Once every two years, legions of diehard Disney fans descend upon Anaheim, CA for the biannual D23 Expo, which is sort of like the Winter Olympics of Comic-Con if the Winter Olympics took place a month after Comic-Con and was all about the Happiest Place on Earth. This year was my first time in attendance at D23, and it did not disappoint (unless you’re a Star Wars fan, but haven’t you guys been disappointed since 1983?) the eager fans waiting for a deluge of announcements and guest appearances from Disney’s top tier talent.
Day one was all about Disney’s animated offerings, as Disney chief Bob Iger and Pixar impresario John Lasseter gave us our first peeks into what’s coming our way in 2014 and beyond. While I wasn’t fortunate enough to be in the arena where Tom Hiddleston serenaded the audience with The Jungle Book‘s “Bare Necessities,” I got to catch up with Frozen‘s Josh Gad and Kristen Bell, The Good Dinosaur‘s Lucas Neff, Inside Out‘s Bill Hader, the Norse God of mischief himself, and many more.
Day two had considerably fewer fairies by comparison, and dialed up the Norse mythology meter to eleven as cast and crew from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World, Tomorrowland, Maleficent, The Muppets Most Wanted, and more were in attendance to hype up the crowd and talk to us about their upcoming projects. With Natalie Portman, Sebastian Stan, Damon Lindelof, Alan Taylor and others walking the carpet, I braved long periods of standing upright and several cups of coffee to take you behind the scenes. Fun fact: our camera operator for this shoot actually starred on an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street alongside Elijah Wood, directed by none other than Thor: The Dark World director Alan Taylor. He may be in charge of Asgard now, but even on another plane of existence, it’s a small world.
And there you have it, folks! Keep your eyes peeled for one more special D23 video coming later today on the Nerdist Channel! Which of these films are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter!
