2026 D23 Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim - August 14-16

[Icarus846]

this will be my 1st expo, very excited. did book the Courtyard Marriott by the convention center through Disney as a package, gonna throw in some park days as well. had to squeeze in a trip with my son before he turns 3 and we have to pay for him

Did the same thing. Was suprised to see the hotel cheaper through Disneyland package than directly through Marriot, like much much cheaper.

 

[HeadNerd]

Funny, I thought the Honda Center was a HUGE upgrade from previous years. Not having to waste the day sitting in the basement of the convention center to get into the afternoon panel was soooo worth the upcharge. We had a rental car so didn't have the take the busses and it was so easy in and out.

So excited about this announcement! Will be expo number 6 for me.

You know this is fascinating about the rental car. Normally it's horrible taking a car to anything, but I guess in this case so few people had cars that it was just easy? Did you literally just park in the little parking lot outside the Honda Center? Or across the street from it?

I decided not to fight for the buses, and paid for Uber. Which was fine on the way in.... they insisted on Ubers having to drop off at the transport center several blocks away, so I said screw that and set my destination as the hotel across the street from the Honda Center. LOL. Worked fine. The REAL problem was leaving. Walked across to same hotel to call a ride. Uber and Lyft basically were overloaded so badly that I was getting timeouts, etc. Then drivers were calling off when they saw where the pickup was, etc. I think the second night I gave up and went to a nearby place in the shopping center to chill for a bit before ride-share recovered.

So yeah... I'd totally be willing to rent a car to avoid all that... eating the parking costs and rental fees might still not be much more than the Uber costs from/to airport and from/to Honda three times.

 

[HeadNerd]

The Emporium was that area in the back right of the show floor that had all the independent sellers? They were great! That's really frustrating that they would get rid of that option. I love buying Disneyana there. Wonder if there's a way to protest that...

 

[HeadNerd]

It’s not that the Hilton is sold out, it’s that it hasn’t opened reservations up for next August.

So it looks like they open up 8 months in advance? It's open through May 4, 2026 and today is Sept 4th. Do we know at what time of day they open up the next day? Midnight some time zone or? Maybe I'll need to set an alarm and check repeatedly as we start to approach December 12th...

The really annoying thing is if I have to book one night... at... a.... time.... and end up with five or six reservations to try to string together. LOL.

For now I have a roon through the D23 block at the DoubleTree Suites... farther away than I would normally like to stay, but none of the hotels in the immediate block seemed to be available through the D23 tool. Either not available or snapped up quickly?

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Looks like they were snapped up quickly. I looked up how much the Westin thru them directly..

$1,000 freakin' dollars a night!

 

[LKing]

Looks like they were snapped up quickly. I looked up how much the Westin thru them directly..

$1,000 freakin' dollars a night!

Westin was available when I first posted. I think it was in the $350-$400 range.

 

[dina444444]

Westin was available when I first posted. I think it was in the $350-$400 range.

It was $369/night

 

[ashley0139]

You know this is fascinating about the rental car. Normally it's horrible taking a car to anything, but I guess in this case so few people had cars that it was just easy? Did you literally just park in the little parking lot outside the Honda Center? Or across the street from it?

I decided not to fight for the buses, and paid for Uber. Which was fine on the way in.... they insisted on Ubers having to drop off at the transport center several blocks away, so I said screw that and set my destination as the hotel across the street from the Honda Center. LOL. Worked fine. The REAL problem was leaving. Walked across to same hotel to call a ride. Uber and Lyft basically were overloaded so badly that I was getting timeouts, etc. Then drivers were calling off when they saw where the pickup was, etc. I think the second night I gave up and went to a nearby place in the shopping center to chill for a bit before ride-share recovered.

So yeah... I'd totally be willing to rent a car to avoid all that... eating the parking costs and rental fees might still not be much more than the Uber costs from/to airport and from/to Honda three times.

We parked in the lot right beside the Honda center. Didn’t even have to cross the street. SO worth it, plus being able to leave stuff in the car. There was so much parking available. I feel like everyone didn’t want to deal with driving so no one did. Best kept secret apparently lol

 

[Tinkaboo]

Bumping this up...to anyone who has gone previously...is there a huge advantage to being a Gold Member? Any difference between the LEVELS of Gold Membership? I've had the free one for years and apparently you can get a free Gold one if you have Disney+ if you can figure out how to access the Perks.

Right now is the BF sale 30% off and I'll get one, I'm just not sure which way to go. The only difference between the $50 and the $100 is the premium gift, which I don't care about really...like @DizMe , I'm getting rid of stuff, not trying to accumulate more

Any help is appreciated...TIA.

 

[FrozenCrown]

Bumping this up...to anyone who has gone previously...is there a huge advantage to being a Gold Member? Any difference between the LEVELS of Gold Membership? I've had the free one for years and apparently you can get a free Gold one if you have Disney+ if you can figure out how to access the Perks.

Right now is the BF sale 30% off and I'll get one, I'm just not sure which way to go. The only difference between the $50 and the $100 is the premium gift, which I don't care about really...like @DizMe , I'm getting rid of stuff, not trying to accumulate more

Any help is appreciated...TIA.

Someone can correct me if my memory is wrong but Gold members pay earlier for tickets,pay slightly less for tickets and get some freebies and a lounge at D23. What is the bf sale code I havent seen it?