#dreamit con

Oh my god was day 2 of the convention amazing! I had a one on one with Jeremy, Brenna, Kenny, and Mitchell! The photo with Kenny aren’t included because they were taken with someone else’s phone but I’m hoping I’ll see them soon! And ooh what a one on one!

Jeremy and I commiserated on the stupidity of Netflix (and also complimented his wife’s taste in clothes as she picked out the jacket he had worn), Brenna told me Jane’s character growth came when she learned to love herself for who she was and how she learned she was good at planning things like Cotillion, Kenny answered one of my burning questions (if you know me, you know I have an issue with Ben’s suits—why?!) as well seemed surprised that I knew China was going to be in D4 as he hadn’t been aware they announced that yet, and Mitchell told me I’d asked one of the best questions he’d ever heard at a Descendants panel at Dream It Con!

Apparently the line ‘your bark is much worse than your bite, who’s the baddest of them all? Guess we’re finding out tonight’ was just accidental foreshadowing and not the Chekhovian link to the confrontation between Mal and Uma at Cotillion that I thought it was. But Mitchell said that the music and the script were two separate entities and that there had been other moments where he had asked how the lyricists came up with the foreshadowing they did and the lyricist was just like ‘…yes’ 😂

Completely forgot about another question I had—well two actually tho. The first was if Mitchell remembered what he whispered to Dove when Fairy Godmother’s shooing away the reporters in D2 and the second one was for Kenny and it was why, after establishing Ben and Mal as True Love, was it never mentioned in the third movie!

Oh! And why no Ben/Mal duet though Mitchell confirmed in the panel on Day One and in his meet and greet that he’s not a singer or dancer—apparently Kenny did not learn his lesson from Christian Bale about springing musicals on people! And the funny thing? Kenny did it to Mitchell and he did it to Dan too!

(warning, long post a coming! May or may not contain multiple pictures lol! Apologies to my followers who may not care about the Back to the Musical World convention!) 

Alright! Well I’m back home in the US feeling more than slightly horrible because as luck would have it, of course I caught a cold. Thank Gods my job still does WFH and I’m off all next week for Thanksgiving but anyway, you all probably don’t want to hear me vent about that lol! 

Paris Trip recap time! 

Thursday: Thursday was my main travel to Paris day so mainly spent most of my time in the air. Got some nice shots of clouds, the country side and an attempted sunrise photo though lol 

Friday: Finally arrived in Paris! Made the mistake of thinking I could walk to the convention center and got very much lost in Paris. Got some nice photos though (and eventually caught a cab to the convention center--Ginny, remember for next year: Uber is your friend). My hotel room was pretty nice too! :D 

(That bathtub was evil! My first time climbing out of it, I slipped and landed straight down!) 

(Do I know what that is? Nope! But it was pretty at night so I took a pic! :D) 

Saturday: Day one of the convention! I can’t tell you how much I wanted that rose that they were offering in the raffle but I had to fly home and something told me it wouldn’t end well. The Descendants fan in me loved the purple and green chairs (Mal’s colors!) and all the guests were super nice! Owen commented on the ring I had on my necklace (it was my HS class ring but it stopped fitting comfortably so I just found a necklace chain that didn’t have anything on it and converted it to a necklace) :D Vanessa was the sweetest person, smiling and just looking happy to be there even though rumor has it she wasn’t feeling well (Vanessa, if you gave me this cold...wait, actually I’d be okay with that lol). I told Sacha I liked his rings and he said he wanted to get another one while he was in Paris! And of course I had to get a photo with Sunset Curve and we did the apology pose from JATP! Jeremy even sang the first part! 

And yeah, I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: Brenna liked my shirt! It might seem like a small thing but I’ve never really had...’fashion’ sense before. More like I wore what I liked as a kid and drove my mom mad. Most of the fights I had as a teenager were over clothes because she wanted me to wear more fashionable stuff. But now...an actress from one of my favorite franchises liked my shirt! Teenage me would be jumping for joy! When I told Brenna I got it from Amazon, her eyes got wide and she just gasped and said ‘Oh my God, I love them!’ and of course I told Brenna how much I loved her jacket too (and then Mitchell said that he liked it as well lol) 

