Thanks: 
I met someone very cool when I saw The Lion King in IMAX theaters...
Did any of you guys see The Lion King in the IMAX theaters, I did, and I have a story to tell...
Well, about the first week of the year, I looked on Disney?s Lion King site to find an IMAX theater near me. I have never been to an IMAX theater before, and neither has my mom or sister, so we had no idea where to go. There was one in my city, and it was the Hackworth IMAX Dome Theater at The Tech Museum of Innovation. So I called the place, and I got a recording. And they said they were having a special animation weekend, January 18th and 19th, and they said, ?Meet Michael Surrey, the supervising animator of Timon.? And I was so excited! I could meet one of the Lion King animators! So my mom ordered tickets in advance for the 18th. (This IMAX Theater is in a Tech Museum, so we bought tickets to see The Lion King and go to the Museum, so I could meet Michael Surrey.) We went to the Museum at 10:00 a.m. when it opened, and looked around the Museum for a while. Then we went into the IMAX theater at about 11:30 a.m., because the movie started at 12:00 p.m. And The Lion King looked and sounded great on the giant screen! And the IMAX theater I went to was a Dome Theater, so the movie curved around you. I also heard other IMAX screens are flat. What kind of IMAX screen did you guys see The Lion King on? Also that day, I wore my Adult Nala shirt that was made for me that was air brushed at Disney World almost 6 years ago, (And it still fits me) and many people asked me about it. Many people were wearing The Lion King on Broadway shirts, but I had a unique Lion King shirt! Lots of people asked me if I made it. But it was made at Disney World, I picked out the picture of Nala, and then this machine air painted the picture on my shirt.
After the movie was over, we went to see Michael Surrey, and he did a 30 minute presentation on about animating his character Timon. Also, Tony Bancroft, the supervising animator of Pumbaa was in the audience, Michael Surrey pointed him out. My mom asked him if it was his idea to have Pumbaa pass gas, and he laughed, and said, ?No, that was the director?s idea.? After Michael was done, a lot of people went up to talk with him. My mom and I went up to talk to him after most people left. I asked if I could have his autograph and he drew a picture of Timon for me! I asked him if he could write To Audra on it (because that?s my name) and he did, and he signed the picture! I was so happy! I also asked him if he still worked for Disney, and he said yeah, and told me some of the movies he worked on. Even though I am not a big fan of Simba?s Pride, I asked him what he thought about what those animators did with Timon, and how he thought they worked with him. He said the animation was ok, but the animators that worked on Simba?s Pride didn?t even use his model sheets. But he said what really killed him was The Timon and Pumbaa Show. LOL. I said yeah, the animation in that show isn?t the greatest! After he drew me the picture, I shook his hand and thanked him. My mom later said that day, ?We should of taken a picture of you with him!? I didn?t even think of that! I wish I did! But I still have that picture of Timon he drew for me! I got it framed too! I also bought a Lion King book at their souvenir shop, called, A Giant Leap, and it has an Introduction by Don Hahn about transfering the movie to the IMAX screen and making the movie. It also has a lot of artwork. I also bought a young Simba Key Chain.
It was a great day. Seeing The Lion King in IMAX, and that was the first movie I ever saw in an IMAX theater! I met Michael Surry, I talked to him, and he drew me a picture of Timon and signed it.
Here, I scanned the picture before I framed it, and here it is:
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-11/487930/Timon.jpg
And you know the character portrait drawings that come with the Collector's DVD Gift Set? The sketch Michael drew for me looks a lot like that picture!
Update (4-14-05): That picture I scanned a long time ago, I can't find it, it's somewhere on my old computer. So I took a picture of the framed sketch Michael did for me, sorry for the poor quality:
