D23 Expo 2011! Who's attending?

[wdwislife]

A place for everyone thinking about going to the D23 Expo in August, 2011 to share their thoughts, and express their excitement!

I'm almost definitely making the transcontinental voyage from NY to Cali for the Expo! I'm so excited!
It'll be my 3rd time at DLR. (I'm a WDW regular)
I went to DLR for the first time in 2008 and fell in love with it just as much as I already was with WDW! Heck, I'll fall in love with anything Disney!
Also, I couldn't be more happy that the Expo falls during our summer break. That way the whole family can go!

SO! Who else is going to head out to Anaheim for this amazing event? Share here!
I'll compile a list of all users who plan to attend.

 

[CrazyDuck]

Wow... Thats a long time from now!!! I can only book my rooms 11 months out, so I have til Sept to figure it out!

 

[nunzia]

HECK YEA!! I will buy tickets immediately and get my room reservation at the year out mark also. I was able to make the 09 Expo and it was flat out amazing (and not just becuase Johnny Depp popped up..literally..in Jack Sparrow gear.) My friend and I made the mistake of skipping the evening screenings thinking they just showed a movie and that was it, and went to the park..won't do that again! There were little surprises all along the way. It was the BEST time.

 

[franandaj]

We will be there for sure! Last year's expo was amazing! We attended all four days, but we made the mistake of going home every night. We thought that since we live 20 minutes away we shouldn't bother to stay over. WRONG! At the end of each day we were on sensory overload and by the fourth day we were dragging so hard that we barely made it to 5PM.

We aren't evern going to use our DVC points to stay because even that is too far. We have 1/2 a million Hilton points so that should get us a room right next door for the night before all the way through the last night, and if we need to recharge before the evening screenings, it's right next door.

I hope that somehow they have larger rooms for the presentations. We saw the Wonderful World of Vintage Disneyland with Tony Baxter, the WOC presentation, We Make the Music, Imagineering the Future of Disney Parks, The Disney Store Presentation, the Walt Disney Family Museum, The Future of Walt Disney & Pixar Animation, and the Disneyana Detective. Wow! That was a lot packed in there, but the waits for so many of those presentations were insane! We almost didn't get into some of them.

We're going to hopefully be at Destination-D in September. I already have my room, now we just need to get tickets!

 

[iKristin]

I am planning on it but it's all up to how money goes after my move next Summer, hopefully I'll be able to afford it. Luckily when I move i'll still get to keep my same job, just move it over so money won't change

 

[wdwislife]

We're going to hopefully be at Destination-D in September. I already have my room, now we just need to get tickets!

I'd LOVE to go to D-D, but since we're on the other side of the country, and it's at an awkward time of year for a trip, I don't think I'll be so lucky.

Write a TR and tell us all how amazing it was!

 

[franandaj]

I'd LOVE to go to D-D, but since we're on the other side of the country, and it's at an awkward time of year for a trip, I don't think I'll be so lucky.

Write a TR and tell us all how amazing it was!

I'll post all my D23 related stuff here, next weekend we're going to the Toby Tyler thing at the Studios....

 

[fayt19]

Hopefully I'll be there. We're going to Disneyland for the first time in years, this July, and hopefully I can get the rest of the family as hooked on Disney as I already am. I'm also hoping to have a few semesters of college under my belt by that time next year, and the first day of the 2011 fall semester starts the day after the final day of the Expo. I'll just have to take a late flight the last night, because I don't want to miss anything! I was so sad to miss the first Expo, and I was afraid I wouldn't get to attend until I got out of college since it was in September, so I was absolutely thrilled when they released the dates. I'm taking it as a ~sign~.

 

[nunzia]

We will be there for sure! Last year's expo was amazing! We attended all four days, but we made the mistake of going home every night. We thought that since we live 20 minutes away we shouldn't bother to stay over. WRONG! At the end of each day we were on sensory overload and by the fourth day we were dragging so hard that we barely made it to 5PM.

We aren't evern going to use our DVC points to stay because even that is too far. We have 1/2 a million Hilton points so that should get us a room right next door for the night before all the way through the last night, and if we need to recharge before the evening screenings, it's right next door.

I hope that somehow they have larger rooms for the presentations. We saw the Wonderful World of Vintage Disneyland with Tony Baxter, the WOC presentation, We Make the Music, Imagineering the Future of Disney Parks, The Disney Store Presentation, the Walt Disney Family Museum, The Future of Walt Disney & Pixar Animation, and the Disneyana Detective. Wow! That was a lot packed in there, but the waits for so many of those presentations were insane! We almost didn't get into some of them.

We're going to hopefully be at Destination-D in September. I already have my room, now we just need to get tickets!

Ditto! Freaking out a bit about getting the tickets...
Yes, I hope they re do the line waiting at the next Expo..we missed so many things because we knew we had to be in a line. Let's see...we saw the Legends presentation, The Imagineers panel (love Bob Gurr!!), the Cruise Line presentation, Studios, Parks, Stores, Pixar (had to leave early to catch/miss a train...will stay until the END next time)..and I don't know what else..just a grand time...I sat close to Tony Baxter at the Lasseter presentation..wonder how he likes being a celebrity with these groups

 

[wdwislife]

giving this thread a healthy little BUMP in case anyone else wants to join in on the magic!

 

[wdwislife]

any more takers?

 

[LKD]

I am ^-^ I love any opportunity to dress up as a Disney girl

 

[wdwislife]

bumping again!

 

[anijac1412]

For those who attended last year:
I need a bit of a rundown on how it worked out for you. I really want to go next year but I need more info. Mainly, where did you stay? A Disneyland Hotel or other? Is the expo at Disneyland or elsewhere? (It just says Anaheim so I can't tell...) How did you get from where ever you slept to the the expo?

