D23 Expo was HARD.

I did not anticipate hours and hours of standing in line yesterday, but that's what we faced. 80 minutes just to get into the convention center and another 60 to get into the Disney Legends Induction. Even though that arena could hold 9,000, people were turned away. There are tens of thousands attending.

We made it to the Legends and saw five women who voiced princesses be inducted: Linda Larkin, the speaking voice of Jasmine; Lea Salonga, the singing voice of Jasmine and Mulan; Anika Noni Rose, the voice of Tiana; Paige O'Hara, the voice of Belle, and Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel (also Barbie in Toy Story and Lady in Lady and the Tramp). One of the chairman of the Disney board was inducted along with the Jack and Bonita Wrather (posthumously), the builders/operators of the Disneyland Hotel. Guy Williams was inducted posthumously for Zorro. Then Regis Philbin was there! We enjoyed that a lot. Finally, Jim Henson was inducted posthumously. His children accepted for him and a great performance of his art concluded the show. Kermit and Rolf were there to sing "Rainbow Connection." That show was worth the wait.

Later in the day we had a chance to stroll through some of the exhibits, see the USPS launch a new set of Pixar stamps (head of Pixar, John Lasseter was there for that), and visit an exhibit on the upcoming new attractions. The day ended with the performance of Dick van Dyke and the Vantastix singing an eclectic mix of Disney and non-Disney songs in their own special a cappella style. We had to stand in line THREE hours for that one! Only about 750 people could fit in the room. Crazy.

I barely was able to stand and walk back to the hotel.

The good news is that cameras and cell phones WERE allowed everywhere yesterday. I took a lot of pictures of all the celebrities.

Today's first session is on the Walt Disney Studios. This is another biggie where new movie and TV projects will be announced and stars of shows will be there. THIS is the session that does not allow cameras or cell phones. Mark and I plan to leave everything in the hotel for the morning since we are walking back here for lunch anyway. Tonight they are screening a new 3D version of the classic Lion King animated feature. We anticipate standing in hours of lines to attend these two events, but in between we should be able to look around at some more of the convention vendor displays.