Regal Con Day 2

Day 2
On Saturday, I decided to go for a little cosplay so I donned my white dress and wig that I wore as Snow White for Comic Con last year.  I put Ella in the wrap carrier to go with the look a bit better. The first photo ops were that morning, so we decided to go there and hang out for our photo with Emilie. After thinking about it, I realized I'd rather my pic with her have me with my real hair rather than my cheap wig, so I took it off.  Unfortunately, without it, no one could tell I was in a costume!  Oh well...I'll do more cosplay next time.

Most of the room was there for Lana Parrilla- I realized later we probably didn't need to be there so early, but we chatted with people and played on the floor with Ella.  I was amazed at how calm I was feeling despite being about to meet someone I've dreamed of meeting for at least two years. At EnchantaCon, I'd been physically shaking each time I had a cast encounter.

When they finally called for Emilie pics, we were led out of the room. There was some line confusion and some trouble on clarification on whether or not my sister needed her own ticket to be in my picture (they did end up allowing it without a ticket), but soon there we were- walking right up to Emilie de Ravin! As I had predicted, she went straight for the baby- so cute!  She commented that, oh, she must not like to smile at all, being sarcastic of course as Ella was flashing her usual big grins. We took the picture, I thanked her, and she cooed over Ella again. :)  The whole time I managed to not freak out. Both Lana and Bex were actually in the room while we were there- Lana passing through and Bex sitting off to the side.

The first panel was with Eion Bailey (August), Lee Arenberg (Grumpy), and David Anders (Doctor Whale).  I was nervous about how Ella would handle being there.  However, my seat was right up front and off to the side- perfect for bouncing back and forth or making a quick exit.  A volunteer dressed as a spot on Mary Margaret  helped us to our seats.  I swear, I kept staring at her because she looked so perfect! Again, we were given a bit of a run around trying to figure out if my sis with a GA pass could still sit with me- they eventually decided she could.

The panel was fun- I don't remember a lot of the details, but I'm sure there are plenty of recaps out there for you.  Ella started out pretty well.  In fact, at first her loud noises were happy sounds.  At one point, she let out a loud shriek in the pause after a question was asked, and one of the actors said, "Yes, I'm hungry too, sweetheart!" and everyone laughed. Well, that's one way to get remembered! Soon after that, she was just making too much noise for me to be comfortable keeping her in the room, so I bolted outside and nursed her.  I tried to listen outside the door, but I couldn't make anything out from the hallway. Oh well- I can read recaps later.

Lana's panel was that afternoon too, and to my relief, Ella stayed in good enough spirits for us to stay in the room for the entire thing as long as I distracted her with her bag of toys.  The crowd went nuts for Lana, of course.  She is old hat at these panels and delightful to listen to.  I love that she pulled a few Evil Queen cosplayers up front for everyone to admire. I've never done a Regina costume myself.  She is one of my favorite characters, but I just can't picture myself as her.  It would be SO against type!

The first autograph sessions were later that afternoon and went a bit smoother than the photos earlier. I bought stills to have each actor sign.  I had four tickets and chose Emilie, Sean Maguire (Robin Hood), Beverley Elliot (Granny), and Rebecca Mader (Zelena). Lana's photo ops and autograph were expensive and popular, so I decided not to for it, but now I'm wishing I had as I ended up not meeting her at all.  Oh well, next time.




Ella was fast asleep as I entered the autograph room and went up to each table where an actor sat.  They all adored Ella.  Emilie asked to address the autograph to both of us.  I had rehearsed in my head what I wanted to say to her- that anyone who played Belle was automatically my hero and I've met the voice actress from the film as well as the original Broadway actress.  Her reply was that she hadn't. Ha ha

To Rebecca, I told her that she was the first OuaT actress I had seen prior to the show- in the American Girl movie!  She told me that I was the first to tell her that and that it was a sweet movie.  She also loved Ella and said she had noticed her when we were having our picture with Emilie earlier.
Beverley and Sean both loved Ella too and I told them I am such a big fan of the show that I brought my baby because that was the only way I could come. I also told Beverley that I had dressed as Red at EnchantaCon.

