D23 2019 UPDATE 3/9 This is the end, my only friend, the end. Of our elaborate plans, the end.

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I had also wanted to do the Simpsons meet and greet signing. After my experience from the previous day, I decided not to bother getting into the standby line.

With food in hand we attempted to enter the Haunted Mansion 50th line up.

The gold member line was closed so we got in the regular standby line. We were a few rows back. But right next to the Expo Center Stage. We got to see a little bit of the Expo Show. Ashley Eckstein was there!!! and they were recapping some of the day's events.



After that show ended, we were treated to a rendition of Mickey's Disco Dance Party.



Ugh.

I mean, it was something for people to do that didn't require an advance pass. But I did not enjoy it a lot. There was music and a couple paid dancers who tried to pull audience members up on stage to dance. Not many takers.

Anyway, the lines started to load. All the standby people were very upset because the pass line was supposed to close 5 minutes before the show start. After that, the ticket stated no one would be admitted. Of course, this didn't happen and the standby line sadly and nervously watched as pass holders kept being admitted and streaming past us as the panel started.

We were afraid we'd be shut out, but they finally stopped the pass line and allowed the standby to load. It turns out the upper levels all had a lot of space. I think we had one CM in particular to thank. As my line walked in we could hear a volunteer tell her that they weren't loading any more guests. Our CM said take them to the upper levels, there is plenty of space. They continued to load hundreds more people and saved the day.

We missed about the first ten minutes of the panel but it was still super interesting.



Imagineers showed how to do some of the illusions from the attraction which was really cool. Lots of fog and laser effects.



X Attencio's granddaughter spoke about him and his influence on the attraction. They had 2 jungle cruise skippers do a walkthrough with jokes on the HM, I really liked that because I love the JC. I believe that is available on youtube now. Yep. Watch the link below if you always yearned for a mash up of the Haunted Mansion with the Jungle Cruise.

Then they did a script reading of the attraction narration with the tightrope walker (a costumed character), X's granddaughter, and the muppet Uncle Deadly.



Yep, Uncle Deadly the muppet. Never know what you're gonna get at the D23 expo folks. Never a dull moment.

After the expo I heard a lot of people didn't like this panel, but I thought it was very good.





The panel was over around 1:30 so we decided this was a great time to wander the show floor.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Yep, Uncle Deadly the muppet. Never know what you're gonna get at the D23 expo folks. Never a dull moment.

Okay that sounds incredible. Was it incredible?

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Okay that sounds incredible. Was it incredible?

It was pretty incredible. He has the voice for the HM.

I hope you watched the video. I still laugh at that.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

It was pretty incredible. He has the voice for the HM.

I hope you watched the video. I still laugh at that.

The Jungle Cruise crossover? Yes so funny!! Also Nick is from Missouri so whoop whoop

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

It was time to walk the floor.

We made our first stop at the Marvel costume exhibit.

Bucky is one of my favs.



And fat Thor:




Scar Jo is tiny.




Loki with my tessercat toy dangling in front of him



I liked Valkyrie a lot.



We saw some of the daily parade going by but were too far back to really see anything of substance.





Some sweet costumes:



We met up with some other flight suit Carol Danvers and had to grab a group pic:




I forgot to mention that I had the Tessercat toy that our friend made for us. Since Goose in Capt Marvel ended up swallowing the Tesseract, we thought I should have it as a cat toy. It lights up and everything, it's pretty sweet.

We tried to walk the vendor booth area, but it was sickeningly hot over there with no air flow. Before I had to leave, we saw the Tiki Birds on exhibit from one of the auction house vendors:





At this time we also tried to get standby for Ashley Eckstein signing but it was full. What a surprise.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

We met up with some other flight suit Carol Danvers and had to grab a group pic:

Did they get ushered to the front of the panels too??

 

[soniam]

I am bummed that I missed the HM panel. However, I think I was just tired and hungry and gave up looking much for you guys. Plus, the people manning the lines were getting really rude and yelling at people to leave the area, both the gold line area and the standby line area. Also, people kept pushing to get into both areas. I saw people getting pushed in and then pushed back by people already in line. Luckily, I found something tasty to eat and got to eat some of it in peace and quiet, until they kicked me out of my spot, which turned out to be a photo op. I went back to the room, grabbed my Galaxy's Edge purchases, and went to Fed Ex to mail them home. Then I took an early shower and rested, since we were going to be staying up late that night and getting up early.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Did they get ushered to the front of the panels too??

