D23 Convention

I've been a charter member of D23 since it started back in 2009. I've also been to all the D23 conventions. This year was the 4th installment. And this one was the best. Here is a day by day break down of the activities I attended.

DAY 1: I got to Hall E at 4:40am. There was a section for people wanting merchandise and a section for those waiting for the first D23 Arena show. A lot of people camped out overnight. They could line up at 10:30pm the night before. The area for merchandise was crowded. So I waited in the for the Lengends Show. At about 6am, my friend Ken W. Showed up. I met Ken and Sandra W. At the last D23 convention, waiting outside in line. They have been good friends ever since. At about 6:30am my friend Heather H. met us in line. She only got a 1 day pass. Then around 7:30, Ken's cousin Chet S. met us in line. He came all the way from New York. The first thing he said to me was he was happy to meet, thee Jon Hale. They escorted the group upstairs at about 9:30am. They created a 7500 seat arena in Hall D of the convention Center. Among the group that became Disney Legends were Susan Lucci,  Danny Elfman, and George Lucas. They all were grateful for the honor. We all thought George Lucas was the last one honored. But we got a surprise when the told us they also made Johnny  Depp a Legend. The place went crazy. He was great in his speech.

After the panel, we walked the floor and started collecting the D23 trading cards. They gave a starter pack with each show booklet. They had a few locations in the convention center to get cards. The full set was 30 cards. They passed out new cards each day. 

At about 4pm, Sandra, Ken, Chet and got ready to go over to Disneyland. A friend of a friend of Sandra, got us a reservation to eat at Club 33. This is a private club in Disneyland above New Orleans Square. You either have to have a membership or know someone that has one, to get you in. It was a treat. I can now knock off an item on my bucket list. A great end to Day one.

DAY 2: I got in line at 4:30am in Hall E to line up for the Marvel, Disney Studios and Lucasfilm Show. Ken got there at 5 and Chet just got in line with us at 6, right before our area was filled up. I saw my friend Amos in the standby line. But he was able to get in also.

For Marvel, actor Chris Evans came out to show a clip for the new Captain America movie coming out next year. Disney Studios plugged a bunch of new movies coming out. Including live action film versions of Jungle Book, Beauty and The Beast, and Pete's Dragon among others. Some of the actors were also there from the various films. 

Then the new cast and director of Star Wars: the Force Awakens took over the stage. The place went nuts. Especially when Harrison Ford came out. He was very humble and grateful for Star Wars starting his film career. He was also thankful to Disney for taking over the franchise. But there was one more surprise. Johnny Depp dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow came onto the stage to plug the latest Pirates movie: Dead Men Tell No Tales. He was great. He was totally in character as Jack. The rest of the day we got more cards and traded for a few more.

But then I got the Racing itch. So I went to Racers at 5:00pm. I was able to turn 5 laps. I'm now at 4263. I met Sandra, Ken  and Chet there. Chet was able to get in the same car as me. He thought that was great. He is a true fan of what I'm doing. 

DAY 3:

Most of today was spent shopping. It took 1 hour and 49 minutes to get in the Mickeys of Glendale store. I got a couple hats and shirt. Besides seeing the Mickey Mouse Club panel, the rest of the day I took Selfies with cast members,  walking the convention floor and trying to get the 5 trading cards I did not have. It came down to one missing card. I  needed a Lauchpad card to get the Small World Hippo card I needed. Chet gave me his only Launchpad card and I got the Hippo card I needed to complete the 30 card set. I'm very thankful he did that for me.

I'm also very thankful the cast members allowed me to take photos with them. That was a big highlight of the Convention for me. I can't wait for the next Convention in 2 years. Maybe I can get a Sorcerers pass for that one.

Now it's back to Racers to race towards 5000 laps. I need 37 to reach 4300. You can now also follow the journey on Instagram. I'm on there as Racers5000. Some of my favorite photos are there. 

