Disneyana 2002, - LaughingPlace.com: Disney World, Disneyland and More

Disneyana 2002
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I had a Disneyana Discovery until 11:30 so I was not able to head to the venues until the afternoon, but my first stop was one of my favorites, The Walt Disney Company Showcase. The Showcase was located in Innoventions West and was an opportunity for various divisions of the company to show their wares. Buena Vista Home Entertainment was showcasing their various videos and DVDs. Their focus was on the Monsters Inc. DVD which was released on September 17th and the platinum edition of Beauty and the Beast which was released on October 8th.

Disney Online gave out information about Toontown Online. This project, which last year Disneyana participants were invited to be beta testers for, will go live in October. Toontown is a multiplayer online role playing game. In this game you are able to enter various regions of Toontown:

  • Toontown Central, where you create your own toon as Mickey guides your way
  • Donald’s Dock, where you swim underwater to collect treasures and catch fish.
  • The BRRRGH, and ice land featuring ice-skating, ice-fish, and catching snow fish.
  • Minnie’s Melodyland, where you dance to the music with Minnie.
  • Daisy’s Garden where we get to navigate the hedge maze to find the giant daisy
  • Donald’s Dreamland where we slumber into dreamland where the sun never rises.
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    I am really looking forward to this project. Hopefully I will be done with Kingdom Hearts by October 2002.

    Disney Interactive had information about Kingdom Hearts, the highly anticipated role playing game for the Play Station 2. This game, a joint venture between Disney Interactive and Square, was released in September. Walt Disney Records was promoting their Read-Along DVDs which Walt Disney World hotels showed on TV as Bedtimes Stories. Disney Auctions asked visitors to fill out a survey and promoted some of their upcoming auctions including exclusive pins.

    Disney Store showcased some of their upcoming pins and made sure that guests new that Art and Collectables will be available online at DisneyStore.com. Also, the website will continue to carry adult clothing. The Disney Cruise Line showcased their new Western Caribbean Cruise. Walt Disney Pictures shared information about Tuck Everlasting, Santa Clause 2, and Treasure Planet. There was also information about two movies theme park fans should be interested in; the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion movies. Disney on Ice currently has five shows touring the country: Princess Classics, Toy Story 2, Disney Classics, 3 Jungle Adventures, and 100 Years of Magic. Disney Channel promoted their Playhouse Disney and Zoog Disney programming blocks with emphasis on Rollie Pollie Ollie and Kim Possible.

    Walt Disney Art Classics encourage Disneyana guests to attend the 2003 Celebration of Walt Disney Art Classics on board the Disney Cruise Line. A Disney Adventure on the High Seas takes place May 15-18, 2003. Walt Disney Art Classics also retired the Jolly Holiday scene from Mary Poppins and unveiled a sculpture of the Huntsman from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

    Then I went to the heart of the event. The World ShowPlace is the new name of the building that housed the Millennium Village during Walt Disney World’s Millennium Celebration. Topiaries of Disney Characters holding evidence lined the entry way and posters should various Disney villains who were wanted for questioning. The front of the World ShowPlace housed Mousekommunicvations, which was the information center for all the events planned. It resembled a detective office. The whole venue had a film noir look. The venue was also decorated with various artifacts from Disney History, including a huge replica of the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

    Further into the venue was the Logo Store where guests were able to purchase merchandise themed to the 2002 Official Disneyana Mystery and other special merchandise including pre-purchasing the Beauty and the Beast DVD and the Kingdom Hearts video game. Beyond was Minnie’s Attic where signs, props, and artifacts from Walt Disney World were on sale. Finally was the Antiques & Collectables area where dealers sold Disney collectables. All of these areas were smaller than last year. The Antiques and Collectables area was the subject of much discussion. This year the space was free to the dealers, but Disney got to keep thirty-five percent of sales. This change in operation was probably the most discussed issue outside of discussions involving the scope of the event.

    That night the Auction was to be held at the American Adventure. We were let in to the lobby and were offered Champagne. As we were waiting to be let in to the main theatre The Voices of Liberty performed various patriotic tunes. In the main theatre we were welcomed by a member of The Walt Disney World Ambassador Team. He introduced Roy Conli. Roy is producer of the upcoming movie Treasure Planet and he introduced us to the characters and showed us several clips.

    After, the preview the auction began. Our auctioneer was Keith Hoopingarner. This auctioneer moved quickly. Perhaps too quickly as many guests started yelling for him to slow down. But when we were finished early most guests were happy the auction did not drag on as in previous years. Midway through the auction a stagehand announced that the Fair Godmother’s Wand was missing and that there was only “one�? slide available. When the slide was shown it resembled a “1�?. After the last item was auctioned off it was discovered that Aladdin’s Magic Lamp was missing. M. Mouse sent Steve, the stage manager a note saying, “Despite Aladdin’s film running 90 minutes, Aladdin didn’t want to stick out, and actually preferred running with the crowd.�? In our clue booklet, there was a clue that mentioned that three films had a running time of 88 minutes. Therefore, 88 was the answer. After the auction I waited for a friend of mine to take care of the items he had won and went back to the hotel to rest for the next day.