They didn't say.

I am bummed that I missed the HM panel. However, I think I was just tired and hungry and gave up looking much for you guys. Plus, the people manning the lines were getting really rude and yelling at people to leave the area, both the gold line area and the standby line area. Also, people kept pushing to get into both areas. I saw people getting pushed in and then pushed back by people already in line. Luckily, I found something tasty to eat and got to eat some of it in peace and quiet, until they kicked me out of my spot, which turned out to be a photo op. I went back to the room, grabbed my Galaxy's Edge purchases, and went to Fed Ex to mail them home. Then I took an early shower and rested, since we were going to be staying up late that night and getting up early.

Yeah, the HM panel really was a giant mess. That was probably one of the worst line situations we were in, at least organizational wise anyway. The panel was very interesting, but have food, a shower and a rest was probably very nice too.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

It was just way too hot and uncomfortable in the vendor area so we ended up leaving.

We decided to go upstairs and check out the Pandora exhibit.

It was in a somewhat small room and most of the exhibits were along the walls with a few on display in the middle.

One of the walls was full of these busts of different characters.










This giant shovel was my favorite part. This was created for the groundbreaking ceremony for the land in AK. It is supposed to be the size of a shovel that the Navi would use.





We walked into a panel that was being held upstairs, it was Immersive Worlds: Bringing Film to Life in Disney Parks. I had second thoughts though and we others agreed with me that we wanted to see the Disney on Broadway 25 years performance instead. That was supposed to start at 4 and the Immersive Worlds panel went until 4:30.

So we went downstairs and got into the huge line for the Broadway performance. The line took forever to load and we were seated just as the started the first song.

I've copied the opening paragraph from the below linked article if you want to read more about the show the article is pretty good.

https://d23.com/on-with-the-show-disney-on-broadway-takes-to-the-d23-expo-stage/
An amazing six-piece band, led by Broadway conductor and orchestrator Jim Abbott, kicked off the party with the familiar strains of one of the most sing-along-able songs in the modern Broadway canon… the inimitable “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast. And playing the part of Lumiere (imploring the enraptured crowd to “try the grey stuff”) was our host—Gavin Lee, the Tony® Award-nominated actor who originated the role of Bert in both the West End and Broadway productions of Mary Poppins! Eventually joining him on stage were a cadre of fantastic Disney on Broadway alums: Ashley Brown (Gavin’s Broadway costar in Mary Poppins; Beauty and the Beast; On The Record), Heidi Blickenstaff (Freaky Friday; The Little Mermaid), Kissy Simmons (The Lion King), Josh Strickland (Tarzan), and Alton Fitzgerald White (The Lion King).

I'm so happy we saw this concert. All the performers were just amazing.

They performed several songs from each of the following musicals: Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Aida, Tarzan, Mary Poppins, Hercules, Little Mermaid, Newsies, Aladdin, Freaky Friday and Frozen.

Gavin Lee did his Step in Time dance and it was amazing to see in person.





The performers were so good and they even mixed it up and had some of the males take female parts and vice versa. I bet some people put some of these performances up on youtube if anyone wants to look for them.

The panel was over a little after 5:30. We were ready to head out at this time. Sonia and I had each managed to get 2 tickets for the Disney Movie Rewards park meet up with a special showing of Fantasmic!

On the way out, I thought this bench was very funny.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

We all got to take a short break and get changed, then it was time to head to DCA. There was a special lineup for people who got tickets to the meet up. After we signed in we got a complimentary ticket to DCA and were told what time to meet at the Disney Junior building.

We had about an hour before the event started but we decided we should just hang around the Disney Jr building. We wanted to meet Captain Marvel but her meets had ended shortly before. Instead, I suggested we meet Black Panther since I'd never met him.

Captain Marvel has the best picture backdrop ever.



His meet started in about 15 minutes and we were the third group in line.



It was a really great meet and the Dora Milaje ended up coming out with him, then patrolled the area. I was honestly more interested in having a picture with her so I tracked her down. She was great.