I was very excited for that evening's events as the banquet was probably the one thing I was most eager for! Since I was a Regal package holder, I got to be among the first to choose my table and picked Emilie's- hurray!  Some delays due to Lana's popularity caused dinner to be an hour late.  I was so hungry. Lana wasn't going to be at dinner but did host the Queen's Reception.  I had debated going, but ultimately decided not to pay $50 for the chance that I might get to talk to Lana for 2 seconds. I did enjoy the time I had to socialize with other Oncers while we waited for dinner though- having the baby with me during the day made it harder to do so because I was distracted.

Finally, they let us in for dinner.  I wore my Storybrooke Belle blue dress. Each table was decorated differently.  Emilie's featured a rose and a book.  I also saw green apples, a model ship, and a lantern among others. It took a while for the actors to trail in, so eventually, I got too hungry to wait and grabbed my food- salad, tri-tip, chicken, and a really yummy ravioli (plus a divine selection of desserts which I grabbed later). While we waited for Emilie, Rebecca walked by me and said "Hello!" followed by "Where's the baby?  Under the table?"  Ha!  I explained to her that my sister was caring for her in the hotel room.  I got asked where she was about 3 times that evening!

I was excited when Emilie arrived and again surprised at my own calmness. I wonder if maybe it was because thanks to social media and all the interviews I've read and other panels I'd seen, I almost felt as if I already knew her.  She no longer seemed like such an enigma to me which was nice. I didn't pay for one of the seats immediately next to her because I figured I'd enjoy her company in any seat, but it was a little harder to hear the conversation from the others seats- oh well.

 I don't remember everything that was talked about, but there was a lot of laughs.  One of the girls commented that it was easy to miss the actors walking right by you because they blend in, and I added that actors look just like the rest of us out in the real world.  Emilie quipped that she was hiding her 3rd leg. *snicker* Ok, for the record, I do know that actors are human!  We talked about continuity errors (I mentioned this even happens in animation- such as the disappearing/ reappearing mess of food on the Beast's face in Beauty and the Beast), Disneyland (She still has never been! I wish I could remedy that! We all gave her a hard time about that.), and how she wears those crazy high heels.  Betsy had one of the seats next to her and talked to her quite a bit about Belle.

I showed her pics of my cats and told her how one of them liked to sit on the baby lounger.  She said it wasn't the baby's anymore.  Ha! I showed her a pic of the Belle dress I'd made for EnchantaCon out of my wedding dress. She replied that was a good idea.  I also took out one of my teacup earrings to show her. She started letting us take selfies with her, so I hastily tried to put the earring back in- took a few tries! Technically, the pic wasn't a selfie- Betsy took it for me- but yay for a pic with Emilie! Bex was also doing selfies, so I grabbed one with her too.

There was supposed to be an hour between dinner and the ball, but since dinner started late, there wasn't. However, I had bought a dress just for the ball, and gosh darn it, I was going to wear it, so I ran back up to my room to change.  It was a really pretty retro style dress of bright pink with an overlay of iridescent blue.  It reminded me of Aurora so I added a lavender shawl and a tiara- technically it was a Giselle from Enchanted tiara, but hey- whatever works, right?

The ball was very similar to EnchantaCon's ball- although it lacked the fun decorations from the latter and the actors weren't announced and escorted in as they were last time. The early music was fun, light stuff I like such as "Hey, Mickey" but it wasn't long before it got into the real head pounding base sort that I really don't care much for.  I tried to mingle a bit with the actors, but they were always surrounded by people, and it was too loud. I did get eye contact and smiles from David and Eion. I also saw Gil again, and he mentioned seeing me with a baby.  He asked how it was going and said he will probably be there in another year or so.

I always think I come across as a bit creepy at events like this because I'm shy.  I really want to talk to people, but I don't know what to say, so I sort of just look at them a lot and smile and hope they will talk to me. 

