lots and lots of old disney crap

a couple of years ago, the kids and i went to a really cool exhibit of disneyland memorabilia that was being auctioned off.  we'd had a lot of fun just checking everything out, and so when i heard that the auction house was doing another one the bean and i picked out a day to head out.  i don't remember where the last one was but this time it was in burbank, housed in a space that had been bed bath & beyond in its previous life.

as before, everything showcased here was going up for auction and there was a lot of memorabilia on display with little notes that gave approximate pricing.  this was kinda cool - an entire guest relations doorway with a microphone stand and shield that had once been used by walt disney himself.

there was quite a wide variety of cast member name badges available:

here's a fun display of random disney headgear:

check out this promo bumper sticker - it was in fantastic condition.  maybe someone found it pressed in the pages of a book, or tucked away in a file somewhere.

vintage disneyland board games and random toys!  this was just one of many shelves full of similar items.

i swear i remember having a similarly-styled alarm clock back in the olden days when i was little.  mine was mickey mouse-themed, though. now i wish i'd kept that thing. 

these machines used to be in the park and for the price of one shiny quarter you could take home a freshly made plastic toy in the shape of the character of the day.  if you visit the pinball hall of fame in vegas, you'll find one of these machines still in operation.  i don't know if they switch out the characters, and i'm pretty sure it probably costs more than $.25 now, but still...pretty cool.

there used to be an aunt jemima-themed restaurant at disneyland.  it was long gone before my first visit in 1979, but here's some stuff that someone managed to keep from it.

this audio-animatronic bird was fully functional and was part of the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room (you're welcome).  the sign gave an estimated price of about $30,000 - but i heard that it went for far more than that.  eek.

you could have pieces of the indiana jones attraction in your home, because that wouldn't be scary as hell to wake up and catch a glimpse of in the middle of the night.

these items would make for some fun decor though, like in a game room or a nice back yard.

i'm always amused at the ride vehicles for sale, because really...where would you even put one of those?  what normal human has room for (or money to spend on) one of these things?

how about a set of the stretching portraits from the haunted mansion elevator?

or maybe a ride control panel...perhaps the hitchhiking ghosts?  you could have halloween in your house year-round!

these signs would be fun, although again - where would you put them?

you used to be able to buy postcards from vending machines like this:

the bean adored the tower of terror and offered to pool their life savings in order to bring these pieces home (i said no):

but i might have caved had they wanted to bid on this, because i still think one of these themed trash cans would be really fun to have.  yes, i sure would.

here's a bunch of random club 33-themed stuff:

and there was a corner filled with items from disney world as well.

the last room was kind of like a yard sale - super random disney-related items that normal people could afford, if they really wanted to.  there was stuff like dolls and coffee mugs and hats and figurines and old magazines and everything in between.

and i was really amused to see a full shelf of hotel toiletries, because i have a plastic shoebox at home with a bunch of this stuff.  

and that's it! i sure didn't bid on any of this stuff, but i wonder how many of these pieces john stamos added to his collection.  if i ever run into him again i'm totally gonna ask him.

GH fangirling weekend 2023, 1.0

i know, i know.  i promised that i'd be so much better about blogging this year, and i haven't lived up to that promise, like, at all.  it also didn't help that i'd used up almost all of the memory on my hard drive and it wasn't syncing my photos anymore.  and i can't blog without pictures!  the posts would be so boring.

so i went through and started deleting a bunch of duplicate files and crap photos, and although i know i still have a lot to weed out, at least i finally got to download some that i could use to start recapping the rest of my summer.

in june i took the first of two solo weekend staycations and checked into the beautiful marriott at burbank airport:

and then picked up my lanyard and seating assignment for...

but before i could step inside the ballroom to catch the first Q&A panel, i had to do this:

and i was able to catch the last few minutes of tristan rogers ("robert scorpio") and lisa locicero ("olivia quartermaine") as they chatted about their storylines and answered questions from the audience and the moderator, michael fairman.

tristan returned for the next panel, joined by carolyn hennessy ("diane miller").

after that, lynn herring ("lucy coe") and finola hughes ("anna devane") took the stage to share memories of jacklyn zeman ("bobbie spencer"), who had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away the month before.  

there was a karaoke party that evening, hosted by evan hofer ("dex heller"), and he was funny and friendly and entertaining.

the next morning got off to an early start as i boarded a bus along with a bunch of other rabid GH fans for a set tour, which deserves its own post (and i promise it won't take forever to share).  and when we returned to the hotel, the first panel of the day was with some of the ladies of general hospital: cute little jophielle love ("violet finn"), brook kerr ("portia robinson"), finola hughes and laura wright ("carly spencer"), who also served as the hostess for the weekend.

next up was josh kelly ("cody bell") and dominic zamprogna ("dante falconeri"), and they were hilarious as they bantered back and forth and told funny stories from the set and their own personal lives.

brook kerr returned to the stage along with donnell turner ("curtis ashford") and tahj bellow ("TJ ashford").

the day's programming ended with a third appearance by finola hughes, this time with her onscreen love interest james patrick stuart ("valentin cassadine").

the bean happened to be out for the evening with their besties at the twice concert, which left the hub free to drive up and take me out to dinner.

for the last day of the conference, we were treated to a fun panel with evan hofer, dominic zamprogna and maurice benard ("sonny corinthos").

evan came back out for the next panel with tabyana ali ("trina robinson") and eden mccoy ("josslyn jacks").

they took a selfie that they all posted on instagram later that day, but i was too far back to spot myself in the crowd.

the final panel featured maurice benard, laura wright and cynthia watros ("nina reeves").

it was a really fun weekend, although i have to admit that i was pretty disappointed that this year's cast appearance lineup seemed pretty limited in comparison to the last time i'd attended the conference.  especially considering the fact that this was the "official" conference promoted by ABC and the show itself, one would think it would be much more well-attended by the cast.  oh well.

will i go again next year?  if you ask me right now, i'd lean towards "no."  but you never know.  i guess we'll just have to see.