DESTINATION D - DICK VAN DYKE

Yes. Dick Van Dyke was there. In person. And in concert.

More specifically, "Dick Van Dyke and the Vantastix" (His a capella musical group composed of Eric Bradley, Bryan Chadima and Mike Mendyke) who performed on the first night of Destination D. (Here is their website... http://www.vantastix.com/album.php)

They started their show off with the non-Disney "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." and selections from the non-Disney, Bye Bye Birdie.

The 86-year-old Van Dyke didn't have to sit through 3 hours of makeup this time for his performance of "Fidelity Fiduciary Bank" from Mary Poppins.

The show was filled with many stories and anecdotes from Dick's career at Disney and also how their group got formed. They told the embarrassing story of how they presented the song "The Bare Necessities" from The Jungle Book to the Sherman Brothers at one of their concerts, who wrote all the songs for the film... except that one...

He would occasionally sit back and let the other guys have their moment in the spotlight. (It was also a good time for him to wheeze and drink water :) 

His wife (yes... that's his wife) was in the audience and they made her get up and sing with them for a bit.

Dick joked about his age a LOT. It was so funny. He even made up his own words to "The Bare Necessities" called "Old Senility"

They basically sang all the songs from their album "Put on a Happy Face" and then a few extras.

For me, it was really cool to hear Dick sing the songs from Mary Poppins and the theme from "The Dick Van Dyke Show" It was an amazing night. A very good end to the day's festivities.