Like EnchantaCon, there was a costume contest.  Unlike EnchantaCon, pretty much everyone who went on stage got acknowledged instead of actually having winners.  There were some great Reginas, a spot on Marian, a kid in a perfect Blue Fairy replica, and a mascot character style Jiminy Cricket. I debated going up there myself, but I didn't feel confident enough that my look would read as a costume. In hindsight, I wish I had just gone up.  Both Michael and Faustino jokingly went up on stage as themselves. Goofballs!

I usually like to stay late at events like that because I like to wait for when everything calms down- that's usually when the great memories happen.  However, I was exhausted and my sis was waiting for me, so I only stayed for about an hour and a half or so including time outside in the hallway to soak in the quiet. I made a new friend- a cosplaying Evil Regal named Kelly. She had a great red velvety Evil Queen costume.

I was surprised to see that there was another family there with little ones- a woman dressed as Belle had a small child strapped to her back and a little princess holding her hand.  Just as they were leaving, she turned to me and told me her little girl had been repeatedly pointing out my bare feet after I'd taken off my shoes, saying "See? There is a princess with no shoes!"  Teehee!

After that, it was back to the room to sleep before my usually early morning baby wake up call.

RegalCon recap!

Well...looks as if I haven't done much with this blog in the past year.  I was little preoccupied with a new baby:  Ella born this past December. :)

My last post was about EnchantaCon- and now I have another OuaT convention to report on!  I just returned from Anaheim where me and the little one as well as my sister, Paula, spent 3 days in the company of Oncers and cast.

Day 1
This time around, I decided to spring for the big ticket package which included the cocktail party, the banquet, the ball, a photo op, and a selection of autographs.  My sister got general admission and so she took care of Ella for me in the evenings so I could attend the Regal package events.

I arrived on Thursday evening.  Paula wasn't going to be arriving until Friday, so I was on my own getting everything to the hotel room.  Thankfully, I've discovered that I usually get help when people see me struggling with a baby- sure enough, a kind woman helped me carry things.  That night, I grabbed some dinner at the hotel by myself- I didn't see anyone I knew yet.  I overheard some OuaT talk at the next booth over.  I tried to say hello, but I guess I was too timid- they didn't notice me.

Since registration didn't start until Friday afternoon, I decided to take the opportunity to go to Downtown Disney.  It was rough to be so close to Disneyland and not have plans to actually go into the park, but Ella is only 5 months, and I would also like to save her first Disney visit for when my husband is there to witness it too. I did take a selfie with Ella in front of the main entrance though, and when I posted the picture, I discovered one of my CM friends from Florida was there visiting too.  It was fun to get to catch up- I hadn't seen her since we moved.  I then bought a few baby clothes and an Ariel shirt for me that I couldn't resist and grabbed a shuttle back to the hotel.

There was a long line to check in- a bit awkward with a baby and all the baby things (stroller, etc) but we made it in eventually with only mild fussiness. I ran into a couple friends from EnchantaCon- Zach and Laurie- there weren't many of us there, but it was fun to see them.

I attended 2 panels on Friday- a Once Upon a Time fan podcast and a cosplay panel.  Ella did really well- she only cried once.  I was playing with her on the ground when she face planted.  (Don't worry, she was fine- just startled.) The panels were fun- we met some cosplayers with fantastic get ups.  I didn't do much cosplay on this trip because I had the baby with me and didn't want to deal with all that extra stuff, but I really missed it!  Since I'm shy, I love using costumes as an ice breaker.  I also love posing for pictures!  A few of the actors from the OuaT parody Once Upon a Anonymous were there- I kept wondering why they looked familiar until I heard who they were.  I've watched those videos before- they're funny! I also saw the hosts of the Skywalking Through Neverland Podcast whom I had first met nearly 2 years ago at the D23 Expo.

I had wanted to go to the welcome reception, but when I got there with baby Ella in her carrier, they were doing sound checks for the 45 Spacer concert that night.  A woman helping with security told us she couldn't allow us to go in there with a baby.  She must have thought I was nuts!  I didn't want the loud music...the concert wasn't supposed to be until later! Finally, the sound test was over, and we went in and walked to the back.  Unfortunately, once they started talking, a scary loud feedback sound came from the speakers, and I covered my baby's ears and bolted out of there almost in tears. I decided to listen from outside.

