My Trip to the 2013 D23 Expo - That's a Wrap!

[dolphingirl47]

Great job of managing to score a few snacks before the concert. Those pulled pork sliders sound great. I would have loved to see the Dreamfinder, even at a distance.

Corinna

 

[Leshaface]

I totally loved that Star Wars shirt Too funny!

Sorry about the wine Of course, that would always be the first thing to go.

Cool that Dreamfinder was there!

 

[franandaj]

Thank you so much for writing your report as a Sorcerer. I was also at the D23 Expo this weekend but as a regular, non-Sorcerer. We're deciding about doing whatever Sorcerer package they have in two years, so I will be learning from your report.

I DID manage to get a Harvey bag, though! Go me!

 

[franandaj]

Wow! Look at all that merch. I think I could quite happily shop there and skip the presentations. And that Star Wars t-shirt is very funny.


Nice spread that was put out for you. Did you go back for seconds when you realised they had brought out fresh stuff?

I'm not sure if you have ever been to the Anaheim Convention Center, but it's one of the biggest ones around. The Sorcerer's Lounge was on the third floor in the middle and the queue for the Arena was all the way at the North end of the place. Having to take the elevator (scooters don't do well on the escalators) up and down made it a really slow journey to the lounge.

Besides we were pretty good with the half a dozen sliders that I brought down before, that and our TJ's cookies and trail mix.

So much shopping to do.. Seems like a ton of people were there...

Alison, you are gonna have to do better with the wine. How can you be expected to keep the germs at bay without the germ killer!

I had the germ killer under control!

Oh priceless re that Star Wars t shirt I am so getting one of those! Loving it!

Love the Jelly Belly stand. I just adore Jelly Belly's. I get loads when we come over. One of my best memories of Cali is doing the Jelly Belly factory tour in Fairfield. It was free and so entertaining!


Well done on getting the last of the food. The wine is always gone! They never have enough! I don't drink so Jo loves the fact I always take a glass too. More for her! She downs hers and swaps her empty glass for my full one lol.

Fran will do that for me sometimes as well, very sweet of her when she does!

Great job of managing to score a few snacks before the concert. Those pulled pork sliders sound great. I would have loved to see the Dreamfinder, even at a distance.

Corinna

I was happy to see him, the people up at the front of the line got pictures with him, but as he got farther back in the line, his handler had less and less patience and started to hurry him along.

I totally loved that Star Wars shirt Too funny!

Sorry about the wine Of course, that would always be the first thing to go.

Cool that Dreamfinder was there!

I think they brought out the wine as a consolation that the Legends took over the Lounge, but it was only there for about 1-2 hours, when they were getting ready to reopen the room back up the wine stopped.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Very nice update. That was neat to get some of the food from the Lounge afterward.

After the Disney Legends Ceremony, my DA and I head straight on over to the queue for the Sherman/Menken Concert at 6:30pm and we were lucky to get in the Arena for the concert.

 

[franandaj]

Very nice update. That was neat to get some of the food from the Lounge afterward.

After the Disney Legends Ceremony, my DA and I head straight on over to the queue for the Sherman/Menken Concert at 6:30pm and we were lucky to get in the Arena for the concert.

I'm glad you were able to see the Concert Bret! It was wonderful! Update coming very soon!

 

[franandaj]

So shortly after the Dreamfinder came by they let us into the Arena for the Richard Sherman/Alan Menken concert. I think between this performance and the Animation and Live Action Presentations, this really made our Sorcerer’s tickets worth it (not to mention the entire day prior to the Expo for shopping!)

When we came out of the Legends performance, the queue area for the Sherman/Menken concert was already half full. Some of those people must have been waiting from after the Live Action Performance. As Bret said, he and his DA got into the queue after the Legends Performance so most people in general attendance definitely had a long wait to see this show.

We anxiously waited for the show to begin.





Soon our host Tim O’Day came out. I had talked to Tim O’Day at another event months before and told him, “I remember when Alan Menken closed the last D23 event and I wondered how I would feel about that. After the show I realized that while Richard Sherman wrote the soundtrack to my childhood, Alan Menken wrote the soundtrack to my adult life.” He found that very interesting and I think noted it for future reference.

When he introduced Richard Sherman and Alan Menken, he said, “No matter when you grew up, these folks are part of the soundtrack for your life.” I’m hoping perhaps he got a little influence from our conversation.



