instagram reels? It's a whole new ballgame now. As we're talking to you right now, we're working on three reels and four shorts. That's right. You guys fully embrace the social media. I shun the social media. Like if you like all you need for nostalgia is like an old iPod, not even a video one.

Most of our listeners don't even know what podcast means. All right. But enough of all that. I think Kristen still has a pager. Kristen and I used to page each other when we first met. Oh, my God. Yeah, there you go. All right. All right. So we are here to talk about D23, the ultimate fan event presented by Visa, which I

Wait, wait, wait. It's the ultimate Disney fan event. Oh, shoot, I blew it. You are absolutely right. I cannot believe I blew that. If one of us slips and calls it the expo, I think everyone knows what we're talking about. Just a couple weeks ago down in Anaheim, I know you guys were there.

A very exciting time. And I just kind of wanted to get your experience, to share your experience with our listeners. I know you have done extensive sharing of your experience with your subscribers, but maybe it would be interesting to see how you can capsulize that into like a few minutes with my nostalgia. So let me just start with a general question. Okay. I assume I know the answer to this, but positive experience overall, or kind of wish they would work on this a little bit.

I would say positive. I would say very positive too. Thumbs up. Especially with the showcase panels happening at the Honda Center. Like at first we were very concerned about getting over there and we were kind of freaked out about it. But the fact that we had actually gotten seats for every night

was like already going in was a little bit of the stress was lessened. Lowered, yes. Because I remember 10 years ago, I mean, we've been to every D23 since 2009. Same. Yeah. And so like, I remember when it got really crazy, like 2013, then 2017, like it was getting nuts. And I would,

Remember watching Twitter to see when people were heading into the Honda Center at night, you know, like 2 a.m., 3 a.m. And I was like, OK, judging when do we have to get up next night to get in to make sure we get into that big panel? Like so there was none of that. There was none of that this time. It was so late that it was early or so early that was still late at night.

that we had to get there before. Right. So I think, yeah, springboarding off of what you just said, I think this was a very positive experience. And yeah, going into this, we thought there's no way this can ever work. Having all the big showcases at the Honda Center. Having 12,000 people have to get from the convention center to the Honda Center. How is this going to work?

There was plenty of part... We took the bus one night. We took our car the next couple nights. And it both worked. Like, both were fine. They were very organized. Yeah. It was a snafu here and there. But, of course, there's always going to be... When you're trying to juggle that many people in this many events, there's always going to be something that's going to happen. And you can either dwell on it or go...

hey, that's what happened. Let's move on. And I have to say, being in that room of 12,000 people, like really the legend ceremony really capped that off in the fact that it was a special experience and a special atmosphere with that many people

fans in one spot. Like even the legends, you know, when they were inducted, they would look up and be like, whoa, there's so many people. Like, yeah, it was like Ming-Na Wen when she came on stage with all the other princesses and she started to talk and then she couldn't because we were all cheering for her. And it was great. I think most of the recipients would look out and go, wow. Yeah. In rehearsal, there wasn't this many people. Yeah.

That's funny. You know, at the very first event, the studio night, right? Yeah. Bob Iger came out there and I felt like he was visibly moved by, you could imagine he maybe expected people to be friendly, but maybe not sure, you know, because he's the topic of everyone's conversation, right? And you could tell he was moved by the fan response. He just didn't expect it. Thank you. Thank you.

I was going to say good evening and thank you for that warm welcome, but that was more than a warm welcome. I mean, as a fan, I didn't. I mean, I was happy to be cheering for the guy, but I also didn't expect like it was just kind of a phenomenal experience. It was a great, I think, a great moment. Yes. And a great way to just kind of launch everything. So, yeah, I would agree with you all about the Honda Center. I was very vocal on my show about Honda.

man, how are they going to do this? They'll never be able to do it. And I still didn't trust them. I left early because I just, I didn't trust them. Right. But I mean, yeah, sure. Some people had to wait a while, but no one felt like it's not organized. They didn't know what to do. They didn't know how to get home, you know? And so, yeah, I think that was a phenomenal success. Plenty of people telling you which bus to go to and they were all air conditioned. Yep. Yep.

Yeah, yeah. I thought, are these the buses for the celebrities that are leaving? Because when I got out there, you know, it was a short line of people because I was, you know,

you know early and i thought this has got to be like the vips leaving the honda center right the celebrities and they're like nope this is the line so we are the vips all the fans and 12 000 of us were all right that's right um okay so let's end let's start at the end i actually like we can obviously talk all night about the expo and i don't necessarily want to do that but i do want to hear you said expo i did about the ultimate disney fan event and i do um

We'll just call it D23. And I do kind of want to know. Hashtag D23. Yeah. You, I mean, people know you're Star Wars fans. So you were there for the legend ceremony. Harrison Ford, of course, John Williams, like Star Wars fans. Frank Oz. Yep. Star Wars fans had a lot to celebrate that night. What's your takeaway from the legend ceremony this year?

Oh, well, I mean, starting with Harrison Ford was really exciting. And what was fun is we were up in the boonies, but we were on the side very close to the stage, but really high. So we could see down to the front row where Jamie Lee Curtis was like, had her arm around Harrison Ford. Like, you know, like as as Bob Iger began to say, yes.

In the galaxy far, far away. Yeah. We were close enough that we could see this stuff that you won't see when you're watching this ceremony on Disney+. Right. In fact, I think we put out a video where we have my... I, like, zoomed in on Harrison Ford in the front row. And, Richard, you just have the full video. Right. So on our YouTube, you can see, like, the video of his response while Bob Iger is talking. It's kind of fun. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. But so...

Like, as to reaction, honestly, like, my reaction, one of my favorite moments was that Jodie Foster came out. And she's, like, one of my big... Sarah loves Contact. I love Jodie Foster. I love Contact. I loved Freaky Friday when I was a kid. So just seeing her on stage and then having that whole weird Freaky Friday multiverse thing happening with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. And...

For a second there, I was going to say Lindsay Wagner. Yeah. What is your response to the Star Wars? Well, you really liked Frank Oz's stuff. I thought everyone came out there and said, I'm very humbled by this. And Frank Oz said, I'm humbled and very embarrassed because I should not be up here alone. Behind me should be Jim Henson. Behind me should be all my Muppeteers, George Lucas. He called out Mark Hamill, which I thought was very funny.

very, very wise of him because it was, if it wasn't for Mark Hamill's counter performance of, off of Yoda, Yoda wouldn't be the, the Jedi master that he, that we all know and love. Yeah. He had, you'd have an actor that really sold the fact that he was talking to a, a live character. So the fact that he mentioned Mark Hamill, I thought, Oh man, this guy, this guy is gold. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You know, um,

Happy that Disney is honoring many of the Star Wars creators and contributors over the years as legends. And that's really cool because Star Wars, of course, was purchased by Disney as much of their much of their successful property now. You know, but it's still yeah, still feels good for them to be, you know, embraced and appreciated.

enveloped in this Disney kind of magic, right? Oh yeah, because with our Lucasfilm, it's like, it'll be five years between projects because you only have one man spearheading everything and now you have a whole committee spearheading things. But then as the night went on, there was 14 recipients like, okay, here comes John Williams. Nope, not yet. Here comes John. Uh-oh. As the night went on,

We were thinking, okay, something's up because you don't save the last for a man who's 91 years old. Yeah. And we're, we're 91, 92. I think he is now. And right now it's nine o'clock. It's way past his bedtime. Yep.

So he ain't showing up. Yeah. Unfortunately, he didn't show up. Yeah. And I mean, it's kind of understandable. And he has been... You know, I kind of had secret hopes that he would show up and conduct Lost Symphony, maybe. But he had not been around for a while. So as the expo got closer, I kind of realized, oh, it's a long shot. But again, you know, the Disney... Just the important parts of Star Wars being canonized by Disney, that's really, I think, just...

Testament to a lot of things. Okay, so let's talk about your experiences at the convention center. So I don't know what your daily schedules were. Were you more looking for panels? Were you more go

going around the floor and trying experiences. I'm sure you did everything, but what was, you know, let's, I don't know. Give me a few of your highlights. Yeah. During our breakdown, we said it's good to schedule things out because you don't want to miss out on something going, oh, I didn't know that was going to happen, but leave enough room in your schedule to be very flexible so you can do other things. So if your schedule, it was made up two weeks in advance or a week in advance, then you're not going to run into these little

or these little demonstrations that we ran into and we had a blast seeing like the, the,

Disney on Broadway? Disney on Broadway, where this then puppet actor came out and showed you how we got into the outfit and how we operated. We wouldn't have known that had we scheduled everything. That was absolutely fascinating. Yeah. You know what? Let me jump in here. I'm going to talk about that a little bit later on this episode, because that also was fascinating to me. I caught that too, and I was just...

I wasn't sure, you know, I was trying to get some of the floor type action, right? And I thought, well, let's see what they're going to do here. And that was just fascinating. And last night, I went to see Frozen. Ironically, it's not ironically, I guess coincidentally, it's like irony and coincidence. Don't get them wrong, says school teacher Jeff. We were traveling through San Jose.

It's frozen, right? And so this little kid next to me was like, this lady outside told me all about how two people are Sven. And I told him, actually, you know what? That's just one really talented guy. And I pulled out my phone and showed him the video I took of that whole presentation. And it was just super cool. You learn so many unique little deep dives into everything Disney at this thing. And you never really know what's going to be there until you're there and

and suddenly you're in the middle of learning something you had no idea you really needed to know, right?

