D23 Expo 2011! Who's attending?

[tinkcollector]

Do you have to wait in a long line just to get into the arena events or could you show up, say, a half hour before the event and still get in -- even if it means you will have a bad seat? In other words, is the arena room big enough to hold everyone who wants to get in and do people wait in a long line to make sure they are getting good seats or do you need to wait hours just to be sure to get in?
In a related matter, do they have the speakers, etc projected onto a large screen so that you can see them from the back?

Thanks for all of the great info.

Someone please chime in here and correct me if I am wrong. I only attended one day the last Expo. We got in line hours before the Arena event. But, please consider at that time we were not D23, we were in a different line. We had no guarantee's. I am happy we got in. I have heard the Arena seats 4,000, and the last attendence was around 40,000.
Yes they do have large screens, hey it's Disney they will not disapoint you.I had the "WoW" factor hit me all along the way, and I do not expect to be let down.

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

And we, too, are not interested in the trivia contest. Seems to me the people interested in the trivia contest are the people participating in the trivia contest.
Another of D23's "pay to entertain yourself"

Actually, the trivia contest is free!

 

[nunzia]

Do you have to wait in a long line just to get into the arena events or could you show up, say, a half hour before the event and still get in -- even if it means you will have a bad seat? In other words, is the arena room big enough to hold everyone who wants to get in and do people wait in a long line to make sure they are getting good seats or do you need to wait hours just to be sure to get in?
In a related matter, do they have the speakers, etc projected onto a large screen so that you can see them from the back?

Thanks for all of the great info.

Last time you could...we discovered we really liked the balcony center, so waited until the floor was filled and could kind of tell the crowd size to know when to get in line. The Arena holds 4,000..if there is a bigger turn out this year, then they may fill up and have to turn people away.

Yes..there are big screens on each side of the stage in the Arena

 

[nunzia]

And we, too, are not interested in the trivia contest. Seems to me the people interested in the trivia contest are the people participating in the trivia contest.
Another of D23's "pay to entertain yourself" schemes.

franandaj, we'll be in line with you for Dick VanDyke. Caught some of their acapella act on YouTube and it was pretty good.

Still looking forward to seeing Disneyland for the very first time.

A. Peep

(Someday I'll figure out how to do a ticker...till then....17 days)

I intend on going to the Trivia contest..it was pretty cool seing the early players at Destination D Disneyland..amazing bits of history and knowledge. But..they better stay on schedule because I will leave when needed to get my seat for Dick VanDyke...I wonder if the Sorcerer thing will even work for that? Is it considered a 'presentaion' or is it something special that we won't have assigned seats for. If that's the case, then yes, I'll skip the Trivia to be in line to watch Dick.

 

[nunzia]

Someone please chime in here and correct me if I am wrong. I only attended one day the last Expo. We got in line hours before the Arena event. But, please consider at that time we were not D23, we were in a different line. We had no guarantee's. I am happy we got in. I have heard the Arena seats 4,000, and the last attendence was around 40,000.
Yes they do have large screens, hey it's Disney they will not disapoint you.I had the "WoW" factor hit me all along the way, and I do not expect to be let down.

I don't understand this..why were you in a different line for the Arena since you weren't D23? I didn't see separate lines at all for D23 and non D23.

 

[tinkcollector]

I don't understand this..why were you in a different line for the Arena since you weren't D23? I didn't see separate lines at all for D23 and non D23.

We were in a seperate line outside of the Convention Center. Then they moved us inside and kept us in a seperate line until all the D23 members were inside, as D23 could come in an hour before non-D23 members. At that time they allowed us to join the regular line. If we had purchased our tickets through a D23 member we could have gone in with them.

 

[tinkcollector]

My D23 Premiere Guest Information Packet arrived today! It does answer a couple of questions we have had here.
Parking at the Convention Center is $12.00 per day.
Check-in begins Thursday, August 18 at 3:00 p.m.
Sorcerer and Premiere Guests can shop at the Walt Disney Archives Treasure Trove Store and the Dream Store beginning Thursday prior to their opening to the public.
The Sorcerer & Premiere Lounge will be open from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Friday through Sunday. Although it says to feel free to stop into the Sorcerer/Premiere Lounge after checking in. (located on the 2nd floor.)
There will be an exclusive queue location for lining up for the Arena presentations. They suggest arriving at least 30 minutes prior to the presentation.
Also this is something I had not heard of yet:
"You are also invited to attend the 9:30 a.m. D23 Member-only presentations in Stage 28 and Stage 23 and can select seating before all other non-premiere D23 Members. You must arrive 30 minutes prior to the presentation. Doors will open to all other D23 Members 20 mintues prior to presentation."
Exciting, exciting!

 

[stacielee]

Also this is something I had not heard of yet:
"You are also invited to attend the 9:30 a.m. D23 Member-only presentations in Stage 28 and Stage 23 and can select seating before all other non-premiere D23 Members. You must arrive 30 minutes prior to the presentation. Doors will open to all other D23 Members 20 mintues prior to presentation."

