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D23 EXPO UPDATE: ROBIN WILLIAMS, BETTY WHITE & OTHER LEGENDS @ 10 September 2009 04:59 PM

The first day of the D23 Expo convention in Anaheim kicked off this morning when Bob Iger opened the festivities with the words many a Disney fan has waited for years to hear from a Disney company CEO: "I love Disney." He then surprised the crowd with the first 30 minutes of the extraodinary new animated feature, The Princess and the Frog.

Iger and TV host Tom Bergeron then presented this year's Disney Legends, which included Leota Thomas (Madame Leota in The Haunted Mansion); Tony Anselmo (voice of Donald Duck); Bill Farmer (voice of Goofy) and several others.

But the crowd was especially excited that both Betty White and Robin Williams appeared in person to accept. Ever-gracious White mentioned a plush Mickey she received as a child that is still on her desk and Williams did a mini comedy routine that included sugggestions for Shanghai Disneyland, like "Mickey Mao." Iger said he wrote the ideas down.

Looking forward to Randy Thornton's Haunted Mansion presentation later and tonight's screening and panel featuring the acclaimed documentary about the Sherman Brothers, "the boys."

Speaking of the Shermans, there's a new two disc CD set with their songs, including several appearing for the first time on disc (and in stereo): three songs from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (yes, I know it was not a Disney film) performed by the great Mike Sammes Singers.