They were greeted with thunderous applause.



When the applause subsided Menken said, “Age before Beauty!” and added “and the Beast” as he exited the stage.



Sherman sat down at the piano, and he began with a selection written for Annette Funicello called Tall Paul.





He sang Pineapple Princess from Hawaiianette





Evidently that record was followed up by Italianette, and then Danceanette. Sherman joked, “What’s next? Kitchanette?”

The next star that he talked about was Haley Mills. She told him that “she was an actress, not a singer.”

So he asked her, “Why don’t you ACT like a singer?” He sang Let’s Get Together from the Parent Trap.





Walt was planning a series of Color television shows that were to be broadcast on NBC and he played the theme song from the Wonderful World of Color. Many people are being reintroduced to this song with the show at DCA, World of Color.



Tim and Richard engaged in an interesting banter throughout the performance.



The next production involving Hayley Mills was Summer Magic, where he sang the Ugly Bug Ball.



Then he moved on to some of his most beloved songs from Winnie the Pooh.



He sang the original theme song from Winnie the Pooh and the audience sang along with the second verse and knew all the words.



He sang the song Stoutness Exercise





And then he sang the Tiggr Song.



Richard Sherman reminded us that he had just celebrated his 85th birthday. And with that he dove into songs from the Jungle book. He told us that it was really a dark story, but Walt liked most of it without the dark elements. So they had one of their first meetings on the Jungle Book and he asked, “Who had read Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book?”



No one responded.

“Good!” Said Walt. He told them about how he wanted his version of the book to play out.

Next he sang That’s What Friends are For





He then broke out into I wanna be like you



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[franandaj]

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The next movie that he sang from was the Aristocats. If I’m not dating myself, this is the first movie that I truly remember seeing in the theater and we sang the song of Abraham Delacy Giuseppe Casey Thomas O’Malley the Alley Cat for weeks after the movie!

They really wanted Maurice Chevallier to sing the title song so they arranged for a demo of Richard Sherman singing the song over in France and Chevaliier came out of retirement to sing the song. This was his last work before he died in 1972.



Bedknobs and Broomsticks was the first move that Sherman worked on after Walt’s passing. He said that it was a difficult time because Walt always “believed in them” and now they had to find that inspiration from themselves.





Richard Sherman also wrote a lot of music for the parks. He recalled a day when he and his wife had spent a lovely day at Disneyland. They ran into Walt at the end of the day. He proceeded to tell Walt what a wonderful day that they had, and there was a tear in Sherman’s eye. Walt patted him on the shoulder and said, “I do it every time.”



He told us a story of how Walt had a soundstage in the basement of his studios where he could show off the things that he was working on. He brought the Sherman Bros. down there one day and showed them some animatronic birds, and masks singing. They told him, “That’s great Walt, but what the he11 is it?”

“Well, that’s what you boys are going to do for me…you’re going to write the song that explains what this is.” That’s how the song for the Tiki Room was created. He then sang us that song.



Another favorite in the parks is our friend Figment in Journey into Imagination. He sang “One Little Spark” and then “Magic Journeys.”





He then talked about the making of Mary Poppins and the upcoming movie Saving Mr. Banks. He recalled that it was a difficult period in his life.



He sang “A Spoonful of Sugar”



He was joined on stage by the two stars of Saving Mr. Banks who play himself and his brother Robert.



He then went on to sing Chim Chim Chiree



Then he played one of Walt’s favorite songs, Tuppence a Bag.







Next he talked about Walt’s Birthday and on his 100th Anniversary, they brought a piano out in the middle of the Disneyland Hub and Richard gave a concert. He was just finishing that song and a bird swooped down right in front of him and then just flew away. Tim O’Day was also there and commented to Richard, “I think Walt just visited us.”



It was at this point that I realized that tons of people around me were video recording the performance and no one was stopping them! So I joined in too. My phone battery was very low, so I had to be choosy about which selections I recorded because I was pretty sure that I wanted to record the last selection of the night.

Richard closed out his portion of the concert with Carousel of Progress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGQ_jYL4024

And Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEEuHdAf28c







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[franandaj]

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Next Alan Menken took the stage.





The first song that he sang was Part of Your World. He talked about how the Little Mermaid brought him back together with Howard Ashman his long time lyricist and composing partner.