It was time for the event to start so we went back to the Disney Jr. building.





After a quick check or our credentials we were ushered inside. They had a DJ and tables set up throughout the room. I think everyone else had just lined up at the door and spent their limited time in the park waiting, so we were some of the last inside and all the tables were taken.





After some grumbling from me (my feet hurt) we decided to get some food from the buffet and sit against the wall to eat.





I only took pictures of the boring fruit plate land salad. It was actually a pretty decent spread. They had BBQ sliders and other good choices (that I have now forgot).

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

They also had a wine and beer bar. Sigh. Too bad I don't really drink either. I'm a frou frou mixed drink king of person.





They also had the big cheese himself meeting! There weren't really any kids attending and the rest of the adults were being boring adults and not many were interested in him so Brian and I went over for a chat.



Look at the shine on my forehead.





Then the desserts came out!! Those light colored ones were dole whip flavored!

Poor Disney Movie Rewards. They tried their best to get the crowd to mingle, they passed out Disney Movie Reward bingo cards where you had to talk to other people and cross off a square that they had done. Some of the squares were 'cried at a Pixar movie', or 'seen any Disney movies more than 10 times'. They were all movie themed. But no one really wanted to play, people just wanted to sit in their groups and be anti social.

Sonia did make one friend, I know he is on the boards but I forget his user name. So now we had 5 in our group.

Then they handed out gift bags to everyone. These were actually super cool.

The Yoda heads are notebooks. We got some Forky moveable parts magents. The carpet from Aladdin luggage tags. A Toy Story 4 Duck and Bunny sticker. Then each bag had a random blu ray movie.



Our group had some pretty funny reactions to the movies they got so it inspired me to do a photo shoot.

Sorry Sonia, I know this isn't the best picture of you but it's hilarious. And that was pretty much your reaction upon seeing what you got. You were kinda like...oh....





This next one was our new friend and was a bizarre movie choice:



I was ok with mine. It isn't my favorite movie but we didn't own it at the time either so it could have been a lot worse.



And Brian probably got the best one, Force Awakens:



Emily got the live action Beauty and the Beast. I'm trying not to use pictures of her where it's only her because I never asked if she was ok with it.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

After the President of Disney Movie Rewards gave a little speech and said they were re-branding to Disney Movie Insiders, we all began the walk over to DL and Fantasmic as a group.

I made sure to stay next to the front because I wanted a good seat. DL was a giant mess though and it was hard to navigate over to New Orleans Square.

Brian and I ended up in the front row and everyone else was in the row directly behind us. Our seats were directly in front of the VIP section. Emily recognized someone pretty famous in the section, it was a younger guy who had sung at the expo earlier...I cannot remember his name. I think he sings the new nighttime show music for MK. I think it's Jordan Fisher.



Maybe I should try the second row back next time, I forgot you always get the railing in your pictures/sight line sitting in the front row.











Me trying to get artsy:





And of course, when Mickey points right at you the picture is blurry:





Fantastmic was fantastic as usual. But at this time we were all a bit cold and very tired. So instead of staying in the parks and enjoying the rest of the night, we did the responsible thing and went back to the hotel to go to bed. We had another big day coming up very soon.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Wrap Up Day 2 D23 Expo

Wanted to do:

Panels
The Simpsons
Haunted Mansion 50 Years
Immersive Worlds
Disney on Broadway

Autographs
Ashley Eckstein

Got to do:

Panels
The Simpsons
HM 50 Years
Disney on Broadway

Autographs
No one

Pavilions
Pandora: kind of meh, a few interesting pieces but there really wasn't a lot to see
Vendor Floor: enjoyed seeing the old tiki birds but we didn't spend too much time looking around
Marvel Costume Display: pretty interesting but didn't take too much time

Swag:
Bart with Mickey ears mask
Gift Bag from the Disney Movie Rewards event

Purchases
None that I am remembering at the moment


We got a lot of stuff done today. But we still had a bit of a sour taste from the stage passes and the giant cluster of a line for the HM panel.