Yeah. So keep going. What else? So in general, I am a panel person. I love to go to the panels. And luckily, we had a group of seven people who had all gotten their individual RSPs. And we had gotten a smattering. And we had all added an amount of people to take with us. Yes. Sure. And so throughout, every day we had at least two panels to attend, including Richard and I got Lucasfilm Stagecraft a couple times. Nice.

We weren't sure what that was going to be. And we still don't. And yeah, it's confusing. So like one time it was a talk with Vanessa Marshall, who is the voice of Hera on Star Wars Rebels, and Athena Portillo, who is the VP in charge of animation at Lucasfilm. And that was an amazing discussion on Star Wars animation. And then the other time, what was the other time?

Oh, it's a Quill demonstration. The puppet. So Legacy Effects would do demonstrations on the puppets they create for the Mandalorian and Ahsoka. So at one point they had the Quill puppet that you see in the Mandalorian. They had the Hwang droid you see in Ahsoka. They had a Loth cat. Yeah. It would show you what the innards of these creatures and how the puppeteers worked them with the actors. And now if you hung out by the Lucasfilm pavilion on the show floor, you could...

In standby, pretty much attend every one of these and basically just spend your day at the Lucasfilm Pavilion if you really wanted to. Now, otherwise, we did other things. But the stagecraft. Yeah. Oh, yes. That's something different. Yeah. The stagecraft was on the same stage as these little demonstrations and 20-minute panels where you would stand on this big volume set.

and they would project a background behind you and you would interact with the background. - Like a 15 second video. - Yeah, 10, 15 second video they would take. So we thought, okay, do we have,

an invitation to that stagecraft? Or is it the discussion stagecraft? So, like I said, to this point, I've got no idea what we had. But you got your time and you got in, right? Yeah, so we just stayed there and go, okay, if someone tells me to leave, I'm staying right here. Yeah, so Richard, you did the stagecraft thing where you were on a... I was in the Imperial Hangar and there were two stormtroopers behind me. And it was fun and all, but

It was 10 seconds. Like, okay, but when does this start and finish? Because I get a little comedy bit I want to do. And it's like, oh, wait, did we already start? Oh, can we do it again? Oh, no, we've got to have the next person. Like, oh, I didn't. Yeah. I mean, and I saw the stage manager directing others, but it was so dark.

You couldn't see them. Unless he was wearing like dead little colored clothes and waving. It was hard to see. So did they send you a copy of your video? Yeah. And then like a minute later, you'd get your clip. Yeah. So that was a really cool thing. Your badge had basically your email attached to it.

So whenever you took a picture or did a little thing at the Hulu booth or the Disney Plus booth or whatever, you would just scan your badge. A little activation. An activation. Thank you. You would scan your badge like AvaFest, you know, and all of a sudden that little video of you popping out of the AvaFest like banner would be in your email. Yeah. And this is the first time I've ever had something like this because this was technology at its best. Yeah, it was cool. I would say definitely the, I guess that's RF.

whatever technology it is, like that's definitely worked really, really flawlessly, which is kind of amazing. I also, we did kind of this moving camera thing at the Descendants event

Oh, the castle? Yeah, at the end of the red hearts and everything, so that you could stand there and do this crazy cranny motion. I was not as impressed with that as I would have been with stagecraft. So I did not get stagecraft. I signed up for it and, of course, didn't get it. I did notice, like, I bet you I could get to Lucasfilm and get in there, but I failed to do that early enough. And then I'd get there and everything would be going on and it would be over and they'd be all guards in front of the stage like it was...

Fort Knox or something. So I never got to break through there to do this stuff. But I did look kind of... There was a list of things that every single thing on those days that was going to happen inside that stage, I wished, like I thought, I got to get here for one of these things. And I didn't. But mostly that's because I am always drawn...

when push comes to shove at the expo to getting my collection collectible things because i'm a collector right so autographs or something that you can collect or something i'll always go for that first but then i miss a lot of things and i have to listen to your shows to really catch up on that stuff

That is true. We didn't go shopping until the last day where we just wandered into the marketplace because there was no line. But of course, a bunch of things had sold out. And then we did wait in line for the Imagineering store, the Mickey's of Glendale. And I got some Fantasia Mickey things and the Muppets stuff.

stuff the t-shirt yeah so that's like all we bought we're we're not as i mean like i admire you and you're you know spending the time to get those awesome collectibles and signatures and moments with these with these people we just we you know everyone has a different focus everyone has their thing yeah it's like it's it's less common i think because it takes you know some boredom and some commitment to wanting wanting the thing at the end right i wanted to ask you jeff lorikana

Did you mess with Larkana this time? Okay. So let me tell you, no. Although, you know, I kept walking by and I finally did glimpse like, oh, it's a kind of a metallic Mickey sorcerer. I think that what their giveaway card was. Ah.

I think that was what it was. Did you guys get in? We never went there. In fact, the very first moment on the convention, we were trying to get to the Lucasfilm booth and we couldn't because people were storming the Ravensburger booth. And meanwhile, they were storming the Loungefly booth directly across. It was like a cluster F. Yeah.

No, no. I had my Larkana win with the last expo. It took me two thirds of the day that I was at the expo to do that. You know, I was like one of the last people to get up there and buy that set. Oh my God. Flipped it that week for a thousand bucks and thought like I made out like a bandit until six months later it's selling for $10,000. Oh my God.

Oh my God. But it's okay. Like we're like, we did it. We've like, I did the whole, I got the hot thing and I flipped it. Like I've been that guy now. It was kind of exciting experience. I'm still really super happy that the actual first Locana card is

that they gave out that I got signed by all the artists and that's my kind of thing. Right. So I'll never sell that no matter how much it's worth. So I still have that. Right. But no, I decided, you know what? Everyone's going to want to get their stuff this time. And it's not going to be like, Laura kind of has basically come out anti, not anti collectors, but like pro, this is a game. It's not a, something to put on a shelf in a crystal.

crystal cases and things. So yeah. Oh, it does. Of course it's philosophical. Right. But so to that end, I figured they're not going to probably have anything that super limited edition. And even if they do, they'll make way more of them than they did this time, which is true in both cases. So I, whether or not still look on as hot enough that some of that expo stuff shoots up to be worth tons of money, who knows, but I wasn't, I didn't want my whole expo to be about Larkana again, like last time. So I'm happy. I had the experience happy. I won the game once and,

And happy to not have to think about Larkana ever again. When they did have their first release, their big release, and I went through all the hassle of how am I going to get these cards and trying so hard to get them. I just... You lost interest. I kind of gave up. But they are super creative, beautiful artwork. People that play it almost unanimously tell me, like, no, it's super fun. It's cool. Like, if you're a TCG, trading card game player, like, that's...

It's really a top-notch experience. So I give them credit for that. And it makes sense. They're puzzles and everything. The villainous, everything that Ravensburger does is super cool. So of course, Larkana would be too. But no. Short T, what is the phrase? T-L-D-R. Oh. No, no. I didn't have a Larkana experience. Too long, didn't read.

Well, I didn't know what that meant. Okay. Yeah. You sometimes see that right on the internet. It means like this is all too long. So I didn't read it. So the TLDR is no, I didn't have a Locon experience. Okay. Got it. Thanks for asking. You're welcome. So let me ask you this. Did you have any, it seems like most of my friends looking at their social media and stuff like, oh, here's me with Bob Gurr or Bob Weiss or someone walking down the floor. Did you have any random celebrity encounters while you were there?

I saw Michael Giacchino on the volume set, but he was with some friends and I don't like going up to people and interrupting a conversation and say, can we get a selfie? And I, I detest that more than anything. When we're talking to someone, someone just walks right into a conversation. Like,

how are you raised? We're talking here. Why are you interrupting? So I didn't want to be that guy. And I wasn't that guy. And we've met him before. We've met him before. Yeah. But still he's out there in the wild. So if there was a second where he would have turned and faced me, then I would have caught his attention, but it was with his friends. He wanted to spend time with his friends doing his thing. So yeah, I'm not going to interrupt him. And I saw Michael Varga walking around the show floor. He was the, he's the head of D23. So we happened to be at the Agatha bust.

at the right time. Well, we waited around. They said, okay, some special guest is going to be here at 5 p.m. Yeah. Wait a minute. Actors 5 p.m. or the real 5 p.m. Right. And then a few minutes later they said, yeah, at 530 she's going to be here. Someone's going to be here. It's like, you just said 5. No, we never said that. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, it did. So finally, 545, Catherine Hahn. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It was going to be 530 at 615, 620. They rolled up.

Now, I don't understand. Of course, her handlers who were at that location, they knew exactly where she was. And have a little respect. And say, hey, you know what? She's still caught up in something. She's going to be here at 6 and just a little bit. So maybe like another half an hour. Give us that respect. We're out baking in the sun. And when she gets here, it's like, okay, now give us 180 seconds and then you're out. Yeah. Literally, she was up there for 180 seconds. We just put up our video on YouTube.

It's about three minutes. That's it. Yeah. Are you guys going to watch the show? We've been waiting here for an hour to see you. Yeah. We're going to watch the show. Did you see the trailer last night? Yeah. We saw the trailer. Okay. Bye. Did they even sing their song? No. They have this bus. She can get on the top of it. Debra Jo Rupp and the teen and the other, like, not Patrick.