He went on to sing, Under the Sea.



Poor Unfortunate Souls…



Le Poisson



And finally “Kiss the Girl”



Then he moved on to the stage version of the show which is opening soon if it hasn’t already opened. He sang “All of My Secrets” from Act 2, “She’s in Love” (which was a very catchy tune that I liked!) and Eric’s Song.

















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[franandaj]

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Then he moved on to Beauty and the Beast. He talked about the complexity of the opening song, Belle. Evidently a movie never opened with a 7 minute intro describing the main character. The studio was a little sketchy about this for an opening, but eventually let them go with. He played Belle for us.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXmfHrFmxyE

Then he played Gaston but I don’t seem to have a recording of that.







Then Be Our Guest



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dI3yWLxTes



And then the Main Title from Beauty and the Beast

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2jkVydqPOU



Then he went on to sing a couple songs from the Broadway version of the show. Human Again and Beast’s song.









The next group of selections were from Aladdin. First was “Arabian Nights.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6xuZb_nZDk



Then he played “One Jump Ahead”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjY4xSeNsSY





And then the Reprise of that song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNb-CBT_tnk



Then he played one of my most truly favorite songs, “Friend Like Me”. For anyone who has been with me when I get a phone call, this is my default ringtone, and any time we are choosing music to play in band, I put this one in the mix if they let me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Z5tUTRh6o



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[franandaj]

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After this he moved on to a musical with one of the strangest runs ever. Evidently Newsies was a total flop when it first aired, but somehow, it became a cult classic which is now enjoying quite newfound popularity. I didn’t record any of these selections since I had to save my cell phone battery for my favorites and the finale I knew was coming.







From this musical he sang the songs, “Carrying the Banner”, “I’m the King of New York” and “Santa Fe.”

Then he sang some songs from Pocohontas, the first was a song that was cut from the movie, but I didn’t catch the title, next was “If I ever Knew You”, and finally “Colors of the Wind.”









One of the comments that he made after this sequence was that it was quite ironic. In this same year he got his 7th and 8th Oscars for Pocohontas, and his first Razzie for Newsies. Now I’m sorry that I couldn’t capture all the video this evening, but I was so afraid that my cell phone would die before the end of the night so I had to pick and choose.

He went on to The Hunchback of Notre Dame.



He Played “The Bells of Notre Dame”



Another song whose name I don’t know and then “Out There.”





Then he moved on to the movie “Hercules”. He played the “Opening Theme.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydOxgCqI2Kc



Then “Zero to Hero”.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MvmcYTSSHw

The last song, and I don’t why I didn’t record it, but it was “Go The Distance.”





Next he moved on to a movie that we never saw. Home on the Range.



The songs that he sang were, “Way Out West”, “Yodeling Song”, “Will the Sun Ever Shine Again?”







He played a couple songs from Enchanted. “True Loves Kiss” and “Happy Little Work Song”.









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[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

Then he moved on to one of my favorite movies, Tangled.





He started off with “When Will My Life Begin?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gYn0H7nWYU

Then he played “Mother Knows Best:.



I have a dream



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9nryZYNIi8


And finally “See the Light”





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVZDveLk82A

He played a few more songs, but by this point, I was saving my batter for the grand finale. He talked about a song “Star Spangled Man” that he wrote for Captain America.



And he sang a song for the show The Neighbors. Evidently the song was nominated for an Emmy, but I guess he didn’t get it since, I checked his Wikipedia listing and it just mentions the nomination. The song was called On Broadway, but evidently the show is about Aliens living amongst us and they tried “singing”. The song was hilarious! These are the citations that appear on Wikipedia. "Sing Like a Larry Bird" [the songs "Broadway Alien song", "Giselle", "Broadway Alien song"



He sang two last songs, one was from the Aladdin run on Broadway, it was one of Howard Ashman’s songs called “Somebody’s Got Your Back”.







And one last song from Enchanted, “How Do I Know He Loves Me?”



At this point, Richard Sherman came back out on the stage with Tim O’Day.



Menken played a “A Whole New World.”





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frDG2fgRtK4

Then they traded places at the keyboard, for the grand finale.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lUmvzu8dLY







And with that our Gala Concert evening and the second full day of the Expo was over. All I can say is that it was one TRULY AMAZING evening. I’m so glad that I have the video to be able to relive the evening. I’ve heard both of them separately, but to have both of them on the same stage, playing their music and combining together for the finale was a once in a lifetime experience, or hopefully maybe more! Even at Richard Sherman’s age, he is still forever young!