Also, will they provide us with info like this when tickets go on sale? Do they have some kind of packages for a Disneyland/Expo trip?

TIA!

 

[nunzia]

For those who attended last year:
I need a bit of a rundown on how it worked out for you. I really want to go next year but I need more info. Mainly, where did you stay? A Disneyland Hotel or other? Is the expo at Disneyland or elsewhere? (It just says Anaheim so I can't tell...) How did you get from where ever you slept to the the expo?

Also, will they provide us with info like this when tickets go on sale? Do they have some kind of packages for a Disneyland/Expo trip?

TIA!

I attended all days. I stayed at a hotel within walking distance of the Anaheim Convention Center, which is where the Expo was held. All presentations, seminars, displays, etc, were amazing. The issues were that the popular events had to be lined up for early, so you didn't have time to see everything you wanted to. I hope they can fix this next time. There were activities from early morning until late at night, which had showings of classic Disney movies..we skipped these and wished we hadn't since there were surprises all along the way. The convention center is about a 20 minute walk from the parks, and really..we didn't need to have gone to the parks at all. I may, again, do a combo thing...stay on site and do the parks for a few days, then move over toward the convention center and just do the Expo..it looks like the Expo in 2011 is 3 days instead of the 4 it was in 09. Tickets go on sale this August so hoping there are deals for buying early. Last year there was no package thing, you just bought tickets for how many days you were going, then wore a wristband with the color that matched how many days, or what particular day. You do need to have your D23 card to get in early, etc. The worst lines (except for the events)were at the limited ed merchandise areas. You stood in line to get tickets to get the item, then gave the ticket to a cashier in the store area and they got your special merchandise. They also had pretty sucky standard convention center food, and since you were waiting in line so much you tended to just sit in line and eat your sandwich or whatever..again, hope they work this out next year.
It's really a great experience.

 

[curiouslittleoyster]

DH and I plan on going! This will be our 1st time at the Expo so we are looking forward to it. We are planning on staying at the VGC even though we've been reading it's a bit far from the convention. My parents may be coming with us but they aren't planning on attending the Expo...they just want to relax at the hotel and hang around DL.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I went to the D23 Expo last year for all four days and I am planning on going to next years D23 Expo. (You can read my trip report on the D23 Expo from last year) [post=33608075]Sept 9-13, 2009 DLR & D23 Expo[/post] I am planning to stay closer to the Anaheim Convention Center than last year since it was exhausting from walking back and forward from HOJO. This time I am bringing my DA with me to the Expo. She wanted to be there last year, but couldn't make it and she is excited to go next year. All those days when I went there I at least got there 1 hour before the D23 members could enter the expo and I was there for the limited edition pins and merchandise. It was great to buy D23 Expo merchandise since the D23 Expo CMs said that people have a current DL AP, we can get the 10% merchandise discount. I saved at least $100 from the DL AP. I hope they have it next year.

I'm even looking forward to see next years D23 Expo.

 

[franandaj]

We're locals and were stupid enough to think we could go home every night even though we live 25 minutes away. Next time we will be staying at the Hilton (on points) which is the absolute closest place to stay. There is too much packed into those few days to think you have time to do anyting else if you are a real Disney Freak. Those who want to do it all, need to be at the closest hotel because they won't really be able to do anything about the lines for the popular events. All they can do is try to put things in larger rooms, but you'll still end up lining up hours in advance for the seminars your want to see. This time it will be worse because people will come with a plan of attack.

Just take 2010 F&W Festival as an example, in 2009 I got in line to see Cat Cora at 11:20 last year on a Saturday. This year, the line was full before 11:00AM. Disney is buidling it and they are coming, next time D23 will be worse than last time unless they make some serious plans to expect the crowds that will be there.

 

[nunzia]

We're locals and were stupid enough to think we could go home every night even though we live 25 minutes away. Next time we will be staying at the Hilton (on points) which is the absolute closest place to stay. There is too much packed into those few days to think you have time to do anyting else if you are a real Disney Freak. Those who want to do it all, need to be at the closest hotel because they won't really be able to do anything about the lines for the popular events. All they can do is try to put things in larger rooms, but you'll still end up lining up hours in advance for the seminars your want to see. This time it will be worse because people will come with a plan of attack.

Just take 2010 F&W Festival as an example, in 2010 I got in line to see Cat Cora at 11:20 last year on a Saturday. This year, the line was full before 11:00AM. Disney is buidling it and they are coming, next time D23 will be worse than last time unless they make some serious plans to expect the crowds that will be there.

I agree..I was hoping they could do some sort of ticketing thiing..you got a ticket then could leave and see other stuff then return. They tried everything last year..it was a hoot. First they'd count to try and make sure the rooms would fit people, then they had a gal with a ticker in her hand counting telling people they couldn't leave the line..but many people just snuck in line with friends..we had this happen. One couple was in front of us and the counter girl had already passed by, by the time we went in four more had squeezed into line with them, and I'm sure that happened all up and down the line, so many at the end were disappointed I'm sure. This was at the cruise presentation and they had made that room smaller, so it filled up super fast. Anyway..ticketing for events would help. Like..you can sign up for your top 3 or 4 a day, get tickets guaranteeing a seat, then take your chances with things you don't want to see as badly. Hopefully they will START ON TIME..every big event started 20 minutes late ( I guess because of all the security checks and checking in your phones, cameras, etc) but it really threw our schedule off. Still..I'm already excited about going again.

 

[anijac1412]

Thanks for all your input! Looks like it'll be a pretty busy weekend. Hopefully they sort out the lineup issues, but I'm sure it will still be totally worth it and fun

I do want some relaxing Disney time though so I think I might plan a DL trip right after or before the Expo.