Flower Crowns and Disney Bound: D23 and Disneyland 2017 Trip

Well, day 3 of the D23 Expo dawned, and it was the last day of the convention.

As we did the other two days, we woke up and had our continental breakfast. We slept in about a half hour later though...we aren't as young as we used to be.

On this day, I Disneybound as Merida, and I was honestly surprised how many compliments I got on this Disneybound!

Yet again on the third day of the expo, the experience of getting into the event was different than both previous days. On this day, we walked right in the front doors, got our bags checked and went through the metal detectors, and then went on our merry way wherever.

In the main entrance area we saw Anastasia and Drizella and asked for a photo.

If there was a line somewhere for general admission, I don't know where it was...because as soon as we got upstairs, we asked a staffer where we should go if we wanted to go *upstairs*instead of downstairs (the third floor was blocked off). We found out there was a specific line for people waiting for the Tangled the Series panel that would be on floor 3. So we joined them!

And that's how we met some really awesome new Disney friends. We wound up in line for about two hours, once again sitting on the taped up rows on the floor. But we were surrounded by some pretty awesome and enthusiastic Disney fan ladies. We spent the time asking each other questions about our Disney experiences, and the time just flew by.

The panel was pretty fun too. Probably my favorite of the weekend. Here's my non zoomed in photo of our view from our seats....

..and zoomed in a bit to see cast better.

Mandy Moore and Zach Levi were there, the voices of Rapunzel and Flynn, along with the voice actors for Cassandra, and Varian, a young alchemist who I guess is going to be a recurring character, and who is voiced by some dude all the young girls in the audience were ape over.

Zach Levi kept us all in stitches. Tom and I had marathoned the episodes of Tangled the Series that are out so far ahead of time so we'd know what was going on in the panel.

We also got to see a still-in-progress scene where we flash back and see how Rapunzel meets Pascal. I actually teared up at that one. We also heard a new Alan Menken song for Varian that will feature in a future episode, along with a montage of footage. And we got really neat bags as we left the panel (which you can see in my haul video).

Walking around the expo floor, I recognized a Max Goof costumer. It was Leo Camacho from Thingamavlogs! Looking closer at the possum in the other costume, I saw it was Leo's girlfriend and fellow Thingamavlogger, Sarah Snitch. I got my photo with them.

Next Jeff texted us and asked if we were eating lunch, and we realized we were hungry, so we went out in front of the expo center and to the line of food trucks that were there. We ate with Jeff and Denise, who had to leave after a while to get in line for the first Alan Menken concert. "How would you like to see if we can make it into that one?" Jeff asked. We were more planning to try to make it to the second of the two Menken concerts that day, but when Jeff suggested we just see what we could do, we decided ok sure, what the heck.

By then it was about 12:45 and the Menken concert was at 1:00. Would we get in? We walked up to the expo worker standing guard at the top of the escalator down into the holding cell. She insisted the event was full and we wouldn't get in. Jeff gestured to us to go down the escalators to the holding cell anyway. We followed him, went down there, got in line for the standby for the event, and 20 minutes later we were sitting in hall 23, ready for the concert. Jeff's moral to the story: if you don't like what one D23 expo person says, ask another...or just check it out for yourself. Never trust that everyone has the right info. Which really is a lesson we'd learned throughout the weekend, but this experience just solidified it.

So we enjoyed Alan Menken's concert of his songbook. For those who don't Disney, Menken is the composer who has created music for Disney animated films since Little Mermaid. If you think of almost any hit song from a Disney animated movie since then, he wrote the music for it.

After the concert, we went back to the show floor. I love this Grandma Tala costume from Moana. It makes me so happy when older people costume.

We walked around to the far side of the expo hall again, looking for an artist's booth that one of the ladies from the Tangled panel line recommended we check out. I hadn't noticed that Olszewski, the artist who makes the miniature lit shadowboxes sold at Disney parks that I've drooled over for the last three visits or so had a booth there. And indeed, he was there on Sunday, answering questions and sharing new projects. I was smitten with this shadow box and miniature, both inspired by the Unicorn Tapestries. I filled out a form indicating I was interested in further information as they are created.

We saw this well done Spider-man from the new Homecoming movie.

and this marvelous Brave family, including my beloved Queen Elinor.

Since I was Disneybounding as Merida, I had to step in.

