D23 Celebrates Their “Sweet 16” With Special Screening of “Wreck-It Ralph” at Walt Disney World
Earlier tonight at the Walt Disney World Resort, a number of D23 Gold Members descended upon the AMC 24 at Disney Springs to celebrate the 16th anniversary of D23: The Official Disney Fan Club with a special screening of the Walt Disney Animation Studios film, Wreck-It Ralph.
What made the Sweet 16 celebration even sweeter was the presence of Gideon’s Bakehouse, with each person in attendance getting a special cookie made just for the occasion. Gideon’s founder Steve Lewis was on-scene to share his background cooking the delicious fan-favorite treats, both in the original Winter Park location, and now the Disney Springs site, with a special emphasis on how he is a true local small business that happens to be in one of the most popular vacation destinations in the world. He also added that the special cookie, dubbed the “Sugar Glitch," was a riff on their traditional sugar cookie, and the only one he has ever made exclusively for a special event, despite many other offers from various groups.
As is the case with other events of this nature, hosted by D23, all those in attendance also got an exclusive pin marking the occasion. This one marking the sweet 16 event, with a sweet logo and Vanellope Von Schweetz featured as well.
The theater filled up well ahead of the screening start time, and the audience was treated to Wreck-It Ralph trivia and images from prior D23 events, as well as art from the movie while three of the songs from the film’s soundtrack played on a seemingly endless loop that will have everybody to “S-U-G-A-R jump into their racing car" again and again. Also featured, “Shut Up and Drive" by Rihanna, from the film’s soundtrack and played no less than four times.
Just ahead of the film’s screening, it was the head of D23, Michael Vargo, who came out and gave all the Gold Members in attendance a cliffhanger of a bombshell - details regarding tickets and on-sale dates for this year’s upcoming Destination D23 at Walt Disney World will be released next month. No further details were given regarding the event, just that and a reminder that this year the event will be taking place at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, a new location for the event in lieu of Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
From there, it was right into Wreck-It Ralph, which also (to my great pleasure and surprise) included the short Paperman, as the film was packaged back upon its original release in 2012.
The film, this year celebrating its lucky 13th anniversary, Follows Ralph, a video game villain who is tired of playing the role of a bad guy and embarks on a journey to become a video game hero. Along the way he accidentally lets loose a deadly enemy that threatens the entire arcade.The film includes plenty of references and video game fun while also telling a completely original story that has stood the test of time and also spawned a sequel several years later - Ralph Breaks the Internet, which though only released in 2018, is more contemporary and features moments that many consider outdated even though it’s the newer film.
This event was exclusively for D23 Gold Members who were able to secure a ticket, and D23 does a lot of these with several more being announced in the coming weeks according to Vargo, so if you’re a D23 Gold Member, stay tuned!