To rub in the fact that most of us aren’t remotely cool at all, the Walt Disney Family Museum is having a series of events this weekend to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Disneyland. A number of Disney luminaries will gather over the course of three days to discuss the park and Walt himself. Tickets are all sold out, naturally, but the Museum is going to be tweeting live from the event (you can follow them at @WDFMuseum). A photo recap will be made available after the event.
The sessions will be held in the Special Exhibition Hall at the Museum in San Francisco; the first is tonight, July 16th, at 6:30 PM. Saturday, the 17th, and Sunday, the 18th, they will be held at 3:00 PM.
The lineup for the gathering includes a number of fan-favorites, Disney Legends, Disney family members, Imagineers, and former company executives – including two Disneyland Presidents. Among these guests will be:
Diane Disney Miller – daughter of Walt Disney (Friday, July 16 only)
Tony Baxter – current SR VP of Creative Development for Disneyland
Jack Lindquist – former President of Disneyland
Dick Nunis – Disney Legend and former Chairman of Walt Disney Attractions
Matt Ouimet – former President of Disneyland Resort
Buzz Price – Economist who helped Walt Disney find original site of Disneyland
Craig Russell – Current Chief Design and Project Delivery Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering
Marty Sklar – Disney Legend and former Vice Chair of Imagineering
Bruce Vaughn – Current Chief Creative Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering
What can you say about a lineup like that?
So to everyone who’s going, I envy you. Be sure to ask Tony Baxter about WESTCOT and Imagination 4.0, and ask Dick Nunis about tiny pants. And ask Matt Ouimet to come back to run the parks division!
Be sure and follow the updates via @WDFMuseum!
An all star cast for sure. Don’t ask Diane about Neil Gabler.
HA!
Seriously… I know WDFM is only very loosely affiliated with TWDC, but someone needs to take a megaphone to Disney with the message that there are some real Disney fans on the east coast too. I nominate you, Beacon Joe, and Foxxfur as the official leaders of the “East Coasters Are People Too” campaign. The acronym is ECAPT, which is of course EPCOT being pronounced by a dyslexic Bostonian. I wish the three of you all the best on your campaign.
I would be completely in favor of this 🙂 Get out there and spread the word!