We wrapped up our second day of the 2011 DisneyanaMania Convention just a couple of hours ago. We had a wonderful day!
We started off the day's events this morning with Dream, a collector's brunch honoring and supporting Ryman Arts.
Our brunch featured a presentation by artist Noah, who shared his own inspirational story of how doing what he loved led to a successful career creating art.
Noah hoped to pay forward the encouragement and inspiration he received as an aspiring artist by supporting Ryman Arts, and one of the ways he did that was by donating and signing an artist's proof of a painting he did of the Queen from Show White, as well as creating, signing, and donating an impromptu drawing on a napkin!
Although our audience was smaller than it's been compared to past years, and we've all had a tough economy to deal with, our Conventioneers really came through for Ryman Arts, raising over $6000 in contributions for this great program.
After Dream, we proceeded with our first set of seminars. Kicking things off this afternoon were Disney historian Jim Korkis and Disney author and webmaster Jim Hill, who tried to outdo each other in telling the Conventioneers little-known stories about the history of Walt Disney World.
After Jim Hill fashioned himself a podium using supply boxes (Jim Korkis used the hotel's podium), Jim and Jim alternated telling tales, keeping the audience enthralled and in stitches while sharing their knowledge of the World.
For our next presentation, we went from talking about a great big World to discussing beautiful bits of paper. Roger LaRoque and Nick Farago, creators of a guide to Disney theme park postcards, joined us to tell about the history and fun of Disneyland postcard collecting, how they created their postcard guide, and how their guide served as an inspiration for Bruce Gordon and David Mumford's book Disneyland: The Nickel Tour.
Last but not least, we enjoyed an author's panel; the authors of four books about different aspects of Disney joined us to discuss their works. Our panelists were:
*Don Peri, historian and the author of Working With Disney, a collection of interviews Don conducted with legendary artists and others who worked with Walt.
* Nancy Temple Rodrigue, author of the Hidden Mickey series of novels whose plots feature searches for hidden treasure, time travel, and fantastic encounters.
* Professor Andi Stern, an associate professor of communications at Cal State Fullerton and the author of Why We Love Disney, an examination of the influence and the appeal of the Disney brand.
* Jim Korkis, historian and author of The Vault of Walt, a collection of stories about Walt Disney and some on the many fun and enjoyable things he brought to the world.
Our panelists told us about their books and what inspired them, and they shared some great stories about what they've learned about Disney and how Disney has influenced their work.
Today was a fun, inspiring, and informative day, and we're just getting started! Join us tomorrow for another update from the Crowne Plaza, or better yet, join us tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday and be a part of DisneyanaMania!
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