There was like four people. There was four of the actors there, plus Jack Schaefer, who is the showrunner. And they all were there. It's like, oh, I was so they played the music. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, so it's still a cool con moment. But yeah. No, it wasn't. You're going to make me talk about Anika Noni Rose, which I keep bowing to everyone that was there that I won't talk about. So don't make me go there.

but she also was, let me just say, she also was late. We heard your story. We did. That's all I'll say. She was late. Yeah. From my world where I grew up, if you gotta be late, you tell the person that you're, what time you expect to be there or just don't be late. Have someone that coordinates your time. I'm just saying. Or when people have been waiting like,

two hours and you know there's no possible physical way with the laws of physics and nature that anything's going to happen for them like let them go don't don't feed their hopes feed their hopes yes yes so but anyway okay um all right so there's all that stuff so you didn't shop very much so i'll i'll take that off the table um

So you talked about on the floor, you went to Lucasfilm. And I'm glad to hear about that, of course, from Skywalking Through Neverland. What else about the floor? Like all the Disney type of big panels and presentations. The Marvel booth. The Marvel booth with the TVA experience was amazing.

Awesome. And it was much more than we expected. So we got to do that the first day. We waited in line and we got into the TVA. Did you ever do this, Jeff? I did not. So I'm glad you're talking about it because I wanted to. You'll see our walkthrough video on our YouTube channel sometime this week. Yes. Yes. Okay. So, um,

What happens is you walk in and it's like you're in the many different rooms of the TVA. So you walk in and you're like in that hallway where you can see the city out, the TVA city out there. Or then you walk over and all of a sudden there's all these orange doors.

like the TVA, you know, how they get to different places. And in each door, you can see like vaguely something like a different space and something's moving in it. So somehow they had had like, they mixed projections with physical objects. Props and sets. Props and sets. You have pictures of all that, right? Or video. Yeah, I'm looking for it right now. Yeah. And then what was really cool is there was like, they,

put you in in groups of like 12, let's say, and they kind of like, you'd go through it. And, and a TVA worker would tell you, okay, here, you're going to do this. And so we'd go. And then we, once we got through some of the orange doors, we were kind of shuffled into this little line. And you could hear on the other side of the next door rocket raccoon. We're

We're like, okay. So then we get over to Rocket Raccoon. They ushered about 10 of us over. And it's like Turtle Talk with Crush. Oh, okay. Where you have a rocket talking to you. And it's definitely by an actor who is interacting with you. Because he was talking about our outfits. So it was real-time interaction. Yeah. With a digital character. With a digital Rocket Raccoon. It was really cool. Wow. Yeah.

Oh, here. Oh, okay. So this one just come out of a pot too? So he was talking about this little kid that was there. Yeah. And so then I started talking to him because I got it right away. I was like, oh, he's interacting with us. So I like asked him a question. And so that was about a little five minute thing. And then the TVA experience was basically, after that, they put you in another room and all of a sudden we were in this Agatha room.

room where door costumes and props, costumes and props and little like secrets about the show. And keep in mind, this was the day that that evening we went to the entertainment showcase where then all the Agatha actors came out and sang their song.

Well, during that little walkthrough, we saw all the costumes. We saw Agatha's costume. We saw her brooch. We saw these three witches costumes that were black, and they each had three different kind of headdresses because witches always come in threes. And meanwhile, at this point, we're taking our time, and all these groups are passing us because we're so enthralled. I'm so excited about Agatha. We've been an hour for this. We ain't hurrying through it. Yeah. And so then people are hurrying along, and all of a sudden I hear this like,

coming from the speaker by the three witches costumes. And I'm like, what's that? And so we heard it and it was down the witches road before they sang it that night at the panel. Like your first introduction to it. Yeah. My first introduction. So it was really awesome to experience that. Yeah. And so Richard stayed for three minutes by that speaker. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I, I, I admire your,

media and podcaster ethics and all this. I exactly like stand there until it comes back around. I'll stand in front of a looping recording. I heard that. And meanwhile, this was so cool because that morning we had gone to the Music of Marvel panel with Michael Giacchino, with the writers of that song. So like it was just it was so cool. I was like so jazzed.

That first day was like the best. And I mean, hand it to the Lopez, right? Again, I was surrounded by their music last night at Frozen, and here they are now going to be totally different. And Coco, like, they can really mix up their styles. Like, I love Lin-Manuel, don't get me wrong, but man, that guy...

He has the same thing. He has a style. That's what I that's what I meant to say. He doesn't do the same thing over and over again, but he has a style. So, man, those Lopez, they can do so far anything they try. Right. So that's kind of amazing. I was also at that panel and I was glad that was the way we started our expo. It was just really super interesting and cool. All right. So I before I let you guys go, this has been a great conversation.

Thank you for sharing all your information and your stories. I mean, let me just make this broad. Give me your favorite Expo moment. Oh, gosh.

I'm going to look at my pictures. Yeah. I would say during the entertainment showcase and seeing all the Star Wars news was big. They didn't reveal anything new, but they showed us new clips from Mandalorian and Grogu from Andor Season 2. And the skeleton crew got an official trailer was premiered there. So things that we didn't necessarily expect. Those were big, big moments. Yeah.

Yeah. I'll cut in for a moment while you're still thinking about this. Skeleton Crew, like, I did not really realize it really is kind of a throwback to those 80s kid adventures, right? Oh, yeah. E.T., Poltergeist Explorers. Yeah. I mean, I kind of heard and read about it, but until you see that trailer, it really felt like, oh, Steven Spielberg could have directed this, right? But it's Star Wars now, and, like, kind of the merging of these ideas is...

I thought that was also super cool. Like I could not be more excited for skeleton crew. Yeah. I'm just happy. Like Star Wars fans have so much rich stuff coming their way. And John Watts, who did the Spider-Man trilogy, the recent Spider-Man trilogy is helming this. So he's going to knock it out of the park. Absolutely. Absolutely. So Sarah, do you have a favorite moment? Yeah. So, okay. So the progression of each day, like Friday was Agatha day, Saturday,

Saturday. Was the Parks. Was the Parks panel. So Saturday for me was actually Mary Poppins Sherman Brothers Day. Oh, yes. Because I ended up attending, well, yeah, I ended up attending the panel Road to Cherry Tree Lane. Cherry Tree Lane. Yes. And that was put on by Randy Thornton. And he kind of mentioned how Richard and Robert Sherman and everything led up to Mary Poppins being done in 1964. Yeah.

Yeah. So that was really cool. And then to end that night with Meghan Trainor. Speaking of which. Yes, yes, yes. This week's episode. This week's. Yes. Well, this week's episode will have that audio of that panel on it. In totality, as well as our experiences meeting Richard Sherman. Episode 479. Yes. Watching through Neverland. And also the episode will end. And that day ended with.

One of the things Meghan Trainor came on stage and sang Feed the Birds in this gorgeous version. And so to me, I wasn't able to attend the big Sherman Brothers panel on Sunday, and I already had known that. So the fact that I did get to have this moment celebrating of closure with Richard Sherman and Celebration of Life and Robert Sherman. So that was my kind of cathartic moment for that. Wow.

Sarah, I know it's kind of a stupid question. What's your favorite moment? Every place you're at, there's a favorite thing happening, right? But I'm really glad that's what you pulled out because, yeah, nostalgia fans know how much Richard Sherman meant to all of us. That is a great moment for you to pull away from the Expo. I really felt like this year, the D23 Ultimate Disney Fan Event presented by Visa really was one of the best moments

I told D23 that it was one of my top three, but I, you know, I'm, it's wavering up there between one and two, I think like for me, for the experience overall, you know, I try to temper that with, well, the surprise and everything being new made it amazing. And, you know, everything has a reason for being where it is, but it really was a great Disney fan experience. And yeah, I just, I just am really glad that it really went off so well this year and,

A lot of the things people feared did not happen. So you guys, thank you so much for joining me today. It's been always, it's like, as always, it's a pleasure to talk to you guys and we'll

We'll have to do this again within the next three years. 15 days. Well, we hope so. In fact, we know you're kind of the books podcast. And Richard, well, you own one of our books. I do. Yeah, I do, of course. So, yeah, maybe we will have to discuss some of those books in an upcoming episode. You mean today in Star Wars History Volume 1 and 2? That's right. And skywalking through my fandom? Is that where? Oh, okay.

That's the one. We'd be more than happy to talk to you. Available at any, where can I get that? Skywalking. Skywalking through Neverland.com slash book. For autographed copies. For autographed copies, yes. There you go. All right, you guys. Thanks so much. I will talk to you soon. All right. Thank you. Thanks so much. Carpe Kingdom. Carpe Kingdom.

So glad that I got to talk to the Skywalking Through Neverland podcasters again, Richard and Sarah. They are great friends and they just do such a great show. So please don't forget to catch them, listen to their podcast, but go to their YouTube channel. It looks like they have about 9,000 viewers.

to their YouTube channel, Skywalking Through Neverland. Like, let's jump that up to 10,000. Let's help them get to that next benchmark. That would be super awesome. They have great content. I know they have a bunch of D23 stuff. I think they have... I think Sarah was telling me they have the full Music of Marvel panel up there, which was really cool. Like, I had a great time at that panel. And I know Marvel has put up some of these panels, but they always edit it way down and try to give you the highlights. But sometimes...