Which presentations are D23 members only? Every day at 9:30am? I haven't seen anything else about this posted!

 

[nunzia]

...Sorcerers have lounge open at 9 to 7..odd..and we need to be at Arena things 30 minutes prior and other venues 10 minutes prior. My big question is..OK..we have a different line up line, but how will checking our electronics work?

 

[tinkcollector]

...Sorcerers have lounge open at 9 to 7..odd..and we need to be at Arena things 30 minutes prior and other venues 10 minutes prior. My big question is..OK..we have a different line up line, but how will checking our electronics work?

Maybe that's an additional perk for Sorcerers. The information package I received today did not say anything about surrendering our electronics.
Also, I was watching ABC about 15 mintues ago and they had a commercial for the Expo!

 

[TommyG]

Maybe that's an additional perk for Sorcerers. The information package I received today did not say anything about surrendering our electronics.
Also, I was watching ABC about 15 mintues ago and they had a commercial for the Expo!

I'm reeeeally hoping that they lighten up on the whole "no cameras" thing this year. Tell us to put them away, then toss out anyone who disobeys. It's that simple, and a lot less negative than in 2009.

I hope so....

 

[nunzia]

Maybe that's an additional perk for Sorcerers. The information package I received today did not say anything about surrendering our electronics.
Also, I was watching ABC about 15 mintues ago and they had a commercial for the Expo!

That isn't in the Sorcerer stuff...I'm talking about the rule about not bringing in electronics for quite a few of the presentations. Last time most of the Arena did not allow them so there was a big line to check them. The Sorcerer packet said we'd have a different line up area..as I guess Premier does, and I just wondered if there would also be a different line for checking electronics or if we'd have to go through the same line as everyone else, which would pretty much defeat the idea of a Sorcerer line.

 

[franandaj]

Actually, the trivia contest is free!

Is it FREE or just no additional charge for persons who have purchased an admission to the D23 convention? I doubt anything at Disney is FREE!

I intend on going to the Trivia contest..it was pretty cool seing the early players at Destination D Disneyland..amazing bits of history and knowledge. But..they better stay on schedule because I will leave when needed to get my seat for Dick VanDyke...I wonder if the Sorcerer thing will even work for that? Is it considered a 'presentaion' or is it something special that we won't have assigned seats for. If that's the case, then yes, I'll skip the Trivia to be in line to watch Dick.

Hopefully they will move Dick to the Arena, I just noticed that both are taking place in the same stage. People who go for the Trivia Tournament might be discouraged to come out and find that the line for Dick VanDyke is two miles long!

I'm reeeeally hoping that they lighten up on the whole "no cameras" thing this year. Tell us to put them away, then toss out anyone who disobeys. It's that simple, and a lot less negative than in 2009.

I hope so....

At the Destination D-40 at WDW they did that and pretty much everyone behaved. The WDW that Never Was Presentation by Tony Baxter and someone else had pretty much no photography going on. They didn't make us leave with our cameras they just said, please don't take pictures. I saw a few people being reprimanded, but not the commando style that people talked about from the first one!

That isn't in the Sorcerer stuff...I'm talking about the rule about not bringing in electronics for quite a few of the presentations. Last time most of the Arena did not allow them so there was a big line to check them. The Sorcerer packet said we'd have a different line up area..as I guess Premier does, and I just wondered if there would also be a different line for checking electronics or if we'd have to go through the same line as everyone else, which would pretty much defeat the idea of a Sorcerer line.

Even if they checked the Premier and Sorcerer Electronics, if they checked us separate from the rest, it would still go faster. Let's hope they are lightening up. I bet it cost a whole lot of personell hours to confiscate all that equipment and maybe they have learned that we are mostly docile obeyers. They could beef up on the commando guys for less than the minions who hand back out the electronics, have much better good will by trusting us and then REALLY crack down on those who don't obey!

BTW I was trying to get a handle on the schedule so that I could make a poll for the meet thread and it seemed that they added a whole lot more events in the last day or two. I'm hoping soon they come out with a *.pdf copy of the guide. From what I know of my marketing background, that sucker should have gone to print by now if they want to have thousands of copies of it ready for the Expo. Otherwise, they are really pushing it through the presses, since I assume Disney has their own "in-house" printing. If not they sure have a sweet deal, because we never got something that many pages (and colors) printed that quick without paying quite a few pretty pennies! Perhaps that is part of what the Sorcerer and Premier passes help to pay for.

 

[nunzia]

Is it FREE or just no additional charge for persons who have purchased an admission to the D23 convention? I doubt anything at Disney is FREE!



Hopefully they will move Dick to the Arena, I just noticed that both are taking place in the same stage. People who go for the Trivia Tournament might be discouraged to come out and find that the line for Dick VanDyke is two miles long!