Paula was there at that point, and followed shortly after- also not interested in the concert and we still had to get her things to my room.  It was during this time that I met a Oncer in person whom I'd only known online before- Betsy.  Betsy and I have had an interesting relationship.  In fact, online, we have gotten into huge debates before and driven each other mad!  In person, however, I discovered she was actually pretty nice and helped us with Paula's things. And while we stood in the lobby area chatting, who should walk by but Beverley Elliot who stopped and cooed at Ella for a moment.

Paula and I grabbed a salad from the coffee shop downstairs since we didn't have time for a full meal before I headed off to the cocktail party. I decided to wear my new dress from Hot Topic which is covered in quote from Disney princesses as well as my handmade chipped cup earrings.  Paula took over Ella's bedtime routine while I headed down to the party.

The cocktail party had a small selection of food- trays of fruit, cheese, and crackers as well as wontons and such.  I should have eaten more at dinner- I was pretty hungry!  It was freeing to finally have some time without a baby. A lot of people came dressed in Storybrooke ensembles- I saw several variations on Mayor Regina, a few blue sundress Belles, and some red leather jackets.

The cocktail party was nice, if a bit loud and crowded for my taste- the space we were in felt too small for the number of people.  I felt a little overwhelmed and did my usual awkward bouncing from cluster to cluster, trying to chat with people. Every actor had a group of people around them, and assertiveness isn't my strongest suit, so I mostly just said hi.  I got a lot of compliments from other fans on my dress and earrings though.  Gil McKinny (Prince Eric) did indeed remember me from EnchantaCon, and Faustino di Bauda (Sleepy) remembered a conversation that I mentioned we had once had on Facebook about getting some memorabilia for my high school's theater department's annual auction and got on my case about being too shy to follow through on it!

I hung out for a while because my favorite time is when the music gets quieter and the crowd thins out.  I like when I can actually hear people.  I overheard some girls talking to Michael Coleman (Happy) about theme parks, and I thought ah ha, here's my in! Now that's a conversation I can join, so I was able to chat a bit with him.  His wife and little girl were there too.  Little Belle was darling!  I'm totally more at ease with kids than adults.  I wanted to play with her, but I didn't push it in case her parents thought me strange. I miss all the little girls I got to interact with at WDW.

I met my 2nd online friend here, Marguerite.  We've tweeted each other bunches of times in the past.  She's very sweet. And I totally didn't intend to write a poem- haha.

I returned to my room to the news that Ella had finished her bottle and was asleep- yay!

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:

                                                        Contest winners

EnchantaCon Day 2 recap

For the second day, I prepped my Enchanted Forest Belle look- the same one I wore to D23 a few months ago.  Marie had wanted to leave some of her things in my room, so I waited around while Terri went to get some photo ops with the actors.  It took a while for the bus to drop her off, but she finally made it.  On the way to meet her in the lobby, I was ambushed by Teresa and Lori of Once Upon a Fan who had recognized me from my pictures.  They were delightful to meet and I wanted to talk more, but I didn't want to leave Marie hanging.

Marie was dressed as Neverland Emma with a grey shirt, a sword, a blonde wig, and even a homemade Neverland map.  She looked adorable!  We had some time so we decided to have a very sugary breakfast of pastries.  Marie had an apple turnover of the non-poisoned variety.

Our first panel was at noon with Raphael Sbarge, Keegan Conner Tracy, and Tony Amendola- the Pinocchio characters. Unlike the panel at Paleyfest, there was no real moderator, so the Q&A was a bit of a free for all.  People could raise their hands to ask a question, then the actors could call on them, and someone would try to get to them with the mic.  It didn't always reach the speaker on time though!

I don't recall a lot of the specifics of the questions and answers, but all 3 were lovely to hear from.  Keegan especially has quite the sense of humor, and Raphael is a super sweet guy.  It was fun to hear Tony's normal voice when he always speaks with an Italian accent on the show, and I've never seen his other roles.  He was very engaging with the audience as well.  Someone always asks OuaT actors who their favorite fairytale characters are- one day I need to come up with some creative questions to ask.