Sometimes it's kind of cool to hear like every little thing that people say. So I know they have that in their YouTube channel and some other stuff. So check it out. Skywalking through Neverland on YouTube. You're listening to Mousetalgia. Carpe Kingdom. Seize the magic. All right. So as many of you know, the Walt Disney Family Museum is near and dear to my heart. Mousetalgia started our podcasting 15 years ago. And within...

Less than a year, maybe a few months, the Walt Disney Family Museum also opened its doors in San Francisco in the Presidio National Park. And we have been going there ever since. I have attended many.

dozens of presentations and talks there. I've been to the museum hundreds of times. It's just, it never gets old looking at these things, these just remarkable like pieces of history. And so you can only imagine how exciting it is to, for me personally, to hear that there's going to be a book that comes out that kind of chronicles some of this amazing stuff that I've seen many, many times over the years.

So we're going to learn about that right now. Stout Jones.

Okay, up next we have a very special guest. Returning to the show, Brie Bertolaccini from the Walt Disney Family Museum. Brie, thank you so much for joining me on Nostalgia today. Yeah, it's great to be here. Yeah, I appreciate that. You know, you were, I don't know if you're completely recovered from the D23 Expo, not Expo, the D23 Ultimate Disney Fan Event presented by Visa. I don't know. I am, I think I'm more or less recovered.

you know, back at it now. But man, that was quite an event. I mean, maybe let's just start there. You were a fixture at the Walt Disney Family Museum booth on the show floor, like in addition to having other obligations that we'll talk about in a moment. How is it to be always at that booth answering people's questions about the museum? Do you have any highlights from that?

It's definitely a big jolt of energy. The energy in the air is just really fun and exhilarating. That's kind of the vibe every time I go. And this is my fourth D23. We'll just call it D23. It's a complicated name. But yeah, so it's a lot of work being at the booth. We do have a big staff there. And this year we had the biggest staff we've ever had at the expo and at our booth. And so it was

definitely a lot of fun talking to people. There are always a lot of people who have never heard of the Walt Disney Family Museum before. So it's always great to talk about that. And I always feel like I'm proselytizing like the good word of Walt Disney, you know, talking about

him. And it's I don't usually wear I don't work customer a customer facing job. So it's like the one time every two years that I get to interact with people and hear kind of the inspiring stories that how they connect to the museum. And so it really invigorates me. Yeah, no, that's great. Because I remember when you did have a customer facing job at the museum, or maybe you were only a I don't know, have you always when you've been employed by them? I guess it's been not

a customer thing, right? But yeah, I was I did start off as a volunteer and I volunteered for about a year. So that was that was customer facing, but not in a paid capacity. Yeah. So so ostensibly, we're here to talk about a new book. And that is one of the big I don't want to call it an obligation. One of the big roles, I guess, you had this year at D23 was to talk and kind of co-lead a panel right about this new book. And the book is called Treasures. Wait, let me make sure I say it right.

Walt Disney Treasures, Personal Art and Artifacts from the Walt Disney Family Museum. The author is Walter E.D. Miller, of course, and the staff of the Walt Disney Family Museum. And I've been reading some of your material here that says Kirsten Komorowski also had something to do with it. So it sounds like really a kind of a collab process here. So can you start by telling us a little bit about maybe the conceptualization of the book or how it came to be?

Yeah, this is definitely a great collaboration within the museum. So that's why we have on the book that's authored by Walter Miller, as well as the staff of the Walt Disney Family Museum, because it really was a big staff collaboration. And the...

The story of the book is that we really wanted to highlight the museum's collection. It's coming up on our 15th anniversary. That's when the book comes out. And the museum just has such a unique collection. It really started off as just Walt Disney's personal collection.

heirlooms and then the Disney family really grew it out to now have a full museum so where we have over 25,000 objects that we take care of now and so we really wanted to highlight some of those really amazing objects that we have and so you know as a team we actually came together as like a big group and people staff put in all of their favorite objects and you know we kind of at

At first, we were just like, maybe we'll just do 100 objects. Disney turned 100. Maybe that's a good number to stick with. And as we kept going, I was like, it can't just be 100. So I think there's over 250. If this book could have been bigger, I definitely had like over 300 objects.

and more. There's just so many wonderful objects in the museum's collection. But yeah, so, and then figuring out how to organize that was a big project within itself. And we realized that Walt was a storyteller. And I think that's when you walk, when you walk through the Walt Disney family museum, I do feel like you get that sense of like different themes that come up in his life. And at least that's what I've always taken away from it. Like the theme of his determination that starts from the very beginning, you see his determination to get into world war one and then,

throughout how he keeps getting told no and he keeps persevering. And so we were kind of highlighting these words and different ways to organize these objects. And I really did like their, we have a marketing promo video that Diane Disney Miller did when she was still with us. And a quote that she actually ad-libbed in it that I really have always loved. It's animation, innovation, inspiration. You'll find it all here in the story of my father's life. And it may inspire you too. And-

I love that she, you know, coalesced her father's legacy into kind of three words. And so we built upon that and kind of have different chapters that highlight, you know, different areas like, you know, who inspired Walt Disney? So we have an inspiration chapter kind of filled with artwork that would represent different areas of where he was inspired by and kind of creativity. You know, what did Walt do when he was off the clock? And so, of course, that's a lot of miniatures, a lot of trains.

and many of his different hobbies throughout his lifetime. So showing different facets of Walt's life, and that's something I'm really interested in, is, you know, I've never, will never get to meet Walt Disney. And so I'm always interested in where can we get that personal aspect? And the Walt Disney Family Museum is kind of the only place you can really get that very personal feeling about the man, Walt Disney, because we are still run by the Disney family. And so being authored by Walter Miller, his namesake,

He really was able to add in so many personal anecdotes, so many personal family stories, got his siblings and his cousin, Michelle Lund, to really add in a lot of things that kind of never been spoken before. They don't really talk and do interviews at all.

So it's really special to have it all in here in this book. Yeah. You know, like I mentioned, you did help lead a panel. No, where were you? We were on the backlot stage. That's right. Yeah. So I want to ask you, I'm sure you shared some examples and things that were in the book. Maybe let's take the hat off the table. We both love the hat. But maybe tell me about something that's in the book that is really interesting.

I don't know. I don't want to say your favorite thing. Like, that's kind of a weird, hard question, but just maybe something that even you were struck by as the book was getting put together. You know, someone really well versed with the collection, like maybe even something that you learned about as the book was coming together.

Yeah, there was definitely a lot of those, a lot of very aha moments. One of those, one of my favorite pages in the book, and it kind of is a fun story, is about, so in the museum we have in a collection, we have Diane Disney Miller's

16th birthday portrait that Walt commissioned for her birthday. And I'd always wondered, you know, what like this is a very interesting portrait of Diane. And there's a smaller portrait that he had on display in his office. And I was just like, where I wonder what what Sharon's looked like and never really needed to ask that question. It was just something I was curious about. And so when this book project started, you know, picking up steam, and we had the opportunity to ask, I

asked the family members for objects within their own collection. I was like, you know, I asked Sharon's family, you know, what objects do you have anything to say about maybe some other portraits that Walt has of Sharon? And Sharon's daughter, Michelle, actually was sent this beautiful quote about this portrait. And I was like, I don't know what portrait you're talking about.

And I was like, a beautiful red dress. That was kind of the key note there. And she immediately snapped a photo of this beautiful portrait of Sharon. And it was her 16th birthday portrait and sent it over. And I was like, we need this in the book. It is so beautiful. And to have both of those portraits side by side in the book, I just...

I just really love. And this portrait was done by Herb Ryman, Disney artist. And while we were there actually photographing, she let us come into her home to photograph it because she didn't want to ship this beautiful portrait to the museum.

And while we were there, she just pulled out another framed concept art of the sitting that Herb Ryman did with Sharon at the Disney Home. And it was it's just gorgeous. It's just this beautiful, beautiful charcoal drawing. And it's just seeing the concept and then what the portrait looks.

finished look like is just so beautiful. And so I was like, we have to have both in the book. So you get the concept art and the finished product, the finished portrait. And so I just love that having something from our collection that our collection is unique, that it really is a lot of Diane's own, you know, own objects.

Walter Miller put in a lot of his own heirloom objects that he inherited. And so that's not the case for other family members. They all have their own objects and their collection. And Sharon's family has kept most of their objects. So to kind of piece those two together and have them represented in a really fun way, that to me is like one of my favorite spreads. Yeah. You know, and it sounds like, so I don't want to,

I don't put words in your mouth or anything, and I don't know how much of this you might even want to discuss, but it sounds like you have really intimate experience with actually functionally pulling things together for this book. So can you talk a little bit about the role you played in that?

constructing this whole thing? Yeah. Yeah. So my role on the, on the book and now that's become my main role at the museum is the content research manager for the book. So pulling together the content, you know, it's definitely like a team. We helped to piece together the objects we wanted to talk about. And, and then I, with the, with the list had to pull together all of the research for every single object. And there's many objects that we picked that,

nobody has really ever wanted to write about. You know, why tell this story about, you know, there's many objects like that. So kind of diving a little bit deeper. So I provided all the research for that. And then kind of pulling from other historians and other places that the museum staff has kind of already had available to us. And so kind of pulling all of that together.