Tom and I went by the Sphero booth again so he could ask them for tips on what to do when he started up Spidey when we got home, and we noticed that this time we could see the guy who was talking for the giant Spidey. And he sounded exactly like the videos we'd seen of the toy. So we walked up and asked him if he did the voice for the toy. When he said yes, Tom had to get a photo with him.

And then we walked by the Oh My Disney booth, and Leonard Maltin was just sitting there at a table. A line of like only five people had formed to meet him. Tom was really happy to get to meet him, since he is a fervent film fanatic, and used to read all of his yearly movie guides that would come out each year.

A well done Oogie Boogie cosplay

We also met Disney YouTuber Mr. Cheezy Pop.

At this point, I asked Tom if we could go over to the Pixar booth again to see if there were any giveaways. Tom hated this area of the expo, not because of the booth itself, which was great, but because the area behind it, where the Cars characters were and the giveaways were done, was not given enough space for the amount of people who crowded back there. And the employees were often rude or abrupt. So we went over, and we saw there was a line for some autograph signing with some people? Animators or composers or something. I shrugged and said "ah well...we've been wanting to get our picture taken with Olaf and Kristoff's sleigh, and the line isn't long, so let's just do that." We did, and I love the result. It may be our Christmas card.

As we walked out of the photo op area, I noticed a crowd of people forming in the Pixar giveaway area. I asked an employee what was going on, and they said "a giveaway." Before Tom knew it, I was booking it to find the end of the line. The line already stretched around 3/4 of the large Pixar pavilion area. Halfway down the line, I saw another employee and asked again. They confirmed that they were giving out the Luxo ball. At this point I booked it to the end of the line. The Luxo ball was the thing I wanted more than any other freebie all weekend. In the culture of D23, it's huge. Everyone wants a Luxo ball.

We weren't sure if they would have enough for us to get one at all, but in the line we stayed, as it inched forward. Finally we got into the actual roped off queue and were given these little tickets with Luxo stars on them.

...and we traded it in for the real thing...a Luxo Ball!

In fact, when you go with your spouse, it means you each get a Luxo ball, so we got two! As I was posing for this picture, at least three or four people came up to ask where I got the ball. And before that, when we first exited the queue with our ball, it had already stretched to what looked like four or five hundred more people, maybe more, looping in a line back from the Pixar booth.

One more story to show the popularity of the Luxo ball: a story a cast member at Disneyland on Monday told us. She was also at D23, waiting for the return time she was told for the second Alan Menken concert, when she saw the giveaway was happening (the one where I got mine). She knew that if she got in line, she might miss the return time to get into the concert. So she walked up to a Pixar employee, explained the situation and asked if something could be done. Here's the best part.

He replied: "do you see that line of men in suits right there?" (We saw them too when we were getting our balls) "Those are security guards for the boxes of Luxo Balls."

Security. Guards. For. The. Plastic. Luxo. Balls.

But I mean, I really wanted one too, so I get it. Giveaway fever is real...just ask anyone injured on a Black Friday.

After the Luxo stampede, we saw a really great Spider-man:

And Tom got a picture with him.

And a photo of Te Ka

As I stood in line to get a photo with the Honda "Minnie Van," Tom took photos of a few more cosplayers. This nice Merida...

Bing Bong!

People were going ape for this crazy good Moana cosplayer. She exuded Moana attitude, a princess-like friendliness, and looked uncannily like both Moana, and her voice actress, Auli'i Cravalho.

In line for the Honda Minnie Van, they had examples of Minnie Mouse's parks fashion from around the globe. I loved this dress with its lining and those giant glam sunglasses.

But this had to be my favorite Minnie ensemble.

The actual Honda Minnie Vans that will run around WDW look like this, only without the bow and in red.

Here's my photo I got with the Minnie Van. Really I just wanted the cute little pin they were giving out. (and I got)

Officer Clawhauser from Zootopia!

I got in line again to get a photo on Moana's boat, so I could get a photo with Moana!

Clawhauser wound up being a part of a whole Zootopia crew!

As we left, I got a photo with Bill Rogers, the voice of Disneyland and Disney World (he does all the parks announcements) and his wife, Camille Dixon, who is the voice of California Adventure.

After a few more walks around the expo floor, it was apparent: D23 was a wrap! We took a few more costume photos outside. I had seen several costumers wearing Elsa's new gown from the upcoming Frozen short, but this was the only Elsa I saw in her new ensemble all weekend long.