After warming up inside a bit and grabbing some morning coffee I made my way downstairs following the signs displaying "Disney Consumer Products" to where the Disney event was to be held. They had a table set up where media and guests were to pick up their lanyards and head inside. After receiving my media lanyard I was lucky enough to be in the front having gotten there VERY early and scored a front row seat.
The show kicked off talking about all the wonderful new toys that would be coming out this year for 4 of Disney's franchises. First up was a short video showing parts of the new Planes film called Planes Fire & Rescue. Following the short film, we got to see one of the toys for the new Planes film. Next, actor Dane Cook came on stage and talked about the film a bit.
Next we saw a great trailer for The Amazing Spider Man 2. After the trailer, young Jorge Vegas came on stage dressed in his Spider Man costume armed with some Spider Man silly string, err, webs!
Next, the Amazing Spider Man himself, actor Andrew Garfield came on stage for some more fun filled talk about the upcoming movie as well as the accompanying toys.
Third we got to see some amazing footage from Marvel's The Guardians of the Galaxy. The footage introduced us to each of the 5 characters from the film. Afterwards, while no 'live' actors came on stage this time we were greeted to a video message from actor Chris Pratt who plays Peter Quill, or rather 'Star Lord'. He displayed an action figure of himself from the movie. We later got to see some more toys coming out for Guardians of the Galaxy on stage.
Finally, last but not least, it was time for Star Wars Rebels. It will be a new series this fall on Disney XD which takes place in between Episodes III and IV. We were treated to another film showing/telling us more about this new show. Afterwards, two Storm Troopers brought Freddie Prinz Jr. onstage who does the voice for Kanan in the new show. Very fun and entertaining, I thoroughly enjoy playing Wing Commander ALOT as a kid and hearing Freddie even at one point throw out a joke about Wing Commander made me laugh.
After the presentation was over, we headed to the opposite end of the room where all the toys were on display for the 4 films/shows mentioned above. There was also a booth showcasing Disney Infinity and while they had a bunch of characters and power discs on display they also had Phineas and Agent P to play with. Michael Schneider of Disney Interactive was there showing off the characters in game as well as answering questions. I was able to grab a few minutes with Mr. Schneider and asked a few questions on behalf of the community. Here's some of the questions I asked along with his answers, IF he could give me answers to them. Unfortunately, many answers I wanted along with others around me, simply could not be answered at this time but I tried anyway!
Will Phineas and Agent P be the last figures we see released for this release of Disney Infinity?
Technically yes, except for some more Toys R Us exclusives.
Disney Infinity on Next Gen consoles, will we see it, when, will it be DI2?
Nothing has been announced yet so we'll have to look forward to an announcement in the future for more info.
What about the possibility of releasing play sets for characters which are out already who are as of now Toy Box only, such as Vanellope and Wreck it Ralph?
Pretty much along the same lines as above. We do listen to our community quite a bit and it will probably influence what will happen in the future but we don't really have any plans for it right now.
When the series 2 power discs came out, Target had an exclusive which included a complete set and binder. Is something similar planned for the release of Series 3?
I actually don't know the answer to that but am familiar with what you're talking about for series 2. I'll see if I can get you the information at a later time.
Can you provide details on how a submitted Toy box goes from submitted to the Top 5?
We have a community team that filters through all the submissions. We announce what we will do, say a Phineas and Ferb theme, we literally get hundreds and thousands of submissions. Our community team will filter through all the submissions. They do a little bit of auto filtering for language and number of toys (like if someone submits a submission with 10 toys or something) that will get dropped out of the list. Then we look at whats left and figure out whats the most interesting for aesthetics or gameplay. Then the top 10 or 15 are put into a committee meeting and it is played through making sure it works and see how much fun it actually is. And then a vote is taken for the top 5, they're put through a week of Q and A.
Has there been any discussion about Disney Parks or Disney Cruise Line exclusives?
Anythings possible, but we don't have anything specific planned. (He went on to talk about how the magic bands were worked into the game. I mentioned how at one point we on DisneyInfinityFans were even talking about trying out the resort mugs in game since they have a chip in them as well now. He seemed intrigued we tried it and didn't immediately seem aware there were chips in them. I told him how they worked and why the chips were in them now, so who knows, maybe eventually the mugs will open something up! One can hope, lol)
The official website for Disney Infinity shows 15 discs for series 3 of the power discs. Will it in fact be 15 discs making the two in the Phineas and Agent P. double pack exclusive to that pack?
It's actually 17 discs for Series 3, so the Phineas and Agent P. discs in the pack will also be available in series 3 blind packs. (I mentioned how the site only says 15 and was told it may get updated to reflect 17 eventually).
Upon leaving the event, we had to turn in our Disney lanyards which was a bit disappointing to give up, BUT the reward was worth it. We were given a swag bag, which contained 5 items. A small bag of Lego's for Star Wars making C3PO, another small bag of Lego's for Ultimate Spider Man making Spider Man on his glider, a Spider Man action figure from Spider Man 2 - Spider Strike Iron Claw Spider Man, from Planes Fire & Rescue a Dusty Crophopper figure in a plastic display box labeled for the 2014 NY Toy Fair and finally a Phineas and Agent P Toy Box set with both discs! I had such an amazing time being there witnessing the whole event, getting to meet Mr. Schneider and ask my questions that the swag at the end was simply the icing on the cake. Thank You to all who made this possible and thank you all for hanging in there and reading all about it!
Hmmm... some random thoughts...
I tried it real quick now and one tree became a bigger tree (lol) but another small tree became a set of solar panels.