I helped write a lot of it and a lot of it is there's a lot of original work in here. So that was definitely a really fun part and asking the questions that was kind of like the part of the research process was sending out questions to the archives, sending out questions to the family and kind of getting information to kind of verify everything that we were doing. So it was definitely a very big task. We were working very quickly on this book. And so it was labor

Labor of love. Yeah, it sounds like it. You know, and I was going to ask you, you know, how much of this is from the museum's collection and how much of this is not, but you kind of just started talking about that anyway. And it sounds, I love Disney books that find something we haven't seen before. This Herb Ryman art, that's great. That's like such a, I'm glad that you highlighted that because that's such a treasure, you know, and things that

I mean, Walt Disney and then the Disney company after him, of course, are responsible for, it could be argued, like the way that Western civilization views entertainment and even cinema history, right? So there's no end to the amount of material and things that can be discovered and found. But I'm just super happy that this is more than just the museum's, it's not just another guidebook of the museum, right? It's... No. Yeah. Yeah, it really is how, like...

And what I think is the most interesting about the museum is those kind of personal anecdotes, those personal stories. And I really do feel like there's objects in the museum that are highlighted in this book that there's new stories here to be, you know, gleaned and that really add another dimension to some of these objects. And like, there's a, um, we have a miniature, uh,

William Shakespeare books, a miniature collection that Walt gifted to his eldest, Diane, for her 18th birthday. Well, they are very weathered. And I've always kind of like wondered like, okay, well, they're very old. Maybe they came like this. And we were able to ask a question to the family and kind of asking like, hey, you know, do you know anything about this object? Do you have any memories? And Tammy Miller provided, one of Walt's grandchildren provided a great quote that basically was like, this object used to be an

Ron and Diane's living room. And all of the grandkids would...

always be opening and playing with these books. So that's why they're so weathered. So, you know, like there's stories like that, that like, even though they're objects, maybe you have seen in the museum, you're kind of learning something new. There's like a new layer to be added. And that's what I think is, you know, I find so interesting and what I've been doing for the last like 10 years is kind of diving deep on some of these objects. So that's amazing. You know, I talked to, as you know, a lot of Disney authors on this show and a lot of Disney historians and they

Not to mention any names or anything, but it seems like sometimes authors have to fight with Disney sometimes because Disney wants to kind of simplify books and pull back the classic favorite chestnuts that everyone wants to see for good reason, because everyone wants to see them, you know, over and over again. But did you...

I guess you can speak for yourself, but or as the team. But did you target a market for this book? Do you specifically know who you want to read this book other than everyone? Like, is it broad or is it super nerdy deep dives or is it a little bit of both? Or how did you mix those things? Yeah, it's definitely a bit of both. And actually, I will...

credit nostalgia here. I will say like knowing kind of like a higher echelon of, you know, fandom that maybe is interested in history, like listening to you talk and talking to your audience is really informative to know, okay, like this is kind of what people know. And then kind of a general fan. So I was thinking of both when

kind of pulling together this research, you know, so that there is very accessible things in here. But I also was like, I don't want, you know, Disney fans who have read every single book have, you know, acquired all of them to not want to pick up our book because they think that they might have read it

Yeah.

the clutches of the Walt Disney Family Museum at the Disney Ultimate Fan Event presented by Visa. But did you have any chance to just experience D23 at all? And if you did, any highlights, celebrity encounters, fun? What's one of your highlights?

Yeah, I did definitely get to go explore the floor. That was really amazing. I always love doing that. A bunch of my staff got to go to programs during the day. That was really awesome. And I would say, let's see, a highlight is.

I'm like, well, you know, Leslie Iwerks stopped by the booth and I felt like, yeah, she looked through the book and was able to show her some of the Iwerks. And her dad, Don Iwerks, really did help with a lot of stuff at the museum. So he has a lot of content in this book. And then we had we did announce our new next project.

coming to the Walt Disney Family Museum. Pete Docter and Don Perry are co-presenting, directing at Disney, which is coinciding with their new book. So they stopped by the booth and that was just a lot of fun. So, you know, kind of interacting with people like that is always great. I was walking through the Imagineering exhibition and I just look up and Don Hahn was right there. I was like, oh, hi, Don. Yeah.

So, you know, I do feel like it is kind of a homecoming. I always think of that way for when going to D23. There's just so many people now being in this world, this Disney world for so long. It's like, oh, like, it's just like seeing old friends and everyone's all in one spot. And I'm trying to think, oh, I saw Bob Iger. That was a big one. Yeah. Yeah.

One of my friends was going to let me kind of jump the line for the Marvel TVA. You know, all the staff members, they really work together to kind of make sure to like help each other out. Good to do stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And at the TVA booth and he was like, oh, I'll let you in. And he was like, wait, hold on. There's a security guy coming. One second. I have to let Bob Iger in. You know, you can go in after that.

And then sure enough, just an army of suits comes through. So I was like, oh, that's something you don't see every day. That is something you don't see every day. Maybe unless you're at something like the Disney Ultimate Fan Event. Brie, thank you so much for joining me on Moustaja. This has been very informative. I'm really, really looking forward to this book. So it can't come out soon enough. What is the actual release date?

October 1st. October 1st. All right. You can visit WaltDisney.org to learn more about how to pre-order the book. And if you order it through us, you'll get an invite to our launch event and some other little special. We're doing treasure cards, kind of little trading cards. Excellent. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you so much. And hopefully we will talk to you again soon. Thanks.

Who's the team behind the show you're listening to today? M-O-U-S-E-G-A-L-G-I-A You're listening to Nostalgia. Hashtag Carpe Kingdom. Hashtag Seize the Magic. Yeah, yeah.

All right. So let's wrap up the show with a few of my remaining thoughts about the D23, the ultimate Disney fan event presented by Visa. You know, and I don't know what to do. You know, there's so many stories and thoughts I have. So I decided and I've heard this from both a couple stories and then I think another podcast. So I'm sorry if this isn't super original, but it's a very good idea. So I thought I would give you my top

23 D 23 memories. Okay. Um,

And they're in no real particular order, although I will say number one and number 23 are probably my highlights. The rest of them are just as they occurred to me while I was making a quick list. And it really didn't take me long to make this list. I probably could have gone on to 46. You know, it just there were a lot of memories and a lot of moments this D23. It was one of my favorite D23 experiences, both because of the lack of problematic elements

that happened. So they really have started to figure out a lot of stuff, you know, despite us talking a lot about like, well, everything changes all the time and, you know, this and that. They really have also started to figure some stuff out, right? So it was a smooth running operation, really had a good time. And then also just because, you know, these things appealed to me, happened to have a lot of things that appealed to me. And I think the fan event did end

In general, have a great range of things to appeal to a really broad range of Disney fans. So all things considered, I'm just going to list these things off. Right. So start we'll start with number one, which was probably my favorite moment. And that was to go see Eric Robison, who I am proud to call a friend and get a copy of his Haunted Mansion 55th anniversary print. Right.

which to be so little insight, like Eric had contacted me not that long ago, like surprisingly recently and, and asked me like, you know what, I got to do another painting for Disney, the haunted mansion, like help me figure out the angle. And, you know, so we kind of looked at some pictures and stuff and I told him, you know, you kind of have to keep doing this angle. Like there is one, there's a reason all the pictures are taken from the same angle. All the paintings are done from the same, same angle. Like,

The way that the landscaping is set up at Disneyland, like there's one angle of the Haunted Mansion that just is super dramatic. And that's the one you always see where you're looking at it kind of from the left and you can kind of see the side of it. You can see the tall trees next to it and you just see the mansion there in the middle with the queue line kind of wrapping in front of it. And so, you know, I told him, I just I don't know how you do something different. And he agreed. He said, you know, you're right. That is the quintessential perspective of

just of the haunted mansion architecture. So, but he changed up. So he's painted this a few times. In fact, I first met Eric many years ago at the haunted mansions 30th anniversary. So man, 30 to 55. Yeah. That's how long we've been friends. And he painted live in front of the haunted mansions, some pictures of the same angle. Like he was standing, you know, in the courtyard there where the fountain is kind of looking off towards the mansion and,

and painting it live. So ever since then, he's done a few versions of the Haunted Mansion over the years, but this was a new one.

I love the palette he chose. He made it really greens and very eerie and just a super cool expressive painting. And he included on the print like a little explanation that this was specifically a 55th anniversary painting. And they only gave it away on the 55th anniversary, August 9 at D23. So it just was amazing.

like a moment that I didn't want to miss. And I didn't know for sure, like he couldn't announce and no one announced for sure what he was going to be painting or giving away on the first day. But I kind of suspected it might be this and boom, it was. So that's my number one highlight. And actually I didn't,

make it in line. I had a panel. So my wife went and got in line and she got through and told him like, Jeff really wanted to be here, but the only panel he got a reservation for was now. So he had, so, you know, so Eric signed me a special print for her and,

Then later on, I did get to go over and say hi and talk to him a little bit. But that's just probably got to be my number one. It was my number one goal. It's my number one favorite thing I brought home from the expo and Eric's good friend. So that was super cool. Number two, I'm going to say Brian Crosby's figment number one alternate cover that he signed is a...

