Thursday, January 2, 2014

EnchantaCon Day 3

There wasn't nearly as much scheduled for the 3rd day, especially since I'd not bought any more autograph or photograph tickets- something which I now regret.  Terri left our room fairly early to go to the farewell breakfast.  I put on my Storybrooke Belle dress and ambled around for a bit hoping to run into a friend.  I'd seen a few other wearing versions of this dress throughout the weekend, but I didn't notice anyone else this time.  While looking around, someone commented to me that he'd seen Brooke lounging on one of the couches with a book.  I happily found her and asked if she wanted to go to the breakfast buffet.  At breakfast, we basked in the glow of what a fabulous time we'd been having.  She had even run into some of the actors in the gym when she went for her workout that morning- wild!  Oh- we also had a surprise visit from Shamu.  I had no idea this was a character breakfast!

Back in the convention hall lobby, I did some more pics with new friends.  Terri and Ellen were both Enchanted Forest Belle- each with her own crocheted Rumple doll!

Before we started our last set of Q&As, our hosts welcomed us for a final farewell.  They had those of us who won the costume contest stand up to be presented with our prize.  I got $25 towards the booth selling those really cool light up picture cubes....from which I had just bought a RumBelle one the day before!  Well, isn't that funny luck!  I guess I'll have to get a matching set.

Our first Q&A was with Dvaid Anders aka Dr. Whale.  I hadn't been as eager for this day's presentations but while David isn't the sort of person I'd likely be hanging out with, he was quite funny on stage and had us giggling a lot.  It also turns out he can sing!  He did a bit from Into the Woods which tickled me since it's also about fairytales,


Keegan surprised us by joining David on the stage for a bit before she went to the airport.  She freaked a bit at Terri's Rumple doll, and they took him on stage and started goofing with him- ha!  Poor Keegan had almost entirely lost her voice by this point- she had a cold.


Ethan Ebroy followed up, and he proved to be quite a riot too.  He told about the time Colin O'Donoghue invited him over for dinner, and he claimed he was a terrible cook.  My favorite of his stories was how Emilie de Ravin was one day having a little too much fun with a label maker by going around giving everyone funny names.  Apparently, she gave him a really naughty one because he wouldn't even say it, but he said he wore it on the inside of his jacket all day while on set!

After the Q&A's the host gave away some raffle prizes, but I hadn't bought any tickets.  However, they also held giveaways for random tweets with the hashtag #EnchantaCon.  I ended up winning an autographed photo of Lee Arenberg (Grumpy)!  Of course, autographs mean a lot more to me if they are personalized, but it was cool nonetheless!

In the lobby, the attendees began to disperse as not much else was going on.  We did some group pictures and chatted about how sad we were to see it all end and how we simply must do this again next year.  We got to say goodbye to the cast as the actors made their way out.  Gil gave out hugs, and I made sure to get one/.  He'd addressed me by name every time he saw me.  Raphael would pat the back of my arm.

I didn't want the weekend to end, but for all intents and purposes, the event was over. And what a bummer that it was too cold to swim- even for me!  I'd been intending  to go in the pool all weekend, and the one day I had a long gap of free time, the weather was just gloomy.  We were supposed to get a mermaid performance but that was a no-go too- just too cold for her.

Eventually, Terri, Loki, and I ended up wandering the shops of Downtown Disney (the closest I got to the parks on this trip) while some of the others caught a movie- not a bad way to end the weekend.

I had the best time at Enchanta Con!  Sure, it was on a much smaller scale and less organized than, say, the D23 Expo, but the intimate nature of this one made it so special.  Everyone there connected in some way. We will always be a part of the family of Oncers who attended the very first Once Upon a Time convention.  We got to interact with professional actors in a way I've never experienced before.  Every one of us had ample opportunity for conversation and acknowledgement.  They were right there among us.  I can't wait to be a part of this again.




More random pics from the weekend taken on friends' cameras:
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