I am so happy to get to share my experience of being at the Oz The Great and Powerful Red Carpet Premiere last week at the El Capitan Theatre. Although, unlike normal Red Carpet premieres, this on was held on a Yellow Brick Road carpet!
Myself and 24 other bloggers were invited to California by the wonderful people of Disney to experience this once in a lifetime event, and boy was it ever! Arriving in California and the hours leading up the premiere was a crazy blur of checking in to the hotel, meeting the other bloggers, meeting our wonderful Disney guru, Marshall, and trying to make ourselves Red Carpet Ready!
Here I am, trying to not to look nervous – my dress was actually greener than it shows in pictures.
Here we all are decked out in our finest with Marshall. Don’t we look awesome?! I was excited to meet all these women in person and to get to know each one of them more.
Now we were on our way!
We arrived on Hollywood Blvd and made our way to the gorgeous El Capitan Theatre where the premiere was being held. We could immediately see the Oz balloon that was in front of the theatre and we all sort of made a collective squeal upon seeing it. It was so amazing to see in person, so big and so grand, and I found out later on that James Franco was in the balloon at the beginning of the premiere! (Teaser: You’ll see a pic in this post , so read on!)
Before making our way across the street, we stopped and snapped a picture of our fabulous bunch on the Oscar Stairs! This night was already starting to feel like a dream, and with two hours of sleep and my adrenaline pumping, I knew this was going to be a night to remember. I think we all look like we were ready to accept an award.
Next, we made our way across the street looking like a band of beautiful actresses and made our way to the carpet. We actually walked behind the actual “carpet” on our own little green carpet of sorts, but we were right against the OZ backdrop, so there were lots of photos, and videos of all of us strutting down the carpet.
The carpet moves FAST and if you don’t move, you better at some point because they make sure to let you know to keep it moving. At one point I did manage to stop and try to snap a picture of Michelle Williams (Glinda) and I snagged the following shot. Not bad for someone who was walking so fast!
Then I looked behind me and saw Donald Faison (from Scrubs and The Ex’s) and his wife, directly behind me! I was so giddy, a real life star walking behind ME on the carpet, me, just some Mom who blogs from Baltimore. How crazy is that? Then I saw him jump across the barrier and tackle his partner in crime from Scrubs, Zach Braff, who also plays Finley in the movie. I did get a blurry pic of that, but not sure if you can tell who they are, but I know 😉
Check out this video from PopSugarTV – you can see all of us walking behind Zach Braff as he is being interviewed, and the moment Donald interview bombs him. I look slightly confused, LOL!.
After that amazing experience, we made our way into the El Capitan Theatre, which by the way, is a gorgeous building inside and out. It is exactly how I pictured a Hollywood theatre to look like….everything from the huge marquee and all the lights, to the old Hollywood elegance and glamour inside the theatre. The PERFECT venue for this event.
We made our way to our seats, popcorn and soda in hand. An organ player entertained us while we waited for the movie to start. By this time I was a little nauseous. I think all of the events of the day just caught up to me the minute I sat down. The excitement, the anticipation, and every emotion you can think of went through me that night, so I guess that is to be expected. I recovered and enjoyed the premiere of Oz The Great and Powerful immensely, every last part of it, even the nausea part 😉
All I can say now, is that the movie was AWESOME! I will be reviewing it in a later post so you have to stay tuned.
After the fabulous movie, we made our way to Lure Nightclub for an after party where we partied with the stars, well maybe not partied, but more like watched like hawks to see if we could spot them 🙂 Most of the stars of Oz were in the VIP area. I did see James Franco (Oz), but did not get a great picture since the lights were green and my camera freaked out. 🙁
See, can’t you tell that’s James Franco? 😉
Lure is a beautiful club and we really had a great time. They all kinds of OZ themed activities, and great food and drinks. I did see Rachel Weisz (Evanora) outside of the club in front of the paparazzi and Greg Kinnear inside. We also saw the Joey King, who plays China Girl in the movie, getting her picture taken with fans. She is just so cute and so very talented as you will see.
A few of my blogger friends (Jenn, Amber, Carol and I) got our picture taken ala Oz and it came out so great! Considering I think we all kind of felt like we were in Oz that night, this is the perfect memento to have to remember our time there.
What a night packed with memories that I will never forget. Even though I only had a few hours of sleep I couldn’t sleep at all that night, I just kept replaying the night over and over in my head!
Thank you Disney for a truly magical night, I felt like a movie star!
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL will play at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, CA from March 8th – April 30th in Disney Digital 3D and Real D 3D
For the First 3 weeks only (March 8 – 31) See “Disney Mysteries of Magic” live on stage! Be dazzled by the artistry of illusion in a magical showcase. See our expert wizard perform mystical magical illusions before your very eyes!
Plus, see an exclusive display of costumes from the movie from March 8 – April 30.
Disclosure: I was provided with an all expense paid trip by Disney in order to bring you this information. All opinions and experiences expressed are my own. This is accordance with Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of. Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Looks like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing all the great pictures. How crazy to see you were so close to so many stars 🙂
It was very surreal!!
Hahaha, I love your James Franco photo!
It’s awesome, no? If you squint really hard you can see him, no really……..yeah, I tried 🙂
Your James Franco picture is just about as good as my Ashton Kutcher photo lol We tried. I had a great time. I want to do it again.
I know, we did try – at least I have the image of seeing him live and in person burned into my brain 😉