Kind of a close runner up there. You know, Brian's been a friend of the show for a long time and he's just a super cool guy. Super successful now. Some kind of an important person with Marvel and Imagineering. And I think kind of connecting those two things. I don't want to pretend to talk about his job like I understand it. But he was there as a Marvel artist because he created a cover for an alternate cover for Figment number one, Marvel comic book.

comic book and he was signing copies of that. And so another signing that I lined up for and almost made it in, but didn't. But again, my wife who will come up and in fact, I'm going to give her, I'll talk about her in a moment, but she somehow made like she got in there and she knew this was important. So she,

got in there before I did and she made it into the cutoff. And so she got to tell him like, Jeff is so sorry. He's over there in the line. And so she pointed the long line and Brian's like, oh, wow, there's a lot of people here. So that was that's number two. Number three, I think I'll say the

The panel about the Disney Channel that we were able to watch, it was super interesting. None of the things they talked about are my generation. Disney Channel itself was not my generation. I was in college when the Disney Channel came out, so I wasn't paying attention to that stuff. Disney television...

didn't hold a super interest for me. The Mickey Mouse Club was history, like history of the Disney Company and Walt Disney. But the Mickey Mouse Clubs that I kind of saw in my childhood, the new Mickey Mouse Club, etc., just didn't really vibe with me. So Disney and television never really kind of got it. However, I will say going to this panel and seeing some stars from the

From the kind of the last couple generations of Disney Channel stuff. So there were some stars from vintage high school musical, the movie and Raven was there who's been a veteran Disney Channel actress all the way to actors currently in the brand new Descendants show and zombies and even the little girl who's the voice of Ariel. Boy, was she a kick.

So, I mean, I guess I can run them down for you. I mean, if you care to hear all the amazing, some of you will say like, you got to hear them and you got to hear them. So some of these names I vaguely recognize. Some of them I didn't recognize at all. But this is who we heard from. And first of all, the panel was hosted by Ashley Eckstein, Ahsoka Tano.

Right. So but and I guess she was a Disney Channel fan, too. But the Disney Channel stars that were there were Dara Renee, Malia Baker, Kylie Cantrell, Ruby Rose Turner, Monique Coleman, Corbin Blue, Meg Donnelly, Freya Sky, Malachi Barton, David Henry, Janice Leanne Brown, Michael Michelle Harris and Raven Simone. So.

quite a big panel full of Disney Channel stars and, you know, and big stars. And so I think the highlight was watching. So Michael Michelle Harris was in the front row and there was two rows because there were so many stars. And right behind her were the adults who were back in high school music, teenagers back in high school musical days. Right. And so Corbin Blue was sitting right behind her. And Michael Michelle Harris was

had just turned 12. Right. So she is not even a teenager and not even barely 12. And Corbin blue, um, was kind of making his, uh,

big celebrity moves like 13 years ago with High School Musical. So Corbin Bleu was famous before Michael or Michelle, who went by Mimi before Mimi was even born. And so just to watch him react to her, because all the wisdom from that stage in this panel mostly came distilled through Michael Michelle Harris. And it was the most inspiring

incredible thing to watch and listen to her. Like she's just a legitimate phenomenon. So maybe we can listen to a little bit of Michael Michelle Harris expounding at the Disney Channel panel presentation. We're just talking about Raven's wisdom. What advice did she give you as you continue to grow your Disney Channel career?

I think that one of the things that Auntie Ray told me that really solidified and stayed with me was that... I don't like Miss Raven, that's why. Too young for Miss Raven, so Auntie.

I forgot to say that's what I call her. It just comes out naturally. I think one of the things that she said to me that was the most powerful was never deliver your line the exact same. You always have to change it up.

Exactly! You always have to change it up and I feel like that really stuck with me as I moved on to my journey with Disney Junior's Ariel. Because especially in animation, you always do your line three times to see if you get it right. You do it like, you can do it this way, can you do it this way, can you make it a little more happy, make it a little more sad, make it a little more heartfelt. It's just a whole...

ring of things, especially with Disney Junior because we're on these the TV screens of these very young kids. I think that the um... I mean like, I think we're toddler-ish people. You know, you know. You're right, you're right.

And so I think that that has been something that has really, really stuck with me. And another thing is that Anseemri has always taught me to keep my power and be able to use it in ways that can make differences and in ways that can help society as a whole. And I think that's something that...

And then Corbin Bleu, of course, was just looking at her and pointing and his jaw was on the floor. And it was just really funny and really cool. So even though I don't love Disney Channel, I don't watch Disney Channel, I don't know much about Disney Channel. Like it was just a testament to the quality of work and the quality of people that for the most part, Disney discovers and hatches. They do leave them, you know, to become who they're going to become. Right. And it's really child stardom is difficult.

And so, of course, Disney Channel has its share of stories of child stars that had a hard road. But just from this panel alone, it was really an amazing testament to the kind of quality work that they do over at the Disney Channel. So that was cool. I got to move a little faster than this. That was only number three. Okay, number four up.

in the Disney Showcase area. So on the second floor, set apart from the show floor, there was a Disney Showcase area where Lego was there and Disney Publishing was there and the D23 Marketplace was there. And so there was something called the Darkade, which was kind of themed after Star Wars Dark Side. But if you went into this Darkade and played a couple games, you got a little coupon and you would win a Lego R2-D2. And it was...

a pretty cool free Lego set, 70-piece Lego R2-D2, just for walking in there and getting a ticket and playing a game like Skee-Ball or something like that. So that was a definite highlight, like the surprise of getting something really cool. Number five, I'm going to say...

Some of the cosplay. So there's a couple of cosplay moments I had. I mean, there was all kinds of amazing cosplay, right? In fact, someone took my great idea. I've had and I've referred to this on Mousetalgia for more than a decade now. This greatest idea that I wanted to be. And I'll just say it now because someone has done it. But I want to be.

So I just wanted to be like...

And I'm going to say some names because they're public and on the D23 public Facebook page.

you know, page. So I think they're proud of their work and wouldn't mind being called out. So her name is Desi Moreno. And she was like a Donald Duck toy, like, and not an old fashioned one, like a modern looking Weeble thing, like a Weeble egg shaped Donald Duck, like adorable or a Funko thing, just a big round Donald Duck toy that looked like a big giant egg. Right. So whatever those are, it was very familiar. And it was kind of funny because I ran into her or him, Donald, and I,

I kind of moved and Donald kind of moved and we kind of danced a little to try to get out of each other's way. And like Donald Duck was kind of following me, you know, like she wasn't following me around, but it was just kind of a funny moment I had with Donald. So, but it was just really unique in a cool cosplay. So that's, you know, one of the cosplays I'll probably mention a couple more here. Number five. No, that was number five. Number six, I'm going to say, and I can't forget this. I referred to her before my brave wife. So my wife, Julia is,

She is so she is an extrovert sort of. I mean, we're all bits and pieces of everything. Right. But she's an extrovert. I'm an introvert. Right. So when I'm not sure what the best thing to do is, I kind of look and see, like, what's the crowd doing? I mean, I try to make adult decisions and try to solve problems, but I am 10. I tend to wait and see what the crowd does. Right. But she just marches to whoever's in charge and says, like, what do we do? Right. So, yeah.

Without going into too many details, because it's boring, boring details, but she figured out some ways into Talent Central, like legally, like she went up and asked people, where do I go? Right. And so she got into Talent Central quite, quite quickly.

A bit of time before I did, even though we both got there at the same time, we split up on purpose, like to try to make sure we got this stuff right. So we were specifically there to get Krause's comic book sign. And she just went up to the mass of humanity at the entrance. And at this time, Talent Central was still pretty newly established.

running first day. I don't think they had quite figured out all the systems they would put into place. So there were just masses of people trying to figure out which line is what. And they sent her to a line, which got her quite a ways ahead in the standby line before me, when I got in line, like the standby line was way back in another corner of the building. So somehow she, um,

to ask the right person the right thing and get put into the right place. So she managed to meet Kraz and get the comic book for me, which I'm super grateful to both of them. So number six, my wife. Number seven, just let's stick with the theme of who we were there with. We were there with Julie and Tina. So I'm going to say devoted friends, like friends and even whether devoted friends or just familiar people who love nostalgia and like to tell me that, which is always good to hear.

that listeners still care about the show friends from the Walt Disney family museum. We ran into just all kinds of people, you know, that it's interesting how small, I can't believe I'm going to say this. Like it really is a small world after all, because there, I don't know how many thousands of people were at the expo, but we kept, I kept running into people that I had known and was glad, was happy to see. So Julie and Tina, of course, my expo co-hosts,

compatriots and my wife, but lots of listeners. So I just, I do want to call out the first penning I did in the last penning I did. So the first penning I did was to Mar and her husband. And that was as soon as we landed in long beach. Like I think on the plane, we kind of heard each other talking about the Disney or something like that. I'm not sure exactly when, but before we got to the luggage carousel, we were all talking about D 23 and mousetail. And I gave them the first pens and,

The weekend. And then the last painting I did was at John Wayne Airport on the way home. So I was with my wife and ran into Chris, who.

It turns out happens to be a teacher at one of my school's rivals. So we're both kind of teachers and we both are, you know, here in the Bay Area. So kind of pretty cool to meet Chris and hear his story. So but everyone that I got to meet and see if you were out there, you know, thanks for saying hi. It was super cool. Number eight, I'm going to say my Ichabod jacket. It just was I felt like a great.

I love the design. I'm never going to wear it because I don't wear Letterman jackets, but it's just a super cool, spooky, Headless Horseman jacket, and I just really love it. Number nine, I'm going to say this is actually something that's pretty cool. So at Walt Disney's hometown, the Walt Disney Hometown Museum's booth,

You know, they have lots of keychains and postcards and things for sale. But every once in a while, up on the top of the booths, there'd be a big brick. And some of them said Walt Disney's Hometown. Some of them said... Or Walt Disney's Marceline. Some of them said Walt Disney's Railroad. You know, different things. And I kind of asked them, like, what are these bricks from? And they said, well, they have bricks made for their museum, like dedication bricks. So they're from Marceline. But they...

Usually don't just sell them. Usually you sponsor them. So you can sponsor a brick, you know, and they'll... You give them a donation and then they'll plant a brick somewhere in your honor, right? But they said, you know, for the expo, they thought they'd try something different. And like for a sponsorship amount, they would give you a brick. So that seemed really cool. Like I have one part of my home that has some Walt Disney specific things on display. And I thought this brick just says Walt Disney's Marceline. And I thought...

How cool is it just to have a brick from Walt Disney's Marceline that's just labeled that way? Like, it's... To me, it seemed really cool. So I made the donation that it required, and I got to take home this brick. Now, what I didn't really think about... And thank God this was the last day. Like, the last part of the last day. Because a brick... Like, a brick is a heavy thing. Like, it's one thing to hold one brick in one hand...

But then you already have three hardcover books in your backpack and you're adding a brick to that. And so I was, you know, I was toting around a pretty heavy pack on my back for a while there. But I'm super happy I bought that or donated, I guess, a donation and enough to get the brick because it's going to have a nice, nice place on my Walt Disney display. I'm really happy about that. Staying on the show floor number 10 has to be Grogu at the Garner Holt, the Garner Holt

So Garner Holt, I think they're responsible for the walk around Grogu. I believe this was the Disney Parks walk around Grogu that is with the Mandalorian. I am not certain about that. It could be they just made it.

you know, for fun, but it was an animatronic Grogu. And it was pretty funny because it was sitting on their, their, the edge of their booth and you could walk up and look and you could, maybe sometimes you'd notice like it breathe and say like, Oh, this thing is moving. And then suddenly he'd wake up and look at you. Like you startled, startled baby Yoda awake. And he kind of look around and he made all the facial expressions and everything. It was really pretty amazing. So cool to see Garner Holtz, like,

creations up close and in action. And speaking of Garner Holt, I'll just make him number 11. So number 11 was Garner was there. And I'm also pleased to, I mean, we're not, yeah, I'm pleased to call Garner a friend too. So he has always been supportive of Doom Buggies, like super cool guy to be so supportive of what I've been doing for decades with Doom Buggies. So,

I saw him there and I thought, I just really want something Haunted Mansion Holiday signed by Garner. And, you know, there's the whole show floor and we were in the Emporium area, which is everyone selling all their memorabilia and stuff. I just could not find anything Haunted Mansion Holiday, at least nothing that wasn't garish. Right. So I got to say, to be honest, Disney's Haunted Mansion Holiday memorabilia and garishness kind of go together. So I just wasn't sure what to do. But there was a Walt Disney memorabilia.

Not Walt Disney Classics. What do they call it now? The resin fancy little sculptures that they make now. I can't remember what they're called now. But there was one of Jack and Zero in front of two columns, almost exactly like it exists in the Haunted Mansion Holiday in his Santa suit. In fact, when I first saw it, I said, this is it. This is a Haunted Mansion Holiday statue.

And I don't actually know if that's true. It might supposed to be the gates to Halloween town, but either way, when Garner saw it, he said, well, yeah, this is basically what we tried to do when we created the tableau inside the haunted mansion, when you go into the graveyard. So I was happy to have, so he signed it for me. So I did get Garner's Garner Holtz autograph on a haunted mansion holiday, or in my opinion, a haunted mansion holiday souvenir. So that was cool.

Number 12, let's get through these. The hollow Muppet car. Like to see the production cars where they film the Muppets, it's kind of cool. Like to look in there and imagine all these arms and hands sticking up through the bottom of the car. Like the van was not a huge van. The electric mayhem van from the Muppet, the most recent Muppet. What was it from? Was it from...

Muppet Haunted Mansion I don't actually remember but the or maybe the television show I don't know but the van with the electric mayhem that they've been using lately like it's pretty interesting to look in there and see no bottom or no seats just you know the steering wheel and then the back of the seats like the top part of the seats but no seats to sit on because people were crammed in there with their arms and things trying to make puppets talk and move that was cool and

Number 13, I want to say the Lopez's because they're everywhere now. Like the Marvel musicians, they wrote their writing music for, or they wrote the music for Agatha, but you know, no, no, no. Let's not say the Lopez's let's go to the, okay, well, I guess it's 13 and a half. Let's go over to the, um, the Honda center. Um, first night when it's all entertainment and they were talking about Disney on Broadway and the greatest showman is coming to Broadway from Disney, uh,

And they did like three numbers from The Greatest Showman. I think three. Or maybe it was a medley. Now I don't exactly remember. But it felt like a significant amount of the production. And it was really cool. Like I...

I never really became one of these greatest showman, like I have to see it over and over and over and over again. But it does have some really compelling music. But to see it live performed as a musical really was kind of touching, right? So really looking forward to seeing that. So that's number 13. Number 14, The Charter Member Lounge. Boy.

At first you walk in there and you're like, oh, this is what you do for your charter members. Just a big room. You couldn't even decorate it. But then you look in, oh, there's some decorations. They put up three big banners that you could take pictures in front of, like red carpet style banners. So that was cool.

So, but it really turns out like, thank God for the charter lounge at lunchtime. Like the 23 Expo gets a little hectic and busy and like you can go buy your lunch somewhere and just walk up to the charter member lounge. And it was always full enough that every table was pretty much full, but we always found like, oh, but we can sit on this corner, this one, and there's room for us. Right. So there never was a time when we went in there and couldn't fit.

So I will say I am still grateful that Disney still hosts its charter members in a special way. Hopefully, as the number of charter members gets smaller, which it will just do until someday, you know, when there's just a handful of us left, there's still hundreds now because they did have a wall with all the names and there were hundreds and hundreds of names on there. So there's still hundreds of us. Yeah.

But, you know, every time a charter member doesn't renew, they're no longer a charter member. Right. So as the numbers go down, I hope that they that the respect the company gives to charter members goes up rather than just kind of fades away. But we'll see what they decide to do. But it was super happy to have that member lounge. They gave us a free button and they also gave us this was really cool. The charter member gift.

was a blue translucent plastic Sorcerer Mickey figure, which was the same kind of figure that they gave out as the membership gift this year, only it was a variant that was solid translucent blue. So it was really cool. And a big giant custom box. I mean, it was really kind of cool gift to get. So I was happy about that. Number 15,

I'm just going to say reading lines with inside outs. What's the name of the unicorn? Is it just rainbow unicorn reading lines with inside outs? Rainbow is rainbow. Her name. I don't actually know her name, but they had, so all through the show floor, all through the show floor at D 23, there are photo ops for you. You can take photo ops. And most of the big Disney booths like Disney animation had all kinds of photo ops that you could take pictures in front of. So all,

One of my favorites was Rainbow sitting there reading lines at her table in her dressing room. And you could sit in a chair next to her and kind of be discussing the script with Rainbow, however you wanted to, you know, make that happen or look. I just thought it was clever. Like all of those photo ops, especially the animation ones, are so cool.

really well done at capturing a specific moment from these films that you really remember. And so this was one of those. So it was just really cool. I guess the bigger picture is number 15 is the different photo ops you could take part in, but rainbow rainbow is the one I'm thinking of. Number 16 is,

I just want to do a shout out to the ginormous, thick industrial can liners that they gave you as shopping bags this year at the D23 marketplace. I mean, they knew like we have all these limited editions that are giant boxes and toys. Everyone's going to be buying a bunch of toys. What do we do? And so you can tell they just went like, let's just go for it. So when you got in line.

to go into the shopping area, they would hand out these giant semi-transparent, like it's just thick plastic, transparent bags, which were thick. Like, you know what industrial barrel liner is, right? You've seen those are thick, clear, you know, that's what they basically were, but they had handles and D23 printed on it in big letters. So that was just, it was useful. Like we got a couple of them to shop with and they're not going to fall apart and break and,

They were giant, but you could still fold them up. If you didn't have it full of stuff, you could just kind of fold it up a little bit when you were carrying it. I just feel like that was really well done.

Thought out. So appreciate those giant shopping bags. Number 17, I'm going to say the ILM pavilion. And specifically, I just liked getting walking, walking right up to the loft cat and looking at it. They had a loft cat. I don't know if it was a used in a production, if it was animatronic or if it was just a model. Like, I don't know, but it was fantastic.

presented by ILM and it was the Lothcat, right? That you see in all of some various productions, right? So just to be able to look up really super close at some of ILM's models, whether they were production used or created for the expo, doesn't really matter. Like it was super detailed and just really cool. Lots of stuff going on at ILM all weekend long. I wish I could have spent more time there, but we talked about that already with Skywalking Through Neverland. Number 18, I'm going to say Sven.