Dazed with our experience and exhausted from all the stimulus of the day we headed back to our hotel. We were so happy to be staying at the Hilton which was only across the walkway from the Convention Center. Keep in mind (for the mobility impaired) that we are talking about WDW type distances. Nothing is close, even exiting the Arena is quite a distance, and once you’ve exited the Arena there are at least 2-3 halls to cross through before you reach the “entry hall”. Thank goodness we had our scooters, because after the day we had, we were unable to consider walking a distance like this.

We made it back to the hotel and went directly to dinner (I think). I believe that Fran told me if she went up to the room, she would not come back down. All our electronics were so low on batteries as were our bodies that we decided not to take pictures of our dinner. Besides it was just the hotel restaurant and not anything really special, but it hit the spot. I know that I had the Mahi Mahi because it was prepared really well. I was surprised how good that it tasted. Fran probably had the burger, and I think we split a French onion soup and a salad for appetizers. We were so tired that all we did was eat and head back to the room. I don’t think she did any eBay listing or anything before we laid our heads down to sleep. The show was scheduled to end at 8:30PM and didn’t end until 9:30 (but no one was complaining), so we were probably in the room and going to bed by 11:00PM. However, now as I check back on my posts on this thread, I was posting the finale at 11:44 and commenting on people’s posts as late as 12:04PM, so I guess I didn’t get to sleep as early as I recollect!

Next up: We hit the wall tomorrow!

And PS, the clip of the finale was kind of hidden in and amongst the pictures. Make sure you listen to it (again), so cool!

 

[jedijill]

I have chills from reading about that concert! You guys are so lucky to have gotten to witness such an event!

Jill in CO

 

[kmedina]

The Star Wars shirt is neat. Not that I do not love sliders (because I do), but it is disappointing that so little selection remained upon your arrival.

Of all of the events I've read about thus far, this is by far my favorite. You have convinced me that I MUST attend the next expo. Those guys are the soundtrack to my life! I always say that music is what makes the movies great, and those are all wonderful songs.

I sometimes get emotional at Disney too. It was nice to hear Sherman say Walt felt the same way. Disney is just so much more magical than any other park.

 

[mvf-m11c]

It is nice to read your experience during Richard Sherman/Alan Menken concert at the D23 Arena. It was neat that you were able to videotape the concert while I just used my DSLR to take pictures. That was an amazing day on Saturday from all those different seminars at the D23 Arena from Let the Adventures Begin: Live Action at the Walt Disney Studios (which I didn't attend but my DA enjoyed it), Disney Legends Ceremony and the Richard Sherman/Alan Menken concert.

The Richard Sherman and Alan Menken concert that night was a lot of fun and glad that we got to see it. I remember when my DA and I just watched the Disney Legends Ceremony and leaving like everyone else, the queue for the Sherman/Menken concert had a long queue that we were worried that we would not be able to watch the event live and be in the side room. Luckily we were able to see the concert in the arena.

You will like the D23 Expo a lot Kim.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Thanks for sharing a detailed run down of the concert. I have watched some of the videos. I love the photos of all the art work.

Corinna

 

[Wonder2008]

Thank you for all the hard work you did in posting all of those pictures and video clips from the concert! Of course we both saw Richard Sherman perform at the D23 event at Walt Disney World in 2011 which was a huge honor, but I have yet to meet Alan Menken. I hope I get a chance to someday!

By the way, "Tangled" is one of my favorites too!

Robert

 

[Pinkocto]

Wow, what an event! I had an inkling what they would sing in the grand finale with what he prefaced it with thanks for posting all those clips. I didn't listen to them all, some of the songs I don't care for, but what fun.

I got choked up with Walt saying it happened to him too, how precious!

So with the sorcerers pass did you have a guaranteed seat?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Alison! I've been impatiently waiting for an opportunity to sit down and enjoy this whole post from end to end; complete with all the video feeds. It's taken me all this time to find a free afternoon. But it was so worth the wait.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm so enjoying all the video clips and listening to all the music of my life being played and sung by their composers.

 

[rentayenta]

Thank for sharing this Alison.