On Friday, August 14th, a new set of Disney Legends were awarded during the 2015 D23 Expo. The expo ran from Friday, August 14th to the 16th at the Anaheim Convention Center.
With an award once held annually with a small private ceremony is now one of the major highlights of the D23 Expo.
That morning, fans packed inside Hall D23, seating 7,500. Unlike previous years (in the D23 Arena), the Hall was completely leveled seating, but luckily had a much higher capacity. Several screens allowed the best viewing throughout the ceremony.
Before the ceremony began, spotted in the audience were many celebrities including Disney Legend Tony Baxter.
Disney Legend Marty Sklar was also spotted taking his seat.
The ceremony opened with Bob Iger, Chairman & CEO of the Walt Disney Company, welcoming fans to the 2015 D23 Expo. Iger went on as host of the ceremony.
First on the list of receivers was Julie Reihm Casaletto. Julie was the first Disneyland Ambassador, working alongside Walt Disney in representing outside of the park.
After a great speech by Julie, Bob Iger welcomed Disney songwriter Richard Sherman to the stage. To the crowd, Sherman talked of a special song he had written last year, inspired by a story of Walt Disney's enjoyment of fireworks as a young child.
With a couple of versus song by Sherman on the piano, he invited up the original Mary Poppins on Broadway Ashley Brown to the stage to sing it. The song "Kiss Goodnight" can be heard during the end of the Disneyland Forever fireworks nightly.
Next on the list was the awarding to ESPN's George Bodenheimer.
Dancing to the 'Sleeping Beauty Waltz' was "Dancing with the Stars" Valentin Cherkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd. This was in honor of the late Eyvind Earle.
In honor of Eyvind Earle, his daughter Kristin Thompson came up to receive the award.
Television actress Susan Lucci (All My Children) received her award after.
Next, artist Carson Van Osten took the stage to receive his award.
After, a couple minutes of video played, recognizing all of the Disney Legends, who had most recently passed away, including Robin Williams.
The video immediately led to a special performance of "You'll Be In My Heart" with Josh Strickland. Strickland played Tarzan on the Disney Broadway stage.
Next, artist Carson Van Osten took the stage to receive his award.
After, a couple minutes of video played, recognizing all of the Disney Legends, who had most recently passed away, including Robin Williams.
The video immediately led to a special performance of "You'll Be In My Heart" with Josh Strickland. Strickland played Tarzan on the Disney Broadway stage.
After, Iger welcomed up animator Andreas Deja as the next recipient of the Disney Legend award.
Before the next recipient, Tony Award winning actor James Monroe Iglehart took the stage to preform the Oogie Boogie song. (In honor of Danny Elfman)
Next, composer Danny Elfman (Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice in Wonderland...) received his award.
What we thought was the last, George Lucas received his award with a roar of applause from the crowd. He was also greeted by R2-D2 & C-3PO.
Which we thought was a closing became an opening. Bob Iger mentioned that he knows D23 fans love surprises. Lights went out and clips of Johnny Depp, in different movie roles, appeared on screen. Fans went wild.
Minutes later, Johnny Depp walked out, just finishing Pirates of the Carribbean 5: Dead Man Tell No Tales weeks earlier.
Excitement among the crowds was high during Depp's speech. After a fan shouted out "palay", Johnny went into "Pirates of the Caribbean" mode, which was great to see.
After Depp's speech, Bob Iger closed the ceremony with a goodbye.
It was an incredible Disney Legends Ceremony. I throughly enjoyed every part of it. The Musical performances were spot on and great to watch. Depp's surprise appearance was very unexpected and great! It was a great start to the D23 Expo!
