hello again, graceland

my second trip to graceland was a whirlwind of a weekend.  the hub and i had considered doing it as a long road trip, but ultimately decided against it this time.  and so i hopped on a plane on a friday morning and headed out to memphis for some solo general hospital fangirling.

i should have landed in time to get to the hotel, check in, relax a little and then head out for the first event - unfortunately for me, flight delays got in the way and i found myself practically running to get there on time.  

it was halloween, so the cast members who attended the kickoff party came in costume.  i befriended a really nice couple who’d come from maryland, and we had dinner and watched the costume contest shenanigans from a table pretty close to the front.  rolling solo makes it pretty easy to slide into great seating that normally would require a higher priced ticket.

the show turned into a dance party, which was a lot of fun.  the actors joined us on the dance floor and chatted and danced and took selfies with us. first, giovanni mazza (“gio palmieri”):

chris mckenna (“jack brennan”):

braedyn bruner, who is absolutely killing it as the new “emma scorpio-drake.”

kelly thiebaud (“britt westbourne”), wearing the greatest elvis costume ever.

a fellow fan snapped a picture of me dancing with chris mckenna.  i look so happy, haha:

and the photographer gathered a bunch of us together for a group shot at the end of the night.

‘fit check for day two:

because coming this year had been such a last-minute decision, the top two tiers of tickets were sold out.  the biggest difference between this ticket and the one i had last year pretty much came down to earlier access to the main events and better seating in the theater for the panels.  there’s also a VIP lounge area, but based on how often i made it in there last year i knew it wasn’t much of a loss.  if i get to go again next year though, it’ll be a toss up as to which package i opt for because that early access really did make a difference.  we’ll see.

and this year, they changed up the seating for the panels.  instead of your typical theater-style seating, they’d created a lounge for the top two tier ticket holders.  it gave the whole event a more elevated look and seemed to go over well with the attendees.

the first panel featured katelyn macmullen (“willow tait”) and rory gibson, a recast “michael corinthos.”

next up, returned-from-the-dead brother and sister ryan paevey (“nathan west”) and kelly thiebaud (“britt westbourne”).

the last panel of the day was with laura wright (“carly spencer”) and chris mckenna (“jack brennan”).

i spied frank valentine, executive producer of the show, enter quietly into the theater for each panel.  i would have liked to meet him, but the man was like a ghost - he’d appear out of nowhere and disappear before anyone really noticed him. although if i were frank and browsed soap twitter (which i fully believe he does, you can’t tell me otherwise), i’d avoid meeting fans in person too.  heh.

after a break for lunch, we all returned to the theater to wait our turns for the autograph sessions in the ballroom next door.  this is where i wished i’d snagged a better ticket because that extra time would’ve helped get me through all of the lines faster and have a little time to go back to my room to rest a bit before dinner.  but no biggie…i powered through and had a blast.

just like last year, the ballroom was divided into two parts, with the cast also split in half.  as i entered, i was given a ticket that gave me access to the first half, with the second half open to me the next day.  i think this is actually a pretty nice way to do it, so that the lines aren’t too long and everyone gets a fair chance to meet all of the cast members over the two days.  there’s an event photographer at each station, and the actors are also happy to take selfies with a cell phone as long as they’re not short on time.

donnell turner (“curtis ashford”) is so nice and friendly.  his fiancée travels with him to these events and happily sits nearby and watches the action.

josh kelly (“cody bell”) is always the life of the party.  he’d hosted the costume party the night before and hung out in the bar with fans for hours afterwards.

this was my first time meeting ryan paevey (“nathan west”) since his character had supposedly died before i started attending fan events.  he’s super friendly and was pretty pleased to hear that fans were loving his return to the show.

i’d also not met tanisha harper (“jordan ashford”) before.  she’s even more gorgeous in person, and when i asked her if she might come to the fan club weekend next year she said that the only reason she’d missed it this time was because she lives in europe (“rough life,” i teased) and that the weekend fell at the tail end of a hiatus and she wasn’t able to fly back in time.  “next time,” she said.  we’re gonna hold you to that!

the longest line was for another cast member i’d not met before - katelyn macmullen (“willow tait”), and i’d waited till almost the end of the session in the hopes that the line would get shorter. but that backfired on me because it didn’t, and by the time i finally got through her line they were rushing us through and i didn’t get much of a chance to chat with her. “hi!  i love that skirt, it’s so sick,” she said to me which made me laugh.  she’s very sweet and i hope she comes to fan club weekend next year.  and because time was so short, selfies weren’t allowed but here’s my official photo with her:

and the lady behind me in line snapped this for me too:

last but not least, i managed to sneak into kelly thiebaud’s line before she was ushered away to get ready for the nurse’s ball event:

with limited space in my carry-on, i went with a more casual look for the nurses’ ball that night.

this is balinda, my sweet tablemate and first-timer to the GH fan events.  her husband had bought the tickets for her as a surprise despite not being a fan himself, and they were really nice and always saved me a spot at their table since they’d gotten the second-tier tickets and got into the events earlier than me.

the ball itself was really entertaining - there were performances by almost all of the cast members in attendance.

day 3 ‘fit check - with the dodgers playing in the world series, i happily wore my team sweatshirt all weekend.

the panels were hosted by laura wright that day.  first up, giovanni mazza (“gio palmieri”) and braedyn bruner (“emma scorpio-drake”).

then it was josh kelly (“cody bell”) and van hansis (“lucas jones”).

the final panel of the weekend featured donnell turner (“curtis ashford”) and tanisha harper (“jordan ashford”).

day two of the autograph sessions seemed to go a bit smoother than the first day and i was able to get through all of the lines fairly quickly.  yay!

later i realized that it was because the top tier ticketholders had been allowed to visit both sides of the ballroom the day before.  ahhhh…only the plebes were there for day two.  got it.

chris mckenna (“jack brennan”) is always such a delight to chat with.  and he recognized me from twitter, which was pretty funny. 

van hansis (“lucas jones”) is also in a role that was previously played by another actor.  i gotta say, GH is really killing it with the recasts lately - i think all of the new actors are doing amazing jobs with their characters.

giovanni mazza (“gio palmieri”) and braedyn bruner (“emma scorpio-drake”) are obviously super close friends who are doing a fabulous job of playing a couple onscreen…and if they’re not dating in real life, just hand them their emmy awards now.  heh.

we love rory gibson (“michael corinthos”).  while chad duell did a great job in the role before him, he’s turned michael into a completely different character and given him a maturity and an edgier side that really works for the show.  he remembered meeting me the month before at the emmy awards with my GH pals, and thanked us again for coming to support the show.  so sweet.

i made a comment to laura wright (“carly spencer”) about being a frank valentini favorite…which didn’t go over well.  heh.  i’m gonna guess that she’s heard it quite a bit before, and she’s also pretty active on twitter where the accusations fly fast and furious.  sorry, laura.  soap twitter ain’t a place where people hold back on their opinions.

i know i say this about a lot of people, but lynn herring (“lucy coe”) is truly one of the sweetest, most genuinely friendly actors i’ve ever met.  she chats with you like you’re old friends and asks to take a silly photo along with the regular posed one.  i love her.

the final event of the weekend was karaoke night.  in attendance were josh kelly, giovanni mazza, braedyn bruner, kelly thiebaud and van hansis.  it was fun and silly, and a great way to end a fun weekend.

my flight home was super early the next morning - we’re talking 5:30am takeoff early - so i made sure to get everything packed up before i fell into bed.  that alarm went off and i definitely groaned out loud.  

i remember thinking “this is the steepest escalator EVER.”

bye, memphis!  thanks for a great time!