Last weekend I was lucky enough to spend three days at the 2015 D23 expo! I had a wonderful time (I can say that now that I have caught up on sleep and my feet are functioning) and can't wait until 2017!
There were many announcements and excitement during the expo that you can read all about all over the web. Rather than repeat the same news that's been flying around the blog-o-sphere - I want to share everything I found related to Snow White at the Expo.
I was pleased to see Snow in the castle logo for the expo
Snow also appeared on many of the banners around the outside of the expo.
Many of the panels I attended did not allow the use of cameras - so I apologize in advance. I tried to go to any panels where I thought there might be a Snow White connection. On Friday I went to the Walt Disney Archives stage to hear Don Hahn talk about his upcoming book - Before Ever After. After attending this panel, I am looking forward to the book even more! He described the premise of the book as examining how the Disney Studio went from the early cartoons in the late twenties to a full length film in 1937 - as he put it - how did they make that leap in only ten years? He shared how the art education program got started at the studio and how it helped train the animators that we know as the nine old men today. We heard some fun stories about some of the lecturers (like Frank Llyod Wright and his brutally honest opinions) and how grueling the work was for the animators.
On Saturday I went the the panel on The Making of American Experience: Walt Disney. This panel again featured Don Hahn as well as Neal Gabler (historian), Rebecca Cline (Archives), and Sarah Colt (Producer). I can't wait for this documentary! (PBS September 14 and 15). At about one hour into the show audiences will see clips from the premiere from Snow White. I've seen lots of stills of this, but not too much video. We got a preview and I was thrilled to see it. The producer was able to obtain unseen footage from the archives and from animator Art Babbit - so the whole special should be amazing to watch.
On Sunday I returned to the Archives stage for In Conversation: Wilma Baker and Ginny Mack. These ladies were ink and paint girls for the Walt Disney Studios. The amazing part? Wilma Baker started working for the studios in July of 1937. That's right, she worked on Snow White!
Wilma Baker on the left and Ginny Mack on the right.
This may have been my favorite panel of the three. Just to be in the room with someone who worked on the film was pretty amazing! I learned so much and am looking forward to the upcoming book by Mindy Johnson.
Before Wilma was hired she went into the studio every evening from 6 to 10 pm for two weeks where she practiced (without pay). After the two weeks, she was hired at $16 a week. There were overtime hours for the ladies as they got closer to the premier. One interesting thing she said was that she didn't see herself as an artist but as someone who can keep to a line. I completely disagree! These ladies had a tough job! Mindy showed us a close up picture of Snow White's eyelashes - done by an inker - wow! The detail! We also learned that the girls didn't have light boxes in those days, just lamps. Can you believe it? The other thing I learned that I found fascinating was that after Snow White was so successful and Walt was able to build his new studio, the inking girls were moved into the second story. The inkers discovered that the floor moved when the other girls walked by so the girls had to shuffle to not disturb each other.
I spent a lot of time on the show floor because one of the great things about the Expo is the free swag! I only found one Snow White related freebie on the show floor. Disney Consumer pavilion had a wishing wall where you could write a wish and tie it to a wishing gate.
Ok Snow White fans - bad news - you need to move visiting Shanghai Disneyland up higher on your to-do list! Walt Disney Imgineering had a fantastic booth showcasing the upcoming park. Not only will the new park have a Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, but it will also feature a massive castle that will have princess statues (Snow White is naturally one), a dinning room with princess rooms (including a Snow White inspired room - check out the vase below), and a Snow White walk through experience! I asked an imgaineer for details about the walk through and she told me it was something like the Dinseyland's Sleeping Beauty walk through but this one will allow guests to interact with the environments from the film and feature CGI technology. What's more is that Snow White will speak in Mandarin.
The details for the castle. Amazing!
Close up on the Snow White vase - amazing artistry!
Here is the castle - it looks so tiny - but it will be anything but!
See! Snow White attraction!
The display showing the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
They showed a ride video (one assumes from Florida) and played the ride music - it was strange to hear some differences in Heigh Ho.
The Walt Disney Archives had a Disneyland display that was full of amazing things including this piece from the Emporium on Main Street:
The one place I never went into (the lines were just too long!) was the Disney Store itself - but I did find the dwarfs outside it
Walking around the show floor, there was a small nod to Snow White in the Walt Disney Animation Studios booth.
Eric Goldberg had a booth featuring his art in his upcoming book. He had Snow White and all the dwarfs on display.
I was disappointed to find that there was no Snow White exclusive D23 expo merchandise (at least that I could find). However, there were lots of things for sale.
The Expo Dream Store...
The $300 Snow White Master Score
There was lots of art available...
This came as a set of four, but a print could be bought
At Mickey;s of Glendale (Imagineering) you can see Snow in front of the castle on this great bag.