Heather, Ken and me

George Lucas

Johnny Depp

In wall of charter D23 members

In Club 33 with Ken, Sandra and Chet

Waiting for Films panel with Chet and Ken

Teresa and Aleesa

Alison

Eddie and Marc

Cristian and Elise

Katie

Teo

George

Brittany 

Andrew

Tina

4200

I need 8 laps to reach 4200 at Radiator Springs Racers. Let's see how I get there.

I arrived at the Mickey and Friends parking lot at 5:50am. Needless to say, I'm the first in line, when they open the parking lot at 6:30am. I brought with me 4 containers of Snickerdoodles for the Pit  Crew. Two for the AM Crew and two for the PM Crew. Also the 2nd photo album of my shots with the Pit Crew. The album covers from 3600 laps to 4100 laps. And all the fun photos in between those marks.

The parking lot opened on time. I usually walk over but with the weight of the Crew goodies, I took the tram.

Gates opened at 7:30am. I first got a locker ($7.00) because it will be hot and stinky today and I brought a change of shirt. 

We were walked down to Racers at 8am. Not in a hurry. I first dropped off cookies to Photopass Crew and then Pit Crew. Then I started my countdown to 4200.

Lap 4193: 8:11am, Blue #2, Ramone side for race and won.

Lap 4194: 8:16am, Red # 5, Ramone and Won

Lap 4195: 8:29am, Silver # 2, Ramone and Won.

I was walking in line for lap 4196 and a girl and her mom were walking behind me. The girl told her Mom, "that's the guy". I talked to them before. Always glad to talk to fans of this adventure. 

Lap 4196: Purple # 1, Luigi side of race. And loss race.

Lap 4197. Yellow # 1, Ramone and Won. Carina was at belts for this lap and said, "well, well. look who it is". The people in the car asked if I work here. I told them I. I just love the ride and  cast members.

Lap 4198, Yellow # 1, Luigi and Loss

Lap 4199, Yellow # 2, Luigi and Won.

Getting nervous for the milestone lap. Catalina S. Saw a little of this anxiousness  before lap 4000.

Lap 4200: Yellow 3, Luigi and Won. Usually do not win on milestone laps.

Now only 800 more to reach 5000. I'll spend the rest of the day adding to my lap count. Will also take pictures with the Pit Crew. 

From now on, my posts will be on the milestone laps. Of course if something of interest comes along, I will also post. But next post will be at 4300.

The 4200 lap

Cast members: April,

Rosanna,

Jalina,

Stephanie,

Amos,

Catalina,

Carlos, 

Henry,

Annette, 

Greg,

and Andres.

My Favorite Day at Racers

I sitting in my doctor's office this morning waiting to get the results from my yearly blood test. What better place to get started on my post. 

Last year, on this date, was the 1000 time I got on Racers for the year. I went on the ride 316 times in 2013 and even told a cast member I wanted to get on 400 times in 2014. I kept coming to the attraction and the rides piled up. So on July 21st, 2014, I hit the 1000 lap.

The reason that it is my favorite day at Racers is because of what happened at 1000. I came to find out that they were planning for a few weeks about what they wanted to do. They even had morning roll call meetings about me. Making sure everyone knew when I would hit 1000. The Leads Eddie C. And Eddie O. were the ones organizing the event. 

So the day started out with me needing 6 laps to reach 1000. They kept asking me after each ride, what number I was on. They knew when I got in car 999. I did not know at the time, that they can mark or tag a car to go to the special unload area of the ride. So after lap 999, my car was taken to this area. There were about 10 cast members waiting for me to unload from the car. They then said "we hear you have one more lap to reach 1000". So 5 cast members got in the car with me. The car, by chance was Red 1, the John Lassiter car. The cast member were Ruth C, myself and Carlene B. In the front row and Eddie C., John G, and Andres L. In the back row. 

A little back story. In 2013, when I got to 300, I had a sign. One of the managers, Kelly M. saw me with the sign. When I got back from my ride, she had the cast members clap for me. I asked if I could get a photo with the crew. In my first photo with the cast members were Carlene, Ruth, Phil P. And Mark R. Just by chance, they were the ones I got a picture with. Ruth and Carlene told me they only knew at the last moment that they would get to ride in car 1000. That really made it special to ride with the 2 girls that were in my very first Pit Crew photo. 

