 Well, the 2006 convention
is over now, but ,
listen to the MouseTunes.com special report from the NFFC convention on the podcast player
(click here, will open in a new window so you can continue reading!).
Come Join the National Fantasy Fan Club foundation (NFFC)
at the 1st Annual NFFC World Convention which will be held September 29
- October 1, 2006. You don't want to miss out on all the great action
and fun at our seminars with our very special Guest Speakers: Eddie
Carroll (Voice of Jiminy Cricket); Margaret Kerry (the model for Tinker
Bell) and Kay Malins who owns Walt Disney's Childhood home in Marceline,
Missouri and of course don't forget our World Famous Show and Sale!
 Click
here for schedule in PDF format
(get
Acrobat Reader here)
Legends Buffet Luncheon
NFFC has a long history of honoring Cast Members who have committed a
life time or have made a significant contribution to the Walt Disney
Company. Join us as we bring the tradition to Florida. We will be
inducting new members as well as gathering former recipients.
IllumiNations Private Dessert
Join us in a private viewing area in the World Showcase in EPCOT to
enjoy a Disney-style dessert and watch the fireworks fly from a
fantastic vantage point.
"Part of Your World" Dinner
Imagine dining with a Disney Legend. Every table will have at least one
Disney VIP joining you. Up close and personal conversations with Disney
Legends as you ask those questions you've always want to, but never had
the opportunity. Disney Legends in attendance to be announced. Dinner
being held at the Swan Resort.
Epcot Around the World Segway Tour
This two hour tour around EPCOT is aboard a Segway Human Transporter.
Tours are limited to 10 guests per class. Space is limited to first 60
guests.
Click here to download a registration form for the World Convention.
First Annual Disney Club Convention to be held in Orlando, Florida
National Fantasy Fan Club holding first annual convention at Disney’s Swan Hotel to coincide with Walt Disney World’s anniversary.
Orlando, FL - June 23, 2006 – The National Fantasy Fan Club (NFFC) will be holding their First Annual Convention in Orlando on September 29 thru October 1, 2006. The event will take place at Disney’s Swan Hotel, inside EPCOT and at the Magic Kingdom Park.
The NFFC is an international club for Disney enthusiasts with more than 30 chapters. They regularly hold their convention at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA. This 22 year tradition will continue with the west coast convention taking place in July. The Orlando convention dates in late September were chosen to coincide with the anniversary of Walt Disney World’s grand opening.
Seminars will be held at Disney’s Swan Hotel on Friday, September 29th, with featured speakers Eddie Carroll, the voice of Jiminy Cricket; Margaret Kerry, the original model for Tinker Bell; and Kaye Malins, Disney family friend and current owner of Walt’s boyhood home in Marceline, MO. Being held for the first time in Orlando is the NFFC’s annual Lunch with the Legends. The event gives conventioneers the opportunity to dine at a table with a NFFC Disney Legend, so named due to their outstanding contribution to the Walt Disney Company. Invited Legends include merchandise design artist Ralph Kent, Tom Nabbe who was Disneyland’s original Tom Sawyer, and retired Chairman of Walt Disney Attractions Dick Nunis. Festivities on Friday will conclude with a private dessert viewing of IlluminNations, the evening fireworks spectacular in EPCOT.
On Saturday, Disney memorabilia collectors and dealers will have their wears on sale at the Show & Sale at Disney’s Swan Hotel. Several authors of Disney related books will be on hand signing copies. Registered conventioneers will be admitted one hour earlier than the general public. The Show & Sale will open to the public at 10:00 am and concludes at 4:00 pm. That evening, conventioneers will be attending the ‘Part of Your World’ dinner. Every table at the dinner will have at least one Disney VIP offering attendees a personal conversation sharing their stories and experiences.
Special to the first annual convention is the opportunity for conventioneers to take a two hour tour around EPCOT aboard a Segway Human Transporter at a special convention rate.
On Sunday, October 1, 2006, the 35th Anniversary of Walt Disney World, conventioneers will spend the day playing games and riding attractions in the Magic Kingdom culminating with a group photo to commemorate the weekend.
Disney’s Swan Hotel has established special room rates for conventioneers. Reservations can be made by calling: 407-WDW-MAGIC, and mention the NFFC to get the special price.
For more information, please visit www.nffc.org, or contact:
Kendra Trahan
National President, NFFC
407-877-3831
Speakers
TERRI HARDIN—At some point, around the time Disney was gearing up for Epcot, Lois, Terri’s mom worked at Disney Imagineering and recommend
they see Terri and her great works as an artist. Disney refused. In 1987 after Terri had been building and Designing and Performing for
films and TV Disney contacted her to come and be interviewed. How did this
happen?
Well, Terri was working in a very small shop for a friend, creating walk
around
characters for Universal. You know, woody woodpecker , Charlie tuna,
Smokey
the bear etc. A friend saw her when visiting one day, and he said he
could get her
an interview at Imagineering. The man was a set painter. Well he did it and on a very very rainy day, Terri was asked to come and
be
looked over. Bring the portfolio, please. Once they saw her and if you
have you
know her hair is a story in itself, and then the portfolio, they were
totally blown
away. But it would take an additional eight interview before Terri
became part of
the Imagineering team.
Finally when she was brought in, she was asked to begin work on the big
Thunder
Mountain ride attraction for Disneyland Paris. From there she went on to
create
the DragonsLair for the same park, Disneyland Paris. At this point,
Terri discovered
that the dragon she was working so hard to create a cave for was not to
be animated. She was shocked. She went to her supervisor and told of her
despair.