Hallmark had a display of different items - including this Snow Globe
One of the emporium vendors was selling these cuties - but they were in blind bags - I hate those!
Precious Moments were showing off lots of Snow White products:
New Zealand Mint had just released their Snow White coin.
This was the box for the Gold coin
Theme Park Connection had some Snow White related items for sale. I actually brought home a treasure from this booth.
These little cutties will be showing up in Target sometime soon - Snow White is a nail polish.
A few of my favorite purchases came from Enesco and the Disney Archives collection:
A box set of cards!
This stationary is a set of 8 designs - but how can you beat Snow?
Isn't this picture awesome! It looks like they are rolling out a new line of archive photographs that you can get as art - very cool idea.
Another piece of art available at the show
I have to admit I thought about getting the Master Score. After all it is a limited edition Snow White book. The Music Emporium actually had one out you could read. After looking at it, I decided it wasn't for me. It is very cool, but doesn't have enough for me to justify the price. The book has four pages of background and then all the pages are copies of the original music sheets. I thought that it would include the music or something else, but it is the book only.
Inside cover
Info page 1 and 2
A little more info
I am a terrible reporter because I completely neglected to take a picture of the Uniqlo Snow White shirts being sold at the expo. There were two designs for women and by the time I remembered to snap a picture (on Sunday afternoon) they had sold out of the tees. I did bring one home though!
So after three days in a Disney Fan's heaven - what did I bring home? Lots! But here a few of my favorites:
Bookmark of one of the pieces made for expo - I liked the Snow and Queen featured on the bookmark
A Walt Disney Imigneering Pin from Mickey's of Glendale
Bought this hair clip from a ETSY crafter in the Emporium section
Of course I had to have this!
Here are the other prints featured
Notecard box
The Uniqlo shirt I brought home
The expo shirt I picked - not sure why Snow White is the biggest character on the shirt - but it made me happy!
And that's it! I'm sure this was not every Snow White reference in the whole expo. I had a great time at the expo. With proper expectations (lots of waiting in lines and realizing you won't get into all you want) and some good friends to be your line buddies - the expo is a blast!
I have been to all the D23 expos (a benefit of living so close) and I am excited to be heading out there next weekend. I been seeing lots of podcasts and articles on advice on how to make the most of it. Here is my contribution:
Patience
Yup, that's it.
I will post when I get home all of the Snow White related things I can find at the expo. You can read about my past trips if you just can't wait: 2009 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday), 2011, 2013. It's hard to believe that those articles from the 2009 expo were my first blog posts!
If you are headed out to the expo - be on the lookout for me - my great and talented friend created a new website logo and I have buttons to hand out! I will be carrying my brand new custom Whistle While We Blog purse. I hope to get to say hi to some of my readers!
Here are the buttons - supplies limited!
If you see a lady carrying this purse - it's me! Stop me and say hi!
See how nice it looks on my expo lanyard? You can look this good too!
After months of thinking about it - I signed up for a run Disney event! I will be running (?) the Avengers 10K in November of 2015. Naturally I have been working hard on planning...my outfit that is. I realize I'm running an Avenger race - but I'm still planning my Snow White outfit!
I have my Raw Threads Snow shirt
A few Saturday nights ago we were looking for something to watch on TV when we ran across this movie:
I have always enjoyed this film. As I sat watching it for the umteenth time, I got to thinking - what would I do with this situation?
Here is a refresher of the plot:
30 million dollars in 30 days - you can't tell anyone what your doing, you can't own anything new, you can't buy anything to destroy, you must get value for the services paid, and you can donate only 5% to charity and 5% can be gambled.
This got me to seriously thinking - could one do this challenge a take an ultimate around the world Disney vacation - could you spend that much at Disney in thirty days? My thought is - absolutely!
First up, I'd donate the 5% - $1,500,000 - to charity. I will put my personal plug here (and non-Disney related) and I'd donate to the Michael Hoefflin Foundation. I'm not much of a gambler - so I'd skip that option and start planning the trip of a lifetime.
$28,500,000 in 30 days - let's go!
The trip will hit Disney theme park destinations - Orlando, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Anaheim - and Hawaii (for good measure). Six destinations in 30 days means five days per location.
I am calculating prices based on two people using all kinds of Disney and fan websites - so let's spend some fictional money!