Our second guest was the very handsome Gil McKinney- Once's own Prince Eric.  I wasn't familiar with his other work, and he has only been in one episode so far, so I didn't know too much about him, but he was so great with us over the weekend that I think I've become a Prince Eric fan.  A group of us saw him walking around the hotel the day before, and we'd waved, and we'd fangirled a bit.  His Q&A was fun!  It was sweet that this was his first con, and he wasn't really sure what to do.  He talked about the Progressive commercial he shot with "Flo" and his background in musical theater. 

Then something mind-boggling happened: Gil looked right at me and said, "Are you Angela?"

I nodded in shock.

"I recognize you from Twitter!  Do you have a question?"

All I could do was put my hand over my mouth, giggle, and shake my head.  I was speechless! I asked Brooke if I had turned bright red. She said I had.  Marie gave me a hard time for not asking anything when I had the chance, but he'd put me on the spot!

Our host, Josh, told us to return to the main room at 4 after the autograph session for a special surprise.  At first, we were all curious what he meant, but soon it occurred to us that the surprised was likely the hinted at Skype session with the actors who couldn't make it.

My ticket package included one autograph ticket.  I decided on Raphael Sbarge.  There was a table out front with a huge collection of photos you could purchase for $5 each.  I chose one that had 4 of the characters played by actors at the convention standing up front- a shot from the episode "We Are Both" I believe.

They brought us into the room a few rows at a time and wrote our names on Post-it notes so the actors wouldn't have to worry about spelling.  Each actor sat behind a table along with an assistant.  I got in line for Raphael, and as usual, my hands got clammy and my heart fluttered- no matter how much I reminded myself that he is just a person, and I'd spoken to him the night before.

I have a knack for hiding my nerves, though, as I was able to speak just fine.  It was probably pretty silly for me to comment on loving the show though- just call me Captain Obvious!  I mentioned that I was the one who had performed the song paraody video he had commented about on Twitter- he remembered! He was just as sweet and fan friendly as I'd heard.  He left room on the picture for the others to sign.  Too bad I wasn't getting other autographs!

I didn't have any more autograph tickets, so I just hung around and chatted with new friends while internally fangirling.  We noticed that Ethan Embroy's line had cleared out so we decided to go up and say hello.  He asked if we were having a good time, and we said we were.  Then I felt shy again and didn't really know what else to say.

We waited for Gil's line to clear so we could say hi to him as well,  He jokingly gave me a hard time about not asking any questions.  I'll have to come up with something next time- I'm never good at thinking of things to ask.

We returned to the main room and sat in anticipation of out 4pm surprise.  As it turned out, we were completely correct!  They darkened the room, and everyone cheered when two familiar faces popped up on the overhead screen- Beverley Elliott (Granny) and Michael Coleman (Happy)! Unfortunately, Skype was in a fickle mood and kept cutting out on us as we attempted to do a Q&A!  We finally resorted to using a phone in order to understand what they were saying.  We were so thrilled to see them though!  You could tell they were having a blast and really wished they were here with us in person.

We had a couple more surprises as more actors joined the first two.  We got to talk with Faustino Bauda (Sleepy), Gabe Khouth (Sneezy) and Lee Arenberg (Grumpy).  What fun!

Terri went on to get ready for the Diamond package banquet, and I headed to another room for the Once Upon a Fan panel.  I knew some of them from Twitter, so it was nice to meet them in person and learn about the history of the fansite.  They told the story of how Robert Carlyle himself had sent a special signed prop from Skin Deep to be auctioned off for charity.  My friend Zach was there- we'd met at D23.  He was wearing Emma's signature red jacket and calling himself "Emmett Swan"  Ha ha!

We then got into a discussion of the most recent episode.  I have a habit of turning to the person next to me when I have something to say rather than speaking to the whole group.  Teresa overheard me, though, and called on me to address everyone.  Turns out she is a teacher- figures! 

