D23 1st Anniversary Party!

We attended the D23 1st Anniversary party at Disneyland on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. It started with us driving through an endless amount of traffic to get down to Anaheim before the party started. Then when we got there, had to sign in for our wristband and get in line with 10,000 of our closest friends.
After the park was closed and cleared with regular guests, we were ushered up Main Street and waited in front of the castle for ages until at about 9:10 they finally shot off some fireworks and we crossed the gate into Fantasyland again with 10,000 of our closest friends.

Mr. Diva and I met our friends at Peter Pan and that was one of the only attractions we had time to ride for the rest of the night.
Coming off the ride we spotted Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio.
"Always let your conscience be your guide!"
Then stopped to peruse the dessert and coffee table.



Guess who showed up? None other than the Three Little Pigs!! These guys are so RARE!! Tough to get pictures of them much less with them!!
from Wikipedia:
"Three Little Pigs is an animated short film released on May 27, 1933 by United Artists, produced by Walt Disney and directed by Burt Gillett. Based on a fairy tale of the same name, Three Little Pigs won the 1934 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. In 1994, it was voted #11 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. In 2007, Three Little Pigs was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Here is Practical Pig
Fifer Pig
Fiddler Pig
"Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"

I couldn't believe when Clarabelle Cow walked out!

from Wikipedia
Clarabelle Cow is a Disney fictional character within the Mickey Mouse universe of characters. Clarabelle Cow was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1928. Clarabelle is one of Minnie Mouse's best friends and is usually depicted as the girlfriend of Horace Horsecollar, although she is occasionally paired with Goofy instead. She appeared in the 1990s branded licensing program Minnie 'n Me. Clarabelle has never been anything more than a supporting character in the USA, her country of origin; only in Italy has she been treated as one of Disney's leading lights. Nevertheless, the character remains famous in the United States, surprisingly so in light of her decades of relative disuse.

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Practical Pig

And then Clara Cluck joined us!
from Wikipedia
Clara Cluck is a character made by The Walt Disney Company in 1934 when she debuted in the Mickey Mouse cartoon Orphan's Benefit. Since then she has appeared as a semi regular character in the Mickey Mouse cartoons. In the comic books she is shown in The Donald Duck/Scrooge McDuck Universe as Daisy Duck's best friend. Clara has been a member of Mickey's original farmyard gang since the beginning of his career, although she is seen less often than Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar.
We had quite a time trying to get the Mad Hatter to cooperate for a picture with Alice and the White Rabbit!
Then we had the privilege of meeting Mr. Bob Gurr, Disney Imagineer extraordinaire.
from the Disney Legends site
"Imagineer Bob Gurr has always been a man on the move. And for nearly 40 years, he's helped move many a happy Disney theme park guest aboard vehicles and ride conveyances of his own design. As he's often quipped, "If it moves on wheels at Disneyland, I probably designed it." And he certainly has, developing more than 100 designs for attractions ranging from Autopia to the Matterhorn Bobsleds to the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Monorails, and more."

and this guy was there from Lost -- no idea who he is.
Cinderella brought out her coach for the evening.
then on to meet the Country Bears. We love them!

Liver Lips McGrowl- Liver Lips is perhaps the funniest-looking bear. He gets his name from his very large lips. He is a brown bear and plays the guitar. He is voiced by Van Stoneman. He becomes an Elvis impersonator in the two seasonal shows.

Big Al- Big Al is the fattest bear. He is grey with a light grey belly and wears a tan hat and a red vest. He plays an always out-of-tune guitar and is voiced by Tex Ritter. He sang the song "There wuz, Buh-lood on the Sahddle." In the Vacation Hoedown he wears a miner's cap and red and black flannel shirt. During the Christmas show, he's dressed as a New Year's baby (sash and diapers) and wears an icepack and a party hat on his head.

Wendell- Wendell is a hyperactive golden brown bear who plays the mandolin. He wears a blue bandanna around his neck and a light brown hat. He also has a massive overbite and buck teeth. He is voiced by Bill Cole.

Such crazy bears.
And before leaving we met Disney Archivist, Dave Smith. If Dave doesn't know, nobody knows!

"The ultimate authority on all things Disney, Dave Smith founded the Walt Disney Archives in 1970 and, four decades later, continues to serve as Chief Archivist. In 1996, he assembled an unprecedented amount of Disney lore, facts, and figures into an unparalleled reference work, "Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia."
The next day, the Sherman Brothers were honored with a window on Main Street in this building. We took a picture since we couldn't miss work for the ceremony.
It was a nice time, but very rushed and we didn't really get to ride many rides because we had to keep jumping in line to get pictures with characters. We suggested that they make it a little longer next time so we have time to do a little more. And we never did see Kevin Corcoran, so that was a bummer, but we did get a picture of Kathryn Beaumont even though we didn't have time to get in line and get a picture with her.

If you have a chance to join D23, we have enjoyed it so far!