Disney Store Prez Reporting from D23 Expo!

Happy D23 Expo, Buzz Readers!

@DisneyStorePrez here! Today, as many of you may know, we kicked off the D23 Expo.  For those of you that weren’t able to join in on today’s celebrations, I wanted to share with you a snapshot of some of the surprises we have in store for the Magical weekend.  And for the guests that are at the Expo, here’s a recap of some special moments from today, because we had a blast!

We started off the day with a very special Disney Store Opening Ceremony! At 9am, we chose a lucky D23 Expo guest to “unlock imagination” at the Disney Store pop-up store, and our very special guest Mickey Mouse joined the magical moment.   We will begin every day of the D23 Expo by unlocking imagination at Disney Store, because it’s a favorite ritual of ours at all of our new locations around the world and we wanted to share the special moment with all of our D23 Expo guests.  

I couldn’t wait to make the announcement about Disney Store’s 25^th Anniversary celebration next year. Can you believe that 25 years ago we opened our first Disney Store at Glendale Galleria, in California? For the D23 Expo, we wanted to get a head start on the anniversary celebration, so we launched an assortment of exclusive 25^th Anniversary D23 Expo silver merchandise. I had the honor of unveiling sliver Cinderella which is only available at the D23 Expo--isn’t she lovely! If you are planning on coming to the Expo make sure you check out all the 25^th Anniversary products at our pop-up store!

 

 

The fun only started there!  A little later in the morning I attended the Legends of Disney Awards ceremony.  If you don’t know what the Legends Ceremony is, it’s where The Walt Disney Company honors those who have made a significant contribution to Disney’s legacy.  The actresses who’s beautiful voices brought to life many of the modern-day Disney Princesses including Jodi Benson (Ariel from The Little Mermaid), Paige O'Hara (Belle from Beauty and the Beast), Lea Salonga (singing voices of Jasmine from Aladdin and Mulan from Mulan), Linda Larkin (speaking voice of Jasmine from Aladdin), and Anika Noni Rose (Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog) were all being honored. Disney Store honored the Legends by presenting each of them with our glamorous, new designer dolls, launching at select Disney Stores nationwide on Monday (make sure you check back on The Buzz for more info on the dolls!). A limited number of complete sets will be available for pre-purchase at the D23 Expo.

 

The rest of the day I got to enjoy all of the awesome D23 Expo events with the entire Disney family, including Cast Members and fans!

We are so excited to share this wonderful weekend with you! Here’s what to look for from Disney Store over the next couple of days…

Saturday

-10 a.m. meet the Disney Store designers behind the Disney Princess Designer Doll Collection at the Disney Living Pavilion. 

-Join us at 1 p.m. for the Halloween Costume Parade and be sure to stop by our giant Ariel Wish-A-Little on the Expo floor and enter to win a Disney Store Halloween costume of your choice!

Sunday

-10a.m. Lion King Vinylmation artist signing

-1 p.m. Kidada meet and greet

Are you at the D23 Expo? Make sure to stop by Disney Store and say hi! And if you were unable to make it, keep checking into The Buzz for LIVE updates from D23 and follow us @DisneyStore and on Facebook.

Share your own D23 Expo highlights with us in the comments section – we’d love to hear them!

 

-Jim Fielding aka @DisneyStorePrez