I mingled for a bit after the panel until Brooke pulled me aside, saying she wanted to ask me something away from the others.  I had no clue what was going on.  She then asked in a hushed voice, "Have you had dinner yet?" I told her the plan was to get pizza in my room with Marie.  I'm so glad we hadn't eaten yet, because the next thing I knew Josh was whisking Brooke, Marie, and I to the banquet like a fairy godmother!  They had a few extra seats, and we happened to be in the right place at the right time.

We entered the banquet room.  Most everyone was already seated- the actors dispersed among each table.  We quietly fangirled, not believing we were getting to go to this!  Marie and I noticed Keegan had an empty seat on either side of her.  I felt shy and giddy and lightheaded, but Marie was all excited, "C'mon! Let's go sit with her!"  Brooke wandered off to another table.

We finished getting our food and took the seats by Keegan- felt a bit as if we were ambushing her, but we kept our cool.  Initially, I felt the bubbling inside of "OMG, I'm having dinner with the Blue Fairy!" but it didn't take long for me to relax and talk to her like anyone else.  In fact, I think I may have talked too much!  Keegan probably thought I was odd...  At one point, I was going on about the funny goof ups in Beauty and the Beast.  I also told her about my Belle gown for that night's ball that I hadn't changed into yet.  She floored me by saying "Oh, you're the one!"  Apparently word had gotten around!

I promised my young friend Ivy that I'd do her hair to go along with her Tinker Bell gown for the ball.  She came to my room with her mom shortly after dinner.  I was all set with my curling iron.  What fun not to have any rules to conform to- I could just use my imagination!  I gave her a ponytail of curls piled onto her head- she and her mother were thrilled!  In the meantime, I spent a while working the curling iron on my own hair.

It was time to don the gown I was so proud of.  With help from Marie and Terri, I used stick on Velcro and an extra patch of fabric to hide the fact that the dress would no longer zip all the way.  It took some finagling, but in the end, it worked.  Marie wasn't originally supposed to be going to the ball because it was so expensive, but some amazingly sweet "Evil Regals" bought her a ticket- yay!

Everyone looked so fantastic at the ball- I saw many characters represented.  The room was decorated like a prom with a long dessert buffet table and fairytale themed stand ups to pose in front of.  A couple of cash bars stood positioned around the room.  Unfortunately, even water was $3- would have been nice to have a watercooler or something. I got pretty dehydrated at one point.  The MC announced each actor as he or she entered along with an escort, very much like the bridal party at a wedding. 

My dress was a hit!  I got compliments on it all night.  Someone asked me if I was still married though- ha! It turns out Keegan was not the only one who already knew about it.  Gil told me that she had told him, and Raphael mentioned seeing it in my tweet!  My mind was blown.  Does Emilie know too?

I loved having the actors just mingling with us- so much better than the two second greetings you'd get at a signing or stage door encounter.  We were having actual conversations!  I wasn't sure what the rules were on photos, but Raphael insisted it was his call, so I got a picture with him taken with my own camera.  He even showed us pictures from the set on his phone- including one with Emilie! I mentioned that I was a big fan of hers, and he indicated that I was dressed as her so he could tell.  Yeah, okay- true!  But I was a huge Belle fan long before Once Upon a Time!

I got to talk to Gil about musical theater.  It turns out he's played Will Parker in Oklahoma, and he knows someone who went to my university in TN and has been there himself!  I also chatted with Tony who was so nice and asked me about where I was from and everything.

I often hear people saying that they don't care about meeting the actors, that they are just people.  Sure, that's true enough, but is it a crime to be excited to meet them? They are doing what I always dreamed of doing myself- acting for a living.

The ball held a costume contest later that evening.  Each contestant got to twirl around in the center of the dance floor, fashion model style.  Most of the actors had left at this point, but I did catch Gil on his knees getting pictures- so fun to see him get into it like that!

There were a few different categories- princesses, villains, fairies, and common folk.  I won in the princess category!  Granted there were only 3 of us...Belle #1, Belle #2, and Belle #3!  I wasn't the most screen accurate Belle, but I was the only one who created her own dress and didn't need a wig.  Ivy won for fairies, Ashley won for her awesome Granny costume, and villain went to Jacky who had found the actual screen accurate fabric for one of Regina's looks.

