Avanzino Signing Event at the Disneyland Resort

I had a nice, but interesting weekend at the Disneyland Resort. It was my birthday and I wanted to go to the Food and Wine Festival to meet Dave Avanzino for the Artists signing. Apparently, there is an unspoken, unwritten rule about what Dave can sign. The Disney Gallery website stated that the Artists could only sign their respective merchandise, limit 2 per guest, and no personal items.




So I thought, silly me, that I could have him sign the Haunted Mansion Shadow box (that we purchased from Disneyland about a month ago) and his Room for One more piece (from the Happy Haunts Ball event). I thought we had understood the small print on the Disney Gallery website fairly well. But Martha, you know Martha, she plans all these events, was there to make sure that Dave only signed items that were purchased right there at the park, on that day. Boy, are we stupid or what? How did we miss that? According to Martha, all collectors know that rule. According to her, she's been doing these events for years and has never had anyone not understand that the Artists will only sign if you purchase the item right then and there.

Dave, who had been willing to sign the pieces, looked embarrassed, and Sam was clearly frustrated. He even tried to tell Martha that we had purchased the shadow box at Disneyland earlier in the day, but then Martha wanted to see the receipt. Ooops, foiled again! That's when I remembered my phone, and pulled up the website and zoomed in on the small print on the Disney Gallery page. It didn't say Artists can only sign items purchased at the park on that particular day. So I showed my phone to Martha, we had a nice conversation about the rules, which now I completely understand, and she allowed Dave to sign our Shadowbox piece, even though we hadn't purchased it that day. She wouldn't allow him to sign the other piece because it was from a Disney Florida event.

Ok, so even though we are collectors, and have attended several Disney events, we are obviously incredibly naive. It was our second time meeting Dave, but the first time we had ever attended one of these Artists signing events.

So the weekend was interesting. I did get to tell Dave that his shadowbox is one of my all time favorite pieces. He said it was one of his, as well. He also mentioned that he is currently working on something for the Haunted Mansion 4oth event. Oh, and Martha mentioned that she would have to change the small print for future signing events.

Didn't mean to be such a troublemaker...



To top off my birthday weekend, Sam surprised me with the Olszewski Haunted Mansion miniature. I was not expecting to ever to get this piece. Sam, you're the best husband EVER!!!