Oh Gods Mitchell...that man is Ben. Full stop! In the meet and greet, he started going on about how much he loved Hamilton and how he’d seen it when it was in Australia and he was singing the lyrics under his breath and getting dirty looks from the people around him lol! Of course we then teased him about having him go teach the cast the choreography for Did I Mention and he said ‘don’t even tempt me, I’d love to do a Descendants/Hamilton crossover’. I jokingly said that the Revolution would have been over quicker if one of our men could turn into a dragon and Mitchell said ‘oh yeah, they’d (the British) be like ‘okay that one turned into a dragon and that one turned into a beast and that one’s casting spells...let’s just go home’. To which then we suggested Kenny could direct that and that’s when Mitchell went into a story of when Kenny got his star on the walk of fame and Lin Manuel Miranda sent Kenny a video message but Mitchell had Kenny’s phone because he was just trying to stay out of the way! 

Apparently Mitchell’s a huge LMM fan so he was pretty much just star struck and then Kenny asked who was on the phone so Mitchell showed him. To which Kenny said that LMM was an old friend! 

We had a group photo after the fact (taken by the translator in the room so I don’t have it but hopefully they’ll post those photos soon) but I didn’t realize that Mitchell had his hands on my shoulders for the photo until after the fact! The fact that I didn’t melt into a pile of goo is something to be proud of! 

After that, I went down to get Vanessa’s autograph (mainly because her queue wasn’t crazy long) and then it was lunch break. Dream It Con, as nice as it is that you provide lunch for the guests, how about at least selling water for the people attending?! Especially when there’re people not from Paris who’d like to not get lost in the city!

After lunch was when things started to get off the rails a little--I still had fun though but disorganization annoys the hell out of me. If you have a schedule, stick to it (though in fairness apparently Mitchell and Charlie were holding everyone up with autographs and photos and knocking everyone off schedule). But I did the board games with the Descendants cast and it was basically just a 30 minute game of Jenga but the cast just...there was no divide you know? Like how some actors seem friendly but you can still tell that they’re famous and they know it? Brenna, Dan (Beast), and Mitchell had none of that! It was like playing Jenga with family members! 

I remember when it was my turn to go up and I had seen this piece that was just sticking out and Mitchell was telling me to go for another piece and I was just like ‘nope, I want this one’ and went straight for it! Of course at first the tower wobbled but I inched it out and Dan said that he’d never seen anyone take a Jenga piece out with such care! 

After that, I had the aforementioned photoshoot with Mitchell and Brenna and then I had to rush over to my meet and greet with Dan (who remembered I was from the US from the Descendants panel that morning!) He was great and he shared a lot of memories of Cameron that I had to work to not cry right then and there. 

And then came the dance class (I’d missed my meet and greet with Vanessa and Jeremy and my Kenny/Vanessa photo because of the disorganization (boo) but you know, can’t have everything). Corbin was the one leading it with Kenny and Lucas helping and Bart just being a goof ball, and I think I spent the entire time hoping I wouldn’t trip over my own feet. Especially after Brenna and Jeremy joined in! 

I left to get ready for the party after that but came back to see Mitchell and Charlie still signing autographs before they too got ready for the party. And look I’m tiny so parties with lots of people? Not exactly my comfort zone. But Bart (Coach Bolton) was literally the life of the party and whenever an HSM song came on, he was jumping around and just acted like a kid! It was easy to forget my trepidation of being around so many people (seriously, under 5′0″ and in a room with a lot of people? My first thought is how do I avoid being crushed?) 

(Tell me those aren’t Descendants themed chairs! :D) 

(The irony of the photo with Mitchell being the one I’m the most at ease in is not lost on me :D) 

(Charlie, you know doing that just makes the height difference that much more apparent don’t you Mr. 5′8″? Lol) 

(First photo of the day--and of course I didn’t realize we could take off our passes for the photos!) 

(Alex finally got his hug! :D) 

(We’re sorry, so sorry, we’re crazy stupid sorry! :D) 

(...Kenny had his hands on my shoulders? My shoulders have been brushed with greatness twice? Dear lord I’m unobservant lol) 

(Again, you do not need to crouch you giants lol--no but seriously Sacha’s like 5′6″ I think.) 

(...oi past me! Relax would you? You look like you’re being forced to take that photo! Also, the height difference is not helping the heart they’re trying to make lol) 

Sunday: Day Two of the convention and honestly my focus was pretty much autographs...and one on ones and meet and greets...and catching my breath because I’d overslept and almost arrived late. Thankfully I got there just as the opening ceremonies were happening! I did get some pics though! 