We partied the night away, even though most of the music was not my style.  I stayed until they kicked us out, then I had to walk to my room barefoot because the sole had finally peeled off my ancient golden slippers.

I'll end this with some random cosplay:

EnchantaCon 2013 Day 1

       Holy and cow- what an absolutely amazing experience I had this past weekend!  I'd been waiting since spring to attend the very first Once Upon a Time convention, EnchantaCon!  At first, I didn't think I'd be able to go, but when I realized it was going to happen in Orlando right before Thanksgiving and we had already planned to be in Florida for that anyway, I just extended the trip- it worked perfectly!

Anyway, here's how it went.  My local friend Alex picked me up at the airport.  After we dropped my stuff off at the hotel and met up with Terri, my roommate for the weekend, we headed to Downtown Disney for dinner and an attempt to meet up with a couple of Oncer Twitter friends, Marie and Ashley!

With Marie not being able to text, however, we had quite the game getting everyone together!  We got in touch with Ashley, whom Marie had just introduced me to that day on Twitter.  She was waiting in front of Planet Hollywood.  I didn't even know what she looked like, but there was a young woman sitting alone fiddling with her phone.  Terri asked her if she was Ashley, and she was!  We still couldn't find Marie, so we went to Wolfgang Puck for a yummy dinner.  I felt bad for Alex as the 3 of us Oncers dived heads first into discussing our favorite show- which he doesn't watch!

Eventually, we were able to get a hold of Marie- she was back in her hotel room near DTD and contacted us through Twitter. She joined us after we ate.  I was so excited to meet her- she came all the way from Argentina, and we'd been speaking online for months- such a sweetheart!

This was my very first time getting to hang out in person with a group of Oncers (not counting Paleyfest as I didn't really talk to anyone there), and I could already tell the weekend was going to be a blast!  How fun to get to have all these discussions out loud!  Terri and I continued to chat late into the night once we got back to the hotel.

Friday was the first day of the convention itself.  Unfortunately, nearly half of the actors expected to come had been called to film- the dwarfs and Granny.  I'm thrilled they will be on the show but very sad that they couldn't make it.  That did leave Friday fairly sparse as far as planned activities went.  I had some cereal in the room and went to the conference center to register.

Hardly anyone was around, so I wasn't comfortable putting on my costume just yet.  It was so quiet!  The vendor room wasn't yet open.  I planned a whole series of costumes- Red for the first day- I used the costume I created for my birthday party last year- Enchanted Forest Belle for the 2nd day, Storybrooke Belle for the 3rd day, and Belle's golden gown for the fairytale ball.  I am so proud of that gown!  I spent hours stitching gold fabric to my wedding dress along with the accents on the front.  My wedding dress has now been transformed into a costume, and I get to wear it again!  It's been hanging in my closet for 2 yrs.

After registration, I figured I may as well put the costume on.  I donned the red hood, bodice, blouse and skirt.  Later on, I realized I had completely forgotten to put on the red gloves- bummer!  Oh well..
I wandered briefly into the vendor rooms.  There were only a couple of tables.  What a vast difference from the endless rows I was used to from other cons!  We met a guy randomly dressed as Darth Vader- complete with voice changer.  It was quite amusing to hear him request a photo with us in that voice! 

Friday felt slow at first.  It was alright though- we were able to grab lunch, and it was really fun to gab with other fans.  Not a ton of folks dressed up, but enough that I didn't feel silly. 

Which tier of ticket package you bought determined where you could sit.  I only had one level above general admission, but to my delight, my seat was only about 4 rows back.  Our first official event on the schedule was welcome along with a trivia contest.  It was during this time that I found my Twitter friend Brooke.  We always had fun chats online, and we hit it off immediately in person.  It was funny having the chance to meet people in person- many of whom I didn't really know what they looked like!  I had a handful of people recognize me from my Twitter pic.  That was pretty neat if a tad unnerving!