The supervisor told her she would have to take it up with Tony Baxter,
And ,,, that she would only have 15 minutes to state her case. If you
know Terri,
this is nooo easy task.
She agreed, and soon the day came. In walked Tony Baxter, with a great
group
of folks traveling behind him.. He sat down in front of Terri and said "
Okay kid,
What’cha got?"
Terri began to rattle off her upset at the Dragon being stagnant as fast
as she
could. So fast that Tony stopped her. Tony asked Terri why she was
talking so
fast as he could barely understand her. She explained the 15 min. rule.
Tony
agreed to give her a bit more time if she would slow down her
explanation.
Terri spoke of how the Dragon had to be animated as this was a Disney
park, not
a Magic Mountain or some other fly by night park. But a Disney park. We
had a
reputation to up hold.
Tony enjoyed the Muppet-like passionate little individual and agreed to
let Terri
design all of Dragons Lair, right down to the animation. She was
delighted.
After that , she went on to do Pan Galactic pizza for Tokyo. Splash
mountain for
Tokyo. And quite a bit of others.
Then Terri went for her dream. A spot on the Disney sculpting team. When
she
was asked to audition with a Maquette (small sculpture) of breir fox.
After that,
she was asked to sculpt breir fox’s head full size. That sculpture was
then evaluated
by the Disney Sculpture big wigs. And finally, after a lot of sweat and
tears,
she got in. When place in her cubical, she realized it was the exact
same place that
her hero Blane Gibson had sculpted years ago. For the first few days,
Terri did not
have an assignment, so she spent the day leafing through all of Blaine’s
documentation
he had left for the company. If you think this was heaven, you are sooo
right.
It was here that Terri created the splash mtn Rabbit that sits on the
splash mtn boat
(also a Terri sculpt) and a few figures in the new show. She is also a
pumpkin
carver, so she was asked by Disney to create on of those as well.
Then asked to do Muppet Vision 3D she met Jim Henson, who invited her to
write
with him. He died before any of the works could come to TV.
Terri rediscovered the acting bug when in Country Bears she was asked to
be in
the bar scene in the film. Seemed Hollywood has changed, as far as how
they felt
she looked was concerned. She decided to get back into acting. She is
now represented
by Gold-Liedke for commercials and Theatrical, and is managed by Horatio
Blackwood Entertainment. She has done stand – up comedy at the Improv
and
is writing a one woman show.
MARGARET KERRY—Margaret has been an actor all her life (starting with
the "Our Gang" comedies when she was four.) Just out of her teens, she
was
picked to be the live-action reference model for Tinker Bell for the
Walt Disney
film, Peter Pan. Margaret became known as "Two-Take Tink" as she was
filmed
capturing the perky essence of the famous little fairy. No more than two
takes
were needed to satisfy Disney director Marc Davis, the world-renowned
animator
who also designed the character of the little sprite. Davis would
describe the scene
he wanted—and Margaret would come up with a jealous pout, a
hip-swiveling
walk, or a flash of anger—along with Tink's other dramatic antics.
At the age of 22, Margaret improvised the antics of Tink on Disney's
Sound Stage
One. Backed by a huge arc of canvas on the otherwise empty stage, she
was
strongly backlit to emphasize her curvy figure as she was being filmed.
This footage
was then given to several animators. Each time their completed scenes
would
flash on the screen... there was three-and-a-half inch Tinker Bell
looking just like
five-foot-two Margaret Kerry!
EDDIE CARROLL—A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Eddie got his start in
Canadian theater and working as a writer in radio and television. An NBC
scholarship
for a new talent brought him to Los Angeles and he was soon drafted into
the army where he wrote and produced shows for Armed Forces Radio and
Television.
Pursuing his acting career after the service, Eddie expanded his other
talents
with a comedy Album, writing songs that led to a recording contract and
writing songs for other artists, including a hit single ("How Is Julie")
for THE
LETTERMEN singing group.
During this time, Eddie and actor Jamie Farr formed Carroll-Farr
Productions and
were soon involved in creating and developing projects and pilots for
ABC, CBS,
SCREEN GEMS/COLUMBIA and HANNA-BARBERRA. In addition, they created
a television series "MAN TO MAN" and wrote and co-produced a full season
of episodes for MGM-TV.
Over the years, Eddie has also appeared in over two hundred commercials
and
used his voice-over talents in more than a hundred animation, radio and
television
spots. An additional pursuit that gives him great personal satisfaction
is working
on current projects for the Walt Disney Company, as the voice of Jiminy
Cricket,
a privilege he continues to enjoy since 1973.
An honorary member of the famed Friars Club, Eddie also serves on the
board of
directors of the prestigious Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, a membership
of more
than seven hundred professionals who have worked in radio and television
for
more than twenty years. Each year, they hold five special events to
honor the
achievements of prominent actors, entertainers, directors, producers and
writers
who have distinguished themselves in the Broadcast media. The
organization also
has the distinction of building a library that has compiled the largest
collection of
radio and television memorabilia in existence.
Eddie and his wife Carolyn, who is a Doctor of Psychology, have been
married
since 1963. They have two grown children, Tina, who is an artist and
actress and
Leland who has a successful practice as a Doctor of Kinesiology and
Chiropractic.
When not on tour, Eddie and Carolyn relax at home in Encino, a suburb of
the
San Fernando Valley. Carolyn is currently writing a book on "Touring the
World
with a Husband and Two Suitcases!"
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