The Fabulous Disney Babe
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Congratulations to my friend and LaughingPlace.com fellow columnist Jim Hill. His story "California Mis-Adventure?" won the Orange County Weekly's Story of the Year award. Jim is now even more award-winning than before, and we are very proud of him.

Thanks also to Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News for the nice things he said about the first part of this article. Thanks for the linkage, Harry.

On with the story:
Note: if you missed Fab's report on her first day on the set, click here to read it.

Our schedule had been changed twice in between last Thursday, our first day of filming The Country Bears, and Monday. We were presently working under the assumption that we would be filming from noon to midnight, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We got a time change: from noon to one, two, and two-thirty. As we gathered in the heat under the huge tent that housed all of the extras, out of sight of the actual filming area, we got our next schedule change. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

There were more of us today: Kay Miller, of Once Upon A Classic, who had, I learned yesterday, also been involved in gathering Disney fans for the shoot, had been instructed to wear the denim shirt she had brought. Carole was in a blue leather fringe jacket, Roger in red and black flannel in the ninety-degree heat, Paul in his Grizzly shirt, Cinde in an embroidered vest, with a butterfly pin in her shiny black hair, Jim in a CB Logo T-Shirt, Nancy in a matching t-shirt and jeans, Doug wearing a patriotic cowboy shirt, Liz in a Country Bears logo shirt; Louis wore yellow, Shannon and Shelby in matching brown rock and roll gear, Brad in flannel, and Bruce in one of the Grateful Dead style tie-dye rainbow shirts with the Bears logo on it. Judi got a green lace top with a black vest. She's sitting between me and the big brown bear in the blue shirt in the crowd scenes.

People keep commenting that the attraction at Disneyland is on it's way to Yesterland . Don't be so sure yet. Paul Pressler came to the set week before last and watched the bears intently, then gave a cryptic message that he was sending someone out the next day. The next day, five Imagineers showed up to watch the bears in action, and one of them commented that the Bears at Disneyland may just have a future after all, but then clammed up with a "but I've said too much." No you haven't! Tell us more!!!

We started out the hot, muggy day with the same routine as Thursday night, check-in, bus, vouchers, wardrobe, hair and makeup; they were serving hamburgers and soy chicken burgers with a topping bar, but we'd just eaten at the Disney Studios and weren't hungry. It was like a steam bath in the tent, but if you stood outside in the cooling breeze you found yourself in a cloud of cigarette smoke. We opted on staying inside, where some of us played cards, some of us read Soap Opera Magazines, and some of us just chatted together.

We got several false starts before being called to Country Bear Hall, which will be used in the future for events for Disney Employees (wonder if they'll let them have Disney Weddings there? I have a couple of Country-Western loving Disney nuts that would adore the place.) but will also probably be used for the sequel and for the TV series that's being discussed.

We found our places inside the Hall on the benches as before, and were handed out popcorn, Goobers, or other types of candy, hot dogs, pretzels, sodas and bottled water. (the Dasani water was recalled, because the bottles weren't generic enough.) I had a popcorn, Judi a bottled water. A wonderful bear in a blue shirt was sitting next to me, and they gave him a bear-shaped bottle of honey to snack on while we watched the benefit concert.

I was told at this time that a couple of people had tried to crash the set, saying they were with me. Since their names were not on the list I gave the Assistant Director, they were turned away. Sorry!