I had a 1000 sign and as we went through the unload area. The cast members were clapping. When we finished the ride, I got pictures with the Crew. They also gave me a Piston Cup with 1000 laps engraved on it. A drawing of the outside area of Radiator Springs. They had members from the Animation Academy make the drawing. The cast members signed the drawing. And Eddie C. made a Cars art piece. I truly felt spoiled. I was happy to just ride with the Pit Crew. Everything else was a bonus.

I will always treasure this time. It was a moment just between my Pit Crew friends and me. We know how it has gotten crazy ever since. I knew getting close to 1000 how they felt about me. But this sealed the deal. I truly felt part of the Racers family after this day. I've even saw and heard comments like, " we love Jon at Racers. Jon works here, he just doesn't get paid". They also tease me how the break downs and weather delays are my fault. They keep me grounded with all the attention I get from Racers fans. I'm sure they know how much I love them and value their friendship. They always have my back as I have theirs. The new cast members are introduced to me. Like its part of the training process to know about me. Which is very cool. I can get a little emotional when I think how much they all  light up when I'm around. I even like the down times.  This is when I get to know my "brothers and sisters" better and take a lot of selfies.

That moment at 1000, ignited the fire to burn up the laps. A lot of cast members have told me they are glad I did not stop at 1000. From that 1000 moment until today, I've been on Racers 2752 times. Kind of put the pedal to the metal since 1000. 

The lap count is not only for me but for every Cast Member. Past, present, or future. What other cast members can say they have a guest that has been on their ride 4124 times. They are right beside me, in spirit, every lap I turn.

To finish up, my blood results. In the doctor's own words,"your blood is fantastic". Every category was where it should be. Sugar, kidneys, liver, cholesterol, protein, etc. I guess this means I can keep racing towards 5000 laps.

The 1000 car. In back row left to right: Eddie C., John G., and Andres L.

In front row, left to right: Ruth C., myself and Carlene B.

Art piece made by Eddie C, Piston Cup and drawing by animation academy.

Left to right: Cian, Eddie C., Andres, John G.,me, Carlene, Ruth and Eddie O.

My first ever Racers Cast Members photo. Left to right: Carlene, me, Ruth, Mark R. And Phil P.

4000

Today I will hit 4000 laps (rides) on Radiator Springs Racers. I always get a little nervous and anxious when I get close to a milestone. Partly because I slow down my pace to hit the magic number on a certain day and to arrange the ride with cast members.

Yesterday, I only went on 8 times to get to 3999. Saving the 4000 lap for today. I took my time getting those 8 laps.

I started yesterday, by visiting Disneyland. I went on the new updated Peter Pan attraction. They updated the LED lights and some of the animation.  The colors were great and vibrant. I then went to see the new Yeti on Bobsleds. He was pretty cool. Then to Astro Blasters. I scored 601,000 points. I also got to see my friend Tom, who works the ride. 

Then it was off to Racers. I got there just after 9am. In between the 8 laps I needed to reach 3999, I visited a little bit with the cast members. They mentioned how much they like what I'm doing and how I'm part of their family. I even teared up a little bit as I was talking with Alessa A.. Slowing down my lap count gets me thinking about everything the Pit Crew has done for me. They truly treat me as one of their own. They always have my back and love chatting and taking countless photos with me. I light up every time I come to Racers and see their smiling faces when I show up. I try and bring them goodies as often as I can and give them photo albums of our pictures together. I don't want them to ever forget me. I also talked to Cameron V. before  I left. She thinks I could hit 5000 by Halloween. We'll see.

Now back to today.

I woke up early at 4:30am. I could not sleep. I got to the Mickey and Friends  parking structure right before it opened at 6:30am. I walked over from the parking lot, not waiting for a tram. I walked slowly to the ride after rope drop. At about 8:15am the leads Mark, Eddie and lead trainee Guillermo told me that 1pm would be a good time for lap 4000, with the cast members. So now I need to keep busy until then. 

