I know, I know. We’ve been running fairly thin on content at JHM this week.
For that I apologize, folks. But — what with Roger Colton, Jeff Lange & Angela Ragno all out west covering various aspects of this year’s N.F.F.C. convention, Disneyland’s 50th birthday celebration and Comic Con International and me being back here in New England on divorced daddy duty — this site’s staff is almost too busy right now to post any stories of size at the site.
Of course, come next week, that’s going to change. As everyone gets back home from out west (and Alice heads back to Hawaii) and all these great stories & photos started getting posted on JHM.
As sort of a tease for the stories that the site will be presenting next week, I’m now going to offer up some of Jeff Lange’s photos from this past week’s N.F.F.C. convention. Which will hopefully give you a hint of some of the great seminars we’ll soon be talking about.
First up is legendary Imagineer X. Atencio and Kathryn Beaumont, the voice of Alice in Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland” and Wendy in Disney’s “Peter Pan.”
Photo by Jeff Lange
Next up is Kevin Kidney, Jody Daily, Stacia Martin & friends from the Disney Direct seminar.
Photo by Jeff Lange
Club 55 also put in a strong appearance at this past week’s event. With Disney legend Ron Dominguez, Bob Penfield, Jack Linquist & associates dropping by to share stories about what it was like to be part of Disneyland’s opening team.
Photo by Jeff Lange
Bob Gurr …
Photo by Jeff Lange
… & Buzz Price too came by the convention to reminisce about what it was like to turn an Anaheim orange grove into “The Happiest Place on Earth.”
Photo by Jeff Lange
Mind you, this year’s N.F.F.C. convention wasn’t just about Disneyland’s past. The folks who attended this year’s event also got a glimpse at the Walt Disney Company’s future. With detailed presentations on the “Disney’s Fairies” product line …
Photo by Jeff Lange
Not to mention appearances by noted artists like Noah …
Photo by Jeff Lange
… and Dave Avanzino, who talked about how they went about creating their Disney-related art.
Photo by Jeff Lange
Jeff took photos at all of these events, while Roger & Angela took copious notes. Which is why you’ll see detailed stories about all these seminars on JHM in the coming week.
Mind you, once this year’s N.F.F.C. convention ended, the JHM staff kept on hard-charging. Roy Mitchner drove on down to San Diego, where he began exploring the sales floor as well as attending various events at Comic Con International. Meanwhile, Jeff & Angela stayed in the LA area. Where they covered the Disneyland star ceremony on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, checked out the new Disney soda fountain at the El Capitan as well as touring the city — getting shots of all sorts of Disney-related landmarks.
This morning, Mr. Lange hopes to be covering the “Space Mountain” grand re-opening, “Turtle Talk with Crush” ‘s official debut as well as the announcement of Disneyland’s new “Finding Nemo” themed submarine attraction. That is — of course — if Disneyland’s publicity office cooperates … But that’s another story that I’ll get to at some point.
All this — plus Roger Colton will be taking part in a live interview program which will be broadcast from Disneyland today on Canadian radio. Not to mention that Jeff, Roy, Angela and Roger plan to be in the thick of things come Sunday. As Disneyland officially celebrates its 50th birthday.
So — as you can see — these guys are generating a wealth of material. A lot of which will begin appearing here on JHM next week.
As for me … I’ve really been enjoying this time off with Alice. This past week, the two of us have gotten a lot of daddy / daughter time. We’ve done some pseudo-exciting stuff — like attending a family reunion as well as driving into Boston to catch a press screening of “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.” But mostly, it’s been a very low-key, relaxing sort of time. Lots of swimming & hunting for bugs.
Mind you, when I can get a few moments here and there, I continue to work on my writing. Particularly on that “Star Tours” saga. I came across some stories this week that are really going to add some fun stuff to that series. Which (hopefully) will get back underway this week.
So I guess what I’m really saying here is thanks for all your patience & understanding this week, folks. Because hopefully all this extra effort will finally start paying off next week.
Anyway … That’s it for now. You people have a great weekend, okay? And we’ll talk again on Monday.
jrh