Oh yeah and Charlie started the convention off with his antics that had me almost dying with laughter. If anyone temporarily lost their hearing or dogs started barking, my bad! 

I stayed for the HSM panel--and it became totally worth it when I found out Drew Seeley had been the role for Prince Eric on Broadway after HSM! Yeah I honestly don’t remember much from the rest of the panel, my mind just latched on that. 

For my Brenna one on one, as soon as I stepped through the door, she saw me and went ‘Virginia!’ since Dan had asked me where I was from in the Descendants panel the previous day (side note, every one of them seemed shocked by my answer--people, I came mainly for the Descendants stuff, doesn’t matter how long the flight or the cost!). We talked a lot about Descendants and she’d asked me how I got into it to which I told her about working at Disney World and how the DVD player kept playing Descendants and just sucked me in. I told her how much I’d related to Jane in the first movie, both of us being kinda timid at first in HS and then I joked that you know Jane got the glow up with cheerleading and I had stayed the nerd who wrote fanfiction and Brenna told me that Jane’s growth really came from loving herself and finding what she was good at, like planning Cotillion. And after the one on one she told me that she had been shocked when I said I got into Descendants at 21/22 because she thought I was 21/22. When I told her my real age, she just went ‘you take really good care of yourself!’ 

Brenna, I’m short with a baby face. Trust me, you can say it. At least you were more tactful than the passport guy who thought I was 16 when I was 21 and brought his colleague over to see me as well...wait what was I talking about? Oh right the convention lol! 

The one on one with Jeremy was really a one on two because his wife was there too! They are the nicest people ever (and I know I keep repeating myself there but it’s true!) Jeremy asked where I was from (since he obviously wasn’t in the Descendants panel) and after I told him, he asked if I came with anyone to which I said no because I hadn’t. Again cue the shocked reactions but they were really sweet! We all commiserated on the stupidity of Netflix and I wish I’d had a chance to tell Jeremy how much I liked his song Ghosted but stupid brain thought of that today. However his jacket is as soft as it looks! 

But on that note, when I had my photo with the JATP group (so Sunset Curve plus Madison), Jeremy immediately went ‘hey [insert my name here]!’ with the biggest smile on his face and Owen started chanting Bill Nye the Science Guy (I was wearing a Bills jersey and I almost burst out laughing at that which was a lot better than my reaction in my Charlie/Owen photo which was just...silence. Sorry Owen! I would have talked to you more about the Bills but there was a long line for the photo and my awkward self really didn’t want to take up people’s time). 

I had a meet and greet with Charlie and he kept jumping from topic to topic, it was honestly the funniest thing! Oh, so we were right next to the singing class with Lucas and Drew but Charlie didn’t know that so when we heard someone singing next door, he said ‘we should sing back. What should we sing?’ and I said ‘Edge of Great!’ and Charlie said ‘Great!...how does it go?’ so a room of 30 or so people started singing Edge of Great and then Charlie opened the door to the other room and we saw it was the singing class. 

Whoops! 

But between talking about his antics that morning and almost getting into a singing war with Lucas and Drew, Charlie talked about this project he was working on in Ecuador to help prevent turtles, dolphins, and sharks from getting stuck in fishermen’s nets while at the same time not ruining the economy of the villages who relied on fishing for food. Apparently LED lights have been helping the turtles/dolphins/sharks see the nets (especially in the dark) and they then swim away. There’s going to be a documentary on it soon (but of course I can’t remember the date that it’s coming out.) 

I also had a meet and greet with Madison that, due to the disorganization that struck again, ended up being at the same time as Kenny’s meet and greet. But they gave me extra time for my one on one with Kenny so that was all good. 

Can I tell you what we talked about in the Madison meet and greet? Nope cause out of everything, that’s the one thing my mind went poof you don’t need this anymore! 

In the Kenny one on one, I didn’t think it was possible to fit everything we talked about in nine minutes but we did! I got an answer about Ben’s suits, Kenny seemed surprised that I knew China McClain was going to reprising her role as Uma for D4 (apparently he didn’t know they’d announced it) and was also surprised that Chad was going to get a sister in D4 to which he theorized that she had been in boarding school during the events of the first three movies. I also learned that Kenny had not been involved in the Royal Wedding special because he seemed unsure if it had even happened. And then he asked me my thoughts on it when I confirmed it had. 