Like you heard me mention that also with Skywalking Through Neverland. Right. So Sven came out, the actor who portrays Sven on Broadway, and they just spoke to us for quite a while about how Sven goes about transforming from a man into a reindeer. Right.

And, you know, I think I'll play a little bit of that conversation here for you to just get a taste of what we were listening to. I'm sure you had to have a process to learn how to do this. What was the rehearsal process like for this? How is it different than the normal rehearsal process for a Broadway show? Well, nothing about this role is quote unquote normal, right? So we had to really figure it out. And what we did is they had both of us who play Sven, as well as the actor playing Olaf,

start two weeks earlier than everybody else. We had a two week puppet boot camp.

So we had to come in and just for eight hours a day learn how to stand, walk, keep that posture, learn how to gallop, get up to the point where it was so natural and effortless for us so that by the time the other actors came in the picture we could focus on the storytelling. Because I'm doing my entire show, you'll see in a minute, looking at the other actors' waists and then down to the ground. Most of my show is done looking at markings on the ground, shadows, light cues, in order for Sven to be making eye contact and telling the story.

So listening, of course, is cool. But I mean, really, what was cool was watching the magic of suddenly when they zipped up the last little bit onto Sven's back and he lunged forward onto his front legs. Suddenly, like this man in this big suit became a big reindeer. And it was just amazing. And the whole audience gasped. And it was super cool. So Disney on Broadway always...

They always have costumes on display and props and things. And it's just always on the floor. So you don't have to wait in lines for any of this stuff. You can just kind of walk up and get close to these things. And that was super cool. Number 19, I want to shout out to the Haunted Mansion Lounge booth. Well, in the Cruise Line booth, they had like a photo op for the Haunted Mansion Lounge, which, you know.

Like it's, if nothing else, it is something to think about. And of course the haunted mansion lounge also was featured in the Imagineering pavilion. So just, um,

But in the lounge, they had a copy of the new plaque that they designed for the Haunted Mansion lounge. And you could walk right up to it and like stare at the details. And it was really, really cool. It's like the Haunted Mansion plaque in front of the actual Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, but it's a little different. It's based on a Rolly Crump design that he created some sea creatures and designed around an aquarium motif.

And it's really cool that they dug that out of the archives and pulled it out and used it in a real Disney Haunted Mansion themed attraction. You know, this, I guess it's kind of a bar or a lounge, right, inside of the new Disney treasure. So that was super cool. Number 20. Let's go back to the cosplaying. Okay.

Probably my favorite cosplay of the whole expo was Ezra, Gus and Phineas, the hitchhiking ghosts. Right. And so there were a trio. And again, I tracked down Phineas as being Andrea Seal. Right. So Andrea had posted again on a public place on Facebook. So I believe it's OK using names here. But these three looked exactly like Phineas.

the animatronic hitchhiking goes like they didn't try to change that at all. They had little scrims hanging down over their faces, over their hats. So they kind of had that hazy appearance to them. Um, the blue was perfect sky slash teal blue, like everything about it was really, really well done. So the hitchhiking ghosts, um, cosplay, that was probably my favorite cosplay of the whole expo. Um,

Number 21. Let's just say I didn't forget about Disney history. Like, I haven't talked much about it, but I didn't forget about it. So...

Really enjoyed spending part of an afternoon doing the Disney history circle. So I went to the Walt Disney Hometown Museum booth, which I've already talked about, got myself a brick and looked at some of their displays, went over to the Walt Disney Family Museum booth, which was next to that one, and talked to my friends over there and got to look through the new book that's coming out in October that Bree was talking about. So that was super cool. And then I went over to the Hyperion Historical Alliance booth and

just to kind of see what they were doing over there. You know, authors, their authors for the historic, the Hyperion Historical Alliance have been on Mousetalgia many, many times, Didier Ghez, J.B. Kaufman. But what was kind of cool, so, you know, it's cool to like look at all their books and just kind of listen to people talk to them and the kind of things that people ask them. It's just like a whole different level of most of the expo. Like most of the expo is popular culture related.

Um, but there are these moments like on the Disney archive stage and some of the, you know, some of the panels and specifically, or if you just kind of hang out at a booth like this and listen to what people have to say and have to ask, like there really is a lot of Disney history also kind of under the surface of the Disney D 23 ultimate Disney fan event. Um, and special bonus was that the Hyperion historical Alliance had shared their booth with Howard Lowry, who, um,

probably the animation hobbies, animation collecting hobbies, biggest influence through the eighties and nineties. Like he went out to see all the Disney legends while they were still alive and got pages and pages and books and books signed by Mark Davis and Frank and Ollie. And I, you know, as many artists as he could find and talk to. And he still, to this day has lots of books signed by all of these really great

um, like legendary animators. Um, and Julia and I have a couple, we, we buy them through the Walt Disney family museum who buys them from, or who sells them on behalf of Howard Lowry. So, um, but he still sells some of that stuff. And in fact, he had, we almost brought home this little clay Pluto, but yeah, there was no way we're going to get that home. So we, we didn't do that. Um, let's move on. Number 22, uh,

And so there's an artist named Ryan. He goes by Arcee. He paints for Disney Fine Arts, kind of a famous muralist, spray painter. And outside the expo, before you walked in, kind of adjacent to all the food trucks, there was this giant mural. And he was spray painting this mural of the Fab Six. Actually, I think they call them, I think Disney's trying to call them Sensational Six. I don't know if that's...

fetch or not, but fab, fab six, whatever, you know, it included, uh, Daisy and mini. And so, you know, however you want to slice that, but, um, he was spray painting it. Right. And so it is now available. And actually, so he paint, actually he created this piece called time for friends. He created it for citizen watch. So this last year he made a watch for citizen. Right. And so then this,

piece called Time for Friends they released at the Expo, and then he recreated it in a massive wall mural outside of the Expo using spray paint cans. And it was just fascinating. Like, I didn't ever stop for more than five minutes, but it was fascinating to sit there and watch him just work with spray paint, literally spray paint cans.

And masks, right? And so just to kind of see what he was doing and how fast he was moving and kind of figure out, like, how is this going to really look? And then suddenly the next day, there'd be this sharp, beautiful character unveiled. It was just kind of amazing, right? So Arcee, kind of a cool...

One of the Disney fine art artists in the stable, Disney fine art stable. That was cool. And then finally, 23, probably my also like tied with favorite moment along with number one is Sunny Chanel and going to her book signing. I don't, I mean, I got to tell you, I don't know. Partly it's because I resonate with Disney.

Yeah.

Okay, so I should say the actual title of the book. So the title is Bring the Magic Home. And the introduction is written by Ashley Eckstein. So at the book signing, Ashley was there with Sunny and most of the people in line for her book signing were Star Wars fans, which, okay, you know, it's fair.

That's why you get a celebrity to write the introduction to your book, to get attention, right? That's why I was so glad to have Guillermo del Toro write the introduction to my book. He didn't even write an introduction. He wrote a blurb, a few sentences, and

it made a big difference, right? So totally understandable why people would be coming to see Ashley, but I was there to see Sonny and I was super proud of her. And I just can't wait for this book to come out. Well, I have the book. I bought an advanced copy at the expo or the fan event, and she personalized it really sweetly. And I just am super proud of my friend Sonny. So Sonny, let's get you on the show. We'll have her on the show sometime soon to talk all about her new book.

You don't have to. You don't have to turn, like on the cover, you don't have to turn an entire bedroom into It's a Small World. You can have, you can make it your own. You gotta just start somewhere. So what advice do you have for someone to bring Disney home? There's so many ways you can do it in small doses. So one of the things that I have in here, I can find it, is I did a Mr. Toad's bookcase. And

And it's just a very good bookcase. And I got a, you know, Mr. Toad figure in there. And then I got a little red car. And then I got a little devil over here and little frogs. And so it says Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. But it's not blatant. It's easy to cost me. Well, that figure was normal to not sell because it was a little bit of an addition. But besides that, it was like, you know, antique stores. And it was like $20.

So it's budget-friendly. And one of the things in the book is that I did some tampering rooms in my home, like a country-fresh tampering, entertainment room. And it cost like a hundred bucks. And it was just being creative, going to thrift stores, going to garage sales, getting the things and curating them. And so you can do it really in four different ways. And you can do anything like subtle,

or bold. But what I really like is that there's so much room to just experiment and do like little, I'm trying to find this other thing, just little touches. Like, oh, here's a,

So there's 23. There's 23 things that happened to me at the expo that I enjoyed. I had a great time.

If that gives you a picture of the kind of things I did. So I talked a lot about some stuff and a little about other things. Like there's no way to cover everything in 23 numbers, but I've already talked...

This show has already gone on plenty long enough for this week. So I hope you enjoyed this episode of Mousetalgia. Thank you for listening. If you want to get in touch with me, you can always go to your email and just write something to comments at mousetalgia.com and that will come right to me. And we also have social media. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram.

And you can support Mousetagia by going to mousetagiaplus.com and clicking on there. And I'm super happy to be supported by so many of you. Thank you so much for your very generous support. It means a lot. So thank you, thank you, thank you. All right, that'll do it. Have a great week, everybody. And let's go Carpe Kingdom and seize the magic. Bye, everybody. Bye.

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