I first said hi to Marc A. and Kimmy, who were working the Racers Fastpass distribution. Then I saw the Ant-Man preview in the Bugs theatre. It was pretty good. I will definitely see that film. I talked to the cast members working there and some of them recognized me from Facebook and Instagram. Pretty cool. Next, I went on the other Carsland attraction, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. I walked through Bugsland after. Saw a couple cast members that also work Racers. I then went to the Animation Academy. We learned how to draw Baymax from Big Hero 6. Now it's only 10:35am. Two and a half hours to kill still. So I went by Racers and said hi to Amos, Arleen and Ruth. Getting a little antsy. Decided to take a walk around Paradise Pier. I've already have walked 3.7 miles today. Looking for a place to eat and ended coming back to Flo's for lunch. Then I found out they need to push back the 4000 lap until 1:45pm when Carlene B. gets off work. I went and told Caroyln at Photopass that the 4000 lap will be at 1:45pm. She could see I was a little antsy and told me to go sit down and relax. I went outside of Flo's Cafe and sat down. It is now 12:16pm. Former cast member Katie H. showed up at 12:30pm. I was able to visit with her for a few minutes. 

Then at 2:00pm, The Magic happened. Guillermo had cast members Carlene, Catalina and Ruth join Katie and I. We all got in Car Yellow 4 and  turned lap 4000. We even won the race. Katie had my GoPro, with a wrist mount and filmed the lap. It's now back to racing towards 5000 laps. And getting 4000 lap photos with the crew. I've been very lucky to know this group and getting to experience the big milestones with them. They all know how much I love them all.

In the back row, from left to right, Catalina, myself and Katie. Front row, left to right, Ruth and Carlene.

Left to right: Ruth, Catalina, myself, Carlene and Katie

Goofy shot of the group

46

Yesterday was simply magical. I had no way of knowing that I would be able to reach 46 rides in one day. Forty five was the record I set last year on a Saturday in September. I thought that was a record  that would be hard to break. Boy, was I wrong. 

The day started out great. I was able to come in with the Extra Magic Morning guests at 7:00am. Only guests that stay at The Disney Hotels can come in that early. But sometimes, they let those who do not stay at the hotels come in also. If the crowd is not too big. 

I arrived at the ride at 7:20am and turned 4 laps before the regular guests came in at 8am. When I took my first break at 9:10am I already had 8 laps. Then at about 1:30pm I turned my 25th lap to reach 3900. I started taking photos with the Pit Crew as I also kept riding. By my next break at 3:30pm, I had 30 laps for the day. After 38 laps, the ride went down for about 20 minutes. A single car went bad. The car was by the disability load area of the ride. This was at 7:07pm. After lap 42, I asked the Leads Ryan and Aubrey if I could ride with The Pit screw after they cleared all guests from the ride. They told me if they were able to clear the queue quickly, it might be possible. So after I got out of my car at 10:00pm, they grabbed the cast members that were close by, if they wanted to ride with me for lap 46. They jumped at the chance. Teressa took charge and put herself, Alessa and Teddi in the front row. I was in the back row with Zeina. And turned lap 46. A new 1 day record on Radiator Springs Racers. 

That is always my favorite laps at Racers. Getting to ride with my Pit Crew friends. They are the spark that fires my desire to reach 5000 laps by the end of the year. Of course the next stop is 4900. I hope I can ride with the cast members on that big lap.

The 46th lap for the day,

Some of the 3900 cast member photos:

Aubrey and Kelsey

Brittany and Jordan

Catalina and Allison

Cameron

Carlos and TJ

Alejandra

Kimmy

Ruth

The 3900 lap photo

1000th lap this year.

I was feeling a little charged when I arrived at Radiator Springs Racers Saturday night. I just watched American Pharoah win the Belmont Stakes and become the first horse since 1978 to win the Triple Crown. So it wasn't until I got out of the car,  that I noticed it  was my 1000 lap of the year. Not that big of a deal when I have a bigger number to reach: 5000 all time by the end of year.

But I will never forget my 1000 lap from last year. It was the beginning of this crazy adventure.