At the Destination D-40 at WDW they did that and pretty much everyone behaved. The WDW that Never Was Presentation by Tony Baxter and someone else had pretty much no photography going on. They didn't make us leave with our cameras they just said, please don't take pictures. I saw a few people being reprimanded, but not the commando style that people talked about from the first one!



Even if they checked the Premier and Sorcerer Electronics, if they checked us separate from the rest, it would still go faster. Let's hope they are lightening up. I bet it cost a whole lot of personell hours to confiscate all that equipment and maybe they have learned that we are mostly docile obeyers. They could beef up on the commando guys for less than the minions who hand back out the electronics, have much better good will by trusting us and then REALLY crack down on those who don't obey!

BTW I was trying to get a handle on the schedule so that I could make a poll for the meet thread and it seemed that they added a whole lot more events in the last day or two. I'm hoping soon they come out with a *.pdf copy of the guide. From what I know of my marketing background, that sucker should have gone to print by now if they want to have thousands of copies of it ready for the Expo. Otherwise, they are really pushing it through the presses, since I assume Disney has their own "in-house" printing. If not they sure have a sweet deal, because we never got something that many pages (and colors) printed that quick without paying quite a few pretty pennies! Perhaps that is part of what the Sorcerer and Premier passes help to pay for.

Yes..I'm hoping if they check electronics they'll have different lines for different groups..maybe they should just STERNLY warn us..I'm sure if expulsion was threatened, especially to those of us who threw tons of cash at them for our tickets, we'd keep those phones and cameras tucked away. If the Vantastix are in the Trivia theater it will be a quick change to get folks out and back in so quickly. I have to say again. although I was appalled at spending so much money on the Sorcerer ticket (my friend kinda pushed me into it) I'm really glad I did now. I was comparing the schedule already out with the one last year and it is looking MORE jam packed. Plus, although it is only 3 days, Sorcerers get an extra day, really..Our packet has us checking in at 12:30 on Thursday then doing the Archives tour and Treasure Trove shopping, then hardhat show floor tour, then Dream Store, then off to Disneyland for a Golden Horseshoe presentation at the Festival Arena (where is that?? is that where the Princess thing is?)
Another FYI..we have to be at Arena presentations 30 minutes prior just like Premiere and we have to be at other venues 10 minute prior..I don't know if they give away our seats after that time..we also have a day planner to fill out..I don't know if this is required to know how many seats they will need or just a convenience for us, but I can see where seats may open up in a 'full' room right before show time which may be good to know.

I'm sure the full schedule was posted by this time last time..oh, BTW..on the back of the Expo guide last time it says the official printer for the Expo is CGX/Hennegan Consolidated Graphics in Florence KY...

 

[franandaj]

So Thursday evening the Sorcerers will be at DL? What time is that? The Festival Arena is a large outdoor multi purpose area located near the BBQ. It's between Fantasyland and Frontierland on that far north end of the park.

 

[pinksand]

We got in line hours before the Arena event. But, please consider at that time we were not D23, we were in a different line. We had no guarantees. I am happy we got in. I have heard the Arena seats 4,000, and the last attendence was around 40,000.

This makes me extremely nervous. We go to various Cons fairly frequently, but we only have tickets for Saturday, and at that, I am only interested in the Disney Studios presentation in the arena. The thought of waiting hours and having the whole presentation fill up with D23 members and never getting a chance to get in because we aren't in D23 terrifies me.

 

[nunzia]

So Thursday evening the Sorcerers will be at DL? What time is that? The Festival Arena is a large outdoor multi purpose area located near the BBQ. It's between Fantasyland and Frontierland on that far north end of the park.

It looks like 6-7

 

[tinkcollector]

This makes me extremely nervous. We go to various Cons fairly frequently, but we only have tickets for Saturday, and at that, I am only interested in the Disney Studios presentation in the arena. The thought of waiting hours and having the whole presentation fill up with D23 members and never getting a chance to get in because we aren't in D23 terrifies me.

Let me explain this more in detail. We only attended opening day of the last Expo. We got in line outside the Convention Center early so that we could get into the Arena. As you faced the Convention Center on the right were the D23 members and our line was on the left for non-members. D23 members could go in an hour before non-members. We stood there and watched the members go into the Convention Center. When the hour had passed they let us in and we joined the line of D23 members. We did not have front row seats, but the seats we got were pretty good. Any D23 members that entered the Convention Center after that were behind us in line.

 

[pinksand]

thanks tinkcollector!

 

[franandaj]

So the Premier packet arrived yesterday with our schedule for Thursday:

3:00PM Check in
3:30PM Shop at the Studio store (can't remember the official name)
5:30-9:00PM Shop at the Dream Store

I was curious if anyone in Sorcerer level would share the times and schedule?

Nunzia mentioned some Golden Horseshoe ceremony inside DL and at some point they get a show floor walk through. I would be curious to hear the details of the schedule.