Trivia was true or false with the volunteers up on stage instructed to hold up signs with their answers then step down when they were wrong. As usual, I was too embarrassed to go up there, but it was fun watching others.  Most of the questions were fairly easy for us diehards.  There were a few that you really had to pay attention to wording though! They played a few rounds, and the winners each got to choose an actor of their choice to escort them to the fairytale ball the following night.

At 5pm, there was an impromptu cosplay photoshoot set up on a balcony.  That was really a hoot!  We had several characters represented, and oddly enough- no repeats!  I was Red, Ashley was an amazing Granny, then we had the Wraith (?!), purple dress Snow, Young Cora, a wolf woman, Emma, Belle, and Henry.  My favorite of the shots we did was Cora taking out people's hearts.  If you took the pic from the right angle, it worked really well.

It was a bit strange for me to be Red instead of Belle since Belle is the one I've always identified with.  Identity crisis! But I did have a ball swishing around the red cape!  I also loved getting to pose with Granny- we were photobombed by the wraith- ha!

Next on the agenda was a fan panel with the hosts of a couple OuaT podcasts- The Other Side of the Mirror and Hope of All Trades- both of which I've listened to before.  They decided to have an open forum, and it was really fun hearing the banter and debate bounce around the room.  What a riot to be among a group of people who watch the show as intently as I do- people can joke around and make references to the show, and everyone gets it!  I didn't always agree with what was being said- I'm rather go with the flow when it comes to tv shows and can tire of hearing a lot of criticism after a while, but I'm willing to listen to everyone's thoughts.

I enjoyed meeting the podcast hosts- totally recognized their voices but had no idea what they looked like.  Bri of Other Side of the Mirror has had many conversations with me on Twitter, and we enjoyed talking about old school My Little Pony together.  One day, I will go to a Pony Con!

Everyone sort of dispersed after the panel.  The people with Diamond package tickets had a cocktail party to go to.  I ended up having dinner at the Denny's type place across the street with Loki, the guy dressed as Henry.  At first, I was a bit self conscious about leaving the hotel in costume, but Loki convinced me to do it.  The waiters actually got a big kick out of it.

At some point, there was a group of us hanging out by the pool where a mermaid performer was supposed to be putting on a show.  They seemed to be unable to get the music going, though, so she just swam around looking beautiful.  Just over our heads on the balcony, the Diamond package fans were having their cocktail party with the actors.  I saw people waving to us from a distance.  I walked over to get a closer look, and Terri waved at me from above.

Then she said, "You want me to get Raphael (Sabarge) to come say hi to you?"  Umm....yeah!  Okay!

My heart started to pound- omigod, my first actor interaction!  It took a moment, but then a very familiar face smiled down at me.  "Hi!"  he said.  I said hello back. "You look beautiful!" (I was still dressed as Red.)

"Thanks!"  I called back.  Then I sort of stared for a moment not sure what to say. "I'm so excited to be here!" I blurted.

"Are you going to be here tomorrow?" he said.

"Yeah, the whole weekend!"

"Great!  Seeya then!"

It was a very brief exchange, but I was over the moon! "Archie Hopper" had just told me I was beautiful!

Underneath the balcony, a small group had gathered for karaoke.  It was just a guy with a computer filled with tons of songs.  I decided to check for some Broadway- they had a whole slew of stuff from Wicked so I chose "Popular" and just went with it.  Such a fun song!  I messed up a little but still got wild applause.

The best part about singing with a bunch of Oncers is that Oncers tend to be Disney fans.  We ended up going through a whole medley of Disney songs.  Everyone could really sing too!  I don't think there was a truly bad voice in the bunch!  I ended up bonding over Broadway with a 13 yr old fan named Ivy.  We got up and sang "Kiss the Girl" together which was great fun.  After the guy with the computer left, someone pulled out a cellphone, and we kept going- standing in a circle, huddled over the speaker on the phone while singing along to Disney songs!  It was surreal- and awesome!

Later, I followed a small contingent of the group to a giant human chess game on the grounds.  I didn't want to play the game myself, but I watched for a while.  They named all the pieces and teams after OuaT characters.  I took to prancing around in my red cape until bedtime when Terri and I chatted into the night again.  I couldn't wait for Saturday!