Up first Orlando -
Room for 5 nights in the Royal Asante Presidential Suite (around $2,600 a night) - $13,000
Theme park admission for 5 days with water park and more and park hopping - ($431.33 per person) - $862.33 (for 2 people)
Platinum Dining plan ($254 a day - for two people) - $5,080
Private Premium VIP tour - ($600 an hour) - 8 hours a day for the five days - $4,800
So that brings our total for the Orlando leg to around $23,800
Next Paris -
Room for 5 nights in the Sleeping Beauty Presidential Suite in the Disneyland Paris Hotel (around $3,839 a night) - $19,195
Theme park admission - ($259 per person) - $518
Assuming the VIP tour is around the same in Orlando - $4,800 for 5 days
Dining - Let's budget 200 a day per person - $2,000
That brings the Paris total to $26,513
Tokyo
Room for 5 nights in the Walt Disney Suite in Tokyo Disneyland Hotel (500,000 yen a night) - 2,500,000 yen
Theme park admission with extra park hopping (22,800 yen per person) - 45,600 yen
VIP tour (at around 21,000 yen for 3 hours) for 9 hours a day for five days - 31,500 yen
Dining - a full dinner at Magellan's runs 7500 yen - so lets use that for our meals - 225,000 yen
Our Tokyo total is then 2,779,300 yen which, according to Google, will be $22,665.97
Hong Kong
Room for 5 nights in a Hong Kong Kingdom Club Suite (9,564 HKD a night) - 47,820 HKD
Theme park admission - 4,990 HKD
VIP tour (4,688 HKD for first 3 hours and 1,300 HKD for additional hour) - 55,940 HKD for the 5 days
Dining - again, budgeting for big spender meals - $2,000
So - looking at around $20,000.
Hawaii
Room for 5 nights in the Ahu Ula Suite (around 3,726 a night) - $18,630
Spending money for the spa and excursions - 900 a day per person - $4,500
Dining - $2,000
Our total for Hawaii is now $25,130
Anaheim
Room for 5 nights in one of the Disneyland Hotel penthouses - have you seen those rooms?? - ($3,500 a night) - $17,500
Theme park tickets $630 for a 5 day park hopper
VIP tour $355 an hour - $14,200
Dining -$2,000
The Disneyland total is $34,330
After calculating all of these locations I am surprised to find that they are all around $30,000 for the five days. I'm rounding that up to $35,000 for taxes and tips. So for thirty days the total goes to $210,000. I honestly thought this would be much more! So, now I'm thinking - let's make this a party! How about 50 of my best Disney pals? Now we've spent - $12,250,000
We have $16,250,000 left to spend.
Next - hire a private jet to fly us all around the world and private car service to go to and from airports and destinations. Because we can! Let's budget 60K for each flight and with 7 flights, it will cost us something like $420,000. We'd need at least 14 limo rides to and from airports and if the rides cost about $350 that would be at least $5,000. But we are bringing 50 people! So we're looking at at least $25,000. Of course, we'd need a private photographer to document to the trip. I'm sure there is some Disney fan professional photographer that would sign up for the trip! Let's hire someone (or two?) to document the trip and budget $100,000. So for transportation and documentation - let's budget $1,000,000.
That still leaves $15,250,000. I'm surprised at how much is left! Now there might be more expensive ways to roll through cash at Disney that only the high rollers know, but 30 million truly is a huge some of money!
How about just renting out all of Disneyland for the last day and throwing a huge party? Think 15 million will cover it?
Or maybe just rent a cruise boat for the month? Maybe 30 million would cover it?
I was recently inspired by an episode of WDW Radio and got to thinking about which books every Snow White fan should have. So here it goes, my top 10 list of Snow White books...
First up is the 1987 book written by Richard Holliss and Brian Sibley: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs & the Making of the Classic Film. This book was republished in 1994 for the re-release of the VHS tape. This book has three sections: the first is a history of the behind the making of the film, the second is a retelling of the story where the illustrations are all production art, the final section discusses the film's impact. This is one of the most complete books about Snow White history. Below are pictures of the three versions I own:
This version came in a VHS box set
Second, every Snow White fan needs to have a 1937 version of the story. The book below is a 1987 reprint of a 1937 edition. Why a older version of the storybook? The oldest story books include scenes that didn't make it into the final version. This particular book includes Snow White's mother and the dwarfs building a bed.
Most children have a few Little Golden books around - and there are no shortage of Snow White versions. Below is my favorite: The Little Big Book.
This next book is all about the beautiful concept art by Gustaf Tenggren: Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This was published in 2009.
Fifth on the list is Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs An Art in Its Making featuring the collection of Stephen H. Ison is a fabulous book featuring some amazing art. This book was published in 1994 to go with an exhibit in Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Sixth is the Walt Disney's Sketch Book of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The version I have is a 1993 reprint. The book is filled with detailed character sketches for all of the main characters.
Next is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Art and Creation of Walt Disney's Classic Animated Film. This book was released when the Walt Disney Family Museum had their Snow White exhibit. It is a fantastic collection of production art.
Ninth on the list is a linen book. These Whitmore publishing books are so detailed and the extra large size makes them a great statement piece in the collection. Below are a few of my favorites.
The last and final book on the top ten list is The Fairest One of All: The Making of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This is the most complete history of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I've been reading through this impressive book and there are a lot of stories I haven't heard before.