Kenny...don’t do that to me. I had to be as tactful as possible and purposefully didn’t mention the part we do not speak of (the bracelet scene where they talk about Carlos) cause I’m not breaking that news to Kenny freaking Ortega if he didn’t know about it! 

But speaking of movie sequels of projects Kenny had been involved with...let’s just say Hocus Pocus 2 is not going to be on Kenny Ortega’s recommended list any time soon. He wouldn’t say anything more because I hadn’t seen it and he didn’t want to spoil it for me. 

However, on a lighter note, he did share the story of how they cast Mitchell as Ben! 

And then came the one on one I was looking forward to the most-Mitchell! First thing the man does is bring me in for a hug (yeah I’m still trying to make sure that wasn’t a dream). And then, after we sat back down, he started talking about the question I’d asked the other day at the Descendants panel; telling me it was one of the best questions he’d ever heard at a Descendants panel before and he’d studied theater so when he heard me mention ‘Chekov’ he had perked up and had leaned over to Kenny to explain before telling him ‘just say yes’ lol. And then he asked me to go into my question and I explained that I was trying to see if Mal’s line had been foreshadowing since plot had established the confrontation with the pirates was twelve noon. And Mitchell said that since music and script were two separate entities, Kenny might not have been able to answer if he wanted to! And he said that apparently he’d said the same thing to some of the lyricists but about something else in the movies and he wanted to know how they came up with that foreshadowing before saying ‘...you actually didn’t mean to do that did you?’ to which the lyricist said ‘yeah we did’ but they didn’t! 

Accidental foreshadowing for the win! 

The last major thing was the Kenny Trivia with some of the actors (Mitchell and Charlie and Madison couldn’t make it because they were finishing up autographs/photos so it was with Corbin, Drew, Brenna, and Lucas). I was the only one on Lucas’ team but when Lucas pointed out that he only had one person on his team when everyone else had two, Kenny told him he was in good hands with me cause I was smart! 

Yeah okay Kenny, that explains why Lucas was the one to get us our first point lol. But I redeemed myself by being able to list 10 Descendants songs and six projects Kenny had directed. My team was tied with Corbin’s team and we would have won too had I not jumped the gun and answered HSM for the question of ‘What was the first Disney movie Kenny directed?’ 

It’s Newsies, I knew it was Newsies but you know Disney...Disney Channel...and Lucas said the same thing when I apologized for the loss. And then Corbin’s team teased him about being a sore loser and he said that he was trying to make me feel better lol. 

The only prize was joy so at least I didn’t miss out on anything...other than joy! 

After closing ceremonies, I was able to get Mitchell and Charlie’s autograph! I missed out on Owen and Lucas but you know what? 12 out of 14 autographs isn’t anything to sneeze at! I missed out on Owen’s autograph because of the queue for Mitchell’s was so long that by the time we moved, Owen had left). It was about 10 pm by the time I left the convention center! 

(The picture I should have had on Saturday turned into a Sunday one and the date specification turned out to be...pointless lol) 

(Another heart--and it was Brenna’s idea! Madison said the idea was ‘so cute’!) 

(Pose idea: Mitchell’s. And he looks about as exhausted as I felt lol :D Probably the best pose we could have done with Dan being 6′4″ and Mitchell being 5′9″) 

(From being Zac Effron’s singing voice to Ariel’s Prince! Also did you know the man is 40?!) 

(How it started...) 

(How it’s going lol) 

(Have I posted this photo already? Yes. I still love it and will post again! :D) 

Monday: Touristy time! Is Touristy a word? No it is not! Do I care? No I do not lol! I went to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and climbed the 209 steps to the top of the Arcdetriomphe (and pretty sure I had a panic attack at seeing how high up we were). Let’s just say I took the elevator back down. 

(Hi Athena!) 

(Hi Hermes!) 

(Hi Zeus...I mean Jupiter!) 

(Hi Hera...I mean Juno!) 

(Hi Artemis!) 

Tuesday: I said Au Revoir to France and hello to the US as I made my way back home! Last two pics from the air as we flew over the Atlantic! 

And because I’m extra...here’s the food I was able to eat while I was there! 

(Beef stew with steamed potatoes) 

(Apple Tart Tatan) 

(Lightly seared sea bass with ratatouille and jasmine rice) 

(Duck leg with roasted potatoes and salad)