 

[soniam]

The day really was pretty decent. The Disney Movie Rewards event was really cool, but it would have been cooler with chairs. That pic of me is hilarious I was bummed to not get the Haunted Mansion or Country Bears movies, or something even more rare and silly; however, I can watch those any time I want now on Disney+, and I still haven't. Brett (I think), his 101 Dalmatian's Part 2 looked pretty good. Wine and beer are not my go tos either; they aggravate my allergies. However, I think I got a cider. I am so glad we went to bed as soon as we could, because the next day would have been even rougher. F! was amazing as usual. Those seats were pretty much where my husband, son, and I sat the previous summer, when we did the Blue Bayou dining package. I wish I had brought my cushion that night.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

My husband and I were also at the Movie Reward event and we were bummed about the lack of chairs. We ended up leaning against the stage. The bingo thing was a little odd but a couple people (from this board actually) ended up coming over to ask us something and we ended up chatting with them for a long time. My husband and I pooped out before going over to Fantasmic, we were just too tired from Expo. Oh, our free movies were Jungle Book and the new live-action Beauty and the Beast. We had booth so we donated them to a silent auction fund raiser for our church.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

The day really was pretty decent. The Disney Movie Rewards event was really cool, but it would have been cooler with chairs. That pic of me is hilarious I was bummed to not get the Haunted Mansion or Country Bears movies, or something even more rare and silly; however, I can watch those any time I want now on Disney+, and I still haven't. Brett (I think), his 101 Dalmatian's Part 2 looked pretty good. Wine and beer are not my go tos either; they aggravate my allergies. However, I think I got a cider. I am so glad we went to bed as soon as we could, because the next day would have been even rougher. F! was amazing as usual. Those seats were pretty much where my husband, son, and I sat the previous summer, when we did the Blue Bayou dining package. I wish I had brought my cushion that night.

Cooler with chairs, yes def.

Yeah, the cushions would have been a big help.

We already owned the Force Awakens so we were going to give it as a gift, and then forgot. So it sits on the shelf in it's shrink wrap.

My husband and I were also at the Movie Reward event and we were bummed about the lack of chairs. We ended up leaning against the stage. The bingo thing was a little odd but a couple people (from this board actually) ended up coming over to ask us something and we ended up chatting with them for a long time. My husband and I pooped out before going over to Fantasmic, we were just too tired from Expo. Oh, our free movies were Jungle Book and the new live-action Beauty and the Beast. We had booth so we donated them to a silent auction fund raiser for our church.

I thought we were very clever for spending our bonus 'free' time in the park doing park stuff, but looks like we were the chumps cause we missed out on chairs. I am pretty sure my feet were tired at that point. More chairs would have been nice, especially since they knew exactly how many people were going.

That was a very kind thing to do with the movies! I hope they made some money for the church.

I thought the food was actually pretty good at the Movie Rewards Event. I can't exactly remember what all was there, but I do remember being impressed.

Did you and your husband attend the expo as well? If so, did you have a good time?

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

D23 Expo Day 3 Sunday

Sleep: 2 hours and 22 minutes. midnight until a little after 2. Yep. We did pretty well up til this day.









Want to do:

Panels
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products
Inspiring Women Behind Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
The Art of Disney Storytelling
Disney Character Voices
Disneyland 59

Autographs
Ashley Eckstein. Yep, she had sessions every day. And we weren't able to get into any of them.

I'll just say it.

This morning sucked. We were awake at 2:30 and in line for the Parks panel at 3:30 am. We didn't have a stage pass and we really wanted to see this panel. We ended up in the second queue line of Gold C.

We tried to pass some time by sleeping. This is when I heard the LOUDEST rendition of the Aristocats that I've ever and will ever hear. I have no idea why they have the volume on these TVs up that loud at 4 am. So just imagine trying to sleep on a freezing cold hard cement floor with the Aristocats blaring in the background. We had no chance not to be grumpy. The odds were against us.

The panel started at 10:30 so we started to load in around an hour in advance.

Some of our friends had decided to sleep in and chance coming later. We were sending them text updates as to how full the Arena was while they were waiting upstairs.

We were texting them updates and they were sharing them with the line.

They actually did end up getting in at the last moment. Which was great for them, but made me feel like somewhat of an idiot for waking up at 2:30 am. That's just the problem with these things. If you want to be sure you'll have a place, and you didn't get a dumb stage pass, you could either show up way early or roll the dice.