One of The Leads of the day, Eddie O., wanted  me  to keep telling him or Eddie C., when I was getting close to 1000. Didn't really know why, but I told him when I was on lap 999. Once they saw what car I got in, they tagged the car. So after the race, the car was pulled into the GWD area of the ride. A bunch of the Pit Crew members were there waiting for me. As I got out of the car, they said, " we hear you have 1 more lap to reach 1000". Five of the cast members got in the car with me. They even mentioned that we were in Red 1. Which is the John Lassiter car. So it was by chance I was in this car for lap 1000. The Pit Crew in the car with me were Ruth C. and Carlene B., in the front row and Eddie C, John G., and  Andres  L. In the back row. We lost the race. That did not matter. After, we took pictures with the cast members and they gave me a Piston Cup Trophy, A drawing of the ride, drawn by the members of the Animation Academy, and a Cars art piece that Eddie C. made.  I was happy to just ride with the crew. Everything else was a bonus. Which I will always be grateful for.

I could of stopped there. Not me. That was the boost I needed to continue turning laps. A few of the Pit Crew even told me, they were glad I did not stop.

My favorite laps at Racers will always be the ones with my Pit Crew family. A few times, I've gotten to ride with them on their days off from Racers. 

So as I race towards 5000, I will always remember that 1000 lap and how it all started the fun times at Racers for me. Getting to know, ride with, and taking photos with my Racer family. Ka Chow.

All photos left to right:

Eddie C., John G. And Andres L. in back row.

Ruth C., myself and Carlene B. In front row

Art piece made by Eddie C., Piston Cup Trophy, and drawing by Animation Academy signed by Pit Crew members

Cian, Eddie, John, myself and Carlene

Back row me and Pit Crew member Catalina.

Front row Pit Crew members Carol, Yeseina and Carlene

2000 lap car with back row of Catalina, me and Katie. Front row of Ruth and Carlene.

The first lap of 2015 after reaching 2400 laps for the year

Back row of Sonjia, me and Jared. 

Front row Marc, Carina and Arleen.

3000 lap with Carlene B, on her day off. She is the one with the Tigger Ears.

Me with former cast member Katie H., and her husband Glenn H.

Finish Line Bridge and stats for this year

Walking in the single rider queue can be both adventurous and challenging. Former Radiator Springs Racers cast member, Sherri Bordeaux, joking called the queue, The Jon Hale Expressway. It sure can be when only a few guests are waiting in the line. But there are also times when it can slow to a crawl. Everything is great when the wait is under 10 minutes. But over 25 minutes, can get a bit draining. I'm referring to the section of the line from the Finish Line Bridge to Merge (where the Single rider, Fastpass and Standby lines meet up). This is what I like to call the "No Cast Member" section of the line. I get a little anxious not being able to see The Crew.

  I also get a feeling of being boxed in when all 3 lines are packed under the Finish Line Bridge. It can be a bit uncomfortable at times. I want to get by this part of the line as fast as I can. Luckily I've never been under the bridge during a ride shutdown. 

The one comment I keep getting from the Pit Crew is " I don't know how you do it". I sometimes don't know how I do it either. Maybe it's my competitive nature. Growing up, I played on basketball and softball teams that always seemed to win. So I do not want to lose trying to reach my goal for this year. And the Pit Crew always help keep me on track. I've really been blessed knowing this group of cast members.

 I now have a Fitbit band to see how much walking I do at Racers.

The first list of stats for this year.

At 1054 laps so far this year.

533 wins and 521 losses

By lane of race:

Luigi 519 times and record of 272 wins and 247 losses

Ramone 535 times and record of 261 wins and 274 losses

By color of car:

Red: 169 record of 97-78

Teal: 154 record of 69-85

Purple: 146 record of 79-67

Silver: 142 record of 74-68

Green: 120 record of 59-61

Yellow: 116 record of 65-51

Blue: 105 record of 54-51

Cranberry: 102 record of 42-60

Winning record on Luigi's side and colors : Red, Purple, Silver, Yellow and Blue.

Losing with colors Teal, Green and Cranberry.