I would like to thank Lisa for sending her report of the first WTR Convention in Dallas, Texas. Thank you Lisa for the great report!


This is my version of the weekend. I'm sure I left out something here or there but it was a rather busy time. Donna, Linda, Heather, & Froggie are refered to as the Planners for the sake of simplicity here.


Report On Walker Texas Ranger Convention



Officially the event began on Friday night with the dinner. We all met in the restaurant at the Marriot near the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport & were given name badges. The planners had even thought to have our screen names put on the badge which is what most of us knew each other by. The early part of the evening was spent mingling & taking pictures. Also there was Stephanie Norris & Jody with Walker merchandise. They had great success & sold a lot of stuff. I broke down & bought a leather/wool jacket with the logo on the back. Soon after Gordon Dawson arrived. He visited with many of us & ate dinner with the planners. He then had a question/answer period in which we found out about the wedding & the Vision Quest eppy in which he sets the date. (A lot of this part had been told by Mr. Norris in a TV interview the day before) He told us that Alex's dad wouldn't be in any future episodes because of contract difficulties with the actor. The same was said for White Eagle. We all had a very nice evening & were surprised to find out that we'd all been invited to go to the studio on Saturday to tour the sets.

Saturday morning at 8:30 or so we all carpooled out to the studio. A security guard met us in the parking lot & escorted us into the office area where we all signed the guest book. We then proceeded to the conference room. Nancy () met us there & began talking about various aspects of how the show works. We were rather surprised to find out that they have 8 RAMS & not just 1 or 2. ( 1 for close-up shots, 1 for stunts, 1 for long shots, etc.) Also for every outfit Walker wears they must have 4 sets. Two for Mr. Norris & two for his stuntman. This is so they have 2 days of wear time & time for dry cleaning in between. She discussed other aspects such as catering & shooting schedules too. We were all given a copy of a days shooting schedule & explained how various area worked (such at call times & make-up times,etc.) I found this very informative & learned a great deal.

This is the time we learned that Mr. Norris would be coming to the studio to meet us. Needless to say we were THRILLED. He had rearranged his schedule to meet with us & would be arriving shortly. Nancy told us that we shouldn't ask for autographs & that no pictures were allowed unless taken by her. This was for security reasons & we were all fine with these restrictions. We were just happy to be in the same room with him. Mr. Dawson had also shown up by this point & answered a few more questions about production. Bob Gookin was also there & said a quick hello.

Mr. Norris arrived to our applause & cheers. We were well behaved but got our point across. He then went around the room & shook hands with every one of us. We were then told he would take a picture with each of us. We formed a line & Nancy took each ones picture for us. It went very smoothly & relatively quickly.

Then we gathered around while he talked to us about upcoming events. He told us about Fight or Die & how it was the most action packed show they'd ever done. He said it even rivaled some of his movies. He talked about Vision Quest. This, of course, is the eppy where Walker goes blind. He said in this eppy Walker proposes to Alex & they set the date. From this show on they will have little scenes with them planning the wedding. He started to tell us about the cliffhanger this season but was interupted by Bob Goodwin who came running out of his office saying "you can't tell them that!" He talked about the premiere show & said he'd gotten a lot of "flack" for this one. Gordon laughed & said that was true. Mr. Norris laughed back & said "well you wrote it". At this time Mr. Norris began to mingle with us separately. Carol & I introduced him to our friend Gwenda. She's from South Africa. He talked with us about his trip there & his appearance on Regis & Kathy Lee.

The planners then announced it was time to begin the tour. We divided into 4 groups & set off.

We all filed through the wardrobe department first. A pretty small room but jam- packed with clothes of all types. They had an impressive selection of hats too. I was impressed by the sheer volume that was in just that room. My group then went into the gym. Several people took turns sparring in the ring & all took photos. We went to ranger headquarters & saw Walker's desk, Trivettes's desk, etc. The biggest shock here was the coffee pot. It hadn't been cleaned in a VERY long time. The coffee in it was turning green.

We went to Alex's office & took turns sitting at her desk….& more photos.

CD's was decorated for the Christmas show they'd just finished filming. This was especially neat to see. I think we took more pictures here than anywhere else. Then we went to Walker's house. This was my favorite part as I just love his place. We went through the living room, kitchen, both bedrooms & bathroom. This was the 2nd most photographed area on our tour. A couple of notes here: the sink in the kitchen was about 1/2 full of water & looked like it had been there for quite some time. Very odd. Also Walker's bed was unmade & the room looked unlived in (dusty,etc.) while the other bedroom was all made up & looked lived in (by a woman I might add).

From here we went back to the conference room. Mr. Norris thought we'd like to see preview of an upcoming episode. Now we all thought it would be a clip….about 10-15 minute or so. Nope. It was the entire episode of Rise to the Occasion. We enjoyed this eppy very much. It was nice to watch with a group of fellow fans. We sang with the title song (badly I might add), were very surprised by the death of the boy ( several of us thought Walker had caught him at the last minute) & cheered during the fight scenes. That's where the tour ended. We all went our separate ways for the day & would meet that night for the showing of Suspicious Minds.

We met in 1 room as the hotel wouldn't let us take over the bar. (Can't imagine why--lol) We once again sang the song (much better this time) & were relatively well behaved. We just loved the WAM in this one & scenes for the Widowmaker eppy. After the show we went to the bar & talked together for a couple hours. Most of us were leaving the next morning & didn't stay TOO late. We met for breakfast on Sunday morning for 1 last time. Another round of pictures & our finial good byes. That's the long & the short of it but I would like to add my views on this whole thing.

First---I thought that Donna, Linda, Heather, & Froggie did an excellent job of getting this all together. They kept things running smoothly & kept us in line at the studio. No way can that weekend ever be topped. Way to go ladies!!!

Second---The staff at the studio were just great. They put up with our endless questions & were very gracious to us.

Lastly---my personal opinion of Mr. Norris. This man has class. He went out of his way to meet and talk with us. He didn't have to do that. Even though he was only with us for a short while I could see he was a man of honor. He is a genuinely nice guy & very down to earth. I admire him more now than ever before. I was truly honored to meet him and will never forget it.

LISA


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Some Photos you will see on this site have been taken from Crystal's web site at Drive To Walker World with the knowlage and permission of the owner.

"Walker, Texas Ranger" is owned by CBS and Norris Brothers Productions.
This fan page is a tribute to the show and it's actors and no infringements on any copy rights are intended.
Please keep in mind I have no connection whatsoever to the show or the production or/and the Norris Brothers.
This is only a fan page, put together in my spare time.