Bob Chapek was the host.



All right. This entire post is just going to be a downer. I should have paid closer attention to the name change for the panel this year. In 2017 it was called 'Parks and Resorts'. This year it was called 'Disney Parks, Experiences and Products'. Emphasis on the products. They did a huge presentation on how Target was going to have more Disney merchandise and how the new store displays would be super Instagrammable. I swear this went on for 15+ minutes and it was only saved by the Target dog Bullseye coming on stage. They did announce that we'd all be getting a $10 Target gift card on our way out (pictured on the big screen below). One lucky person would get a $2300 gift card. I heard it ended up going to a little girl.



The main reason we'd wanted to go to this panel so much was how epic it was in 2017. They announced the entire Galaxy's Edge and so many other exciting things. Most of the things they talked about at this panel had already been announced, either a while ago or the media was told on Thursday night at media day and they all released the info right when they got it.

It was nice to be the first to hear the name of the newest DCL ship: the Wish. We also got to see art of Rapunzel on the prow of the ship.

The best, and maybe only good, part of the panel was the Epcot portion. They announced the new Mary Poppins attraction and Dick Van Dyke came on stage to help with the announcement!



I really, really wish our panel gift had been the concept art poster for Mary Poppins. The Movie panel people got Onward and SW Last Skywalker posters. But nope. Look how gorgeous it is though.



All in all, the panel felt like a giant commercial. They also introduced the new Disney Genie software. Yay! Another way for Disney to help us micromanage our trips. Because their tech is so good.

They ended by doing a video on partnering with Make A Wish. It was a lovely video, and at the end they brought out some of the kids who had been featured on the video who were now grown up and thriving. It was very touching, but honestly, felt like filler due to the lack of big announcements.

The panel went until noon and I was just meh with it. I don't know if it was the early morning wake up, the lack of new announcements or the focus on Target and Disney Genie but I just wasn't feeling it. Our parting gifts were a $10 gift card (someone got a $2300 gift card) a Target button and a Marvel Campus pin.



We didn't have anything else pressing on the schedule so we took a final trip out to the food trucks for lunch.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Cooler with chairs, yes def.

Yeah, the cushions would have been a big help.

We already owned the Force Awakens so we were going to give it as a gift, and then forgot. So it sits on the shelf in it's shrink wrap.



I thought we were very clever for spending our bonus 'free' time in the park doing park stuff, but looks like we were the chumps cause we missed out on chairs. I am pretty sure my feet were tired at that point. More chairs would have been nice, especially since they knew exactly how many people were going.

That was a very kind thing to do with the movies! I hope they made some money for the church.

I thought the food was actually pretty good at the Movie Rewards Event. I can't exactly remember what all was there, but I do remember being impressed.

Did you and your husband attend the expo as well? If so, did you have a good time?

We thought the food was good at the Reward event too. And yes we attended the Expo and had a great time. It was some early mornings but it was worth it. There was a few things we had to axe from the plan but overall our main goals were accomplished. One smallish thing we thought was cool to experience on the show floor was the virtual reality Broadway stuff. Did you do that?

Oh and I don't remember how much the DVD's went for in the church's silent auction, they were packaged with some other stuff. But the silent auction as a whole raised about $4000, the money went for our youth fund and their mission trip this summer.

 

[soniam]

I liked the parks panel. Seeing Dick Van Dyke made my year! That poster would have been cool, especially since it's looking like it won't play out like they said at the panel. I pretty much ignored the commercials. I also really like Joe Rhode's presentation on Lighthouse Point. He always reaffirms my faith in Disney. The sleeping sucked a big one though. I could hear the TVs through my hood and earplugs. I surprisingly felt good that day. I think I was running on adrenaline.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Sleep: 2 hours and 22 minutes. midnight until a little after 2. Yep. We did pretty well up til this day.

And we weren't able to get into any of them.

That's so disappointing- but we get to meet her in March!!

This is when I heard the LOUDEST rendition of the Aristocats that I've ever and will ever hear.

Buy why, Disney??

They announced the new Mary Poppins attraction and Dick Van Dyke came on stage to help with the announcement!

Okay that would be super cool to see.

Because their tech is so good.