Well, I decided to brave the crowds and take a quick up and back trip to the D23 expo today! All in all…I am glad I went as there were a few things and people I got to see and meet that I would have been disappointed to miss.
Inside the Imagineering exhibit (which was probably my favorite part of the Expo) was a small area with some original artwork. The highlight here was the original Herb Ryman sketch of Disneyland created in 1953. This is an awesome piece of work to see close up…the line and details are just spectacular…reminiscent of early twentieth-century pen and ink illustrators Franklin Booth or Joseph Clement Cole. And to think this sketch was basically made in a week-end…incredible!
Next up at the exhibit was a piece that we all know and love as Disney postcard collectors…the Peter Ellenshaw painting of the park that Walt is pointing to in NT0001! What a treat to see this up close! This more evolved picture starts to look like the real thing. Don’t miss this great shot of Ellenshaw working on the painting at Davelandweb.com.
In the Collectors Forum I had the privilege of meeting Don Ballard, the author of the acclaimed Disneyland Hotel books. His first book is back in print, so if you don’t have a copy I can highly recommend it. I have a link to his blog on my Links page.
Otherwise, I didn’t find that much else to buy in the Collectors Forum, with one notable exception! I actually found a nice copy of NT0439 (Nautilus) in really good condition for a very reasonable price! So…that’s a big checkmark in my collection!
Other highlights for the day: I went to the Tony Baxter “Undiscovered Disneyland” talk with tons of vintage footage of Holidayland, Midget Autopia, and a complete on-board film of the Mine Train! Marty Sklar also gave a talk about his career which was fun to hear…and I ran into Dave Smith, retired archivist of the company! He was kind enough to talk briefly…and informed me that the archive does not have a complete collection of the postcards!
So…it was a successful trip. And while I might sit the next Expo out…I am glad at least that I got to go to this one.
Until next time…(which in this case will be about a week, as I am on vacation all next week!)
Hey I loved your blog so nominated you for the Leibster Award. Check it out here.
http://mickeymousemath.com/2013/08/12/the-liebster-award/
Cool… Thanks! I am on vacation at the moment, but I will get my answers together. Hey, how do you see how many followers a blog has? Sometimes obvious, sometimes not.